CO2 simulation

This page contains information about the carbon dioxide (CO₂) simulation in GEOS-Chem.

Overview

The original GEOS-Chem CO₂ simulation was developed by Parv Suntharalingam (Suntharalingam et al., 2003; 2004), now at the University of East Anglia. A major update to the CO₂ simulation has been developed by Ray Nassar and Dylan B.A. Jones of the University of Toronto (Nassar et al., 2010). This update was delivered to the GEOS-Chem software development team at Harvard on 2010 April 1.

The update retains the original six CO₂ fluxes: fossil fuel, ocean exchange, biomass burning, biofuel burning, balanced terrestrial exchange (CASA) and net annual terrestrial exchange. New inventories are available as options for some of these fluxes and other new fluxes have been added such as CO₂ emissions from international shipping and aviation. There is also now an optional feature to include CO₂ production from the oxidation of CO, CH₄ and NMVOCs. This chemical source concept was first highlighted by Enting and Mansbridge (1991). Although a few attempts have been made by other groups in the past, this implementation will make GEOS-Chem the only 3-D global model in current use to account for the chemical production of CO₂. The GEOS-Chem implementation uses an approach similar to that described in Suntharalingam et al. (2005), with some updated year-specific numbers and some other modifications described in Nassar et al. (2010).

The full GEOS-Chem CO₂ update was applied to v8-02-01 (along with some patches). It is now undergoing testing and should be publicly available in the next GEOS-Chem release (v8-03-02). The model update will be accompanied by an update to the GEOS-Chem online manual. The references below are cited in the updated code's comments and online manual.

Authors and collaborators

• Ray Nassar (Environment Canada and U. Toronto)
• Parvada Suntharalingam (U. East Anglia)

CO₂ simulation user groups

User Group	Personnel	Projects
University of Toronto	Ray Nassar	Model updates and application to inverse modeling
Korea Environment Institute (KEI)]	Changsub Shim
University of Colorado Boulder	Daven Henze	CO2 adjoint
Add yours here!

Validation

The updated CO₂ simulation will be incorporated into GEOS-Chem v8-03-02. In Nassar et al. (2010) model comparisons are made with GLOBALVEIW-CO2 (http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/ccgg/globalview/co2/co2_intro.html) and CONTRAIL (Comprehensive Observation Network for TRace gases by AIrLiner) measurements. In other work, the CO₂ simulation has also been compared with aircraft observations from the HIAPER Pole-to-Pole Observations (HIPPO) campaigns of 2009.

