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Carbon Emission and Transport: Measurement and Simulation

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A special issue of Atmosphere (ISSN 2073-4433). This special issue belongs to the section "Air Quality".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 August 2023) | Viewed by 16356

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Cheng Hu

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Guest Editor

College of Biology and the Environment, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China
Interests: CO₂; CH₄; model; NH₃; atmospheric inversion
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Prof. Dr. Wei Xiao

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Yale-NUIST Center on Atmospheric Environment, International Joint Laboratory on Climate and Environment Change (ILCEC), Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology, Nanjing 211544, China
Interests: GHG; observation; isotope; lake evaporation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Qitao Xiao

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China
Interests: greenhouse gases fluxes over inland water bodies
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Carbon is one of the main elements in both natural and anthropogenic environments. Gaseous carbon (i.e. carbon dioxide (CO₂), methane (CH₄), and carbon monoxide (CO)) are known as main greenhouse gases or air pollutants. Hence, the study of their flux (including sources and sinks) or transport (in soil, rivers or atmosphere) from both natural and anthropogenic sources is essential to better understand regional or global carbon cycles. Here, to improve our scientific knowledge of the carbon cycle via both observation and modeling, we are organizing this Special Issue titled “Carbon Emission and Transport: Field Measurement and Model Simulation” in the journal Atmosphere. Any papers related to carbon flux and transport (especially for CO₂, CH₄, and CO) are warmly welcome to this issue; papers can focus on observations or model simulations, from natural or anthropogenic sources and can be at the field, city, regional, or even global scale, using field observations, model simulations, meta-analyses, or a combination of the above methods. Regions of interest include but are not limited to forests, grassland, rivers, wetlands, waters, and urban areas.

Dr. Cheng Hu
Prof. Dr. Wei Xiao
Dr. Qitao Xiao
Guest Editors

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Keywords

CO₂
CH₄
CO
model simulation
eddy covariance
field observation

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Published Papers (8 papers)

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Research

16 pages, 1718 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Methane Emissions of a Western Dairy Manure Storage Basin and Their Correlation with Hydrogen Sulfide Emissions

by Richard H. Grant and Matthew T. Boehm

Atmosphere 2023, 14(9), 1420; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos14091420 - 10 Sep 2023

Viewed by 1101

Abstract

Anaerobic decomposition in manure storage contributes to hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) and methane (CH₄) emissions. Coincident emission measurements were made of these gases from a western free stall dairy manure storage basin over a two-month period (August and September) as manure filled the basin and dried to assess the similarity or differences in the emissions characteristics. Path-integrated CH₄ concentrations were measured from sampled air using photoacoustic spectrometric technology. Half-hourly emissions were determined using a backward Lagrangian Stochastic method utilizing on-site turbulence measurements. The median daily CH₄ emission for the basin was 3.5 mg CH₄ m⁻² s⁻¹ (772 g d⁻¹ hd⁻¹). Aging of the manure over the 44 days of this study did not appear to influence the CH₄ emissions. A high correlation between the CH₄ and H₂S emissions during the study period suggested that the production and transport of these two gases from the basin were influenced by the same factors. Emissions did not appear to be influenced by the above-ground environmental conditions (wind speed, turbulent mixing, air temperature, change in barometric pressure, or vapor pressure deficit) but were likely more a function of the bacterial population present and/or available substrate for bacterial decomposition. Similarity in the CH₄ to H₂S emission ratio during basin manure filling and drying down to that of a slurry storage in a midwestern US dairy suggested that the bacterial species involved in the decomposition of dairy manure slurry is similar regardless of climate. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Carbon Emission and Transport: Measurement and Simulation)

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17 pages, 6232 KiB

Open AccessArticle

On the Large Variation in Atmospheric CO₂ Concentration at Shangdianzi GAW Station during Two Dust Storm Events in March 2021

by Xiaolan Li, Weijun Quan, Xiao-Ming Hu, Qingyu Jia, Zhiqiang Ma, Fan Dong, Yimeng Zhang, Huaigang Zhou and Dongdong Wang

Atmosphere 2023, 14(9), 1348; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos14091348 - 27 Aug 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1527

