Precise atmospheric oxygen measurements with a paramagnetic oxygen analyzer

Manning, Andrew C. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6952-7773, Keeling, Ralph F. and Severinghaus, Jeffrey P. (1999) Precise atmospheric oxygen measurements with a paramagnetic oxygen analyzer. Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 13 (4). pp. 1107-1115. ISSN 0886-6236

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Abstract

A methodology has been developed for making continuous, high-precision measurements of atmospheric oxygen concentrations by modifying a commercially available paramagnetic oxygen analyzer. Incorporating several design improvements, an effective precision of 0.2 ppm O-2 from repeated measurements over a 1-hour interval was achieved. This is sufficient to detect background changes in atmospheric O-2 to a level that constrains various aspects of the global carbon cycle. The analyzer was used to measure atmospheric O-2 in a semicontinuous fashion from air sampled from the end of Scripps Pier, La Jolla, California, and data from a 1-week period in August 1996 are shown. The data exhibit strongly anticorrelated changes in O-2 and CO2 caused by local or regional combustion of fossil fuels. During periods of steady background CO2 concentrations, however, we see additional variability in O-2 concentrations, clearly not due to local combustion and presumably due to oceanic sources or sinks of O-2. This variability suggests that in contrast to CO2, higher O-2 sampling rates, such as those provided by continuous measurement programs, may be necessary to define an atmospheric O-2 background and thus aid in validating and interpreting other O-2 data from flask sampling programs. Our results have also demonstrated that this paramagnetic analyzer and gas handling design is well suited for making continuous measurements of atmospheric O-2 and is suitable for placement at remote background air monitoring sites.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	southern-hemisphere air,global carbon-cycle,o2 concentration,co2
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Science > School of Environmental Sciences
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Centre for Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Climate, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences (former - to 2017) University of East Anglia Schools > Faculty of Science > Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research Faculty of Science > Research Centres > Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research
Depositing User:	Pure Connector
Date Deposited:	30 Apr 2015 12:40
Last Modified:	21 Oct 2022 00:51
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/53260
DOI:	10.1029/1999GB900054

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