Six years of OCO-2 XCO2 and SIF observations: Still going and going ...

Abstract:

Six years of OCO-2 XCO₂ and SIF observations: Still going and going ...

Michael Gunson¹, Annmarie Eldering¹, and David Crisp¹, and OCO-2 Team

¹Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena CA

The Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) was launched on July 2, 2014 and now has made over six years of colum-averaged carbon dioxide dry mole fraction (XCO₂) and solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF). We will look at the challenges of maintaining this record, now captured in the recently released version 10 (V10) data set, as the observatory has gone beyond the planned baseline of operations and is starting the second extended period of operations. The OCO-2 data have revealed the importance of high spatial resolution soundings to reveal highly localized sources of CO₂ emissions at power plants and on urban scales, but with the precision and accuracy to identify and quantify the processes that emit and absorb CO₂ at the surface. During the recent past, OCO-2 observations indicate that the tropical forests, once thought to be strong net sinks for CO₂, never fully recovered from 2015/16 El Nino conditions, and have continued to be net CO₂ sources. The OCO-2 data record is not yet long enough to determine whether this was simply due to a longer than expected recovery time, or evidence for a “tipping point” in the carbon cycle; but the continuing OCO-2 observations in the coming years will be essential to discriminate between these possibilities. With the development of the V10 data product, together with the deployment of OCO-3 to the International Space Station, we discuss these new opportunities for advances in carbon cycle science to be expected in the next few years.

© California Institute of Technology. Government sponsorship acknowledged.