We estimate the uncertainty of CO2 flux estimates in atmospheric inversions stemming from differences between different global transport models. Using a set of observing system simulation experiments (OSSEs), we estimate this uncertainty as represented by the spread between five different state-of-the-art global transport models (ACTM, LMDZ, GEOS-Chem, PCTM and TM5), for both traditional in situ CO2 inversions and inversions of XCO2 estimates from the Orbiting Carbon Observatory 2 (OCO2). We find that, in the absence of relative biases between in situ CO2 and OCO-2 XCO2, OCO-2 estimates of terrestrial flux for TRANSCOM-scale land regions can be more robust to transport model differences than corresponding in situ CO2 inversions. This is due to a combination of the increased spatial coverage of OCO-2 samples and the total column nature of OCO-2 estimates. We separate the two effects by constructing hypothetical in situ networks with the coverage of OCO-2 but with only near-surface samples. We also find that the transport-driven uncertainty in fluxes is comparable between well-sampled northern temperate regions and poorly sampled tropical regions. Furthermore, we find that spatiotemporal differences in sampling, such as between OCO-2 land and ocean soundings, coupled with imperfect transport, can produce differences in flux estimates that are larger than flux uncertainties due to transport model differences. This highlights the need for sampling with as complete a spatial and temporal coverage as possible (e.g., using both land and ocean retrievals together for OCO-2) to minimize the impact of selective sampling. Finally, our annual and monthly estimates of transport-driven uncertainties can be used to evaluate the robustness of conclusions drawn from real OCO-2 and in situ CO2 inversions.
Wells, K. C.; Millet, D. B.; Bousserez, N.; Henze, D. K.; Griffis, T. J.; Chaliyakunnel, S.; Dlugokencky, E. J.; Saikawa, E.; Xiang, G.; Prinn, R. G.; O'Doherty, S.; Young, D.; Weiss, R. F.; Dutton, G. S.; Elkins, J. W.; Krummel, P. B.; Langenfelds, R.; Steele, L. P.;
Published Date:
2018
Source:
Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 18(2), 735-756.
Description:
We present top-down constraints on global monthly N2O emissions for 2011 from a multi-inversion approach and an ensemble of surface observations. The inversions employ the GEOS-Chem adjoint and an array of aggregation strategies to test how well curr...
Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres, 123(15), 7950-7973.
Description:
In this study, we analyze a set of agroclimatological indices across West Africa and assess their projected changes for the future. We apply the regional climate model CCLM (COnsortium for Small-scale MOdelling in CLimate Mode) with a high spatial re...
Kenagy, H. S.; Sparks, T. L.; Ebben, C. J.; Wooldrige, P. J.; Lopez-Hilfiker, F. D.; Lee, B. H.; Thornton, J. A.; McDuffie, E. E.; Fibiger, D. L.; Brown, S. S.; Montzka, D. D.; Weinheimer, A. J.; Schroder, J. C.; Campuzano-Jost, P.; Day, D. A.; Jimenez, J. L.; Dibb, J. E.; Campos, T.; Shah, V.; Jaegle, L.; Cohen, R. C.;
Published Date:
2018
Source:
Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres, 123(17), 9813-9827.
Description:
Although urban NOx lifetimes have been examined extensively during summertime conditions, wintertime NOx chemistry has been comparatively less studied. We use measurements of NOx and its oxidation products from the aircraft-based WINTER (Wintertime I...
Jarvinen, E.; Ignatius, K.; Nichman, L.; Kristensen, T. B.; Fuchs, C.; Hoyle, C. R.; Hoppel, N.; Corbin, J. C.; Craven, J.; Duplissy, J.; Ehrhart, S.; El Haddad, I.; Frege, C.; Gordon, H.; Jokinen, T.; Kallinger, P.; Kirkby, J.; Kiselev, A.; Naumann, K. H.; Petaja, T.; Pinterich, T.; Prevot, A. S. H.; Saathoff, H.; Schiebel, T.; Sengupta, K.; Simon, M.; Slowik, J. G.; Trostl, J.; Virtanen, A.; Vochezer, P.; Vogt, S.; Wagner, A. C.; Wagner, R.; Williamson, C.; Winkler, P. M.; Yan, C.; Baltensperger, U.; Donahue, N. M.; Flagan, R. C.; Gallagher, M.; Hansel, A.; Kulmala, M.; Stratmann, F.; Worsnop, D. R.; Mohler, O.; Leisner, T.; Schnaiter, M.;
Published Date:
2016
Source:
Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 16(7), 4423-4438.
