Search

Atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) accounts for the largest radiative forcing among anthropogenic greenhouse gases. There is, therefore, a pressing need to understand the rate at which CO2 accumulates in the atmosphere, including the interannual variations (IAVs) in this rate. IAV in the CO2 growth rate is a small signal relative to the long-term trend and the mean annual cycle of atmospheric CO2, and IAV is tied to climatic variations that may provide insights into long-term carbon–climate feedbacks. Observations from the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) mission offer a new opportunity to refine our understanding of atmospheric CO2 IAV since the satellite can measure over remote terrestrial regions and the open ocean, where traditional in situ CO2 monitoring is difficult, providing better spatial coverage compared to ground-based monitoring techniques. In this study, we analyze the IAV of column-averaged dry-air CO2 mole fraction (XCO2) from OCO-2 between September 2014 and June 2021. The amplitude of the IAV, which is calculated as the standard deviation of the time series, is up to 1.2 ppm over the continents and around 0.4 ppm over the open ocean. Across all latitudes, the OCO-2-detected XCO2 IAV shows a clear relationship with El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO)-driven variations that originate in the tropics and are transported poleward. Similar, but smoother, zonal patterns of OCO-2 XCO2 IAV time series compared to ground-based in situ observations and with column observations from the Total Carbon Column Observing Network (TCCON) and the Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite (GOSAT) show that OCO-2 observations can be used reliably to estimate IAV. Furthermore, the extensive spatial coverage of the OCO-2 satellite data leads to smoother IAV time series than those from other datasets, suggesting that OCO-2 provides new capabilities for revealing small IAV signals despite sources of noise and error that are inherent to remote-sensing datasets.

Two global networks of ground-based Fourier transform spectrometers are measuring abundances of atmospheric trace gases that absorb in the near and mid infrared, Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Composition Change (NDACC) and Total Carbon Column Observing Network (TCCON). The first lacks a CO2 product, therefore this study focuses on developing a xCO2 retrieval method for NDACC from a spectral window in the 4800 cm−1 region. This retrieval will allow to extend ground-based measurements back in time, which we will demonstrate with historical data available from Ny-Ålesund. This region is covered by both TCCON and NDACC, which is an advantage for collocated comparisons where available. The results are compared with collocated TCCON measurements of column-averaged dry-air mole fractions of CO2 (denoted by xCO2) in Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard and only TCCON in Burgos, Philippines. We found that it is possible to retrieve xCO2 from NDACC spectra with a precision from 0.2 % . The comparison between the new retrieval to TCCON showed that the sensitivity of the new retrieval is high in the troposphere and lower in the upper stratosphere, similar to TCCON, and that the seasonality is well captured. We determined an optimal retrieval setup covered in section 7.

Accurate accounting of emissions and removals of CO2 is critical for the planning and verification of emission reduction targets in support of the Paris Agreement. Here, we present a pilot dataset of country-specific net carbon exchange (NCE; fossil plus terrestrial ecosystem fluxes) and terrestrial carbon stock changes aimed at informing countries' carbon budgets. These estimates are based on “top-down” NCE outputs from the v10 Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO-2) modeling intercomparison project (MIP), wherein an ensemble of inverse modeling groups conducted standardized experiments assimilating OCO-2 column-averaged dry-air mole fraction (XCO2) retrievals (ACOS v10), in situ CO2 measurements or combinations of these data. The v10 OCO-2 MIP NCE estimates are combined with “bottom-up” estimates of fossil fuel emissions and lateral carbon fluxes to estimate changes in terrestrial carbon stocks, which are impacted by anthropogenic and natural drivers. These flux and stock change estimates are reported annually (2015–2020) as both a global 1∘ × 1∘ gridded dataset and a country-level dataset and are available for download from the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites' (CEOS) website: https://doi.org/10.48588/npf6-sw92 (Byrne et al., 2022). Across the v10 OCO-2 MIP experiments, we obtain increases in the ensemble median terrestrial carbon stocks of 3.29–4.58 Pg CO2 yr−1 (0.90–1.25 Pg C yr−1). This is a result of broad increases in terrestrial carbon stocks across the northern extratropics, while the tropics generally have stock losses but with considerable regional variability and differences between v10 OCO-2 MIP experiments. We discuss the state of the science for tracking emissions and removals using top-down methods, including current limitations and future developments towards top-down monitoring and verification systems.