Abstract

Dust storms have large impacts on air quality and meteorological elements; however, their relationships with atmospheric greenhouse gases (e.g., CO₂) and radiation components remain uncertain. In this study, the co-variation of dust and CO₂ concentrations and its possible influencing mechanism are examined using observations at the Shangdianzi (SDZ) regional Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW) station along with simulations of the Vegetation Photosynthesis and Respiration Model coupled with the Weather Research and Forecasting model (WRF-VPRM), during two dust storm events on 15 and 28 March 2021. During these events, hourly CO₂ concentrations decreased by 40–50 ppm at SDZ while dust concentrations increased to 1240.6 and 712.4 µg m⁻³. The elevated dust increased diffusive shortwave irradiance by 50–60% and decreased direct shortwave irradiance by ~60% along with clouds. The dust events were attributed to the passages of two cold front systems over northern China. At SDZ, during the frontal passages, wind speed increased by 3–6 m s⁻¹, and relative humidity decreased by 50–60%. The CO₂ variations associated with the frontal systems were captured by the WRF-VPRM despite the overestimated surface CO₂ level at SDZ. Biogenic CO₂ flux plays an indistinctive role in the large CO₂ variation at SDZ, as it is weak during the non-growing season. The cold fronts pushed polluted air southeastward over the North China Plain and replaced it with low-CO₂ air from Northwest China, leading to the decline in CO₂. These findings demonstrate that mesoscale synoptic conditions significantly affect the regional transport and dispersion of CO₂, which can influence the prediction of terrestrial carbon balance on a regional scale. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Carbon Emission and Transport: Measurement and Simulation)

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11 pages, 1485 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Use of Association Algorithms in Air Quality Monitoring

by Paulo Henrique Soares, Johny Paulo Monteiro, Fernando José Gaioto, Luciano Ogiboski and Cid Marcos Gonçalves Andrade

Atmosphere 2023, 14(4), 648; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos14040648 - 30 Mar 2023

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2041

Abstract

Over the years, there has been a gradual increase in the emission of pollutants, and it is imperative to establish mechanisms to monitor air quality. In addition to carbon dioxide (CO₂), particulate matter (PM) is considered one of the main types of air pollution. However, there is a wide variety of pollutants, and high investment is required to carry out detailed air quality monitoring. We present the third version of a previously proposed air quality monitoring platform based on CO₂ concentration measurements. In this new version, a specific sensor for PM measurements and an artificial intelligence algorithm were added. The added algorithm traced associations between measurements of CO₂ and PM concentrations. Thus, the measurement of a pollutant can be used for estimating the concentration of another. This can contribute to the development of a simpler and cheaper monitoring system. The acquisition of CO₂ and PM concentrations was carried out daily over a period of one month. Pollutant measurements were taken in three strategic locations in a Brazilian city. It was possible to determine a correlation between pollutant concentrations for the monitored locations. Thus, it would be possible to efficiently estimate the PM concentration based on the measured CO₂ concentration. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Carbon Emission and Transport: Measurement and Simulation)

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15 pages, 875 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Fugitive Emissions from Mobile Sources—Experimental Analysis in Buses Regulated by the Euro 5 Standard

by Antonio C. Caetano, Alexandre M. S. da Costa, Vanderly Janeiro, Paulo H. Soares, Leonel R. Cancino and Cid M. G. Andrade

Atmosphere 2023, 14(4), 613; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos14040613 - 23 Mar 2023

Viewed by 2225

Abstract

Fugitive emissions are unintentionally produced by pipeline leakage and evaporation in industrial processes and contribute 5% of Global Greenhouse Gas emissions (GHG). Frictional wear and thermal fatigue in vehicle exhaust pipe couplings and joints can cause leaks that are not visible and difficult to quantify. It is therefore essential to trace and document these sources. In this work, an experimental survey was conducted on buses in accordance with Regulation (EC) N° 715/2007 of the European Parliament. Statistical methods by means of a priori analysis aided by G

^{*}

Power 3.1 software was used to define the required sample. Three random sample groups were stratified and fugitive gases were encased and piped into a bronze tube 5 mm in diameter and 500 mm in length. A Horiba PG-300 analyzer was used to analyze the samples using chemiluminescence and infrared methods. The results proved the existence of fugitive emissions in all samples analyzed with variations of (3.000–27.500 ppm) among the samples for

C O_{2}

, (6.0–138.5 ppm) and (2.0–5.0 ppm) for

C O

and

N O_{x}

, respectively. Statistical analysis showed that engine mileage had no significant influence on