Description:
Under certain conditions, secondary organic aerosol (SOA) particles can exist in the atmosphere in an amorphous solid or semi-solid state. To determine their relevance to processes such as ice nucleation or chemistry occurring within particles requir...
Butler, R.; Palmer, P. I.; Feng, L.; Andrews, S. J.; Atlas, E. L.; Carpenter, L. J.; Donets, V.; Harris, N. R. P.; Montzka, S. A.; Pan, L. L.; Salawitch, R. J.; Schauffler, S. M.;
Published Date:
2018
Source:
Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 18(17), 13135-13153.
Description:
We use the GEOS-Chem global 3-D atmospheric chemistry transport model to interpret atmospheric observations of bromoform (CHBr3) and dibromomethane (CH2Br2) collected during the CAST and CONTRAST aircraft measurement campaigns over the western Pacifi...
Fried, A.; Barth, M. C.; Bela, M.; Weibring, P.; Richter, D.; Walega, J.; Li, Y.; Pickering, K.; Apel, E.; Hornbrook, R.; Hills, A.; Riemer, D. D.; Blake, N.; Blake, D. R.; Schroeder, J. R.; Luo, Z. J.; Crawford, J. H.; Olson, J.; Rutledge, S.; Betten, D.; Biggerstaff, M. I.; Diskin, G. S.; Sachse, G.; Campos, T.; Flocke, F.; Weinheimer, A.; Cantrell, C.; Pollack, I.; Peischl, J.; Froyd, K.; Wisthaler, A.; Mikoviny, T.; Woods, S.;
Published Date:
2016
Source:
Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres, 121(12), 7430-7460.
Description:
We have developed semi-independent methods for determining CH2O scavenging efficiencies (SEs) during strong midlatitude convection over the western, south-central Great Plains, and southeastern regions of the United States during the 2012 Deep Convec...
Janssens-Maenhout, G.; Crippa, M.; Guizzardi, D.; Dentener, F.; Muntean, M.; Pouliot, G.; Keating, T.; Zhang, Q.; Kurokawa, J.; Wankmuller, R.; van der Gon, H. D.; Kuenen, J. J. P.; Klimont, Z.; Frost, G.; Darras, S.; Koffi, B.; Li, M.;
Published Date:
2015
Source:
Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 15(19), 11411-11432.
Description:
The mandate of the Task Force Hemispheric Transport of Air Pollution (TF HTAP) under the Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution (CLRTAP) is to improve the scientific understanding of the intercontinental air pollution transport, to quan...
Brown, S. S.; Dube, W. P.; Tham, Y. J.; Zha, Q. Z.; Xue, L. K.; Poon, S.; Wang, Z.; Blake, D. R.; Tsui, W.; Parrish, D. D.; Wang, T.;
Published Date:
2016
Source:
Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres, 121(5), 2457-2475.
Description:
Nighttime reactions of nitrogen oxides influence ozone, volatile organic compounds, and aerosol and are thus important to the understanding of regional air quality. Despite large emissions and rapid recent growth of nitrogen oxide concentrations, the...
Kim, J.; Johnson, L. E.; Cifelli, R.; Choi, J.; Chandrasekar, V.;
Published Date:
2018
Source:
Water, 10(7), 21.
Description:
Soil moisture retention (SMR) capacity plays a key role in estimating the direct runoff when a multi-pulse storm event occurs. It is very important to know how much SMR will be recovered during the intervals of no rain of a multi-pulse storm. This st...
Fairall, C. W.; Matrosov, S. Y.; Williams, C. R.; Walsh, E. J.;
Published Date:
2018
Source:
Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology, 35(3), 593-608.
Description:
The NOAA W-band radar was deployed on a P-3 aircraft during a study of storm fronts off the U.S. West Coast in 2015 in the second CalWater (CalWater-2) field program. This paper presents an analysis of measured equivalent radar reflectivity factor Z(...
A 4-year record of aerosol size and hygroscopic growth factor distributions measured at the Department of Energy's Southern Great Plains (SGP) site in Oklahoma, U.S. were used to estimate supersaturation (S)-dependent cloud condensation nuclei concen...
Mahoney, K.; Swales, D.; Mueller, M. J.; Alexander, M.; Hughes, M.; Malloy, K.;
Published Date:
2018
Source:
Journal of Climate, 31(16), 6281-6297.
Description:
Atmospheric rivers (ARs) are well-known producers of precipitation along the U.S. West Coast. Depending on their intensity, orientation, and location of landfall, some ARs penetrate inland and cause heavy rainfall and flooding hundreds of miles from ...
