Carbon monoxide mixing ratio variations over Peninsular Malaysia from AIRS observation: 2003–2009

Carbon monoxide (CO) is an important pervasive atmosphere trace gas affecting to the climate. Worldwide, the anthropogenic sources produce about 50% of CO emissions with the remainder coming from biomass burning and oxidation. The CO plays as a significant indirect greenhouse gases due to its influences on the budgets of hydroxyl radicals (OH) and Ozone (O₃). Results from the analysis of the retrieved monthly (AIRX3STM) 1°×1° spatial resolution, from the Atmosphere infrared sounder (AIRS) data were utilized to analyze the distribution of CO mixing ratio in Peninsular Malaysia for the period 2003-2009. AIRS is one of the several instruments onboard the Earth Observing System (EOS), onboard NASA´s Aqua Satellite, launched on May 4, 2002. The analysis for five dispersed stations shows the quasi-biennial variation in CO over study area in October is plainly evident in the monthly average AIRS CO figures. Maximum values occur in 2004, 2005, and 2008, with minima in 2003, 2006, 2007 and 2009. The highest values of CO occurred during biomass burning in dry season, and over the industrial and congested urban zones. A greater draws down of the CO occurs over the pristine continental environment in the northeast region regions on June at Perak (101.5°×5°) during the wet season. The high values of CO coincide with the impact of El Nino, especially in the southern region. The monthly CO total column maps for 2009 were generated using Kriging Interpolation technique. The AIRS data and the Satellite measurements are able to measure the increase of the atmosphere CO concentrations over different regions.