scholarly journals Inverse modeling of CO<sub>2</sub> sources and sinks using satellite observations of CO<sub>2</sub> from TES and surface flask measurements

2011 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 4263-4311 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Nassar ◽  
D. B. A. Jones ◽  
S. S. Kulawik ◽  
J. R. Worden ◽  
K. W. Bowman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Joint Inversion ◽  
Surface Fluxes ◽  
Satellite Observations ◽  
Global Ocean ◽  
Sources And Sinks ◽  
Global Land ◽  
Surface Measurements ◽  
Low Sensitivity ◽  
The Tropics ◽  
Inversion Analysis

Abstract. We infer CO2 surface fluxes using satellite observations of mid-tropospheric CO2 from the Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES) and measurements of CO2 from surface flasks in a time-independent inversion analysis based on the GEOS-Chem model. Using TES CO2 observations over oceans, spanning 40° S–40° N, we find that the horizontal and vertical coverage of the TES and flask data are complementary. This complementarity is demonstrated by combining the datasets in a joint inversion, which provides better constraints than from either dataset alone, when a posteriori CO2 distributions are evaluated against independent ship and aircraft CO2 data. In particular, the joint inversion offers improved constraints in the tropics where surface measurements are sparse, such as the tropical forests of South America, which the joint inversion suggests was a weak sink of −0.17 ± 0.20 Pg C in 2006. Aggregating the annual surface-to-atmosphere fluxes from the joint inversion yields −1.13 ± 0.21 Pg C for the global ocean, −2.77 ± 0.20 Pg C for the global land biosphere and −3.90 ± 0.29 Pg C for the total global natural flux (defined as the sum of all biospheric, oceanic, and biomass burning contributions but excluding CO2 emissions from fossil fuel combustion). These global ocean, global land and total global fluxes are shown to be in the range of other inversion results for 2006. To achieve these results, a latitude dependent bias in TES CO2 in the Southern Hemisphere was assessed and corrected using aircraft flask data, and we demonstrate that our results have low sensitivity to variations in the bias correction approach. Overall, this analysis suggests that future carbon data assimilation systems can benefit by integrating in situ and satellite observations of CO2 and that the vertical information provided by satellite observations of mid-tropospheric CO2 combined with measurements of surface CO2, provides an important additional constraint for flux inversions.

scholarly journals Inverse modeling of CO<sub>2</sub> sources and sinks using satellite observations of CO<sub>2</sub> from TES and surface flask measurements

2011 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 6029-6047 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Nassar ◽  
D. B. A. Jones ◽  
S. S. Kulawik ◽  
J. R. Worden ◽  
K. W. Bowman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Joint Inversion ◽  
Surface Fluxes ◽  
Satellite Observations ◽  
Global Ocean ◽  
Sources And Sinks ◽  
Global Land ◽  
Surface Measurements ◽  
Low Sensitivity ◽  
The Tropics ◽  
Inversion Analysis

Abstract. We infer CO2 surface fluxes using satellite observations of mid-tropospheric CO2 from the Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES) and measurements of CO2 from surface flasks in a time-independent inversion analysis based on the GEOS-Chem model. Using TES CO2 observations over oceans, spanning 40° S–40° N, we find that the horizontal and vertical coverage of the TES and flask data are complementary. This complementarity is demonstrated by combining the datasets in a joint inversion, which provides better constraints than from either dataset alone, when a posteriori CO2 distributions are evaluated against independent ship and aircraft CO2 data. In particular, the joint inversion offers improved constraints in the tropics where surface measurements are sparse, such as the tropical forests of South America. Aggregating the annual surface-to-atmosphere fluxes from the joint inversion for the year 2006 yields −1.13±0.21 Pg C for the global ocean, −2.77±0.20 Pg C for the global land biosphere and −3.90±0.29 Pg C for the total global natural flux (defined as the sum of all biospheric, oceanic, and biomass burning contributions but excluding CO2 emissions from fossil fuel combustion). These global ocean and global land fluxes are shown to be near the median of the broad range of values from other inversion results for 2006. To achieve these results, a bias in TES CO2 in the Southern Hemisphere was assessed and corrected using aircraft flask data, and we demonstrate that our results have low sensitivity to variations in the bias correction approach. Overall, this analysis suggests that future carbon data assimilation systems can benefit by integrating in situ and satellite observations of CO2 and that the vertical information provided by satellite observations of mid-tropospheric CO2 combined with measurements of surface CO2, provides an important additional constraint for flux inversions.

