Synergies in a Constellation of Greenhouse Gas Observing Satellites

Disaggregating fluxes of carbon dioxide at the regional scale has proven to be a challenging endeavor.  On one hand, in situ measurements are very accurate, but very sparse in terms of spatial coverage.  On the other hand, satellite observations from platforms like GOSAT and OCO-2 have broad coverage, but the sensitivity of flux estimates to bias in the retrievals has made the community a bit skeptical of conclusions drawn from satellite observations alone.  Missions on the near horizon, such as OCO-3, MicroCARB and GOSAT 2, and those at the development and proposal stages, such as ASCENDS (a lidar based measurement) and GeoCARB (a passive geostationary measurement), indicate that we will soon have a constellation of different observing systems that will provide measurements of varying precision and orbits, and as of yet, no clue how they will jointly constrain the carbon cycle.  In this work, we will explore the joint constraint of active and passive low earth orbiting missions such as ASCENDS and OCO-2, in the context of actual systematic errors, as well as geostationary instruments with different longitudes, on the global carbon cycle.  We will also explore the impact of LEO and GEO measurements on the North American carbon budget at the regional scale.