Instrumentation on commercial aircraft for monitoring the atmospheric composition on a global scale: the IAGOS system, technical overview of ozone and carbon monoxide measurements

Abstract

This article presents the In-service Aircraft of a Global Observing System (IAGOS) developed for operations on commercial long-range Airbus aircraft (A330/A340) for monitoring the atmospheric composition. IAGOS is the continuation of the former Measurement of OZone and water vapour on Airbus In-service airCraft (MOZAIC) programme (1994–2014) with five aircraft operated by European airlines over 20 yr. MOZAIC has provided unique scientific database used worldwide by the scientific community. In continuation of MOZAIC, IAGOS aims to equip a fleet up to 20 aircraft around the world and for operations over decades. IAGOS started in July 2011 with the first instruments installed aboard a Lufthansa A340-300, and a total of six aircraft are already in operation. We present the technical aircraft system concept, with basic instruments for O₃, CO, water vapour and clouds; and optional instruments for measuring either NO_y, NO_x, aerosols or CO₂/CH₄. In this article, we focus on the O₃ and CO instrumentation while other measurements are or will be described in specific papers. O₃ and CO are measured by optimised but well-known methods such as UV absorption and IR correlation, respectively. We describe the data processing/validation and the data quality control for O₃ and CO. Using the first two overlapping years of MOZAIC/IAGOS, we conclude that IAGOS can be considered as the continuation of MOZAIC with the same data quality of O₃ and CO measurements.

• IAGOS
• commercial aircraft
• ozone
• carbon monoxide
• instrumentation

6. Acknowledgements

IAGOS gratefully acknowledges financial support during its preparation, implementation and operation phase from the European Commission in FP6 and FP7 programmes, the IAGOS for the GMES Atmospheric Service national (IGAS), research programmes in Germany (BMBF), France (INSU-CNRS, MESR, CNES) and the UK (NERC), in addition to institutional resources in Germany (Helmholtz Association, Max-Planck-Society, Leibniz Association), France (Université de Toulouse, Météo-France) and the UK (University of Manchester, University of Cambridge) and the continuing support of participating airlines (Lufthansa, Air France, Iberia in Europe, China Airlines and Cathay Pacific in Asia). IAGOS emphasise the excellence of the industrial partners involved in the technical development and realisation: Sabena Technics Bordeaux for aircraft systems definition and certification, LGM Ingénierie for the instruments realisation and aeronautic qualification and enviscope GmbH Frankfort for operating the maintenance centre of IAGOS.