References

1. Andres, R. J., G. Marland, I. Fung, and E. Matthews, A 1°x1° distribution of carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel consumption and cement manufacture, Global Biogeochem. Cycles, 10, 419–429, 1996.
2. Baker, D. F., et al., TransCom 3 inversion intercomparison: Impact of transport model errors on the interannual variability of regional CO₂ fluxes, 1988-2003, Global Biogeochem. Cycles, 20, GB1002, doi:10.1029/2004GB002439, 2006.
3. Boden, T.A., G. Marland, and R.J. Andres, Global, Regional, and National Fossil-Fuel CO₂ Emissions. Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy, Oak Ridge, Tenn., U.S.A. doi 10.3334/CDIAC/00001, 2009.
4. Corbett & Koehler, Updated emissions from ocean shipping, J. Geophys. Res., 108, D20, 4650, 2003.
5. Corbett, J. J., and H. W. Koehler, Considering alternative input parameters in an activity-based ship fuel consumption and emissions model: Reply to comment by Øyvind Endresen et al. on Updated emissions from ocean shipping, J. Geophys. Res., 109, 2004.
6. Duncan, B. N., R. V. Martin, A. C. Staudt, R. Yevich, and J. A. Logan, Interannual and seasonal variability of biomass burning emissions constrained by satellite observations, J. Geophys. Res., 108(D2), 4100, doi:10.1029/2002JD002378, 2003.
7. Endresen, O, et al., A historical reconstruction of ships fuel consumption and emissions, J. Geophys. Res, 112, D12301, 2007.
8. Enting, I. G. and Mansbridge, J. V.: Latitudinal distribution of sources and sinks of CO₂: results of and inversion study, Tellus B, 43, 156–170, 1991.
9. Kim, B. Y., et al., System for assessing Aviation's Global Emissions (SAGE) Version 1.5 global Aviation Emissions Inventories for 2000-2004, 2005.
10. Kim, B. Y., et al., System for assessing Aviation’s Global Emissions (SAGE), Part 1: Model description and inventory results, Transportation Research, Part D 12, 325–346, 2007.
11. Le Quere, C. et al., Trends in the sources and sinks of carbon dioxide, Nature Geoscience, doi:10.1038/ngeo689, 2009.
12. Nassar, R., D. B. A. Jones, P. Suntharalingam, J. M. Chen, R. J. Andres, K. J. Wecht, R. M. Yantosca, S. S. Kualwik, K. W. Bowman, J. R. Worden, T. Machida, H. Matsueda, Modeling global atmospheric CO₂ with improved emission inventories and CO₂ production from the oxidation of other carbon species, Geoscientific Model Development Discussions, accepted, 2010.
13. Olsen, S. C., and J. T. Randerson, Differences between surface and column atmospheric CO₂ and implications for carbon cycle research, J. Geophys. Res., 109, D02301, doi:10.1029/2003JD003968, 2004.
14. Potter, C. S., J. T. Randerson, C. B. Field, P. A. Matson, P. M. Vitousek, H. A. Mooney, and S. A. Klooster, Terrestrial ecosystem production: A process model based on global satellite and surface data, Global Biogeochem. Cycles, 7, 811–841, 1993.
15. Sausen, R. and U. Schumann, Estimates of the Climate Response to Aircraft CO₂ and NO_x Emissions Scenarios, Climate Change, 44: 27-58, 2000.
16. Suntharalingam, P., C. M. Spivakovsky, J. A. Logan, and M. B. McElroy, Estimating the distribution of terrestrial CO₂ sources and sinks from atmospheric measurements: Sensitivity to configuration of the observation network, J. Geophys. Res., 108(D15), 4452, doi:10.1029/2002JD002207, 2003.
17. Suntharalingam, P., D. J. Jacob, P. I. Palmer, J. A. Logan, R. M. Yantosca, Y. Xiao, M. J. Evans, D. G. Streets, S. L. Vay, and G. W. Sachse, Improved quantification of Chinese carbon fluxes using CO₂/CO correlations in Asian outflow, J. Geophys. Res., 109, D18S18, doi:10.1029/2003JD004362, 2004.
18. Suntharalingam, P., J. T. Randerson, N. Krakauer, J. A. Logan, and D. J. Jacob, Influence of reduced carbon emissions and oxidation on the distribution of atmospheric CO₂: Implications for inversion analyses, Global Biogeochem. Cycles, 19, GB4003, doi:10.1029/2005GB002466, 2005.
19. Takahashi, T., R. A. Feely, R. Weiss, R. H. Wanninkhof, D. W. Chipman, S. C. Sutherland, T. T. Takahashi, Global air-sea flux of CO₂: an estimate based on measurements of sea-air pCO₂ difference, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., 94, 8292–8299, 1997.
20. Takahashi, T., et al., Climatological mean and decadal change in surface ocean pCO₂, and net sea–air CO₂ flux over the global oceans, Deep-Sea Res. II, doi:10.1016/j.dsr2.2008.12.009, 2009.
21. Wang, C., J.J. Corbett, J. Firestone, Modeling Energy Use and Emissions from North American Shipping: Application of the Ship Traffic, Energy, and Environment Model, Environ. Sci. Technol., 41, 3226-3232, 2008.
22. Wilkersen, J.T. et al., Analysis of emission data from global commercial Aviation: 2004 and 2006, Atmos. Chem. Phys. Disc., 10, 2945-2983, 2010.
23. Yevich, R., and J. A. Logan, An assessment of biofuel use and burning of agricultural waste in the developing world, Global Biogeochem. Cycles, 17(4), 1095, doi:10.1029/2002GB001952, 2003. PDF

Known issues

Although GEOS-Chem v8-03-02 will be released with the functionality to run with monthly fossil fuel CO₂ emissions from CDIAC (R.J. Andres), the inventory files most likely will not be released until a later date, when the submitted paper Andres et al. (2010) is at a sufficient stage. Until then, annually-averaged fossil fuel CO₂ emissions must be selected in the input.geos file.

--Bob Y. 12:26, 29 March 2010 (EDT)

--Ray Nassar 9:48, 25 June 2010 (EDT)