Month: August 2023

** We will be back shortly after some equipment, calibration and software updates**  We have updated the software for the city centre site at Petrie Terrace, and retrieved Friday’s unusual and strongly wind-affected data – see the chart here, but lost yesterday’s data in the process, so only Chapel Hill and Bellbird Park values are shown for yesterday.  Following the unusual high winds, Saturday’s concentrations remained exceptionally low at 396 and 398 ppm for the daily average at Chapel Hill and Bellbird Park, respectively. The difference between these values and the more typical levels (~430 ppm) is an index of the urban carbon dioxide emissions which normally lead to values above the ‘well-mixed” air above the atmospheric boundary layer. 

Today’s third chart shows data from a study of a residential suburb of Tokyo twenty years ago – with winter-time values about 40 ppm lower than for Brisbane’s typical values currently (Chart 2), and summer-time values about 70 ppm lower.

Daily Averages – Phase 2 (See explanation of differences between Phase 1 and Phase 2 data)

For reference, latest monthly average (July 2023) from CSIRO for Kennaook/Cape Grim in NW Tasmania was 416.6 ppm. (Note – these are provisional values, subject to revision folllowing sensor re-calibrations and other checks.)

The city centre site at Petrie Terrace has a communication problem, so Friday’s data is available for only for Chapel Hill and Bellbird Park.  [UPDATE: We have retrieved the missing data, and have replaced the graphs to show all three sites]. Friday saw a very notable change from the typical pattern, with large drops across the day, almost certainly associated with the high winds cleaning out accumulated emissions.  The third chart illustrates this unusual pattern for Chapel Hill, by also showing the +1 to -1 standard deviation band for the last 21 days. At sunrise (when winds typically pick up), the CO2 concentration fell rapidly from an above average level to well below normal values, and the gap between yesterday’s levels and typical values continued to widen throughout the afternoon and evening.

Daily Averages – Phase 2 (See explanation of differences between Phase 1 and Phase 2 data)

For reference, latest monthly average (July 2023) from CSIRO for Kennaook/Cape Grim in NW Tasmania was 416.6 ppm. (Note – these are provisional values, subject to revision folllowing sensor re-calibrations and other checks.)

The city centre site at Petrie Terrace is reporting again – at 436 ppm for Thursday – where it left off, for an average across sites for the day of 429 ppm. 

Today’s third chart shows the vehicle used by researchers at Osaka Prefecture University to record carbon dioxide and methane levels in the Sakai region of the Osaka urban area.  Note the modified wing mirror attachments used to collect air samples. They conclude that “high CO₂ emissions were measured throughout the commercial and industrial areas, which may have been due to the high levels of fossil fuel combustion and road traffic. In contrast, the residential and suburban areas emitted low levels of CO₂ due to the low human activity and vegetative CO₂ uptake in those areas.” 

Daily Averages – Phase 2 (See explanation of differences between Phase 1 and Phase 2 data)

For reference, latest monthly average (July 2023) from CSIRO for Kennaook/Cape Grim in NW Tasmania was 416.6 ppm. (Note – these are provisional values, subject to revision folllowing sensor re-calibrations and other checks.)

Levels at Chapel Hill and Bellbird Park somewhat lower than usual on Wednesday – the city centre site data will be available again tomorrow.

Today’s third chart is from Europe’s Copernicus program, depicting July’s glopbal surface air temperature as the hottest July and hottest month in the ERA5 data record, which goes back to 1940.  https://climate.copernicus.eu/july-2023-sees-multiple-global-temperature-records-broken#:~:text=The%20monthly%20average%20temperature%20was,July%20(16.96%C2%B0C).

Daily Averages – Phase 2 (See explanation of differences between Phase 1 and Phase 2 data)

For reference, latest monthly average (June 2023) from CSIRO for Kennaook/Cape Grim in NW Tasmania was 416.1 ppm. (Note – these are provisional values, subject to revision folllowing sensor re-calibrations and other checks.)

After faithfully collecting 397,408 samples every 15 seconds without a break, the collection program for the CBD (Petrie Terrace) sensor halted, and has been re-started.  Data for the 15th and 16th of August will be missing as a consequence. (Although partial data is recorded for each day, the anaysis programs expect even-length data-sets, so days with missing dataare not used). The site at Bellbird Park on the urban edge dropped to a daily average of 419 ppm on Tuesday.

Today’s third chart is from an eddy covcariance study in Tokyo, showing fluxes rather than concentrations.  This shows the erea to be a continuous net source, with the morningpeak attributed to a mix of traffic and heating emissions, and the evening peak predominantly to heating in this study.

Daily Averages – Phase 2 (See explanation of differences between Phase 1 and Phase 2 data)

For reference, latest monthly average (June 2023) from CSIRO for Kennaook/Cape Grim in NW Tasmania was 416.1 ppm. (Note – these are provisional values, subject to revision folllowing sensor re-calibrations and other checks.)