TY - JOUR
AU - Heather Graven
AU - Marc L Fischer
AU - T Lueker
AU - Seongeun Jeong
AU - Tom Guilderson
AU - Ralph Keeling
AU - Ray P Bambha
AU - Kieran Brophy
AU - W Callahan
AU - Xinguang Cui
AU - C Frankenberg
AU - Kevin R Gurney
AU - Brian W LaFranchi
AU - Scott J Lehman
AU - Hope A Michelsen
AU - John B Miller
AU - Sally Newman
AU - W Paplawsky
AU - Nicholas Parazoo
AU - Christopher D Sloop
AU - S.J Walker
AB - <p>Analysis systems incorporating atmospheric observations could provide a powerful tool for validating fossil fuel CO<sub>2</sub> (ffCO<sub>2</sub>) emissions reported for individual regions, provided that fossil fuel sources can be separated from other CO<sub>2</sub> sources or sinks and atmospheric transport can be accurately accounted for. We quantified ffCO<sub>2</sub> by measuring radiocarbon (<sup>14</sup>C) in CO<sub>2</sub>, an accurate fossil-carbon tracer, at nine observation sites in California for three months in 2014–15. There is strong agreement between the measurements and ffCO<sub>2</sub> simulated using a high-resolution atmospheric model and a spatiotemporally-resolved fossil fuel flux estimate. Inverse estimates of total in-state ffCO<sub>2</sub> emissions are consistent with the California Air Resources Board's reported ffCO<sub>2</sub> emissions, providing tentative validation of California's reported ffCO<sub>2</sub> emissions in 2014–15. Continuing this prototype analysis system could provide critical independent evaluation of reported ffCO<sub>2</sub> emissions and emissions reductions in California, and the system could be expanded to other, more data-poor regions.</p>
BT - Environmental Research Letters
DA - 01/2018
DO - 10.1088/1748-9326/aabd43
IS - 6
LA - eng
N2 - <p>Analysis systems incorporating atmospheric observations could provide a powerful tool for validating fossil fuel CO<sub>2</sub> (ffCO<sub>2</sub>) emissions reported for individual regions, provided that fossil fuel sources can be separated from other CO<sub>2</sub> sources or sinks and atmospheric transport can be accurately accounted for. We quantified ffCO<sub>2</sub> by measuring radiocarbon (<sup>14</sup>C) in CO<sub>2</sub>, an accurate fossil-carbon tracer, at nine observation sites in California for three months in 2014–15. There is strong agreement between the measurements and ffCO<sub>2</sub> simulated using a high-resolution atmospheric model and a spatiotemporally-resolved fossil fuel flux estimate. Inverse estimates of total in-state ffCO<sub>2</sub> emissions are consistent with the California Air Resources Board's reported ffCO<sub>2</sub> emissions, providing tentative validation of California's reported ffCO<sub>2</sub> emissions in 2014–15. Continuing this prototype analysis system could provide critical independent evaluation of reported ffCO<sub>2</sub> emissions and emissions reductions in California, and the system could be expanded to other, more data-poor regions.</p>
PY - 2018
EP - 065007
ST - Environ. Res. Lett.
T2 - Environmental Research Letters
TI - Assessing fossil fuel CO <sub>2</sub> emissions in California using atmospheric observations and models
VL - 13
ER -