Air samples collected from the U campus are helping to provide a better understanding of carbon dioxide absorption in urban environments.
Researchers studied the air in the atmosphere to measure the amount of carbon dioxide absorbed by the earth’s ecosystems.
“The study assists in assessing the threat of global warming in the future,” said David Bowling, assistant professor of biology.
The focus of the study was to determine how much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is generated from natural gas combustion in home furnaces and gasoline combustion, said John Zobitz, a research assistant and doctoral student in mathematics.
“The research showed a daily variation,” Bowling said.
“The proportion of natural gas in the atmosphere increases in the early mornings due to people turning their furnaces on,” Zobitz explained. “During the evening hours, the proportion of carbon dioxide from gasoline increased as people returned from their work.”
Carbon dioxide rises into the atmosphere and then about half of it is reabsorbed by the earth’s ecosystems, Bowling said.
The study took place in the wintertime so that carbon dioxide could be accurately measured when tree leaves weren’t absorbing it, Bowling explained.
The instruments used to measure the air, called “samplers,” are designed to measure the isotope content of carbon dioxide, Bowling said.
Tubing inlets on the roof of the Aline Wilmot Skaggs Biology Research Building measure the air on the U campus. The instruments are visible as a small tower in the southwest corner of the building.
To make sure the research was correct, a mathematical model was developed to verify the researchers’ estimates and eliminate uncertainty in the estimates made by the other researchers, Zobitz explained.
“The results from my model were within the uncertainties of the other method, so we were able to conclude that our estimates were correct,” he said.