A PROPOSAL TO SERVE ON THE SCIENCE TEAM FOR THE ORBITAL CARBON OBSERVATORY - 2 MISSION

WE PROPOSE TO CONTRIBUTE TO THE OCO-2 SCIENCE TEAM BY PROVIDING FIRST-HAND WORKING KNOWLEDGE OF THE MOST COMPREHENSIVE CONTINENTAL REGIONAL AND URBAN-SCALE IN SITU CO2 OBSERVATIONAL NETWORKS AVAILABLE ON THE EARTH. IN PARTICULAR WE WILL APPLY EXPERIENCE ANALYZING TOWER-BASED OBSERVATIONS FROM NORTH AMERICA THE U.S. MIDCONTINENT INTENSIVE AN UPCOMING GULF COAST INTENSIVE AND THEONGOING INDIANAPOLIS FLUX EXPERIMENT TO EVALUATE OCO-2 OBSERVATIONS. WE ALSO PROPOSE TO USE OCO-2 OBSERVATIONS IN COMBINATION WITH THE TOWER-BASED OBSERVATIONS DESCRIBED ABOVE TO INFER CO2 FLUXES USING ATMOSPHERIC INVERSIONS AT CONTINENTAL REGIONAL AND URBAN SCALES USING A WELL-DEVELOPED REGIONAL ATMOSPHERIC INVERSION SYSTEM. IN SO DOING WE INTEND TO CONTRIBUTE TO A SUBSET OF THEOBJECTIVES OF THIS CALL FOR PROPOSALS MAINLY A) ADVISING AND PARTICIPATING IN VICARIOUS CALIBRATION FIELD CAMPAIGNS B) ASSESSING RETRIEVAL ERRORS IN FLUX INVERSIONS AND C) ANALYZING OBSERVING STRATEGIES FOR QUANTIFICATION OF BOTH SINKS AND DISCRETE SOURCES OF CO2. THIS WORK WILL BE HIGHLY LEVERAGED BY EXISTING RESEARCH ACTIVITIES WHICH INCLUDE FIRST-HAND DATA COLLECTION THE DEVELOPMENT OF INNOVATIVE INVERSION METHODOLOGY AND EXPLORATION OF INCREASINGLY COMPREHENSIVE TOOLS FOR ASSESSING AND ULTIMATELY REDUCING UNCERTAINTY IN ATMOSPHERIC INVERSIONS. THIS WORK WILL BE FOCUSED PRIMARILY ON REGIONS WHERE EXISTING OBSERVATIONS ARE CURRENTLY DENSE AND INVENTORIES ARE RELATIVELY WELL DEVELOPED THUS WILL PROVIDE IDEAL SITES FOR CALIBRATION AND TESTING OF OCO-2'S CAPABILITIES. THE INFORMATION GLEANEDFROM THESE INTENSELY INSTRUMENTED DOMAINS HOWEVER WILL BE APPLICABLE TO REGIONAL STUDIES USING OCO-2 AT MANY SIMILAR LOCATIONS AROUND THE WORLD WHERE IN SITU DATA ARE LESS ABUNDANT.