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Evaluating atmospheric CO 2 inversions at multiple scales over a highly inventoried agricultural landscape
Author(s) -
Schuh Andrew E.,
Lauvaux Thomas,
West Tristram O.,
Denning A. Scott,
Davis Kenneth J.,
Miles Natasha,
Richardson Scott,
Uliasz Marek,
Lokupitiya Erandathie,
Cooley Daniel,
Andrews Arlyn,
Ogle Stephen
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
global change biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 4.146
H-Index - 255
eISSN - 1365-2486
pISSN - 1354-1013
DOI - 10.1111/gcb.12141
Subject(s) - mesoscale meteorology , inversion (geology) , environmental science , carbon flux , carbon sink , carbon cycle , greenhouse gas , climatology , atmospheric research , atmospheric sciences , meteorology , climate change , geography , geology , oceanography , paleontology , ecology , structural basin , ecosystem , biology
An intensive regional research campaign was conducted by the N orth A merican Carbon Program ( NACP ) in 2007 to study the carbon cycle of the highly productive agricultural regions of the M idwestern U nited S tates. Forty‐five different associated projects were conducted across five US agencies over the course of nearly a decade involving hundreds of researchers. One of the primary objectives of the intensive campaign was to investigate the ability of atmospheric inversion techniques to use highly calibrated CO 2 mixing ratio data to estimate CO 2 flux over the major croplands of the U nited S tates by comparing the results to an inventory of CO 2 fluxes. Statistics from densely monitored crop production, consisting primarily of corn and soybeans, provided the backbone of a well studied bottom‐up inventory flux estimate that was used to evaluate the atmospheric inversion results. Estimates were compared to the inventory from three different inversion systems, representing spatial scales varying from high resolution mesoscale ( PSU ), to continental ( CSU ) and global (CarbonTracker), coupled to different transport models and optimization techniques. The inversion‐based mean CO 2 ‐C sink estimates were generally slightly larger, 8–20% for PSU , 10–20% for CSU , and 21% for CarbonTracker, but statistically indistinguishable, from the inventory estimate of 135 TgC. While the comparisons show that the MCI region‐wide C sink is robust across inversion system and spatial scale, only the continental and mesoscale inversions were able to reproduce the spatial patterns within the region. In general, the results demonstrate that inversions can recover CO 2 fluxes at sub‐regional scales with a relatively high density of CO 2 observations and adequate information on atmospheric transport in the region.