With the monthly data of the TERRA/MOPITT CO column from March 2000 to December 2014, the temporal and spatial distributions and the change of the carbon monoxide content in atmosphere in the global and China-based regions are analyzed. It is shown that the CO column in the northern hemisphere is significantly larger than that in the southern hemisphere. The east China is the highest value zone of CO content over the whole world, meanwhile, the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the Greenland, and the Andes along the coast of the west of South America are the low value areas for the CO column. The temporal distribution of the global CO column sees a regular pattern of seasonal fluctuations, the CO column in the northern hemisphere reaches the peak in spring of the northern hemisphere and falls down to the lowest value in winter of the northern hemisphere. Similarly, the CO column in the southern hemisphere ascends to the peak in spring of the southern hemisphere and descends to the lowest value in winter of the northern hemisphere. One sees a regular pattern of monthly variation for Global CO column, with two periods of the highest and the lowest CO columns, respectively. The highest value of CO column appears from March to April and from September to October The lowest value appears in July and January. The CO column in China also sees a significant character of spatial and temporal distributions, the CO column in the east of China is much higher than that in the west of China. The high value areas of the CO column in the east of China mainly locate in the south of Hebei Province, the west of Shandong Province and the east of Henan Province. The period of the highest CO total column in China is spring, however, the periods of the lowest value of CO total column are asynchronous in the south of China and the north of China. The lowest value in the south of China occurs in summer and the lowest value in the north of China occurs in autumn. The long-term temporal change of the CO column in the global and China-based regions are also analyzed. It is demonstrated that the CO columns in the global scale and in China since 2011 are generally in a descending trend. Among the eight economic zones of China, the descending trends of the coastal economic zone in the east of China and the south of China are significant, and the rate is about 1% per year, the economic zone in the northwest of China has the smallest decreasing rate.

satellite remote sensing  /  MOPITT  /  CO column amount