Department of Earth System Science

Human activity has increased the concentration of the earth's atmospheric carbon dioxide, which plays a direct role in contributing to global warming. Mid-tropospheric CO₂ retrieved by the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder shows a substantial spatiotemporal variability that is supported by in situ aircraft measurements. The distribution of middle tropospheric CO₂ is strongly influenced by surface sources and large-scale circulations such as the mid-latitude jet streams and by synoptic weather systems, most notably in the summer hemisphere. In addition, the effects of stratosphere-troposphere exchange are observed during a final stratospheric warming event. The results provide the means to understand the sources and sinks and the lifting of CO₂ from surface layers into the free troposphere and its subsequent transport around the globe. These processes are not adequately represented in three chemistry-transport models that have been used to study carbon budgets.