Mitigation of satellite OCO-2 CO<sub>2</sub> biases in the vicinity of clouds with 3D calculations using the Education and Research 3D Radiative Transfer Toolbox (EaR<sup>3</sup>T)

Chen, Yu-Wen; Schmidt, K. Sebastian; Chen, Hong; Massie, Steven T.; Kulawik, Susan S.; Iwabuchi, Hironobu

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-1859-2025

Articles | Volume 18, issue 8

https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-1859-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-1859-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 18, issue 8

Research article

|

25 Apr 2025

Research article |

| 25 Apr 2025

Mitigation of satellite OCO-2 CO₂ biases in the vicinity of clouds with 3D calculations using the Education and Research 3D Radiative Transfer Toolbox (EaR³T)

Yu-Wen Chen, K. Sebastian Schmidt, Hong Chen, Steven T. Massie, Susan S. Kulawik, and Hironobu Iwabuchi

Data sets

OCO-2 Level 1B calibrated, geolocated science spectra, Retrospective Processing V10r OCO-2 Science Team et al. https://doi.org/10.5067/6O3GEUK7U2JG

OCO-2 Level 2 CO2 prior based on CO2 monthly flask record, global meteorology, and age of air, Retrospective Processing V10r OCO-2 Science Team et al. https://doi.org/10.5067/46J4Z696YA09

OCO-2 Level 2 spatially ordered geolocated retrievals screened using the IMAP-DOAS Preprocessor (IDP), Retrospective Processing V10r OCO-2 Science Team et al. https://doi.org/10.5067/FQ25VEK3DLRR

OCO-2 Level 2 meteorological parameters interpolated from global assimilation model for each sounding, Retrospective Processing V10r OCO-2 Science Team et al. https://doi.org/10.5067/OJZZW0LIGSDH

OCO-2 Level 2 geolocated XCO2 retrievals results, physical model, Retrospective Processing V10r OCO-2 Science Team et al. https://doi.org/10.5067/6SBROTA57TFH

OCO-2 Level 2 bias-corrected XCO2 and other select fields from the full-physics retrieval aggregated as daily files, Retrospective processing V10r OCO-2 Science Team et al. https://doi.org/10.5067/E4E140XDMPO2

MODIS 1km Calibrated Radiances Product MODIS Characterization Support Team (MCST) https://doi.org/10.5067/MODIS/MYD021KM.061

ODIS 250m Calibrated Radiances Product MODIS Characterization Support Team (MCST) https://doi.org/10.5067/MODIS/MYD02QKM.061

MODIS 500m Calibrated Radiance Product MODIS Characterization Support Team (MCST) https://doi.org/10.5067/MODIS/MYD02HKM.061

MODIS Geolocation Fields Product MODIS Characterization Support Team (MCST) https://doi.org/10.5067/MODIS/MYD03.061

MODIS Atmosphere L2 Cloud Product (06_L2) S. Platnick et al. https://doi.org/10.5067/MODIS/MOD06_L2.061

MODIS/Terra+Aqua BRDF/Albedo Daily L3 Global - 500m V061 C. Schaaf and Z. Wang https://doi.org/10.5067/MODIS/MCD43A3.061

MODIS Atmosphere L2 Aerosol Product R. Levy and C. Hsu https://doi.org/10.5067/MODIS/MYD04_L2.061

Model code and software

hong-chen/er3t: er3t-v0.1.1 (v0.1.1) Hong Chen et al. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7734965

ywchen-tw/OCO2: v0.1.0 (v0.1.0) Yu-Wen Chen https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15086808

Short summary

CO₂ column-averaged dry-air mole fractions can be retrieved from space using spectrometers like OCO-2. However, nearby clouds induce spectral distortions that bias these retrievals beyond the accuracy needed for global CO₂ source and sink assessments. This study employs a physics-based linearization approach to represent 3D cloud effects and introduces radiance-level mitigation techniques for actual OCO-2 data, enabling the operational implementation of these corrections.

Mitigation of satellite OCO-2 CO2 biases in the vicinity of clouds with 3D calculations using the Education and Research 3D Radiative Transfer Toolbox (EaR3T)

Data sets

Model code and software

Mitigation of satellite OCO-2 CO₂ biases in the vicinity of clouds with 3D calculations using the Education and Research 3D Radiative Transfer Toolbox (EaR³T)