The Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2: first 18 months of science data products

The Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) is the first National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) satellite designed to measure atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂) with the accuracy, resolution, and coverage needed to quantify CO₂ fluxes (sources and sinks) on regional scales. OCO-2 was successfully launched on 2 July 2014 and has gathered more than 2 years of observations. The v7/v7r operational data products from September 2014 to January 2016 are discussed here. On monthly timescales, 7 to 12 % of these measurements are sufficiently cloud and aerosol free to yield estimates of the column-averaged atmospheric CO₂ dry air mole fraction, X_CO2, that pass all quality tests. During the first year of operations, the observing strategy, instrument calibration, and retrieval algorithm were optimized to improve both the data yield and the accuracy of the products. With these changes, global maps of X_CO2 derived from the OCO-2 data are revealing some of the most robust features of the atmospheric carbon cycle. This includes X_CO2 enhancements co-located with intense fossil fuel emissions in eastern US and eastern China, which are most obvious between October and December, when the north-south X_CO2 gradient is small. Enhanced X_CO2 coincident with biomass burning in the Amazon, central Africa, and Indonesia is also evident in this season. In May and June, when the north-south X_CO2 gradient is largest, these sources are less apparent in global maps. During this part of the year, OCO-2 maps show a more than 10 ppm reduction in X_CO2 across the Northern Hemisphere, as photosynthesis by the land biosphere rapidly absorbs CO₂. As the carbon cycle science community continues to analyze these OCO-2 data, information on regional-scale sources (emitters) and sinks (absorbers) which impart X_CO2 changes on the order of 1 ppm, as well as far more subtle features, will emerge from this high-resolution global dataset.