Synergy of Multiple‐Satellite Measurements to Fill the Gap of Global XCO<sub>2</sub>

Abstract Accurate monitoring of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) concentrations is essential for understanding the global carbon cycle. Satellite remote sensing enables global‐scale CO 2 monitoring, providing column‐averaged dry air mole fractions of CO 2 (XCO 2 ). Current missions such as the Orbiting Carbon Observatory‐2 (OCO‐2) and Greenhouse gases Observing SATellite (GOSAT) series provide high‐quality XCO 2 but have many observation gaps because of narrow swath widths or cloud interference. To address this, we first propose a machine learning (ML) approach to estimate daily XCO 2 (ML XCO 2 ) at a 0.25 resolution using OCO‐2, Sentinel‐5 Precursor TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument, and ERA5 reanalysis data from May 2018 to December 2023. Validation against the Total Carbon Column Observing Network measurements shows high agreement, with an R 2 of 0.95, a root mean square error of 1.05 ppm, and a mean absolute error of 0.78 ppm. The spatiotemporal variations in ML XCO 2 are generally consistent with OCO‐2, GOSAT, and the Copernicus Atmospheric Monitoring Service (CAMS) XCO 2 . Notably, during the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic in 2020, ML XCO 2 estimates were more consistent with OCO‐2 and GOSAT XCO 2 than CAMS XCO 2 , which was overestimated owing to unadjusted COVID‐19‐related CO 2 emission reductions. The annual mean CO 2 growth rates from ML XCO 2 (2.065–2.735 ppm/year, 2019–2023) also agree with estimates from OCO‐2 and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration surface measurements, indicating the robustness of our approach. Our study demonstrates that the synergy between multiple‐satellite measurements enhances the spatial coverage of XCO 2 and improves our understanding of the global carbon cycle.

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Publication Details

Journal
Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres
Published
2025-08-12
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1029/2024jd042809
Primary Topic
Atmospheric and Environmental Gas Dynamics
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

Synergy of Multiple‐Satellite Measurements to Fill the Gap of Global XCO2

Hyungah Jin, Jonghyuk Lee, Sujong Jeong, Soona Roh et al.
Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres
Atmospheric and Environmental Gas Dynamics
article

Synergy of Multiple‐Satellite Measurements to Fill the Gap of Global XCO2

Hyungah Jin, Jonghyuk Lee, Sujong Jeong, Soona Roh, Jiyeon Kim, Young Jun Kim
article en

Abstract

Abstract Accurate monitoring of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) concentrations is essential for understanding the global carbon cycle. Satellite remote sensing enables global‐scale CO 2 monitoring, providing column‐averaged dry air mole fractions of CO 2 (XCO 2 ). Current missions such as the Orbiting Carbon Observatory‐2 (OCO‐2) and Greenhouse gases Observing SATellite (GOSAT) series provide high‐quality XCO 2 but have many observation gaps because of narrow swath widths or cloud interference. To address this, we first propose a machine learning (ML) approach to estimate daily XCO 2 (ML XCO 2 ) at a 0.25 resolution using OCO‐2, Sentinel‐5 Precursor TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument, and ERA5 reanalysis data from May 2018 to December 2023. Validation against the Total Carbon Column Observing Network measurements shows high agreement, with an R 2 of 0.95, a root mean square error of 1.05 ppm, and a mean absolute error of 0.78 ppm. The spatiotemporal variations in ML XCO 2 are generally consistent with OCO‐2, GOSAT, and the Copernicus Atmospheric Monitoring Service (CAMS) XCO 2 . Notably, during the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic in 2020, ML XCO 2 estimates were more consistent with OCO‐2 and GOSAT XCO 2 than CAMS XCO 2 , which was overestimated owing to unadjusted COVID‐19‐related CO 2 emission reductions. The annual mean CO 2 growth rates from ML XCO 2 (2.065–2.735 ppm/year, 2019–2023) also agree with estimates from OCO‐2 and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration surface measurements, indicating the robustness of our approach. Our study demonstrates that the synergy between multiple‐satellite measurements enhances the spatial coverage of XCO 2 and improves our understanding of the global carbon cycle.

Journal of Geophysical Research AtmospheresVol. 130(16)
Seoul National University of Science and Technology (KR), Seoul National University (KR), National Institute of Environmental Research (KR)
National Aeronautics and Space Administration, National Research Foundation, Ministry of Environment, National Research Foundation of Korea, National Institute of Environmental Research, Ministry of Science and ICT, South Korea
Openalex Percentile: Top 80%
Atmospheric and Environmental Gas Dynamics
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