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JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH,
VOL. 109,
D02301,
doi:10.1029/2003JD003968,
2004
Differences between surface and column atmospheric CO2 and implications for carbon cycle research
Seth C. Olsen
Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA
James T. Randerson
Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA
Abstract
We used a three-dimensional atmospheric transport model to investigate several aspects of column CO2 that are important for the design of new satellite-based observation systems and for the interpretation of observations collected
by Sun-viewing spectrometers. These aspects included the amplitude of the diurnal cycle and how it is related to surface fluxes,
the amplitude and phase of the seasonal cycle, and the magnitude of the north-south hemispheric gradient. In our simulation,
we found that column CO2 had less variability than surface CO2 on all scales. The annual mean column CO2 north-south gradient and seasonal cycle amplitude were approximately one half of their surface counterparts and the column
CO2 diurnal amplitude rarely exceeded 1 ppm. A 1 Gt C yr−1 Northern Hemisphere carbon sink decreased the north-south column CO2 gradient by ∼0.4 ppm.
Received 9
July
2003;
accepted 29
October
2003;
published 16
January
2004.
Index Terms: 0315 Atmospheric Composition and Structure: Biosphere/atmosphere interactions; 0368 Atmospheric Composition and Structure: Troposphere—constituent transport and chemistry; 1610 Global Change: Atmosphere (0315, 0325); 1615 Global Change: Biogeochemical processes (4805).
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Citation: Olsen, S. C., and J. T. Randerson
(2004),
Differences between surface and column atmospheric CO2 and implications for carbon cycle research,
J. Geophys. Res.,
109,
D02301,
doi:10.1029/2003JD003968.
Copyright 2004 by the American Geophysical Union.
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