Stable isotope measurements of atmospheric carbon dioxide from the CSIRO global flask sampling program with improved traceability to the international primary reference material VPDB (Vienna Pee Dee Belemnite), and with improved uncertainty estimates, are presented. The measurements have been used with an improved time dependent inversion model to reassess terrestrial and oceanic contributions to the interannual variability in atmospheric CO₂.

This presentation describes in-situ atmospheric CO₂ measurements at Waliguan Observatory (WLG, 36°17'N, 100°54'E, 3816m asl) since 1994, together with 5-day isobaric back trajectory analysis.  We also use the Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (Hysplit-4) transport/diffusion model to simulate the CO₂ variation at WLG in January 1999 and compared with observations. A case study for polluted air mass transport event with a short-term elevated CO₂ has been conducted to further investigate the impact of source, sink and long-range transport of atmospheric CO₂.

The current WMO CO₂ Mole Fraction Scale consists of a set of fifteen CO₂ –in-air primary standard calibration gases ranging in CO₂ mole fraction from 250 to 520 micromol/mol. Since the WMO CO₂ Expert Group transferred responsibility for maintaining the WMO Scale from the Scripps Institute of Oceanography (SIO) to the Climate Monitoring and Diagnostics Laboratory (CMDL) in 1995, the fifteen WMO primary standards have been calibrated at regular interval, between one and two years, by the CMDL manometric system. From mid-1996 to 2001, the assigned CO₂ values of the WMO Primaries have been jointly based on the SIO and CMDL manometric measurements, and completely on the CMDL manometric measurements alone from 2001 to present. The uncertainty of the 15 primary standards is estimated to be 0.07 micromol/mol in the one-sigma absolute scale. Manometric calibration results indicated that there is no evidence of overall drift of the Primaries from 1996 to 2004. In order to lengthen the useful life of the Primary standards, CMDL has always transferred the WMO Scale to the Secondaries via NDIR analyzers. The uncertainties arising from the analyzer random error and the propagation error due to the uncertainty of the reference gas concentration are discussed. Precision of NDIR transfer calibrations is about 0.01 micromol/mol from 1979 to present. Propagation of the uncertainty is calculated theoretically. In the case of interpolation, the propagation error is estimated to be between 0.05 and 0.07 micromol/mol when the Primaries are used as the reference gases via NDIR transfer calibrations.

To examine concentration variations of atmospheric CO₂ in the sub-tropical region of East Asia, systematic air sampling with subsequent laboratory analysis has been made in the southernmost part of Japan since June 1993. A time series of measured CO₂ concentrations was analyzed for long-term trend, seasonal cycle and interannual variability, and the temporal CO₂ variations deduced were interpreted in terms of atmospheric transport and CO₂ flux regions.

We have developed a new data screening technique using an atmospheric transport model and an inverse model. Using this technique, we can use original (not smoothed) observational data for the inversion method. This means that we can enlarge the number of observational data for inversion method and we can estimate carbon dioxide (CO₂) flux history consistently in long period in accordance with the number of the observational sites.  

Greenhouse gases Observing SATellite (GOSAT) of Japan is planned to be launched in 2008. GOSAT will be equipped with a FTS to monitor CO₂ column density globally. The FTS has three near infrared bands which cover 0.76 µm, 1.6 µm, and 2.0 µm spectral regions, respectively. Retrieval algorithms to estimate CO₂ and CH₄ column densities from these bands data are now being developed. We have investigated retrieval algorithms under the non-clear sky conditions. As one of these cases, a cirrus cloud parameter estimation was researched. The cirrus vertical profile (i.e., existing height) is estimated from the 0.76 µm band data. Strong water vapor absorption area is included in the 2.0 µm spectral band, so that the reflected radiance from a ground surface is absorbed completely by H₂O in this area. Thus the signal in this area is considered as path radiance caused by the cirrus clouds reflection, because there is little water vapor above the cirrus cloud top. By using this signal, the cirrus optical depth can be estimated, and then column densities of CO₂, CH₄ and H₂O are retrieved precisely.

Quantifying the uptake of anthropogenic carbon by the oceans is a crucial component of understanding the global carbon cycle. Accordingly there has been considerable research in the area, and recently global estimates of the inventory and decadal uptake of anthropogenic carbon have been made using carbon measurements [Sabine et al., 2004] and CFC measurements [McNeil et al., 2003].  However, these methods introduce several assumptions that may introduce systematic biases.  In particular, both methods assume that mixing plays a negligible role in the transport.  Here we estimate the ocean uptake, inventory, and distribution of anthropogenic carbon (C_ant) in the oceans using the transit-time distribution (TTD) method (see Hall et al. 2004, Waugh et al. 2004), which avoids the assumption of weak mixing.

The Total Carbon Column Observing Network is a new network of ground-based solar observatories, dedicated to column measurements of greenhouse gases.  We present CO₂ column abundances observed in Park Falls, Wisconsin and Lauder, New Zealand during May 2004 – June 2005.  In Park Falls, Wisconsin, the peak-to-peak variation of column-average CO₂ is approximately 13 ppmv.  In Lauder, New Zealand, the peak-to-peak variation of column-average CO₂ is approximately 4 ppmv.  Assuming a secular trend of 2 ppmv yr^-1, we infer a peak-to-peak seasonal amplitude of 11 ppmv and 2 ppmv for Park Falls and Lauder respectively.  These values are higher than model predictions by Olsen and Randerson [2003].