Urban carbon dioxide cycles within the Salt Lake Valley: A multiple-box model validated by observations

A multiple-box model was developed to determine how meteorological, anthropogenic, and biological processes combine to produce diel cycles of carbon dioxide (CO2) mole fraction during each of the four calendar-based seasons within Salt Lake Valley, Utah, USA. The model was forced by observed winds, sounding-derived mixing depths, an anthropogenic CO2 emissions inventory, and net biological flux estimates based on temperature, solar radiation, and ecosystem type. The model was validated using hourly CO2 mole fractions measured at five sites in the urban Salt Lake Valley (uSLV) area for 2005-2009 (spatial average of observations denoted by C-obs). The model accounted for 53% of C-obs on an hourly basis, and accounted for 90-94% of the mean diel cycle of C-obs depending on season. The multiple-box model results indicated that CO2 change rates within the uSLV mean diel cycles were largely the result of imbalances between anthropogenic processes adding CO2 and meteorological processes removing or diluting CO2. Removal by wind (advection) was the most important CO2 reduction process on average, but dilution of CO2 by entrainment of air from above the mixing height overtook advection in importance between sunrise and midday. During summer mornings, CO2 reduction attributable to photosynthesis below shallow mixing heights was of intermediate importance between advection and entrainment, but the overall net effect of biological processes was the least important influence on CO2 change rates during each of the four seasons.