Project

The Carbon Atmosphere Tracer Research to Improve Numerics and Evaluation (CATRINE)

We aim to improve the accuracy of numerical models that exchange and transport greenhouse gases through the atmosphere, with the ultimate goal to improve emissions monitoring.

Many greenhouse gases, be they from the biosphere, the soil or from humans, are emitted or taken up at the surface at extremely small scales: through leaf stomata, from smokestacks etc., and are thus moved around by atmospheric dynamics on a very large range of scales: From turbulent plumes, through convective clouds and by synoptic weather systems.

In this project, we use i) extremely high-resolution large-eddy simulation models DALES and MicroHH fed by realistic weather and surface-emissions data, ii) long-term observations from the Cabauw, Loobos and Amazon-Tall Tower Observatory sites and iii) intensive observations during the CloudRoots-Amazon and various Ruisdael field campaigns, to validate how dynamics from metre-to-megametre scales control the transport of CO2 in the Integrated Forecasting System of the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts.

Figure 1: Conceptual overview of CO2 mixing through turbulence and clouds above the Amazon rain forest
Figure 1: Conceptual overview of CO2 mixing through turbulence and clouds above the Amazon rain forest

Publications