N O_{x}

emissions, while

C O

and

C O_{2}

emissions increased with mileage. Analysis using Response Surface Methodology (RSM) indicated a trend of increasing concentrations of

C O_{2}

and

C O

for both explanatory variables, mileage and usage time. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Carbon Emission and Transport: Measurement and Simulation)

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19 pages, 10571 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Estimation of Carbonaceous Aerosol Sources under Extremely Cold Weather Conditions in an Urban Environment

by Steigvilė Byčenkienė, Touqeer Gill, Abdullah Khan, Audrė Kalinauskaitė, Vidmantas Ulevicius and Kristina Plauškaitė

Atmosphere 2023, 14(2), 310; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos14020310 - 4 Feb 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2119

Abstract

The present study investigated the characteristics of carbonaceous species in an urban background site. Real-time measurements of inorganic (sulfate, nitrate, ammonium, chloride, and black carbon [BC]) and organic submicron aerosols (OA) were carried out at the urban background site of Vilnius, Lithuania, during January–February 2014. An aerosol chemical speciation monitor (ACSM, Aerodyne Research Inc., Billerica, MA, USA) and co-located 7-λ aethalometer (AE-31, Magee Scientific, Berkeley, CA, USA) were used to analyze the chemical compositions, sources, and extinction characteristics of the PM₁. Extremely contrasting meteorological conditions were observed during the studied period due to the transition from moderately cold (~2 °C) conditions to extremely cold conditions with a lowest temperature of −25 °C; therefore, three investigation episodes were considered. The identified periods corresponded to the transition time from the moderately cold to the extremely cold winter period, which was traced by the change in the average temperature for the study days of 1–13 January, with T = −5 °C and RH = 92%, in contrast to the period of 14–31 January, with T = −14 °C and RH = 74%, and the very short third period of 1–3 February, with T = −8 °C and RH = 35%. On average, organics accounted for the major part (53%) of the non-refractory submicron aerosols (NR-PM₁), followed by nitrate (18%) and sulfate (9%). The source apportionment results showed the five most common OA components, such as traffic and heating, to be related to hydrocarbon-like organic aerosols (HOA_traffic and HOA_heating, respectively), biomass-burning organic aerosols (BBOA), local organic aerosol (LOA), and secondary organic aerosol (SOA). Traffic emissions contributed 53% and biomass burning 47% to the BC concentration level. The highest BC and OA concentrations were, on average, associated with air masses originating from the southwest and east–southeast. Furthermore, the results of the PSCF and CWT methods indicated the main source regions that contributed the most to the BC concentration in Vilnius to be the following: central–southwestern and northeastern Poland, northwestern–southwestern and eastern Belarus, northwestern Ukraine, and western Russia. However, the potential sources of OA were widely distributed. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Carbon Emission and Transport: Measurement and Simulation)

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16 pages, 4409 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Improvements of Simulating Urban Atmospheric CO₂ Concentration by Coupling with Emission Height and Dynamic Boundary Layer Variations in WRF-STILT Model

by Yiyi Peng, Cheng Hu, Xinyue Ai, Yuanyuan Li, Leyun Gao, Huili Liu, Junqing Zhang and Wei Xiao

Atmosphere 2023, 14(2), 223; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos14020223 - 20 Jan 2023

Viewed by 2423

Abstract

Although cities only account for 3% of the global land area, they have disproportionately contributed 70% of total anthropogenic CO₂ emissions; the main issue in estimating urban anthropogenic CO₂ emissions is their large uncertainty. Tower-based atmospheric CO₂ observations and simulations in urban areas have been frequently used as an independent approach to constrain and evaluate greenhouse gas emissions from city to regional scales, where only daytime CO₂ observations and simulations are used considering the consensus that the large bias in simulating nighttime planetary boundary layer heights (PBLH) and atmospheric CO₂ concentration will cause overestimation/underestimation in CO₂ emission inversions. The above strategy of only using daytime observations makes the numbers of available concentration observations largely decrease even with the fact that tower-based atmospheric CO₂ observations are sparsely distributed and conducted. Here, to solve the issue of large bias in nighttime CO₂ simulations, we conducted four months of atmospheric CO₂ observations from January to April in 2019, and raised an approach by coupling emission heights with dynamic PBLH variations in a WRF-STILT model. We found (1) the overestimation of simulated nighttime CO₂ concentration decreased by 5–10 ppm, especially between 0:00 and 7:00. (2) The statistics for nighttime simulations were largely improved by using a revised model and posteriori emissions. The regression slopes of daily averages were 0.93 and 0.81 for the default model using a priori emissions and the revised model using the same a priori emissions, and the slope largely improved to 0.97 for the revised model using posteriori emissions. Moreover, the correlation coefficient also increased from 0.29 and 0.37 to 0.53; these results indicate our revised model obviously calibrated the bias in both nighttime and daily CO₂ concentration simulations. In general, it is strongly recommended to use the revised WRF-STILT model in future inversion studies, which can effectively reduce the overestimation of nighttime spikes and make full use of nighttime observations. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Carbon Emission and Transport: Measurement and Simulation)

