Inter-comparison of four different carbon monoxide measurements techniques and evaluation of the long-term carbon monoxide time series of Jungfraujoch.

The 12-year record (1996-2007) of continuous carbon monoxide (CO) measurements of the high-alpine site Jungfraujoch (JFJ), Switzerland, was investigated with a focus on trend analysis. To date this is one of the longest time series of continuous CO measurements in the free troposphere over Central Europe. A significant negative trend was observed at JFJ with a decrease of 21.4±0.3% in the investigated period, or an average annual decrease of 2.65±0.04 ppb/yr (1.78%/yr). These results were compared with emission inventory data reported to the Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution (LRTAP) Convention. It could be shown that long range transport significantly influences the CO levels observed at JFJ, with air masses of non-European origin contributing to at least a third to observed mixing ratios. Such trend analysis and inter-comparison with emission inventories are only possible with data of known quality. To this end, the Non-dispersive Infrared Absorption (NDIR) technique used for CO measurements at JFJ was inter-compared over two months using three additional analytical techniques, namely Vacuum UV Resonance Fluorescence (VURF), gas chromatographic separation with a mercuric oxide reduction detector (GC/HgO), and gas chromatographic separation followed by reduction on a nickel catalyst and analysis by a flame ionization detector (GC/FID). The agreement among all techniques was better than 2% for one-hourly averages which confirmed the suitability of the NDIR method for CO measurements even at remote sites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]