Using the Refined-Mesh Ocean-Land-Atmosphere-Model (OLAM) to Quantify Expected Carbon Dioxide Variations Across Urban Landscapes

The important time-space scales for monitoring CO2 concentrations are often quite varied. While the monitoring of biogenic emissions of CO2 might often be reasonable at monthly time resolution and regional to continental scales, dense urban emissions may demand diurnal time resolution and spatial scales on the order of a few kilometers. Combining such disparate time and space scales requires a flexible atmospheric modeling framework. We will present forward simulations of CO2 from the refined-mesh Ocean-Land-Atmosphere-Model (OLAM) with an emphasis on the interplay between fine scale tracer transport modeling in the urban landscape and the coarser scale transport used over more homogenous flux areas, e.g. oceans and homogeneous land surfaces. Furthermore, we’ll make statistical comparisons of the model simulations at varying spatial grid scales to a current suite of forward observing system simulation experiments being run out of the Global Modeling and Assimilation Office (GMAO) at NASA-Goddard. This work with provide valuable information on the expected temporal/spatial variations we should expect in urban environments from pending satellite missions, and the degree to which biological background inflow might affect urban fossil fuel CO2 gradients.