Dimdore-Miles, O. B.; Palmer, P. I.; Bruhwiler, L. P.;
Published Date:
2018
Source:
Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 18(24), 17895-17907.
Description:
We consider the utility of the annual inter-polar difference (IPD) as a metric for changes in Arctic emissions of methane (CH4). The IPD has been previously defined as the difference between weighted annual means of CH4 mole fraction data collected a...
Sea surface temperature anomalies (SSTA) in portions of the extratropics are known to recur from one winter to the next without persisting through the intervening summer. Previous studies identified only a limited number of midlatitude regions where ...
Richardson, K.; Asmutis-Silvia, R.; Drinkwin, J.; Gilardi, K. V. K.; Giskes, I.; Jones, G.; O'Brien, K.; Pragnell-Raasch, H.; Ludwig, L.; Antonelis, K.; Barco, S.; Henry, A.; Knowlton, A.; Landry, S.; Mattila, D.; MacDonald, K.; Moore, M.; Morgan, J.; Robbins, J.; van der Hoop, J.; Hogan, E.;
Published Date:
2019
Source:
Marine Pollution Bulletin, 138, 222-229.
Description:
Abandoned, lost or discarded fishing gear (ALDFG) comprises a significant amount of global marine debris, with diverse impacts to marine environments, wildlife, and the fishing industry. Building evidence on ALDFG is critical to holistically understa...
Smith, M.; Stammerjohn, S.; Persson, O.; Rainville, L.; Liu, G. Q.; Perrie, W.; Robertson, R.; Jackson, J.; Thomson, J.;
Published Date:
2018
Source:
Journal of Geophysical Research-Oceans, 123(5), 3164-3185.
Description:
High-resolution measurements of the air-ice-ocean system during an October 2015 event in the Beaufort Sea demonstrate how stored ocean heat can be released to temporarily reverse seasonal ice advance. Strong on-ice winds over a vast fetch caused mixi...
Chakraborty, A.; Ervens, B.; Gupta, T.; Tripathi, S. N.;
Published Date:
2016
Source:
Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres, 121(8), 4317-4332.
Description:
Size-resolved fog water samples were collected in two consecutive winters at Kanpur, a heavily polluted urban area of India. Samples were analyzed by an aerosol mass spectrometer after drying and directly in other instruments. Residues of fine fog dr...
Kim, P. S.; Jacob, D. J.; Fisher, J. A.; Travis, K.; Yu, K.; Zhu, L.; Yantosca, R. M.; Sulprizio, M. P.; Jimenez, J. L.; Campuzano-Jost, P.; Froyd, K. D.; Liao, J.; Hair, J. W.; Fenn, M. A.; Butler, C. F.; Wagner, N. L.; Gordon, T. D.; Welti, A.; Wennberg, P. O.; Crounse, J. D.; St. Clair, J. M.; Teng, A. P.; Millet, D. B.; Schwarz, J. P.; Markovic, M. Z.; Perring, A. E.;
Heiblum, R. H.; Altaratz, O.; Koren, I.; Feingold, G.; Kostinski, A. B.; Khain, A. P.; Ovchinnikov, M.; Fredj, E.; Dagan, G.; Pinto, L.; Yaish, R.; Chen, Q.;
Published Date:
2016
Source:
Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres, 121(11), 6336-6355.
Description:
We study the evolution of warm convective cloud fields using large eddy simulations of continental and trade cumulus. Individual clouds are tracked a posteriori from formation to dissipation using a 3-D cloud-tracking algorithm, and results are prese...
Earth's radiation budget is affected by new particle formation (NPF) and the growth of these nanometre-scale particles to larger sizes where they can directly scatter light or act as cloud condensation nuclei (CCN). Large uncertainties remain in the ...
We show that transport differences between two commonly used global chemical transport models, GEOS-Chem and TM5, lead to systematic space-time differences in modeled distributions of carbon dioxide and sulfur hexafluoride. The distribution of differ...
Crowell, Sean M. R.; Kawa, S. Randolph; Browell, Edward V.; Hammerling, Dorit M.; Moore, Berrien; Schaefer, Kevin; Doney, Scott C.;
Published Date:
2018
Source:
JGR Atmospheres 123(2): 1460-1477, 2018
Description:
Space‐borne observations of CO2 are vital to gaining understanding of the carbon cycle in regions of the world that are difficult to measure directly, such as the tropical terrestrial biosphere, the high northern and southern latitudes, and in deve...