scholarly journals Global CO<sub>2</sub> fluxes estimated from GOSAT retrievals of total column CO<sub>2</sub>

2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (17) ◽  
pp. 8695-8717 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Basu ◽  
S. Guerlet ◽  
A. Butz ◽  
S. Houweling ◽  
O. Hasekamp ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bias Correction ◽  
Seasonal Cycle ◽  
Joint Inversion ◽  
Surface Fluxes ◽  
Global Land ◽  
Net Uptake ◽  
Surface Measurements ◽  
Source Sink ◽  
The Tropics ◽  
Total Column

Abstract. We present one of the first estimates of the global distribution of CO2 surface fluxes using total column CO2 measurements retrieved by the SRON-KIT RemoTeC algorithm from the Greenhouse gases Observing SATellite (GOSAT). We derive optimized fluxes from June 2009 to December 2010. We estimate fluxes from surface CO2 measurements to use as baselines for comparing GOSAT data-derived fluxes. Assimilating only GOSAT data, we can reproduce the observed CO2 time series at surface and TCCON sites in the tropics and the northern extra-tropics. In contrast, in the southern extra-tropics GOSAT XCO2 leads to enhanced seasonal cycle amplitudes compared to independent measurements, and we identify it as the result of a land–sea bias in our GOSAT XCO2 retrievals. A bias correction in the form of a global offset between GOSAT land and sea pixels in a joint inversion of satellite and surface measurements of CO2 yields plausible global flux estimates which are more tightly constrained than in an inversion using surface CO2 data alone. We show that assimilating the bias-corrected GOSAT data on top of surface CO2 data (a) reduces the estimated global land sink of CO2, and (b) shifts the terrestrial net uptake of carbon from the tropics to the extra-tropics. It is concluded that while GOSAT total column CO2 provide useful constraints for source–sink inversions, small spatiotemporal biases – beyond what can be detected using current validation techniques – have serious consequences for optimized fluxes, even aggregated over continental scales.

scholarly journals Global CO<sub>2</sub> fluxes estimated from GOSAT retrievals of total column CO<sub>2</sub>

2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 4535-4600 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Basu ◽  
S. Guerlet ◽  
A. Butz ◽  
S. Houweling ◽  
O. Hasekamp ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bias Correction ◽  
Seasonal Cycle ◽  
Joint Inversion ◽  
Surface Fluxes ◽  
Global Land ◽  
Net Uptake ◽  
Surface Measurements ◽  
Source Sink ◽  
The Tropics ◽  
Total Column

Abstract. We present one of the first estimates of the global distribution of CO2 surface fluxes using total column CO2 measurements retrieved from the Greenhouse gases Observing SATellite (GOSAT). We derive optimized fluxes from June 2009 to December 2010. We estimate fluxes from surface CO2 measurements to use as baselines for comparing GOSAT data-derived fluxes. Assimilating only GOSAT data, we can reproduce the observed CO2 time series at surface and TCCON sites in the tropics and the northern extra-tropics. In contrast, in the southern extra-tropics GOSAT XCO2 leads to enhanced seasonal cycle amplitudes compared to independent measurements, and we identify it as the result of a land-sea bias in our GOSAT XCO2 retrievals. A bias correction in the form of a global offset between GOSAT land and sea pixels in a joint inversion of satellite and surface measurements of CO2 yields plausible global flux estimates which are more tightly constrained than in an inversion using surface CO2 data alone. We show that assimilating the bias-corrected GOSAT data on top of surface CO2 data (a) reduces the estimated global land sink of CO2, and (b) shifts the terrestrial net uptake of carbon from the tropics to the extra-tropics. It is concluded that while GOSAT total column CO2 provide useful constraints for source-sink inversions, small spatiotemporal biases – beyond what can be detected using current validation techniques – have serious consequences for optimized fluxes, even aggregated over continental scales.

