The sensitivity of deduced CO2 sources and sinks to variations in transport and imposed surface concentrations

Abstract

Carbon dioxide measurements exhibit substantial interannual variability in the growth rate and spatial distribution of CO2 in the atmosphere. Here we consider typical variations in surface spatial distribution and year to year variability in transport and deduce what changes are required to the source and sink distributions of CO2 to account for these variations. We use a three-dimensional (3d) tracer transport model with imposed surface CO2 concentrations to deduce the sources required for consistency with these concentrations. Experiments have been conducted in which the tracer model winds and prescribed surface concentrations were varied and the impact on the sources assessed. The results..