Biogeosciences
www.biogeosciences.net
1726-4170
1726-4189
6
1
2009
10.5194/bg-6-103-2009
http://www.biogeosciences.net/6/103/2009/
http://www.biogeosciences.net/6/103/2009/bg-6-103-2009.html
http://www.biogeosciences.net/6/103/2009/bg-6-103-2009.pdf
103
111
2009-01-16
African CO emissions between years 2000 and 2006 as estimated from MOPITT observations
F. Chevallier
frederic.chevallier@lsce.ipsl.fr
A. Fortems
P. Bousquet
I. Pison
S. Szopa
M. Devaux
D. A. Hauglustaine
Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement/IPSL, CEA-CNRS-UVSQ, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
The space-time variations of the carbon budget at the Earth's surface are highly variable
and quantifying them represents a major scientific challenge. One strategy consists in
inferring the carbon surface fluxes from the atmospheric concentrations. An inversion
scheme for the hydrocarbon oxidation chain, that includes CO and CH<sub>4</sub>,
is presented here with a focus on the African continent.
It is based on a variational principle. The multi-tracer system
has been built as an extension of a system initially developed for CO<sub>2</sub>
and includes a new simplified non-linear chemistry module. Individual in situ
measurements of methyl-chloroform and individual retrievals of CO concentrations
from the Measurements Of Pollution In The Troposphere (MOPITT) space-born instrument
have been processed by the new system for the period 2000–2006 to infer the time
series of CO emissions at the resolution of 2.5°×3.75° (latitude, longitude).
It is shown that the analysed concentrations improve the fit to five independent
surface measurement stations located in or near Africa by up to 28% compared to standard
inventories, which confirms that significant information about CO emissions can be obtained from MOPITT data.
In practice, the inversion reduces the amplitude and the interannual variability
of the seasonal cycle in the northern part of Africa,
with a longer burning season. In the southern part,
the inversion mainly shifts the emission peak by one month later in the season,
consistent with previously-published inversion results.
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