Spatio-Temporal Variability of Atmospheric CO2 as Observed from In-Situ Measurements over North America during NASA Field Campaigns (2004-2008)

Regional-scale measurements were made over the eastern United States (Intercontinental Chemical Transport Experiment - North America (INTEX-NA), summer 2004); Mexico (Megacity Initiative: Local and Global Research Observations (MILAGRO), March 2006); the eastern North Pacific and Alaska (INTEX-B May 2006); and the Canadian Arctic (Arctic Research of the Composition of the Troposphere from Aircraft and Satellites (ARCTAS), spring and summer 2008). For these field campaigns, instrumentation for the in situ measurement of CO2 was integrated on the NASA DC-8 research aircraft providing high-resolution (1 second) data traceable to the WMO CO2 mole fraction scale. These observations provide unique and definitive data sets via their intermediate-scale coverage and frequent vertical profiles (0.1 - 12 km) for examining the variability CO2 exhibits above the Earth s surface. A bottom-up anthropogenic CO2 emissions inventory (1deg 1deg) and processing methodology has also been developed for North America in support of these airborne science missions. In this presentation, the spatio-temporal distributions of CO2 and CO column values derived from the campaign measurements will be examined in conjunction with the emissions inventory and transport histories to aid in the interpretation of the CO2 observations.