State of Environment
Indicator 11 - Atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gas species
Description
- Indicator Definition
- Measurement of air samples for values of the primary greenhouse gases (carbon
dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide) and associated species (carbon monoxide,
hydrogen and isotopes of carbon dioxide) in the Southern Hemisphere atmosphere.
Responsible organisation
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation ( Australia )
Custodians
No custodians.
Theme area
Atmosphere
Indicator type
Condition
Pressure
Criteria the indicator satisfies
The following 13 out of 15 criteria
1. | Serve as a robust indicator of environmental change |
2. | Reflect a fundamental or highly-valued aspect of the environment or an important environmental issue |
3. | Be either national in scope or applicable to regional environmental issues of national significance |
4. | Provide an early warning of potential problems |
5. | Be capable of being monitored to provide statistically verifiable and reproducible data that shows trends over time and, preferably, apply to a broad range of environmental regions |
6. | Be scientifically credible |
7. | Be easy to understand |
8. | Be monitored with relative ease |
9. | Be cost-effective |
10. | Have relevance to policy and management needs |
11. | Contribute to monitoring of progress towards implementing commitments in nationally important environmental policies |
13. | Contribute to the fulfillment of reporting obligations under international agreements |
15. | Where possible and appropriate, be consistent and comparable with other countries� and state and territory indicators |
Date input
Monthly measurements
Monitoring location
Geographic coverage
- Latitude (-90.0 to -41.0)
Longitude (62.0 to 159.0)
- Rationale For Indicator Selection
- Over the last century the concentration of greenhouse gases has risen in the
atmosphere. The average rise is about half that expected from human
activities, predominantly the burning of fossil fuel. Thus observations of the
concentration of these gases provides a measure of anthropogenic greenhouse
forcing in the atmosphere, and for example, monitors the effectiveness of
oceans and terrestrial biomes in removing the excess CO2.
Measurements of long-lived trace gas levels in Antarctic air generally provide
an accurate integration of global exchanges between the surface and the
atmosphere. The climate-influencing gases of main interest are gases released
as a result of human activity, as well as from (climate-driven) physical,
chemical and biological processes in both land and oceans. The Antarctic
monitoring, in concert with other global network results, exploits trace gas
ratios to identify and locate globally significant exchanges.
- Design and Strategy For Indicator Monitoring Program
- Spatial Scale: High latitude Southern Hemisphere air samples are collected
from AAD sites by BoM personnel at Mawson station, Casey station and Macquarie
Island, and by NOAA staff at South Pole. These complement CSIRO supervised
sites at Cape Grim, Tasmania and ~7 other globally distributed locations.
Frequency: Typical sites collect ~4 flasks of air per month for subsequent
analysis at CSIRO.
Measurement Technique: Various chemical analysis techniques (Francey et al.
1996).
- Research Issues
- For global trace gas monitoring, improvements are sought in network
intercalibration and in increased sampling, e.g. continuous CO2 monitoring,
vertical profiles, continental sites. More generally, improved coordination of
atmospheric composition modeling, surface flux measurements and atmospheric
transport representations are sought to serve new "multiple-constraint
modeling frameworks".
Data
Temporal range of the available data, as described by the metadata record, is from
01-Nov-1984
.
- Timespan
- May-1984 to December-2006
- Number of data points
- 5041
To view or download any of the data, you must be logged in
- Hide graphs for Cape Grim
Cape Grim: Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide concentration
Cape Grim: Atmospheric methane concentration
Cape Grim: Atmospheric nitrous oxide concentration
Cape Grim: Atmospheric Hydrogen concentration
Cape Grim: Atmospheric Carbon Monoxide concentration
Cape Grim: Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide - C13 isotope concentration
- View graphs for Casey
Casey: Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide concentration
Casey: Atmospheric methane concentration
Casey: Atmospheric nitrous oxide concentration
Casey: Atmospheric Hydrogen concentration
Casey: Atmospheric Carbon Monoxide concentration
- View graphs for Macquarie Island
Macquarie Island: Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide concentration
Macquarie Island: Atmospheric methane concentration
Macquarie Island: Atmospheric nitrous oxide concentration
Macquarie Island: Atmospheric Hydrogen concentration
Macquarie Island: Atmospheric Carbon Monoxide concentration
Macquarie Island: Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide - C13 isotope concentration
- View graphs for Mawson
Mawson: Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide concentration
Mawson: Atmospheric methane concentration
Mawson: Atmospheric nitrous oxide concentration
Mawson: Atmospheric Hydrogen concentration
Mawson: Atmospheric Carbon Monoxide concentration
Mawson: Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide - C13 isotope concentration
- View graphs for South Pole, Antarctica
South Pole, Antarctica: Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide concentration
South Pole, Antarctica: Atmospheric methane concentration
South Pole, Antarctica: Atmospheric nitrous oxide concentration
South Pole, Antarctica: Atmospheric Hydrogen concentration
South Pole, Antarctica: Atmospheric Carbon Monoxide concentration
South Pole, Antarctica: Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide - C13 isotope concentration
Data quality, interpretation and analysis of indicator data
- '
- Because all these gases have long lifetimes in the atmosphere, the measurements at mid-to-high southern latitudes are representative of global values (after allowance for seasonal differences and transport between hemispheres). Trends in these gases would be recorded and compared with emission rates. The values should also be compared with pre-industrial levels.
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- CSIRO sites contribute to integrated global networks as part of the WMO Global Atmospheric Watch program. The small differences between sites are used, along with atmospheric transport models and prior (independent) information on regional processes, to monitor regional contributions to the global changes. The southern hemisphere sites in particular need to be reconciled with CO2 partial pressure measurements (from ships) and monitored for possible Southern Ocean circulation changes due to global warming.
