We describe the Max Planck Institute Carbon Cycle Data Assimilation System (MPI-CCDAS) built around the tangent-linear version of the land surface scheme of the MPI-Earth System Model v1 (JSBACH). The simulated terrestrial biosphere processes (phenology and carbon balance) were constrained by observations of the fraction of photosynthetically active radiation (TIP-FAPAR product) and by observations of atmospheric CO2 at a global set of monitoring stations for the years 2005–2009. The system successfully, and computationally efficiently, improved average foliar area and northern extra-tropical seasonality of foliar area when constrained by TIP-FAPAR. Global net and gross carbon fluxes were improved when constrained by atmospheric CO2, although the system tended to underestimate tropical productivity. Assimilating both data streams jointly allowed the MPI-CCDAS to match both observations (TIP-FAPAR and atmospheric CO2) equally well as the single data stream assimilation cases, therefore overall increasing the appropriateness of the resultant parameter values and biosphere dynamics. Our study thus highlights the role of the TIP-FAPAR product in stabilising the underdetermined atmospheric inversion problem and demonstrates the value of multiple-data stream assimilation for the simulation of terrestrial biosphere dynamics. The constraint on regional gross and net CO2 flux patterns is limited through the parametrisation of the biosphere model. We expect improvement on that aspect through a refined initialisation strategy and inclusion of further biosphere observations as constraints.