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African CO emissions between years 2000 and 2006 as estimated from MOPITT observations
F. Chevallier, A. Fortems, P. Bousquet, I. Pison, S. Szopa, M. Devaux, and D. A. Hauglustaine
Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement/IPSL, CEA-CNRS-UVSQ, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
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Abstract. The space-time variations of the carbon budget at the Earth surface are highly variable
and quantifying them represents a major scientific challenge. One strategy consists in
inferring the carbon surface fluxes from the atmospheric concentrations. A variational
scheme for the hydrocarbon oxidation chain, that includes CO and CH4,
is presented here with a focus on the African continent. The multi-tracer system
has been built as an extension of a system initially developed for CO2
and includes a new simplified non-linear chemistry module. Individual in situ
measurements of methyl-chloroform and individual retrievals of CO concentrations
from the Measurements Of Pollution In The Troposphere (MOPITT) space-born instrument
have been processed by the new system for the period 2000–2006 to infer the time
series of CO emissions at the resolution of 2.5°×3.75° (latitude, longitude).
It is shown that the analysed concentrations improve the fit to five independent
surface measurements located in or near Africa by up to 28% compared to standard
inventories, which confirms that quantitative information about CO emissions can be obtained from MOPITT data.
In practice, the inversion reduces the amplitude and the interannual variability
of the seasonal cycle in the northern part of Africa,
with a longer burning season. In the southern part,
the inversion mainly shifts the emission peak by one month later in the season,
consistent with previously-published inversion results.
Discussion Paper (PDF, 557 KB) Interactive Discussion (Closed, 4 Comments) Final Revised Paper (BG)
Citation: Chevallier, F., Fortems, A., Bousquet, P., Pison, I., Szopa, S., Devaux, M., and Hauglustaine, D. A.: African CO emissions between years 2000 and 2006 as estimated from MOPITT observations, Biogeosciences Discuss., 5, 3845-3868, 2008. Bibtex EndNote Reference Manager
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