Spatial
and temporal characteristics of land and ocean sources and sinks of carbon
remain elusive. Better understanding of the anthropogenic influences on these
carbon cycle dynamics is a common goal. This experiment is one of the efforts
to reach a middle ground of flux estimates for regions larger than experimental
plots and flux tower footprints, but smaller than continents and ocean basins.
This work tests the hypothesis that including well-calibrated continuous North
American continental CO2 measurements in the observation data used
in a global inversion will provide a constraint that improves inversion
estimates of the source and sink regions within North America. These continuous
data are collected at tall towers and flux towers. The experiment follows the
TransCom 3 synthesis inversion framework, using the NASA Goddard Space Flight
Center Parameterized Chemistry and
Transport Model (PCTM) with Goddard Earth Observing System, version 4 (GEOS-4)
meteorological data. Seasonal fluxes are estimated for a recent year for
sub-regions within North America and at continent and basin scale globally.
Methods of preparing the continental continuous CO2 measurements for
the inversion will be tested. Initial inversion results will be presented along
with recommendations for applicability to other global regions and use of the
method to evaluate additional sites for the measurement network.
Author: M.P. Butler, A.S. Denning, K.R. Gurney, S.R. Kawa, et al (mpbutler at met dot psu dot edu)
Filesize: 48.98 Kb