Carbon dioxide (CO₂) makes the largest contribution to radiative forcing from the so-called anthropogenic greenhouse gases. It is also deeply embedded in economic activity and is part of a complex natural cycle. One technique that has been applied to understanding the carbon cycle is the inversion approach of using measurements of the space-time distribution of CO₂ concentration, mainly at the surface, in order to deduce the space-time distribution of surface CO₂ exchanges. Such calculations are subject to well-known difficulties arising from the ill-conditioned nature of the inversion relation. This talk reviews progress since the initial attempts by Bolin and Keeling in 1963.

The talk builds on work undertaken at Monash and CSIRO through the CRC for Southern Hemisphere Meteorology, and work described in the book "Inverse Problems in Atmospheric Constituent Transport" by I. G. Enting (CUP, 2002). It incorporates more recent work of the international TRANSCOM intercomparison exercise.
 

Convenor: Simon Clarke