© Author(s) 2007. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Assessing the near surface sensitivity of SCIAMACHY atmospheric

Abstract. Satellite observations of atmospheric CO2 offer the potential to identify regional carbon surface sources and sinks and to investigate carbon cycle processes. The extent to which satellite measurements are useful however, depends on the near surface sensitivity of the chosen sensor. In this pa-per, the capability of the SCIAMACHY instrument on board ENVISAT, to observe lower tropospheric and surface CO2 variability is examined. To achieve this, atmospheric CO2 retrieved from SCIAMACHY near infrared (NIR) spectral measurements, using the Full Spectral Initiation (FSI) WFM-DOAS algorithm, is compared to in-situ aircraft observations over Siberia and additionally to tower and surface CO2 data over Mongolia, Europe and North America. Preliminary validation of daily averaged SCIA-MACHY/FSI CO2 against ground based Fourier Transfor