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Measurement of ozone, water vapour, carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides by airbus in-service aircraft (mozaic-iii) - 03 and h20 budgets in the ut/ls

Objective

Problems to be solved
The project proposes actions to detect, understand, assess and predict global change processes and to contribute to the European component of the global observing systems. It answers to interrogations of the origin, budget and evolution in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UT/LS) of chemical species (ozone, water vapour) which have impact on air quality and climate, with special attention to the impact of aircraft emissions.
Scientific objectives and approach
The MOZAIC-III project is designed for the evaluation of ozone and water vapour budgets in the tropopause region. It takes full advantage of the measuring capabilities of the in-service aircraft already equipped and of the database (O3, H2O) built up since August 1994. The purpose is to improve the current understanding on the processes active in this region of the atmosphere (UT/LS), and particularly on the aircraft impact. MOZAIC-III corresponds to installation, on the aircraft measuring units, of new CO and NOy devices and to the extension of the existing database of O3 and H2O measurements below 12 km altitude with simultaneous measurements of CO and NOy, in order to better characterise the origin of the air parcels sampled and the combined effects of transport and chemistry. The database is opened to the European research community. Data are analysed using statistical correlation, modelling of chemistry and dynamics, satellite data (ENVISAT, METEOSAT, TOVS) and assimilation methods. The duration of the series over almost 9 years allows analysing trends, interannual variability, and correlations between species. The numerous data collected at a quasi global scale are used to improve current understanding of tropospheric chemical and dynamical processes and to quantify the ozone budget in the UT/LS region: stratospheric contribution, transport of pollution from PBL, free tropospheric formation, productions from NOx emitted by aircraft and NOx induced by lightning, surface deposition, chemical losses. The relation between upper tropospheric water vapour and sea surface temperature over tropical, sub-tropical and mid-latitude regions is investigated.
Expected impacts
From the whole set of data collected since 1994, it is expected to assess the budget and trends of ozone and water vapour in the UT/LS, to reduce uncertainties on stratosphere / troposphere exchanges, to improve existing 3D CTM models and to better quantify the impact of subsonic aircraft. These results are of major concern for the evaluation of climate change.

Call for proposal

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Coordinator

CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE
EU contribution
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Address
14,Avenue Edouard Belin 14
31400 TOULOUSE
France

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Total cost
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Participants (7)