Objectives

The CORSO project will address the requirements of the community by delivering further research activities and outcomes with a focus on the use of supplementary* observations, i.e., of co-emitted species as well as the use of auxiliary observations to better separate fossil fuel emissions from the other sources of atmospheric CO₂.

*we use the term “supplementary” to represent all observations other than atmospheric CO₂ concentrations, consisting of observations of co-emitted species and auxiliary observations (observations measuring specific elements of the carbon cycle).

The objectives of CORSO are addressing specific elements of the high-level data flow diagram (see figure), which was developed by the CO₂ Task Force and shows the main building blocks and data flows of the CO2MVS. To deliver policy-relevant information (red box), observations (orange box) and prior knowledge (green box) are combined using state-of-the-art Earth system models and data assimilation techniques at various scales (blue box) to provide consolidated data sets with uncertainty estimates (yellow box). CORSO will specifically focus on the Auxiliary observations box in the orange building block, aspects of the green building block, and the integration boxes of the blue building block.

Summarizing the above figure (High-level data flow of the CO2MVS), CORSO has set the following key objectives:

1. Deliver improved estimates of emission factors/ratios and their uncertainties.
2. Deliver the capabilities at global and local scale to optimally use observations of co-emitted species to better estimate anthropogenic CO₂
3. Provide clear recommendations to CAMS, ICOS, and WMO about the potential added-value of high-temporal resolution ¹⁴CO₂ and APO observations as tracers for anthropogenic emissions in both global and regional scale inversions.
4. Develop coupled land-atmosphere data assimilation in the global CO2MVS system constraining carbon cycle variables with satellite observations of soil moisture, LAI, SIF, and Biomass.
5. Provide specific recommendations for the topics above for the operational implementation of the CO2MVS within the Copernicus programme.

The CORSO concept will be implemented through specific scientific and technical activities, which will structure the work breakdown, and an overall coordination approach.