A Dual‐Transformer Network for Spatiotemporal Modeling of Carbon Dioxide Column Concentration ( <scp> XCO <sub>2</sub> </scp> ) on the Basis of Dynamic Heterogeneous Graphs

ABSTRACT Among various carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) monitoring approaches, satellite observation and ground‐based observations are two widely adopted and reliable methods. However, the former is constrained by relatively low accuracy, whereas the latter suffers from limited spatial coverage. Therefore, this study develops a hybrid spatiotemporal modeling method integrating two Transformer networks on the basis of heterogeneous graphs to enhance the Copernicus atmosphere monitoring service global greenhouse gas reanalysis version 4 (CAMS‐EGG4) dataset by fusing orbiting carbon observatory‐2 (OCO‐2) satellite observations. Dynamic heterogeneous spatiotemporal graphs are constructed by integrating spatial proximity with corresponding temporal nodes, enabling an explicit representation of the intrinsic spatiotemporal dependencies in atmospheric CO 2 observations. This approach maintains the advantage of broad spatial coverage while achieving accuracy comparable to ground‐based observations. The proposed model demonstrates high predictive performance, with a coefficient of determination ( R 2 ) of 0.97, a root mean square error (RMSE) of 0.99, and a mean absolute error (MAE) of 0.79. We further benchmarked the proposed model against four machine learning approaches, including random forest (RF), extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost), convolutional neural network (CNN), and graph convolutional network (GCN). Experimental results show that the Dual‐Transformer model consistently outperforms the four approaches in terms of R 2 , RMSE, and MAE. In addition, validation against ground‐based measurements from the total carbon column observing network (TCCON) confirms that the predicted XCO 2 data exhibit substantial improvements over the original dataset. This methodological advance offers a scalable foundation for constructing refined CO 2 reanalysis products, with broad applicability in atmospheric science, earth system modeling, and evidence‐based climate policy development.

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Publication Details

Journal
Transactions in GIS
Published
2026-05-01
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1111/tgis.70275
Primary Topic
Atmospheric and Environmental Gas Dynamics
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

A Dual‐Transformer Network for Spatiotemporal Modeling of Carbon Dioxide Column Concentration ( XCO 2 ) on the Basis of Dynamic Heterogeneous Graphs

Zhenxi Fang, Lifeng Yin, Baoyi Zhang, Lifang Wang et al.
Transactions in GIS
Atmospheric and Environmental Gas Dynamics
article

A Dual‐Transformer Network for Spatiotemporal Modeling of Carbon Dioxide Column Concentration ( XCO 2 ) on the Basis of Dynamic Heterogeneous Graphs

Zhenxi Fang, Lifeng Yin, Baoyi Zhang, Lifang Wang, Shujun Yuan, Yunchang Guo
article en

Abstract

ABSTRACT Among various carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) monitoring approaches, satellite observation and ground‐based observations are two widely adopted and reliable methods. However, the former is constrained by relatively low accuracy, whereas the latter suffers from limited spatial coverage. Therefore, this study develops a hybrid spatiotemporal modeling method integrating two Transformer networks on the basis of heterogeneous graphs to enhance the Copernicus atmosphere monitoring service global greenhouse gas reanalysis version 4 (CAMS‐EGG4) dataset by fusing orbiting carbon observatory‐2 (OCO‐2) satellite observations. Dynamic heterogeneous spatiotemporal graphs are constructed by integrating spatial proximity with corresponding temporal nodes, enabling an explicit representation of the intrinsic spatiotemporal dependencies in atmospheric CO 2 observations. This approach maintains the advantage of broad spatial coverage while achieving accuracy comparable to ground‐based observations. The proposed model demonstrates high predictive performance, with a coefficient of determination ( R 2 ) of 0.97, a root mean square error (RMSE) of 0.99, and a mean absolute error (MAE) of 0.79. We further benchmarked the proposed model against four machine learning approaches, including random forest (RF), extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost), convolutional neural network (CNN), and graph convolutional network (GCN). Experimental results show that the Dual‐Transformer model consistently outperforms the four approaches in terms of R 2 , RMSE, and MAE. In addition, validation against ground‐based measurements from the total carbon column observing network (TCCON) confirms that the predicted XCO 2 data exhibit substantial improvements over the original dataset. This methodological advance offers a scalable foundation for constructing refined CO 2 reanalysis products, with broad applicability in atmospheric science, earth system modeling, and evidence‐based climate policy development.

Transactions in GISVol. 30(3)
Central South University (CN), Chinese Academy of Surveying and Mapping (CN), Ministry of Natural Resources (RW), Nanjing Surveying and Mapping Research Institute (China) (CN), China Nonferrous Metals Changsha Investigation Design Institute (CN), Dalian Jiaotong University (CN)
Natural Science Foundation of Hunan Province
Openalex Percentile: Top 6%
Atmospheric and Environmental Gas Dynamics
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