Variation of XCO2 anomaly patterns in the Middle East from OCO-2 satellite data

The anthropogenic CO 2 emission is contributed to the rapid increase in CO 2 concentration. In the current study the anthropogenic CO 2 emission in the Middle East (ME) is investigated using 6 years column-averaged CO 2 dry air mole fraction (XCO 2 ) observation from Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) satellite. In this way, the XCO 2 anomaly ( XCO 2 ) as the detrended and deseasonalized term of OCO-2XCO 2 product, was computed and compared to provide the direct space-based anthropogenic CO 2 emission monitoring. As a result, the high positive and negative XCO 2 values have corresponded to the major sources such as oil and gas industries, and growing seasons over ME, respectively. Consequently, the Open-source Data Inventory for Anthropogenic CO 2 (ODIAC) emission and the gross primary productivity (GPP) were utilized in exploring the XCO 2 relation with human and natural driving factors. The results showed the capability of XCO 2 maps in detecting CO 2 emission fluctuations in defined periods were detectible in daily to annual periods. The simplicity and accuracy of the method in detecting the man-made and natural driving factors including the main industrial areas, megacities, or local changes due to COVID-19 pandemic or geopolitical situations as well as the vegetation absorption and biomass burning is the key point that provides the environmental managers and policymakers with valuable and accessible information to control and ultimately reduce the CO 2 emission over critical regions.