Atmospheric data assimilation of space-based observations to detect man-made emission of greenhouse gases

Reducing anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions is an important requirement to stay below the 2°C rise in global temperature goal set in the 2015 Paris Agreement. A priority therefore is understanding whether targets are being met. Measuring CO2 surface fluxes is difficult (and expensive), let alone disentangling the anthropogenic and biospheric signals. Space-based observations of CO2 columns and co-emitted species such as CO and NO2, can help us to better characterise CO2 surface fluxes and their partitioning into source categories. In this PhD project I will work on a global coupled multi-tracer data assimilation system that exploits the wealth of (multi-tracer) satellite observations currently available to better constrain anthropogenic CO2 surface fluxes.