High-resolution atmospheric CO₂ concentration data simulated in WRF-Chem over East Asia for 10 years

In this study, high-resolution CO₂ concentration data were generated for East Asia to analyse long-term changes in atmospheric CO₂ concentrations, as East Asia is an important region for understanding the global carbon cycle. Using the Weather Research and Forecasting model coupled with Chemistry (WRF-Chem), atmospheric CO₂ concentrations were simulated in East Asia at a resolution of 9 km for a period of 10 years (2009–2018). The generated CO₂ concentration data include CO₂ concentrations, biogenic CO₂ concentrations, anthropogenic CO₂ concentrations, oceanic CO₂ concentrations, biospheric CO₂ uptake, biospheric CO₂ release and meteorological variables at 3-h intervals. The simulated high-resolution CO₂ concentrations, biogenic CO₂ concentrations and anthropogenic CO₂ concentrations are stored in NetCDF-4 (Network Common Data Form, version 4) format and are available for download at https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/PJTBF3. The simulated annual mean surface CO₂ concentrations in East Asia were 391.027 ppm in 2009 and 412.949 ppm in 2018, indicating an increase of 21.922 ppm over the 10-year period with appropriate seasonal variabilities. The monthly mean CO₂ concentrations in East Asia were verified using surface CO₂ observations and satellite column-averaged CO₂ mole fraction (XCO₂) from Orbiting Carbon Observatory 2 (OCO-2). Based on surface CO₂ observations and OCO-2 XCO₂ concentrations, the average root-mean-square error (RMSE) of the simulated CO₂ concentrations in WRF-Chem was 2.474 and 0.374 ppm, respectively, which is smaller than the average RMSE of the low-resolution CarbonTracker 2019B (CT2019B) simulation. Therefore, the simulated high-resolution atmospheric CO₂ concentrations in East Asia in WRF-Chem over 10 years are reliable data that resemble the observed values and could be highly valuable in understanding the carbon cycle in East Asia.