Firn Record of Trace Gases Relevant to Atmospheric Chemical Change over 100 yrs (FIRETRACC/100)

This data was collected as a result of the FIRETRACC/100 (Firn Record of Trace Gases Relevant to Atmospheric Chemical Change over 100 yrs) project conducted in 1998 and 1999. The FIRETRACC project aimed to determine the history of numerous trace gases of both human (pollution) and natural origin over the 20th century in the global atmosphere. This was achieved by pumping old air out of deep unconsolidated snow (known as firn) that accumulates to depths of around 50 to 100 m on the polar ice caps of both hemispheres. The resulting firn air samples from the Arctic and Antarctic were returned to Europe and the US for multiple gas and isotope analysis in a number of research laboratories. The firn air samples were analysed for well over eighty separate trace gases (halocarbons, non-methane hydrocarbons, alkyl nitrates, sulphur species, etc.), and thirteen different isotopic measurements of CO2, CH4, CO and permanent gases (O2, N2, Ar, Kr).

In summary, the objectives of FIRETRACC/100 are as follows:

* To determine the global trends of trace gases relevant to troposphericchemistry over the 20th century. These will include CO, the isotopiccomposition of CO, hydrocarbons, alkyl nitrates, numerous OH-reactivehalocarbons (such as methyl chloride, methyl chloroform, methyl bromide,hydrochlofluorocarbons, etc.), and sulphur gases (COS, CS2, etc.). Trends of longer lived gases will also be determined for dating purposes (CO2, CFCs,SF6, perfluorocarbons, etc.)

* Determine the evolution of inter-hemispheric ratios of OH-sensitive species to constrain modelled global OH fields

* Examine ratios of parent hydrocarbons to alkyl nitrates to place constraints on NOX fields in models

* Elucidate the sources of CO from isotopic studies and use to deconvolute CO/methane coupling in models

* Reconstruct the history of ozone, OH and tropospheric oxidising capacity over the past 100 years using full chemistry 2-D models

* Determine the influence of 20th century industrialisation on the gas phase composition and chemistry of the lower atmosphere

The data consists of ‘primary’ data comprising simple concentration versus depth profiles, and for selected gases also ‘secondary’ data comprising reconstructed historical trends. The firn diffusion model, used in the model reconstruction, is also available through this site.

Date (Publication): 2006-12-10T03:03:33

Date (Creation): 2006-12-10T03:03:33

Citation identifier: https://catalogue.ceda.ac.uk/uuid/41a6e20ba98c4913ea6893e2fcb5aec5

Citation identifier: NCAS British Atmospheric Data Centre (NCAS BADC) / 41a6e20ba98c4913ea6893e2fcb5aec5

Point of contact

Organisation name	Individual name	Electronic mail address	Role
EU FIRETRACC Campaign participants		unknown	Author
Unavailable	Atlas, Elliot	Unavailable	Author
Unavailable	Barnola, J-M	Unavailable	Author
Unavailable	Brenninkmeijer, Carl	Unavailable	Author
Unavailable	Mulvaney, R.	Unavailable	Author
Unavailable	Schwander, J.	Unavailable	Author
Unavailable	Sturges, William T.	Unavailable	Author
Unavailable	Penkett, M.	Unavailable	Author
Unavailable	Penkett, Stuart A.	Unavailable	Author
Unavailable	Chappellaz, J.	Unavailable	Author
Unavailable	Jouzel, J.	Unavailable	Author
NCAS British Atmospheric Data Centre (NCAS BADC)		badc@rl.ac.uk	Custodian
NCAS British Atmospheric Data Centre (NCAS BADC)		badc@rl.ac.uk	Distributor
NCAS British Atmospheric Data Centre (NCAS BADC)		badc@rl.ac.uk	pointofContact
NCAS British Atmospheric Data Centre (NCAS BADC)		badc@rl.ac.uk	Publisher

Maintenance and update frequency: Unknown

Update scope: Series

Keywords

FIRETRACC
Chemistry
Aerosols

GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0

atmospheric conditions

Access constraints: Other restrictions

Other constraints: Please contact the data centre for assistance on accessing data from this dataset collection.

Use constraints: Other restrictions

Other constraints: Under the following licence http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/, appropriate use of these data may fall under any use. This message is intended as guidance, always read the full licence. When using these data you must cite them correctly using the citation given on the CEDA Data Catalogue record.

Spatial representation type: Grid

Language: English

Topic category

Climatology, meteorology, atmosphere

Begin date: 1998-03-31T23:00:00

End date: 1998-04-29T23:00:00

Unique resource identifier: WGS 84

Distribution format

Name	Version
Contact data centre for format details.

Distributor contact

Organisation name	Individual name	Electronic mail address	Role
NCAS British Atmospheric Data Centre (NCAS BADC)		badc@rl.ac.uk	Distributor

OnLine resource

Protocol	Linkage	Name
	https://catalogue.ceda.ac.uk/uuid/41a6e20ba98c4913ea6893e2fcb5aec5	CEDA Data Catalogue Page

OnLine resource

Protocol	Linkage	Name
	http://cordis.europa.eu/env/home.html	The European Commission Environment and Climate Programme (4th Framework) website

OnLine resource

Protocol	Linkage	Name
	http://cdiac.esd.ornl.gov/home.html	Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center

OnLine resource

Protocol	Linkage	Name
	https://www.bas.ac.uk/	British Antarctic Survey

OnLine resource

Protocol	Linkage	Name
	http://www.climate.unibe.ch/	Climate and Environmental Physics, University of Bern

OnLine resource

Protocol	Linkage	Name
	http://nsidc.org/noaa/	National Snow and Ice Data Centre

OnLine resource

Protocol	Linkage	Name
	https://artefacts.ceda.ac.uk/badc_datadocs/firetracc/firetracc_help.html	BADC Doc: FIRETRACC Help file

OnLine resource

Protocol	Linkage	Name
	https://artefacts.ceda.ac.uk/badc_datadocs/firetracc/references.html	BADC Doc: FIRETRACC List of References

Hierarchy level: Series

Conformance result

Title: Commission Regulation (EU) No 1089/2010 of 23 November 2010 implementing Directive 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards interoperability of spatial data sets and services

Date (Publication): 2010-12-08

Statement: Please see data lineage statements for each dataset within this collection for data lineage details.

Metadata

File identifier: 41a6e20ba98c4913ea6893e2fcb5aec5 XML

Metadata language: English

Character set: UTF8

Hierarchy level: Series

Hierarchy level name: series

Date stamp: 2026-03-01T03:27:11

Metadata standard name: UK GEMINI

Metadata standard version: 2.3

Metadata author

Organisation name	Individual name	Electronic mail address	Role
NCAS British Atmospheric Data Centre (NCAS BADC)		badc@rl.ac.uk	Point of contact

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