The Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO-2) tracks 2-3 peta-gram increase in carbon release to the atmosphere during the 2014-2016 El Nino.

ABSTRACT: The powerful El Niño event of 2015-2016 - the third most intense since the 1950s - has exerted a large impact on the Earth's natural climate system. The column-averaged CO₂ dry-air mole fraction (XCO₂) observations from satellites and ground-based networks are analyzed together with in situ observations for the period of September 2014 to October 2016. From the differences between satellite (OCO-2) observations and simulations using an atmospheric chemistry-transport model, we estimate that, relative to the mean annual fluxes for 2014, the most recent El Niño has contributed to an excess CO₂ emission from the Earth's surface (land + ocean) to the atmosphere in the range of 2.4 ± 0.2 PgC (1 Pg = 10¹⁵ g) over the period of July 2015 to June 2016. T

SUBMITTER: Patra PK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5648889 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature