CoCO2: prototype system for a Copernicus CO2 monitoring service

CoCO2 (https://coco2-project.eu/) is a H2O20-funded project (2021-2023) building prototype systems for the new European anthropogenic CO2 emissions monitoring and verification support capacity (CO2MVS). The objective is to perform R&D activities identified in the CHE project and strongly recommended by the European Commission's CO2 monitoring Task Force. These activities shall sustain the development of a European CO2MVS addressing all components of the system, such as atmospheric transport models, re-analysis, data assimilation techniques, bottom-up estimation, in-situ networks and ancillary measurements needed to address the attribution of CO2 emissions. The aim is to have prototype systems ready by the end of the project as input for the foreseen Copernicus CO2 service element and to provide inputs for the first Global Stocktake in 2023.

The overall concept of the CO2MVS combines the information from observational data sets (satellite and in-situ) and information from prior knowledge (e.g., actual, estimated or projected emission inventories) with detailed computer models of the Earth system that represent the sources, sinks and transport of CO2 in the atmosphere in a Bayesian estimation framework.