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11 pages, 1972 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Manganese Slag Amendment Reduces Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Paddy Soil

by Yinping Bai, Qianli Dai, Jiangbo Hai, Qing Wang, Dahang Liao, Guotong Liu, Yinjia Wang, Jing Huang, Rongping Zhang, Ahmed Ali Hassabelkreem Siddig, Wanting Bao and Gang Yang

Atmosphere 2023, 14(1), 131; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos14010131 - 6 Jan 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2031

Abstract

Increasing crop productivity and minimizing greenhouse gas emissions from paddy fields are increasingly receiving attention. Slag application not only can maximize the use of solid wastes as beneficial resources for agricultural production, but it also reduces greenhouse gas emissions. In order to determine the most effective slags as soil amendments for greenhouse gas emission reduction, three major slags, i.e., steel, titanium and manganese slags, were applied as soil amendments to paddy soils; correspondingly, the greenhouse gas emissions, cumulative emissions and global warming potential of the soils during one growing season were measured. It was found that applying all these three slags could reduce the methane emission rates and the cumulative methane emissions. Manganese slag significantly decreased methane emissions by 55% compared with the control. Carbon dioxide caused no significant changes among different slag treatments; however, the cumulative carbon dioxide emissions from fields treated with steel and manganese slags were lower than those from control fields. The global warming potential of paddy soil with manganese application was 63% lower than that of the control. Finally, manganese oxide was found to have a negative relation with greenhouse gas emissions. It was inferred that the electron acceptors and the photocatalysis of manganese oxide minerals might have been the main reasons for greenhouse gas reduction. This preliminary result could be further applied to utilizing solid wastes as beneficial resources and to developing carbon fixation and greenhouse gas reduction fertilizers. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Carbon Emission and Transport: Measurement and Simulation)

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14 pages, 5398 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Large Methane Emission from the River Inlet Region of Eutrophic Lake: A Case Study of Lake Taihu

by Yuanshan Liao, Haijin Lan, Xinyue Zhang, Zhenjing Liu, Mi Zhang, Zhenghua Hu, Hongtao Duan and Qitao Xiao

Atmosphere 2023, 14(1), 16; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos14010016 - 22 Dec 2022

Viewed by 1789

Abstract

Lakes are important natural sources of atmospheric methane (CH₄), which should be considered in global CH₄ budget estimations. However, the CH₄ emissions from lakes can be highly variable, and the emissions from the river inlet region were less studied, which seriously hamper our understanding of CH₄ budget estimates of lakes. Here, field measurements from over six years (2012 to 2017) at Lake Taihu, a large eutrophic shallow lake with a complicated river network, were conducted to address the issue. Results show that the river inlet region of the lake was a hot spot of CH₄ emission. The CH₄ emission at the river inlet region with an annual mean value of 0.183 mmol m⁻² d⁻¹ was seven times higher than that at pelagic region (0.028 mmol m⁻² d⁻¹). Peak CH₄ emission occurred in warm seasons, and the lowest in cold seasons at the pelagic region, but peak emission occurred in cold seasons at the river inlet region. The seasonal CH₄ emission at the pelagic region can be explained by water temperature; however, less temperature dependency of CH₄ emission at the river inlet region was found. The variability of CH₄ emission was linked to pollution loadings, and CH₄-rich water in the inflowing river likely sustained the large CH₄ emission of river inlet region. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Carbon Emission and Transport: Measurement and Simulation)

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