ITOP

Intercontinental Transport of Ozone and Precursors

People: Steve Arnold, Ken Carslaw, Martyn Chipperfield, Mat Evans, , Paul Manktelow, Jim McQuaid

Description

Emission of pollutant gases and particulates to the atmosphere can impact air quality in regions remote from their source. Many studies have demonstrated that transport of pollution occurs on intercontinental scales, meaning that air quality is now considered more than simply a regional issue. In addition, the large-scale transport of pollutants in the troposphere plays a central role in determining global-scale atmospheric composition, and its role in climate. Our ITOP work is aimed at examining the transformation and transport of pollutants as they travel across the Atlantic Ocean from North America to Europe.

In Summer 2004 the FAAM BAe146 aircraft was based in the Azores, from where it sampled air masses travelling from North America en route to Europe. The study took place as part of the large ICARTT consortium, involving other aircraft based in the US and Europe. In Leeds we are investigating the detailed processing of these air masses during their transport using Lagrangian and global models (TOMCAT). We are also investigating the large-scale transport of North American aerosol pollution using the GLOMAP model.

Funded by: NERC
Start Date: Mar 2004
End Date: Mar 2007

Links:
http://www.env.leeds.ac.uk/~sra/itop
http://www.al.noaa.gov/ICARTT/
http://www.met.rdg.ac.uk/~swrmethn/icartt/