| Diagnosing the patterns and trends in the flux of carbon dioxide, CO 2, between the land or ocean and the atmosphere is necessary to predict the response of the carbon cycle to climate change. Atmospheric observations of the vertically averaged mixing ratio of CO2, ⟨CO2⟩ , provide a new tool that complements existing observations of boundary layer CO2 in constraining surface fluxes of CO 2. This dissertation explores how variations in ⟨CO2⟩ arise and how these variations can be used to estimate surface fluxes. |
