Long-term inverse modeling of Chinese CO emission from satellite observations

• We perform an inverse modeling of Chinese CO emission with satellite measurements.
• A posteriori emission compensates underestimates in outflows and dense plums.
• A posteriori CO emission exhibits a large seasonal cycle.
• Estimated CO emissions are 184, 173, 185, 158, 157, and 157 Tg/year for 2005–2010.
• Our estimate is compared with other recent bottom-up and top-down estimates.

Carbon monoxide (CO) emissions in China in 2005–2010 were estimated by inversion, using the Green's function method from vertical CO profiles derived from MOPITT Version 5 satellite data and a tagged CO simulation, and validated with independent in situ observations from the World Data Centre for Greenhouse Gases. Modeling with a posteriori emission successfully reproduced CO outflow from the continent to the East China Sea, Sea of Japan, and Japanese islands during winter and spring, and compensated for underestimates in central and eastern China in summer. A posteriori emissions showed large seasonal variations in which December and March emissions were on average 23% larger than August emissions, consistent with other studies. Estimated Chinese CO emissions were 184.4, 173.1, 184.6, 158.4, 157.4, and 157.3 Tg/year for 2005–2010, respectively. The decrease after 2007 is partly attributed to Chinese socioeconomic conditions and improved combustion efficiency.