Nitrous oxide (N2O) and Methane (CH4) are two important greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. In 2019, mid- infrared (MIR) solar absorption spectra were recorded by a Bruker Vertex 70 spectrometer and a Bruker IFS 125HR spectrometer at Sodankylä, Finland at spectral resolutions of 0.2 cm−1 and 0.005 cm−1, respectively. The N2O and the CH4 retrievals from high-resolution MIR spectra have been well investigated within the Network for Detection of Atmospheric Composition Change (NDACC), but not for MIR spectra gathered with instruments operating at low spectral resolution. In this study, N2O and CH4 retrieval strategies and retrieval uncertainties from the Vertex 70 MIR low-resolution spectra are discussed and presented. The accuracy and precision of the Vertex 70 N2O and CH4 retrievals are assessed by comparing them with the co-located 125HR retrievals and AirCore measurements. The relative differences between the N2O total columns retrieved from 125HR and Vertex 70 spectra are -0.3±0.7(1σ)% with a correlation coefficient (R) of 0.93. Regarding CH4 total column, we first used the same retrieval microwindows for 125HR and Vertex 70 spectra, but there is an underestimation in the Vertex 70 retrievals, especially in summer. The relative differences between the CH4 total columns retrieved from the 125HR and Vertex spectra are -1.3±1.1 % with a R value of 0.77. To improve the Vertex 70 CH4 retrievals, we propose an alternative retrieval microwindows. The relative differences between the CH4 total columns retrieved from the 125HR and Vertex spectra in these new windows become 0.0±0.8 %, along with an increase in R value to 0.87. The co-located AirCore measurements confirm that the Vertex 70 CH4 retrievals using the latter window choice are better, with the relative mean differences between the Vertex CH44 retrievals and AirCore measurements of -1.9 % for the standard NDACC mircrowindows, and of 0.13 % for the alternative microwindows. This study provides an insight into the N2O and CH4 retrievals from the low-resolution (0.2 cm−1) MIR spectra observed with a Vertex 70 spectrometer, and demonstrates the suitability of this kind of instruments for contributing to satellite validation, model verification, and other scientific campaigns with the advantage of their transportability and lower cost compared to standard NDACC-type FTIR instruments.

Recently, the Fast atmOspheric traCe gAs retrievaL (FOCAL) algorithm has been applied to measurements of the Greenhouse gases Observing SATellite (GOSAT) and its successor GOSAT-2. FOCAL has been originally developed for Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) retrievals with the focus on the derivation of carbon dioxide (XCO2). However, depending on the available spectral windows, FOCAL also successfully retrieves total column amounts for other atmospheric species. Here, we show new results from updated GOSAT and GOSAT-2 FOCAL retrievals. The main focus is placed on methane (XCH4; full physics and proxy product), water vapour (XH2O) and the relative ratio of semi-heavy water (HDO) to water vapour (δD). Due to the extended spectral range of GOSAT-2 it is also possible to derive information on carbon monoxide (XCO) and nitrous oxide (XN2O) for which we also show first results. We also present an update on XCO2 from both instruments. Compared to the previous product version (v1), the number of valid XCO2 data could be significantly increased in the updated version (v3.0) by 50 % for GOSAT and about a factor of two for GOSAT-2. All FOCAL data products show reasonable spatial distribution and temporal variations. Comparisons with TCCON (Total Carbon Column Observing Network) result in station-to-station biases which are generally in line with the reported TCCON uncertainties. With this updated version of the GOSAT-2 FOCAL data, we provide a first total column average XN2O product. Global XN2O maps show a gradient from the tropics to higher latitudes in the order of 15 ppb, which can be explained by variations in tropopause height. The new GOSAT-2 XN2O product compares well with TCCON. Its station-to-station variability is lower than 2 ppb, which is about the magnitude of the typical N2O variations close to the surface. However, both GOSAT-2 and TCCON measurements show that the seasonal variations in the total column average XN2O are in the order of 8 ppb peak-to-peak, which can be easily resolved by the GOSAT-2 FOCAL data.