Crisp, David (Dave): JPL/Caltech (Project Lead)
Salawitch, Ross: University of Maryland (Co-Investigator)
Wennberg, Paul: Caltech (Co-Investigator)
Wunch, Debra: University of Toronto (Participant)
Project Funding:
2005 - 2009
Funded by NASA
Abstract:
The Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO) will make global, space-based measurements of atmospheric CO2 with the precision, resolution, and coverage needed to characterize CO2 sources and sinks on regional scales and quantify their vari¬ability over the seasonal cycle. This NASA Earth System Science Pathfinder (ESSP) mission will be launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in late 2008. It will fly in a 705 km altitude, sun-synchronous (1:26 PM) near polar orbit (98.2o inclination) that provides global coverage of the sunlit hemisphere with a 16-day ground track repeat cycle. OCO carries a single instrument, which incorporates 3 high resolution grating spectrometers that will make coincident measurements of reflected sunlight in near-infrared CO2 and molecular oxygen (O2) bands. These measurements will be analyzed with a remote sensing retrieval algorithm to provide spatially resolved estimates of the column-averaged CO2 dry air mole fraction, XCO2. The instrument collects 12 to 24 XCO2 soundings/second over the sunlit portion of the orbit, yielding 200 to 400 soundings per degree of latitude, or 7 to 14 million soundings every 16 days. Thick clouds and aerosols will reduce the number of soundings available for XCO2 retrievals by 80-90%, but the remaining data is expected to yield XCO2 estimates with accuracies of ~0.3 to 0.5% (1 to 2 ppm) on regional scales every month. These measurements will be analyzed with carbon cycle source/sink inversion and data assimilation models to infer CO2 surface fluxes. These results will improve our understanding of the nature and processes that regulate atmospheric CO2 enabling more reliable forecasts of CO2 buildup and its impact on climate change.
Publications:
Kuang, Z.M., J. Margolis, G. Toon. D. Crisp, Y. Yung, 2002. Spaceborne measurements of atmospheric CO2 by high-resolution NIR spectrometry of reflected sunlight, Geophys. Res. Lett., 29 (15): art. no. 1716
Crisp, D., R. M. Atlas, F.M. Breon, L. R. Brown, J. P. Burrows, P. Ciais, B. J. Connor, S.C. Doney, I.Y. Fung, D.J. Jacob, C.E. Miller, D. O'Brien, S. Pawson, J.T. Randerson, P. Rayner, R. J. Salawitch, S.P. Sander, B. Sen, G.L. Stephens, P.P. Tans, G.C. Toon, P.O. Wennberg, S.C. Wofsy, Y.L. Yung11, Z. Kuang, B. Chudasama, G. Sprague, B. Weiss, R. Pollock, D. Kenyon, S. Schroll, 2004.The Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO) Mission, Adv. Space. Res., 34 (4), 700-709.
Crisp, D., Johnson, C. 2005. The orbiting carbon observatory mission. Acta Astronautica. 56(1-2), 193-197. DOI: 10.1016/j.actaastro.2004.09.032
Bosch, H., Toon, G. C., Sen, B., Washenfelder, R. A., Wennberg, P. O., Buchwitz, M., de Beek, R., Burrows, J. P., Crisp, D., Christi, M., Connor, B. J., Natraj, V., Yung, Y. L. 2006. Space-based near-infrared CO2
measurements: Testing the Orbiting Carbon Observatory retrieval algorithm and validation concept using SCIAMACHY observations over Park Falls, Wisconsin. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres. 111(D23). DOI: 10.1029/2006JD007080
Miller, C. E., Crisp, D., DeCola, P. L., Olsen, S. C., Randerson, J. T., Michalak, A. M., Alkhaled, A., Rayner, P., Jacob, D. J., Suntharalingam, P., Jones, D. B. A., Denning, A. S., Nicholls, M. E., Doney, S. C., Pawson, S., Boesch, H., Connor, B. J., Fung, I. Y., O'Brien, D., Salawitch, R. J., Sander, S. P., Sen, B., Tans, P., Toon, G. C., Wennberg, P. O., Wofsy, S. C., Yung, Y. L., Law, R. M. 2007. Precision requirements for space-based data. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres. 112(D10). DOI: 10.1029/2006JD007659
More details may be found in the following project profile(s):
