Simultaneous mass balance inverse modeling of methane and carbon monoxide

[1] We perform a simultaneous mass-balance inversion of atmospheric methane (CH4) and carbon monoxide ( CO) using measurements from the NOAA/CMDL Cooperative Air Sampling Network and a model of tropospheric transport and background chemistry over the period 1990 - 2000. Our method has a spatial resolution of a semihemisphere and a temporal resolution of 1 month. The deduced CO sources show relatively low interannual variability except around the major biomass burning event in 1997 - 1998, when we calculate an anomalous emission between July 1997 and December 1998 of 270 Tg(CO). This is enough to suppress the modeled global air mass weighted hydroxyl radical (OH) concentration during this time by 2.2%, and account for 75% of the observed increase in CH4 mixing ratios during 1998. We compare our implied CH4/CO emissions factors with published biomass burning emissions factors, suggesting that the remainder of the increase in CH4 observed in 1998 is due to anomalously high biomass burning emissions, with CH4 emissions from wetlands showing a small negative anomaly in 1998.