CONTINUOUS CO AND H-2 MEASUREMENTS AT MT CIMONE (ITALY) - PRELIMINARY-RESULTS

Continuous measurements of atmospheric CO and H-2 were carried out in situ at Mt. Cimone, northern Italy (44 degrees 12'N, 10 degrees 42'E, 2165 m a.s.l.), from May 1994 to date. The preliminary results (1994) are given in this article. Owing to the infrequent exposure to the inf luence of urban and industrial pollution and in spite of the continent al location of the station,low CO and H-2 concentrations (means of 164 for CO and of 582 ppbv for H-2) were observed over most of the time. Their order of magnitude is comparable to what was found in other simi lar locations of the northern hemisphere, at similar latitudes. A few examples of different conditions, like pollution from the Po valley (C O increase) or transportation of air masses from the Sahara (CO decrea se), are given. CO and H-2 concentrations show different types of corr elation with other chemical species (CO2, O-3, used also as tracers) m easured routinely at Mt. Cimone, as well as with meteorological and ph ysical parameters. Copyright (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.