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Abstract Location ID: 114

The Total Carbon Column Observing Network (TCCON)

Coleen M. Roehl, California Institute of Technology, coleen@gps.caltech.edu (Presenting)
Gretchen Keppel-Aleks, California Institute of Technology, gka@gps.caltech.edu
Debra Wunch, California Institute of Technology, dwunch@caltech.edu
Geoffrey C. Toon, Jet Propulsion Laboratory and, California Institute of Technology, geoffrey.c.toon@jpl.nasa.gov
Jean-François L. Blavier, Jet Propulsion Laboratory and, California Institute of Technology, blavier@caesar.jpl.nasa.gov
Rebecca Washenfelder, California Institute of Technology, now at National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, rebecca.washenfelder@noaa.gov
Justus Notholt, University of Bremen, jnotholt@iup.physik.uni-bremen.de
Brian Connor, BC Consulting Limited, bcconsulting@xtra.co.nz
Vanessa Sherlock, National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, v.sherlock@niwa.co.nz
David Griffith, University of Wollongong, griffith@uow.edu.au
Paul O. Wennberg, California Institute of Technology, wennberg@gps.caltech.edu

The Total Carbon Column Observing Network (or TCCON) is an international network of ground-based Fourier Transform Spectrometers, employed to measure the distribution of greenhouse gases. High resolution solar spectra in the near-infrared region are used to obtain accurate and precise column densities of greenhouse gases (GHG) CO2, CH4, H2O, and N2O, along with CO.

The column observations, in combination with the existing surface measurements, can improve estimates of surface flux studies of GHG, allowing improved predictions of their future concentrations. In addition, TCCON measurements are being used to validate satellite column measurements of these gases. This activity was organized in partnership with NASA's OCO satellite program and is now being used as the validation network for the Japanese GOSAT satellite, ESA's SCIAMACHY imaging spectrometer, and NASA’s AIRS infrared sounder instrument aboard the Aqua satellite.

This paper will provide an overview of the TCCON network and recent applications. Funding for the TCCON site in Park Falls, WI came from the NASA’s Terrestrial Ecology Program.

Presentation Type:   Poster

Poster Session:  Carbon Cycle Science

NASA TE Funded Awards Represented:

  • Wennberg, Paul
    The Total Carbon Column Observing Network (TCCON): Ground-based Observations in Support of the Orbiting Carbon Observatory

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