Atmospheric Carbon Flux
Tower-based eddy covariance measurements across boreal, temperate, and tropical sites.
Active Research Programs
Five programs span observation, modeling, and synthesis. Each program publishes open methods, raw datasets, and reproducible analysis notebooks.
Ocean Carbonate Chemistry
Surface and deep-water dissolved inorganic carbon profiling in the North Pacific.
Soil Organic Carbon
Long-term plot studies on land-use change and soil carbon residence time.
Industrial Emissions Inventory
Independent verification of reported emissions for energy and cement sectors.
Carbon Removal Verification
Methodologies for measuring durability and additionality of CDR pathways.
Recent Research Highlights
Boreal soil respiration responds non-linearly to spring thaw timing
Across a 12-year record at six high-latitude sites, soil CO2 efflux during the shoulder season rose disproportionately to thaw-onset advancement, suggesting a feedback mechanism not represented in current land-surface models.
Read open-access abstract →Coastal upwelling zones as transient carbon sinks: a synthesis of 1996–2024 cruises
Re-analysis of 218 oceanographic cruises reveals seasonal sink behavior in eastern boundary upwelling systems, with implications for global air-sea flux estimates and fishery management policy.
Read open-access abstract →Verification gap: independent vs. self-reported emissions in cement manufacturing
Comparison of satellite-derived plume data against company disclosures across 64 facilities shows a median 11.4% under-reporting, concentrated in jurisdictions with voluntary verification frameworks.
Read open-access abstract →Open Education & Curricula
Free, peer-reviewed teaching materials for secondary, undergraduate, and continuing professional education. All materials are CC-BY licensed.
Secondary
The Carbon Cycle in Eight Lessons
A modular curriculum mapped to NGSS and Cambridge IGCSE standards. Includes lab activities and assessment rubrics.
- Duration
- 16 hrs
- Lessons
- 8
- Adoptions
- 1,240 schools
Undergraduate
Quantitative Biogeochemistry
One-semester course on mass balance, isotope tracers, and reservoir modeling, with Python notebooks for every chapter.
- Duration
- 14 weeks
- Notebooks
- 32
- Adoptions
- 87 universities
Professional
Emissions Accounting Practicum
For sustainability practitioners: Scope 1–3 inventory methodology, GHG Protocol alignment, and verification workflows.
- Duration
- 40 hrs
- Modules
- 12
- Certificates
- 3,116 issued
Public
Carbon, Plain & Clear
A short reading series for general audiences, written by working scientists. Available as web pages, PDFs, and audio.
- Articles
- 24
- Languages
- 9
- Readers
- 410k / yr
Educator Hotline
Teachers may book a 30-minute consultation with a Tanso researcher to plan a unit, vet a lab activity, or interpret a recent paper.
Request a consultationOpen Data Portal
Live and archival datasets from our monitoring networks. All data is published under CC0 with citation guidance.
421.7 ppm
Atmospheric CO2, mean of 14 stations, March 2026
+2.4 ppm year-on-year31% of fossil emissions
Absorbed by the global ocean (2015–2024 mean)
Source: Tanso ocean program synthesis2,350 Pg C
Estimated global soil organic carbon (top 1 m)
Distribution by biome14 active towers
Eddy covariance stations operated or co-operated
Across 4 continentsDatasets & Endpoints
Dataset
Cadence
Records
Format
Endpoint
Atmospheric CO2 hourly
Hourly
11.4 M
NetCDF / CSV
/api/v1/atm/co2
Ocean DIC profiles
Per cruise
218
NetCDF
/api/v1/ocean/dic
Soil C plot inventories
Annual
22 plots
CSV
/api/v1/soil/plots
Industrial emissions registry
Quarterly
9,840 facilities
JSON / Parquet
/api/v1/industry/registry
CDR project ledger
On update
11 projects
JSON
/api/v1/cdr/ledger
About the Center
Founded in 2009 in Sapporo and Geneva, Tanso Center operates as an independent, donor-supported institute. Our governance is described in the public charter; our finances are audited annually.
Senior Researchers
AT
Dr. Aiko Tanaka
Director · Atmospheric Flux
Eddy covariance, boreal carbon, instrument design.
MV
Dr. Mateus Vieira
Lead · Ocean Chemistry
Carbonate chemistry, deep-water transport, cruise leadership.
PI
Dr. Priya Iyer
Lead · Soil Carbon
Land-use change, isotope partitioning, root respiration.
LH
Dr. Lin Hua
Lead · Emissions Inventory
Remote sensing, plume inversion, disclosure verification.
SV
Dr. Sofia Vargas
Lead · CDR Verification
Geochemical durability, monitoring protocols, additionality.
JK
Dr. Jonas Kallio
Senior Modeler
Land-surface models, uncertainty quantification, data assimilation.
RO
Dr. Rania Othman
Senior Educator
Curriculum design, science communication, public engagement.
HW
Dr. Henry Whitlow
Director, Geneva
Policy interface, intergovernmental reporting, governance.
01 · Independence
No corporate or sectoral funding accepted for emissions verification work. Donor list published quarterly.
02 · Openness
All datasets, methods, and code released under CC0 or permissive open-source licenses.
03 · Rigor
Pre-registration of analysis plans, public peer review of major reports, reproducibility audits.
04 · Service
Free educator support, open public hotline, plain-language briefings on every major paper.