scholarly journals Accelerating methane growth rate from 2010 to 2017: leading contributions from the tropics and East Asia

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yi Yin ◽  
Frederic Chevallier ◽  
Philippe Ciais ◽  
Philippe Bousquet ◽  
Marielle Saunois ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Growth Rate ◽  
Carbon Monoxide ◽  
Satellite Observations ◽  
Anthropogenic Emissions ◽  
Atmospheric Methane ◽  
Sources And Sinks ◽  
Ch4 Emissions ◽  
Significant Acceleration ◽  
Oxidation Chain ◽  
The Tropics

Abstract. After stagnating in the early 2000s, the atmospheric methane growth rate has been positive since 2007 with a significant acceleration starting in 2014. While causes for previous growth rate variations are still not well determined, this recent increase can be studied with dense surface and satellite observations. Here, we use an ensemble of six multi-tracer atmospheric inversions that have the capacity to assimilate the major tracers in the methane oxidation chain – namely methane, formaldehyde, and carbon monoxide – to simultaneously optimize both the methane sources and sinks at each model grid. We show that the recent surge of the atmospheric growth rate between 2010–2013 and 2014–2017 is most likely explained by an increase of global CH4 emissions by 17.5 ± 1.5 Tg yr−1 (mean ± 1σ), while variations in CH4 sinks remained small. The inferred emission increase is consistently supported by both surface and satellite observations, with leading contributions from the tropics wetlands (~ 35 %) and anthropogenic emissions in China (~ 20 %). Such a high consecutive atmospheric growth rate has not been observed since the 1980s and corresponds to unprecedented global total CH4 emissions.

scholarly journals On the use of satellite-derived CH<sub>4</sub> : CO<sub>2</sub> columns in a joint inversion of CH<sub>4</sub> and CO<sub>2</sub> fluxes

2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (15) ◽  
pp. 8615-8629 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Pandey ◽  
S. Houweling ◽  
M. Krol ◽  
I. Aben ◽  
T. Röckmann
Keyword(s):  
Joint Inversion ◽  
Surface Fluxes ◽  
Surface Measurement ◽  
Ratio Method ◽  
Co2 Fluxes ◽  
Hard Constraints ◽  
Surface Measurements ◽  
Total Column ◽  
Dual Tracer ◽  
Better Than

Abstract. We present a method for assimilating total column CH4 : CO2 ratio measurements from satellites for inverse modeling of CH4 and CO2 fluxes using the variational approach. Unlike conventional approaches, in which retrieved CH4 : CO2 are multiplied by model-derived total column CO2 and only the resulting CH4 is assimilated, our method assimilates the ratio of CH4 and CO2 directly and is therefore called the ratio method. It is a dual tracer inversion, in which surface fluxes of CH4 and CO2 are optimized simultaneously. The optimization of CO2 fluxes turns the hard constraint of prescribing model-derived CO2 fields into a weak constraint on CO2, which allows us to account for uncertainties in CO2. The method has been successfully tested in a synthetic inversion setup. We show that the ratio method is able to reproduce assumed true CH4 and CO2 fluxes starting from a prior, which is derived by perturbing the true fluxes randomly. We compare the performance of the ratio method with that of the traditional proxy approach and the use of only surface measurements for estimating CH4 fluxes. Our results confirm that the optimized CH4 fluxes are sensitive to the treatment of CO2, and that hard constraints on CO2 may significantly compromise results that are obtained for CH4. We find that the relative performance of ratio and proxy methods have a regional dependence. The ratio method performs better than the proxy method in regions where the CO2 fluxes are most uncertain. However, both ratio and proxy methods perform better than the surface-measurement-only inversion, confirming the potential of spaceborne measurements for accurately determining fluxes of CH4 and other greenhouse gases (GHGs).

