Reduced carbon uptake during the 2010 Northern Hemisphere summer from GOSAT

• Published in: Geophysical research letters Vol. 40; no. 10; pp. 2378 - 2383
• Main Authors: Guerlet, S., Basu, S., Butz, A., Krol, M., Hahne, P., Houweling, S., Hasekamp, O. P., Aben, I.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington Blackwell Publishing Ltd 28-05-2013; John Wiley & Sons, Inc; American Geophysical Union
• Subjects: Air pollution; Atmosphere; biosphere-atmosphere exchanges; calibration; Carbon; Carbon dioxide; Carbon dioxide exchange; Carbon uptake; Climate; Climate change; Climatology; column observing network; dioxide; Dry air; Drying; Earth Sciences; Emission; Emissions; Estimates; europe; Fires; Fluxes; Gases; GOSAT; Greenhouse effect; Greenhouse gases; Heat; Heat exchange; Heat waves; interannual variability; inverse modeling; Inversions; Meteorology; Northern Hemisphere; Ocean, Atmosphere; Satellite observation; Satellites; Sciences of the Universe; Summer; transport; Uptake; Uptakes; Eurasia; North America
• ISSN: 0094-8276; 1944-8007
• DOI: 10.1002/grl.50402

Column‐averaged dry air mole fractions of carbon dioxide (XCO2) measured by the Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite (GOSAT) reveal significant interannual variation (IAV) of CO2uptake during the Northern Hemisphere summer between 2009 and 2010. The XCO2drawdown in 2010 is shallower than in 2009 by 2.4 ppm and 3.0 ppm over North America and Eurasia, respectively. Reduced carbon uptake in the summer of 2010 is most likely due to the heat wave in Eurasia driving biospheric fluxes and fire emissions. A joint inversion of GOSAT and surface data estimates an integrated biospheric and fire emission anomaly in April–September of 0.89 ±0.20  PgC over Eurasia. In contrast, inversions of surface measurements alone fail to replicate the observed XCO2IAV and underestimate emission IAV over Eurasia. This shows the value of GOSAT XCO2in constraining the response of land‐atmosphere exchange of CO2 to climate events.
Key Points
A shallower XCO2 drawdown is observed by GOSAT in summer 2010 compared to 2009Joint inversion of GOSAT and flask data relate it to emission IAV over EurasiaFlask-only inversions fail to capture emission IAV over Eurasia