Figure 8: TCCON Stations (2021)
The Total Carbon Column Observing Network (TCCON) is a network of ground-based Fourier Transform Spectrometers recording direct solar spectra in the near-infrared spectral region. The project was initiated in 2004 with support from NIWA (New Zealand) and NASA (US). It has expanded to international co-investigators across the world. The primary data products are highprecision total columns of CO2 and CH4. Other gases including HDO, CO and N2O are also retrieved and archived.
Sites for the network span the globe to provide diverse and targeted data for use as validation sites for the GOSAT and OCO-2 CO2 observing satellites, as well as monitoring the seasonal cycle and long-term evolution of CO2 and CH4.
The Network shares common methodologies, technical issues, and membership with the NDACC FTIR Working Group. The Network aims to provide a temporally dense, globally consistent data coverage network-wide by using a common retrieval technique. The retrieved columns are tied to the ground-based in situ networks by scaling to (in situ) balloon and aircraft profiles.
Details and data can be found at the TCCON website. TCCON data are also available from the Carbon Dioxide Information and Analysis Center (CDIAC). The latest TCCON information, including site details, can be found at the TCCON Wiki. Chair of TCCON is Paul Wennberg; co-chairs are Justus Notholt (Europe / Africa) and David Griffith (East Asia, Tropical Western Pacific, Australia, and New Zealand).
The primary reference for TCCON is: D. Wunch, G.C. Toon, J.-F.L. Blavier, R.A. Washenfelder, J. Notholt, B.J. Connor, D.W.T. Griffith, V. Sherlock, P.O. Wennberg. The Total Carbon Column Observing Network. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A (2011) 369, doi:10.1098/rsta.2010.0240
A running tabulation of papers that use TCCON data is also available.
Updated September 2021