World Calibration Center for SF<sub>6</sub> – supporting the quality system of the global atmosphere observation
Abstract. According to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW) Strategic Plan: 2008–2015 (WMO, 2009a) WMO/GAW pays attention to systematical improvement of the quality of observations at global or regional monitoring sites. To ensure the comparability and compatibility of the measurements worldwide it is essential to maintain a traceability chain to the primary standard in the different laboratories around the world as well as to establish a quality control system. Sulfur hexafluoride (SF6), is reported to be very rare in the atmosphere at the global averaged annual mole fraction of about 7 ppt, it is one of the greenhouse gases regulated by Kyoto protocol and is increasing at a rate of 0.22 ppt yr−1. Development of a working (or transfer) standard with very low concentration of SF6 requires expert technologies and several knowhow of gas metrology. In order to meet the Data Quality Objective (DQO), the KMA has cooperated with the Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science (KRISS), which is the National Metrology Institute in South Korea. So long as the Central Calibration Laboratory (CCL) for SF6 was established, the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) is now trying to take another step forward to systematically support GAW stations in improving their traceability and quality system for SF6, thereby making a contribution to the WMO/GAW. Through hosting the World Calibration Center for SF6, which is one of GAW facilities, KMA will contribute to harmonization of the global SF6 observations in the long run. This work performed to demonstrate some measurement results on SF6 which complies with the DQOs and is traceable to the WMO mole fraction scale for SF6. In order to produce a working standard which is traceable to the WMO scale, we developed highly precise method of a Gas Chromatography/Electron Capture Detector (GC/ECD) calibrated against the five cylinders (from NOAA, 2011) of the WMO scale. For all analysis the measurement repeatability was < 0.02 ppt (standard deviation) and analyzer's stability was controlled within a drift of 0.02 ppt. Finally, a working standard which is consistent with WMO scale and satisfies the WMO DQOs of ±0.02 ppt was successfully produced and is ready to be transferred to the GAW stations.