AirCore - L2 - All sites

The AirCore is an atmospheric sampler that allows the measurement of the vertical profiles (from the surface up to about 30 km of altitude) of atmospheric mixing ratio of greenhouse gases (CO2, CH4, CO, N2O). Initially proposed by NOAA (Tans, 2009 ; Karion et al., 2010; Membrive et al. 2017), it consists in a long tube of stainless steel placed under a meteorological balloon which, in the ascending phase, empties its air by its open end and is then filled progressively by the atmospheric air during its descent phase. The captured air column is then analyzed using a Picarro CRDS analyzer and finally interpreted in terms of profiles of vertical gas mixing ratio against pressure and altitude using other instruments onboard measuring in particular pressure and/or altitude (electronic board, meteosonde, GPS beacons).

Since 2013, several versions of AirCore have been developed by LMD (CNRS / Ecole Polytechnique / ENS Paris / Sorbonne University) and have then been deployed in partnership with CNES, LSCE (CNRS / CEA / University of Versailles-Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines), GSMA (CNRS / Université de Reims), OPGC (CNRS / Blaise Pascal University) and CARE-C (The Cyprus Institute), in various places around the globe. Regular launches are organized since 2016 at several stations that form the French AirCore program: Aire-sur-l’Adour (ASA), Traînou (TRN), Reims (MDH). Additional launches are organized during large-scale, multi-instrument field campaigns, such as MAGIC.

The development and deployment of AirCores are carried out in the framework of projects funded by the CNES, CNRS, CEA, Ecole polytechnique, IPSL, the European Union and the University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne.

The present AirCore-Fr network dataset comprises all Level 2 gas vertical profiles, along with Level 1 meteosonde and trajectory data, acquired by the French AirCore program from 2014 at all launch sites.