Assessing the feasibility of using a neural network to filter Orbiting Carbon Observatory 2 (OCO-2) retrievals at northern high latitudes

• Published in: Atmospheric measurement techniques Vol. 14; no. 12; pp. 7511 - 7524
• Main Authors: Mendonca, Joseph, Nassar, Ray, O'Dell, Christopher W, Kivi, Rigel, Morino, Isamu, Notholt, Justus, Petri, Christof, Strong, Kimberly, Wunch, Debra
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Katlenburg-Lindau Copernicus GmbH 03-12-2021; Copernicus Publications
• Subjects: Algorithms; Bias; Carbon; Carbon cycle; Climate change; Feasibility studies; Information management; Latitude; Machine learning; Neural networks; Observatories; Polar environments; Quality assessment; Quality control; Remote sensing; Summer; Vortices; Trout Lake; Canada; Arctic region
• ISSN: 1867-8548; 1867-1381; 1867-8548
• DOI: 10.5194/amt-14-7511-2021

Satellite retrievals of XCO2 at northern high latitudes currently have sparser coverage and lower data quality than most other regions of
the world. We use a neural network (NN) to filter Orbiting Carbon
Observatory 2 (OCO-2) B10 bias-corrected XCO2 retrievals and compare the quality of the filtered data to
the quality of the data filtered with the standard B10 quality control filter. To assess the performance of the NN filter, we use Total Carbon
Column Observing Network (TCCON) data at selected northern high latitude sites as a truth proxy. We found that the NN filter decreases the overall
bias by 0.25 ppm (∼ 50 %), improves the precision by 0.18 ppm (∼ 12 %), and increases the throughput by 16 %
at these sites when compared to the standard B10 quality control filter. Most of the increased throughput was due to an increase in throughput
during the spring, fall, and winter seasons. There was a decrease in throughput during the summer, but as a result the bias and precision were
improved during the summer months. The main drawback of using the NN filter is that it lets through fewer retrievals at the highest-latitude Arctic
TCCON sites compared to the B10 quality control filter, but the lower throughput improves the bias and precision.