Articles | Volume 16, issue 6
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1551-2023
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1551-2023
Research article
 | 
24 Mar 2023
Research article |  | 24 Mar 2023

Short-term variability of atmospheric helium revealed through a cryo-enrichment method

Benjamin Birner, Eric Morgan, and Ralph F. Keeling

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Cited articles

Birner, B., Chipperfield, M. P., Morgan, E. J., Stephens, B. B., Linz, M., Feng, W., Wilson, C., Bent, J. D., Wofsy, S. C., Severinghaus, J., and Keeling, R. F.: Gravitational separation of Ar/N2 and age of air in the lowermost stratosphere in airborne observations and a chemical transport model, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 12391–12408, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-12391-2020, 2020. 
Birner, B., Paplawsky, W., Severinghaus, J., and Keeling, R. F.: A method for resolving changes in atmospheric He/N2 as an indicator of fossil fuel extraction and stratospheric circulation, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 2515–2527, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-2515-2021, 2021. 
Birner, B., Severinghaus, J., Paplawsky, B., and Keeling, R. F.: Increasing atmospheric helium due to fossil fuel exploitation, Nat. Geosci., 15, 346–348, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-022-00932-3, 2022a. 
Birner, B., Morgan, E., and Keeling, R.: Data from: Short-term variability of atmospheric helium revealed through a cryo-enrichment method, UC San Diego Library Digital Collections [data set], https://doi.org/10.6075/J0J966JF, 2022b. 
Blaine, T. W., Keeling, R. F., and Paplawsky, W. J.: An improved inlet for precisely measuring the atmospheric Ar/N2 ratio, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 6, 1181–1184, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-6-1181-2006, 2006. 
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Short summary
Atmospheric variations of helium (He) and CO2 are strongly linked due to the co-release of both gases from natural-gas burning. This implies that atmospheric He measurements may be a potentially powerful tool for verifying reported anthropogenic natural-gas usage. Here, we present the development and initial results of a novel measurement system of atmospheric He that paves the way for establishing a global monitoring network in the future.