scholarly journals Accelerating methane growth rate from 2010 to 2017: leading contributions from the tropics and East Asia

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (16) ◽  
pp. 12631-12647
Author(s):  
Yi Yin ◽  
Frederic Chevallier ◽  
Philippe Ciais ◽  
Philippe Bousquet ◽  
Marielle Saunois ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Growth Rate ◽  
Satellite Observations ◽  
Anthropogenic Emissions ◽  
Atmospheric Methane ◽  
Tropical Wetlands ◽  
Sources And Sinks ◽  
Ch4 Emissions ◽  
Significant Acceleration ◽  
Oxidation Chain ◽  
The Tropics

Abstract. After stagnating in the early 2000s, the atmospheric methane growth rate has been positive since 2007 with a significant acceleration starting in 2014. While the causes for previous growth rate variations are still not well determined, this recent increase can be studied with dense surface and satellite observations. Here, we use an ensemble of six multi-species atmospheric inversions that have the capacity to assimilate observations of the main species in the methane oxidation chain – namely, methane, formaldehyde, and carbon monoxide – to simultaneously optimize both the methane sources and sinks at each model grid. We show that the surge of the atmospheric growth rate between 2010–2013 and 2014–2017 is most likely explained by an increase of global CH4 emissions by 17.5±1.5 Tg yr−1 (mean ± 1σ), while variations in the hydroxyl radicals (OH) remained small. The inferred emission increase is consistently supported by both surface and satellite observations, with leading contributions from the tropical wetlands (∼ 35 %) and anthropogenic emissions in China (∼ 20 %). Such a high consecutive atmospheric growth rate has not been observed since the 1980s and corresponds to unprecedented global total CH4 emissions.

scholarly journals Global Ocean Studies from CALIOP/CALIPSO by Removing Polarization Crosstalk Effects

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (14) ◽  
pp. 2769
Author(s):  
Xiaomei Lu ◽  
Yongxiang Hu ◽  
Ali Omar ◽  
Rosemary Baize ◽  
Mark Vaughan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Polarization Plane ◽  
Optical Power ◽  
Satellite Observations ◽  
Global Ocean ◽  
Reference Plane ◽  
Orthogonal Polarization ◽  
True Value ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Oriented Parallel ◽  
532 Nm

Recent studies indicate that the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP) aboard the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO) satellite provides valuable information about ocean phytoplankton distributions. CALIOP’s attenuated backscatter coefficients, measured at 532 nm in receiver channels oriented parallel and perpendicular to the laser’s linear polarization plane, are significantly improved in the Version 4 data product. However, due to non-ideal instrument effects, a small fraction of the backscattered optical power polarized parallel to the receiver polarization reference plane is misdirected into the perpendicular channel, and vice versa. This effect, known as polarization crosstalk, typically causes the measured perpendicular signal to be higher than its true value and the measured parallel signal to be lower than its true value. Therefore, the ocean optical properties derived directly from CALIOP’s measured signals will be biased if the polarization crosstalk effect is not taken into account. This paper presents methods that can be used to estimate the CALIOP crosstalk effects from on-orbit measurements. The global ocean depolarization ratios calculated both before and after removing the crosstalk effects are compared. Using CALIOP crosstalk-corrected signals is highly recommended for all ocean subsurface studies.

scholarly journals Quantifying lower tropospheric methane concentrations using GOSAT near-IR and TES thermal IR measurements

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (8) ◽  
pp. 3433-3445 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. R. Worden ◽  
A. J. Turner ◽  
A. Bloom ◽  
S. S. Kulawik ◽  
J. Liu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Near Infrared ◽  
Surface Fluxes ◽  
Vertical Profiles ◽  
Monthly Average ◽  
Near Ir ◽  
Surface Measurements ◽  
Increased Sensitivity ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Total Column ◽  
Methane Concentrations

