Modeling Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide over the United States

In this undergraduate research project, we implement a published, component-based model of the total carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere above the United States. To do so we use a simple ordinary differential equation to quantify the behavior of the carbon cycle (as described in published NOAA findings), compute curves of best fit to approximate CO2 contributions due to emissions from fossil fuels and forest fires, and employ Henry’s law to estimate the overall oceanic CO2 absorption effect. Finally, via residual comparison, model parameters are estimated to determine a model approximation.