Abstract: Based on atmospheric infrared sounder (AIRS ) satellite data from December 2002 to November 2016, 
the spatial-temporal characteristics of CO₂ concentration in different seasons over globe and East 
Asia (70~140^。E, 10~55^。N) were analyzed and compared with the surface observation 
data. The results show that: 1) the correlation coefficient between the CO₂  data of AIRS and the 
surface observation data is above 0.9, and the relative error of annual mean value is within 1%. 
2) The global annual mean CO₂  concentration increased from 357.16 ml/m³ in 2003 
to 401.24 ml/m³ in 2016, with an average annual growth date of about 2.01 ml/m³. 
While it increased from 357.13 ml/m³ to 402.22 ml/m³ during the same 
period over East Asia, with an average annual growth rate of about 2.08 ml/m³ which is 
a bit higher than that of globe. Over most of the Northern Hemisphere,  the CO₂  concentration 
growth rate during 2010~2016 is lower than that of during 2003~2009. In particular, 
mean CO₂  concentration increased markedly over central Siberia and Greenland. 3) The distributions 
of CO₂  concentrations had obviously regional features. The regions with high CO₂  concentration 
were over middle and high latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere, whereas the regions wtih low CO₂ 
concentration were mainly located over Tibet Plateau. In the Southern Hemisphere, the regions with 
high concentration was located in the middle latitudes, while the region with low concentration was 
located in the low latitudes of Atlantic (0~20^。S, 50^。W~5^。E). 
In the middle and lower troposphere (4~6 km), the seasonal variation characteristics of CO₂  
concentration retrieved by AIRS was highly reliable. Especially in winter, over most of the Northern 
Hemisphere, CO₂  concentration decreased first and then increased with time. 4) In East Asia, 
the high CO₂ concentration was located in the Northern China with zonal distribution. 

Key words: CO₂ concentration, AIRS, East Asia, spatial-temporal distribution