Atmospheric observations suggest methane emissions in north-eastern China growing with natural gas use.

The dramatic increase of natural gas use in China, as a substitute for coal, helps to reduce CO emissions and air pollution, but the climate mitigation benefit can be offset by methane leakage into the atmosphere. We estimate methane emissions from 2010 to 2018 in four regions of China using the GOSAT satellite data and in-situ observations with a high-resolution (0.1° × 0.

Benefits of satellite XCO and newly proposed atmospheric CO observation network over India in constraining regional CO fluxes.

Top-down modeling estimates are among the most reliable information available on the CO fluxes of the earth system. The inadequate coverage of CO observing stations over the tropical regions adds a limitation to this estimate, especially when the satellite XCO is strictly screened for cloud contamination, aerosol, dust, etc. In this study, we investigated the potential benefit of a global ground-based observing station network, 17 newly proposed stations over India, and global satellite XCO in reducing the uncertainty of terrestrial biospheric fluxes of Tropical Asia-Eurasia in TransCom cyclo-stationary inversion.

Regional trends and drivers of the global methane budget.

The ongoing development of the Global Carbon Project (GCP) global methane (CH ) budget shows a continuation of increasing CH emissions and CH accumulation in the atmosphere during 2000-2017. Here, we decompose the global budget into 19 regions (18 land and 1 oceanic) and five key source sectors to spatially attribute the observed global trends. A comparison of top-down (TD) (atmospheric and transport model-based) and bottom-up (BU) (inventory- and process model-based) CH emission estimates demonstrates robust temporal trends with CH emissions increasing in 16 of the 19 regions.

Statistical characterization of urban CO emission signals observed by commercial airliner measurements.

Cities are responsible for the largest anthropogenic CO emissions and are key to effective emission reduction strategies. Urban CO emissions estimated from vertical atmospheric measurements can contribute to an independent quantification of the reporting of national emissions and will thus have political implications. We analyzed vertical atmospheric CO mole fraction data obtained onboard commercial aircraft in proximity to 36 airports worldwide, as part of the Comprehensive Observation Network for Trace gases by Airliners (CONTRAIL) program.

The Open-source Data Inventory for Anthropogenic Carbon dioxide (CO), version 2016 (ODIAC2016): A global, monthly fossil-fuel CO gridded emission data product for tracer transport simulations and surface flux inversions.

The Open-source Data Inventory for Anthropogenic CO (ODIAC) is a global high-spatial resolution gridded emission data product that distributes carbon dioxide (CO) emissions from fossil fuel combustion. The emission spatial distributions are estimated at a 1×1 km spatial resolution over land using power plant profiles (emission intensity and geographical location) and satellite-observed nighttime lights. This paper describes the year 2016 version of the ODIAC emission data product (ODIAC2016) and presents analyses that help guiding data users, especially for atmospheric CO tracer transport simulations and flux inversion analysis.

Enhanced Methane Emissions during Amazonian Drought by Biomass Burning.

The Amazon is a significant source of atmospheric methane, but little is known about the source response to increasing drought severity and frequency. We investigated satellite observations of atmospheric column-averaged methane for the 2010 drought and subsequent 2011 wet year in the Amazon using an atmospheric inversion scheme. Our analysis indicates an increase in atmospheric methane over the southern Amazon region during the drought, representing an increase in annual emissions relative to the wet year.

Towards robust regional estimates of CO2 sources and sinks using atmospheric transport models.

Information about regional carbon sources and sinks can be derived from variations in observed atmospheric CO2 concentrations via inverse modelling with atmospheric tracer transport models. A consensus has not yet been reached regarding the size and distribution of regional carbon fluxes obtained using this approach, partly owing to the use of several different atmospheric transport models. Here we report estimates of surface-atmosphere CO2 fluxes from an intercomparison of atmospheric CO2 inversion models (the TransCom 3 project), which includes 16 transport models and model variants.