The
Orbiting Carbon Observatory is a NASA ESSP mission that is scheduled for launch
in September 2008 [Crisp et al., 2004]. The space-based observatory
will sample the dry air, column averaged mole fraction of CO2 (XCO2) based on analysis of
reflected solar radiation, between ~0.78 and 2.0 microns, acquired by three
grating spectrometers. To fulfill the mission’s science objectives, the OCO
validation activities are focused on demonstrating that space-based retrievals
of XCO2 have random
errors no larger than 0.3% (1 ppm) over a network of ground based validation
sites on monthly time scales [Miller et al.,
2005]. Furthermore, space-based retrievals of XCO2
will be compared to measurements from this network of ground-based stations to
detect and mitigate geographically coherent biases on regional to continental
scales. We describe plans and progress to date of the OCO validation program,
which consists primarily of a series of ground-based, Fourier Transform
Spectrometers (FTS), that measure XCO2 in the same spectral
regions as the space-based spectrometers.
Author: R. J. Salawitch, P. O. Wennberg, G. C. Toon, et al (rjs at caesar dot jpl dot nasa dot gov)
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