Global quality control for long-lived trace gas measurements (review)

摘要

This report arose from the 10th World Meteorological Organizationu27s (WMO) meeting of Experts on Carbon Dioxide Concentration and Related Tracer Measurement Techniques, Stockholm, 23-26 August 1999,at which a proposal was put forward to address some of the known problems associated with quality control of global trace gas measurements, in particular, carbon dioxide, methane and their respective isotopes, and proposes some changes to significantly improve on current situation. The meeting was also attended by a member of the Research Co-ordination Meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agencyu27s (IAEA) Co-ordinated Research Project on Isotope-aided studies of atmospheric carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. The aim of this proposal is greatly improved inter-laboratory comparability for measurement of long-lived atmospheric trace gas species, resulting in improved derivation of source/sink fluxes from spatial and temporal atmospheric composition changes. A network with regional "hubs" responsible for maintaining an efficient means of inter-comparing all laboratories with a much higher frequency than what has been practiced to date is proposed. Mayor needs and components of such a network will be presented. This proposal is supported, in principle, by both WMO and IAEA, and has implications for all scientific groups involved in trace gas measurements.