The OCO‐2 and OCO‐3 ACOS Version 11 XCO ₂ Data Products: A Benchmark Record for Space‐Based Global Carbon Cycle Research

@article{taylor2026oco2,
  title = {{The OCO‐2 and OCO‐3 ACOS Version 11 XCO ₂ Data Products: A Benchmark Record for Space‐Based Global Carbon Cycle Research}},
  author = {Thomas E. Taylor and Christopher W. O’Dell and Albert Chang and Abhishek Chatterjee and Cecilia Cheng and Lan Dang and Saswati Das and Brendan Fisher and Dejian Fu and Jonathan Hobbs and Nicole Jacobs and Graziela R. Keller and William Keely and Matthäus Kiel and Le Kuai and Thomas Kurosu and Alyn Lambert and Otto Lamminpää and Joshua Laughner and Richard Lee and Junjie Liu and Yuliya Marchetti and Steffen Mauceri and Gregory McGarragh and Aronne Merrelli and Robert R. Nelson and Greg Osterman and Fabiano Oyafuso and Sudhanshu Pandey and Vivienne H. Payne and Elise Rimsa and Robert Rosenberg and Dustin Roten and Edwin Sarkissian and Kacie Shelton and Gary Spiers and Cathy To and Paul O. Wennberg and Jia Zong and David F. Baker and Sourish Basu and Frédéric Chevallier and Sean Crowell and Liang Feng and Paul I. Palmer and Brad Weir and Kristan Morgan and Andrey Savtchenko and Matthias Buschmann and Nicholas M. Deutscher and Rigel Kivi and Manvendra Dubey and Frank Hase and Isamu Morino and Justus Notholt and Hirofumi Ohyama and Christof Petri and Markus Rettinger and Kimberly Strong and Ralf Sussmann},
  journal = {Earth and Space Science},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.1029/2026ea005360},
  url = {https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2026EA005360},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}

TY  - JOUR
TI  - The OCO‐2 and OCO‐3 ACOS Version 11 XCO ₂ Data Products: A Benchmark Record for Space‐Based Global Carbon Cycle Research
AU  - Thomas E. Taylor
AU  - Christopher W. O’Dell
AU  - Albert Chang
AU  - Abhishek Chatterjee
AU  - Cecilia Cheng
AU  - Lan Dang
AU  - Saswati Das
AU  - Brendan Fisher
AU  - Dejian Fu
AU  - Jonathan Hobbs
AU  - Nicole Jacobs
AU  - Graziela R. Keller
AU  - William Keely
AU  - Matthäus Kiel
AU  - Le Kuai
AU  - Thomas Kurosu
AU  - Alyn Lambert
AU  - Otto Lamminpää
AU  - Joshua Laughner
AU  - Richard Lee
AU  - Junjie Liu
AU  - Yuliya Marchetti
AU  - Steffen Mauceri
AU  - Gregory McGarragh
AU  - Aronne Merrelli
AU  - Robert R. Nelson
AU  - Greg Osterman
AU  - Fabiano Oyafuso
AU  - Sudhanshu Pandey
AU  - Vivienne H. Payne
AU  - Elise Rimsa
AU  - Robert Rosenberg
AU  - Dustin Roten
AU  - Edwin Sarkissian
AU  - Kacie Shelton
AU  - Gary Spiers
AU  - Cathy To
AU  - Paul O. Wennberg
AU  - Jia Zong
AU  - David F. Baker
AU  - Sourish Basu
AU  - Frédéric Chevallier
AU  - Sean Crowell
AU  - Liang Feng
AU  - Paul I. Palmer
AU  - Brad Weir
AU  - Kristan Morgan
AU  - Andrey Savtchenko
AU  - Matthias Buschmann
AU  - Nicholas M. Deutscher
AU  - Rigel Kivi
AU  - Manvendra Dubey
AU  - Frank Hase
AU  - Isamu Morino
AU  - Justus Notholt
AU  - Hirofumi Ohyama
AU  - Christof Petri
AU  - Markus Rettinger
AU  - Kimberly Strong
AU  - Ralf Sussmann
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/22
JO  - Earth and Space Science
DO  - 10.1029/2026ea005360
UR  - https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2026EA005360
AB  - NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory‐2 (OCO‐2) and OCO‐3 have been observing Earth's atmosphere from space since September 2014 and August 2019, respectively. The version 11 (v11) Atmospheric Carbon Observations from Space (ACOS) Level 2 full physics (L2FP) retrieval algorithm has been used to provide estimates of the column‐averaged dry‐air mole fraction of carbon dioxide () from OCO measurements of surface reflected near‐infrared solar radiation. In this work, updates to the ACOS v11 retrieval algorithm are discussed, and the quality filtering and bias correction of the products are described. estimates from OCO‐2 and OCO‐3 are compared to Total Carbon Column Observing Network (TCCON) observations and to atmospheric inversion models, which serve as truth‐proxies for . In addition, a direct comparison of collocated soundings between OCO‐2 and OCO‐3 is performed. Variations in v11 over small areas show improvement in agreement between actual and theoretical uncertainties, suggesting a reduction in systematic errors compared to v10, especially for OCO‐3. There is reduced variance in the new v11 product relative to truth‐proxies, including less divergence in the values with time against models. The collocations of observations between OCO‐2 and OCO‐3 indicate an overall mean difference of <0.2 ppm across the overlapping time range. Furthermore, OCO‐2 and OCO‐3 agree better with each other than they do with the validation sources, suggesting a well conditioned and unified set of concentrations that can be used concurrently for carbon cycle studies to provide a benchmark record spanning September 2014 through August 2026.
SN  - 2333-5084
SN  - 2333-5084
ER  -