Abstract. Evaluating surface fluxes of CH4 using total column data requires models to accurately account for the transport and chemistry of methane in the free troposphere and stratosphere, thus reducing sensitivity to the underlying fluxes. Vertical profiles of methane have increased sensitivity to surface fluxes because lower tropospheric methane is more sensitive to surface fluxes than a total column, and quantifying free-tropospheric CH4 concentrations helps to evaluate the impact of transport and chemistry uncertainties on estimated surface fluxes. Here we demonstrate the potential for estimating lower tropospheric CH4 concentrations through the combination of free-tropospheric methane measurements from the Aura Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES) and XCH4 (dry-mole air fraction of methane) from the Greenhouse gases Observing SATellite – Thermal And Near-infrared for carbon Observation (GOSAT TANSO, herein GOSAT for brevity). The calculated precision of these estimates ranges from 10 to 30 ppb for a monthly average on a 4° × 5° latitude/longitude grid making these data suitable for evaluating lower-tropospheric methane concentrations. Smoothing error is approximately 10 ppb or less. Comparisons between these data and the GEOS-Chem model demonstrate that these lower-tropospheric CH4 estimates can resolve enhanced concentrations over flux regions that are challenging to resolve with total column measurements. We also use the GEOS-Chem model and surface measurements in background regions across a range of latitudes to determine that these lower-tropospheric estimates are biased low by approximately 65 ppb, with an accuracy of approximately 6 ppb (after removal of the bias) and an actual precision of approximately 30 ppb. This 6 ppb accuracy is consistent with the accuracy of TES and GOSAT methane retrievals.

scholarly journals Emergence of multiple ocean ecosystem drivers in a large ensemble suite with an Earth system model

2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (11) ◽  
pp. 3301-3320 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. B. Rodgers ◽  
J. Lin ◽  
T. L. Frölicher
Keyword(s):  
Southern Ocean ◽  
Marine Ecosystem ◽  
Marine Ecosystems ◽  
Earth System Model ◽  
System Model ◽  
Global Ocean ◽  
Earth System ◽  
Biological Productivity ◽  
The Tropics ◽  
Ecosystem Drivers

Abstract. Marine ecosystems are increasingly stressed by human-induced changes. Marine ecosystem drivers that contribute to stressing ecosystems – including warming, acidification, deoxygenation and perturbations to biological productivity – can co-occur in space and time, but detecting their trends is complicated by the presence of noise associated with natural variability in the climate system. Here we use large initial-condition ensemble simulations with an Earth system model under a historical/RCP8.5 (representative concentration pathway 8.5) scenario over 1950–2100 to consider emergence characteristics for the four individual and combined drivers. Using a 1-standard-deviation (67% confidence) threshold of signal to noise to define emergence with a 30-year trend window, we show that ocean acidification emerges much earlier than other drivers, namely during the 20th century over most of the global ocean. For biological productivity, the anthropogenic signal does not emerge from the noise over most of the global ocean before the end of the 21st century. The early emergence pattern for sea surface temperature in low latitudes is reversed from that of subsurface oxygen inventories, where emergence occurs earlier in the Southern Ocean. For the combined multiple-driver field, 41% of the global ocean exhibits emergence for the 2005–2014 period, and 63% for the 2075–2084 period. The combined multiple-driver field reveals emergence patterns by the end of this century that are relatively high over much of the Southern Ocean, North Pacific, and Atlantic, but relatively low over the tropics and the South Pacific. For the case of two drivers, the tropics including habitats of coral reefs emerges earliest, with this driven by the joint effects of acidification and warming. It is precisely in the regions with pronounced emergence characteristics where marine ecosystems may be expected to be pushed outside of their comfort zone determined by the degree of natural background variability to which they are adapted. The results underscore the importance of sustained multi-decadal observing systems for monitoring multiple ecosystems drivers.

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