Abstract

Current estimates of the global atmospheric carbon budget are informed by surface flux estimates from inverse models. Starting from a prior knowledge on surface fluxes, the goal is to derive the net carbon exchange, considering the information on temporal and spatial gradients given by atmospheri... Show moreCurrent estimates of the global atmospheric carbon budget are informed by surface flux estimates from inverse models. Starting from a prior knowledge on surface fluxes, the goal is to derive the net carbon exchange, considering the information on temporal and spatial gradients given by atmospheric observations. However, understanding the magnitude and location of the terrestrial sinks appears to remain poorly constrained and the associated feedbacks -due to the CO2 effect- is uncertain (Schimel et al. 2015). From the atmospheric perspective, errors in the sources and sinks attribution to the observed atmospheric CO2 are caused by several factors. Show less