Computation and analysis of atmospheric carbon dioxide annual mean growth rates from satellite observations during 2003–2016

Abstract

Abstract. The growth rate of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) reflects the net effect of emissions and uptake resulting from anthropogenic and natural carbon sources and sinks. Annual mean CO2 growth rates have been determined globally and for selected latitude bands from satellite retrievals of column-average dry-air mole fractions of CO2, i.e., XCO2, for the years 2003 to 2016. The global XCO2 growth rates agree with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) growth rates from CO2 surface observations within the uncertainty of the satellite-derived growth rates (mean difference ± standard deviation: 0.0 ± 0.24 ppm/year; R: 0.87). This new and independent data set confirms record large growth rates around 3 ppm/year in 2015 and 2016, which are attributed to the 2015/2016 El Niño. Based on a comparison of the satellite-derived growth rates with human CO2 emissions from fossil fuel combustion and with El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) indices, we estimate by how much the impact of ENSO dominates the impact of fossil fuel burning related emissions in explaining the variance of the atmospheric CO2 growth rate.