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carbon monoxide; isotopic composition; fossil fuel combustion; biomass burning; box model
Abstract:
CO concentration and its isotopic composition (C-13, C-14, O-17 and O-18) are used to characterize air pollution events observed at Schauinland, Germany. in August 2000. After determination of the background signal, we could identify and characterize five pollution events. Particularly, (CO)-C-14 and delta(18)O variations help to determine the nature of the pollution source (fossil fuel or biomass combustion) and its origin (local or regional/continental). By using a box model, further information about the age of the polluted air mass is derived. We particularly establish that one polluted air mass was about 10 days old and that this event was due to long-range transport of products emitted from forest fires in Canada. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
