Carbon Cycle Modeling Applied to Evaluation of Future Satellite CO2 Mission Concepts
Stephan
Randolph
Kawa, NASA-GSFC, stephan.r.kawa@nasa.gov
(Presenting)
Jianping
Mao, Goddard Earth Science and Technology Center, jianping.mao@nasa.gov
George
James
Collatz, NASA-GSFC, george.j.collatz@nasa.gov
James
B.
Abshire, NASA-GSFC, james.b.abshire@nasa.gov
Xiaoli
Sun, NASA-GSFC, xiaoli.sun@nasa.gov
Clark
J.
Weaver, Goddard Earth Science and Technology Center, clark.j.weaver@nasa.gov
Yuping
Liu, Science Systems and Applications, Inc, yuping.liu@nasa.gov
In spite of the loss of NASA’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory, future progress in global carbon cycle studies is still closely tied to global satellite measurements of CO2. We have glimpsed this potential from AIRS and SCIAMACHY and are now seeing first results from GOSAT. Meanwhile, a replacement OCO is likely, and several organizations around the world have concepts in development for the next generation of CO2 remote sensors in space. In this presentation, we report results from our carbon cycle process modeling as they are incorporated into mission simulation studies for a laser-based atmospheric CO2 sounder. The mission concept corresponds to the Active Sensing of CO2 over Nights, Days, and Seasons (ASCENDS) recommended by the US National Academy of Sciences Decadal Survey of Earth Science and Applications from Space. The methodology to evaluate potential data from this instrument, however, is generally applicable to others including passive sensors. One prerequisite for meaningful quantitative evaluation is realistic CO2 process modeling across a wide range of scales, i.e., does the model have representative spatial and temporal gradients. Another requirement is a relatively complete description of the atmospheric and surface state, which we have derived from meteorological data assimilation analysis and satellite measurements from MODIS and CALIPSO. We use radiative transfer model calculations, an instrument model with representative errors, and a retrieval approach to complete the cycle from “nature” run to “pseudo-data” CO2. We present examples of model evaluation against in situ and remote sensing observations and their implications for satellite sampling. Examples of several different instrument configurations are tested for their ability to resolve key carbon cycle science questions.
Presentation Type: Poster
Poster Session: Orbital and Suborbital Missions
NASA TE Funded Awards Represented:
Kawa, Stephan
Modeling the Global Atmospheric Carbon Cycle in Preparation for OCO Data