Tall Tower Trace Gas Observatory

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The Tall Tower Trace Gas Observatory has been supported by the National Science Foundation, Lower Atmosphere Chemistry Section, the Office of Science (BER) United States Department of Energy, and the United States Department of Agriculture - National Institute of Food and Agriculture. We express our sincere thanks to Minnesota Public Radio (KCMP 89.3 "The Current") and Tom Nelson for their logistical support.

The University of Minnesota tall tower trace gas observatory is located about 25 km south of the Saint Paul – Minneapolis Metropolitan area in the Upper Midwest, United States (KCMP radio tower, 44° 41ʹ 19ʺ N, 93° 40ʹ 22ʺ W; 290 m ASL).

The KCMP tall tower has been instrumented with meteorological and trace gas sensors since April 2007. Carbon dioxide, water vapor, nitrous oxide, and methane have been measured at sample heights of 32, 56, 100, and 185 m [Griffis et al., 2013; Zhang et al., 2014; Griffis et al., 2016]. Turbulence is measured at 100 and 185 m using sonic-anemometers (model CSAT3; Campbell Scientific Inc. Logan, Utah). Near-continuous measurement of NH3 mixing ratios was initiated in March 2017 using an off-axis cavity ring-down spectrometer (EAA-30-EP, Los Gatos Research (LGR), San Jose, CA, USA) with an enhanced thermal stability option to reduce measurement drift.

Climate eye in the sky

Please visit our data resource page for any data sets related to these tall tower measurements.

GlobalView CO2 data package

 

Posters and Presentations

Alex AGU 2022 Poster 12-10-22 cover

2022 AGU Poster - Comparison of Aircraft Observed, Remotely Sensed, and Modeled Ammonia Concentrations in the American Midwest