- '
Data usage constraints
'
This data set conforms to the PICCCBY Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).
Please follow instructions listed in the citation reference provided at http://data.aad.gov.au/aadc/metadata/citation.cfm?entry_id=SOE_greenhouse_gas when using these data.
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Data access constraints
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See the URL below for State of the Environment indicator 11 for access to these data.
A copy of the raw data are also available for download from the URL given below.
'
Custodian evaluation
8 May 2002
The three gases carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) together contribute around 70% of the anthropogenic greenhouse forcing. All three gases have lifetimes much longer than interhemispheric mixing and the major source and sink regions are in the northern hemisphere. Thus detection of coherent changes at high southern latitudes is an unambiguous indication of global change. The following report describes data from the CSIRO network including Mawson, Casey, Macquarie Island (also Cape Grim, South Pole). Since 1999, there has been has been a dramatic slowdown at all southern sites in the annual growth of methane that is unprecedented in the last two decades of monitoring. The growth rate is actually negative in 2001/2002, and remains zero or less over the last three years. The annual average level in 2001 was 1706 ppb. Over the last 8 years, global CO2 has increased at 1.75 ppm/year, significantly above the 1.5 ppm/year of the previous decade. Record growth rates in 1997/98 attributed in part to huge tropical biomass burning, contribute to this increased long-term growth. The annual average level in 2001 was 368.3 ppm. The N2O trends share many features with CO2. Over the last 8 years the increase has been 0.8 ppb/year with higher growth around the 1997-1998 period. The annual average level in 2001 was 316 ppb.
11 Nov 2002
Condition scale - 0 - cannot be set
1 - the environment degraded to the point where rehabilitation is impossible
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7 - the environment is pristine, in perfect condition, no anthropogenic influences
Pressure scale - 6
1 - undetectable external pressure on the environment
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7 - extreme external pressure on the environment, degradation accelerating
State of Knowledge scale - 4 - Fair
1 - Poor
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7 - Excellent
For definitions of the Scale categories, consult the
Explanation of the Status Categories
Related resources
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Project 98 - Antarctic and Southern Ocean atmospheric aerosol study
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Project 1133 - The consequences of elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations on inorganic carbon acquisition and photosynthetic performance of Antarctic macroalgae
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Project 2282 - Atmospheric sulfur species at high southern latitudes
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Scientific Bibliography 17284
- Francey, Roger J., Paul (L.P.) Steele, Ray L. Langenfelds, Marco Lucarelli, Colin E. Allison, David J. Beardsmore, Scott A. Coram, Nada Derek, Fred de Silva, David M. Etheridge, Paul J. Fraser, Reg J. Henry, Brian Turner and Emily D. Welch (1996). Global Atmospheric Sampling Laboratory (GASLAB) (1993) supporting and extending the Cape Grim trace gas programs, Baseline Atmospheric Program (Australia) 1993. (eds. R.J.Francey, A.L.Dick and N.Derek) Bureau of Meteorology and CSIRO Division of Atmospheric Research, Melbourne, pp 8-29.
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Scientific Bibliography 17285
- Francey, R.J., P.J. Rayner and C.E. Allison (2001) Constraining the global carbon budget from global to regional scales - the measurement challenge. In: Global Biogeochemical Cycles in the Climate System, Academic Press, New York, p245-252.
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SOE Indicator 1
- Monthly mean air temperatures at Australian Antarctic Stations
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SOE Indicator 2
- Highest monthly air temperatures at Australian Antarctic Stations
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SOE Indicator 3
- Lowest monthly air temperatures at Australian Antarctic Stations
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SOE Indicator 4
- Monthly mean lower stratospheric temperatures above Australian Antarctic Stations
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SOE Indicator 12
- Noctilucent cloud observations at Davis
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SOE Indicator 14
- Midwinter atmospheric temperature at altitude 87km
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Parameters
The properties link can be used to view details of the parameters measured for this indicator.
Parameter Name |
Unit of measure |
Properties |
Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide - C13 isotope concentration |
per mil |
Properties |
Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide concentration |
ppm |
Properties |
Atmospheric Carbon Monoxide concentration |
ppb |
Properties |
Atmospheric Hydrogen concentration |
ppb |
Properties |
Atmospheric methane concentration |
ppb |
Properties |
Atmospheric nitrous oxide concentration |
ppb |
Properties |
The following parameters and/or sensor notes are from the metadata record.
Parameters
EARTH SCIENCE
> ATMOSPHERE
> AIR QUALITY
> EMISSIONS
EARTH SCIENCE
> ATMOSPHERE
> ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY
> CARBON AND HYDROCARBON COMPOUNDS
EARTH SCIENCE
> ATMOSPHERE
> ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY
> CARBON AND HYDROCARBON COMPOUNDS
EARTH SCIENCE
> ATMOSPHERE
> ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY
> CARBON AND HYDROCARBON COMPOUNDS
EARTH SCIENCE
> ATMOSPHERE
> ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY
> NITROGEN COMPOUNDS
EARTH SCIENCE
> ATMOSPHERE
> ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY
> TRACE GASES/TRACE SPECIES
Sensors
FLASKS
Related URLs
http://data.aad.gov.au/aadc/metadata/citation.cfm?entry_id=SOE_greenhouse_gas
Citation reference for this metadata record and dataset
http://data.aad.gov.au/aadc/portal/download_file.cfm?file_id=1272
Download page for Australian Antarctic Data Centre
http://data.aad.gov.au/aadc/portal/download_file.cfm?file_id=1992
Download point for the raw data