Articles | Volume 11, issue 10
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-5673-2018
© Author(s) 2018. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-5673-2018
© Author(s) 2018. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
18 Oct 2018
Research article |
| 18 Oct 2018
| 18 Oct 2018
Quantifying methane point sources from fine-scale satellite observations of atmospheric methane plumes
Daniel J. Varon
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
GHGSat, Inc., Montréal, QC H2W 1Y5, Canada
Daniel J. Jacob
School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
Jason McKeever
GHGSat, Inc., Montréal, QC H2W 1Y5, Canada
Dylan Jervis
GHGSat, Inc., Montréal, QC H2W 1Y5, Canada
Berke O. A. Durak
GHGSat, Inc., Montréal, QC H2W 1Y5, Canada
Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, McGill University, Montréal, QC H3A 0B9, Canada
Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, McGill University, Montréal, QC H3A 0B9, Canada
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Brian Nathan, Joannes D. Maasakkers, Stijn Naus, Ritesh Gautam, Mark Omara, Daniel J. Varon, Melissa P. Sulprizio, Alba Lorente, Tobias Borsdorff, Robert J. Parker, and Ilse Aben
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Short summary
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Methane is a potent greenhouse gas and a current high priority target for short/mid term climate change mitigation. Detection of individual methane emitters from space has become possible in recent years, and the volume of data for this task has been rapidly growing and the data volume is outpacing processing capabilities. We introduce an automated approach, U-Plume, which can detect and quantify emissions from individual methane sources in high spatial resolution satellite data.
Drew C. Pendergrass, Daniel J. Jacob, Hannah Nesser, Daniel J. Varon, Melissa Sulprizio, Kazuyuki Miyazaki, and Kevin W. Bowman
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Short summary
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We have built a tool called CHEEREIO that allows scientists to use observations of pollutants or gases in the atmosphere, such as from satellites or surface stations, to update supercomputer models that simulate the Earth. CHEEREIO uses the difference between the model simulations of the atmosphere and real-world observations to come up with a good guess for the actual composition of our atmosphere, the true emissions of various pollutants, and whatever else they may want to study.
Nicholas Balasus, Daniel J. Jacob, Alba Lorente, Joannes D. Maasakkers, Robert J. Parker, Hartmut Boesch, Zichong Chen, Makoto M. Kelp, Hannah Nesser, and Daniel J. Varon
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We use TROPOMI satellite observations to quantify weekly methane emissions from the US Permian oil and gas basin from May 2018 to October 2020. We find that Permian emissions are highly variable, with diverse economic and activity drivers. The most important drivers during our study period were new well development and natural gas price. Permian methane intensity averaged 4.6 % and decreased by 1 % per year.
Hannah Nesser, Daniel J. Jacob, Joannes D. Maasakkers, Alba Lorente, Zichong Chen, Xiao Lu, Lu Shen, Zhen Qu, Melissa P. Sulprizio, Margaux Winter, Shuang Ma, A. Anthony Bloom, John R. Worden, Robert N. Stavins, and Cynthia A. Randles
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-946, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-946, 2023
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We quantify 2019 methane emissions in the contiguous U.S. (CONUS) at ≈25 km × 25 km resolution using satellite methane observations. We find a 13 % upward correction to the 2023 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory (GHGI) for 2019, with large corrections to individual states, urban areas, and landfills. This may present a challenge for U.S. climate policies and goals, many of which target significant reductions in methane emissions.
Ruijun Dang, Daniel J. Jacob, Viral Shah, Sebastian D. Eastham, Thibaud M. Fritz, Loretta J. Mickley, Tianjia Liu, Yi Wang, and Jun Wang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 6271–6284, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-6271-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-6271-2023, 2023
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We use the GEOS-Chem model to better understand the magnitude and trend in free tropospheric NO2 over the contiguous US. Model underestimate of background NO2 is largely corrected by considering aerosol nitrate photolysis. Increase in aircraft emissions affects satellite retrievals by altering the NO2 shape factor, and this effect is expected to increase in future. We show the importance of properly accounting for the free tropospheric background in interpreting NO2 observations from space.
Zichong Chen, Daniel J. Jacob, Ritesh Gautam, Mark Omara, Robert N. Stavins, Robert C. Stowe, Hannah Nesser, Melissa P. Sulprizio, Alba Lorente, Daniel J. Varon, Xiao Lu, Lu Shen, Zhen Qu, Drew C. Pendergrass, and Sarah Hancock
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 5945–5967, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-5945-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-5945-2023, 2023
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We quantify methane emissions from individual countries in the Middle East and North Africa by inverse analysis of 2019 TROPOMI satellite observations of atmospheric methane. We show that the ability to simply relate oil/gas emissions to activity metrics is compromised by stochastic nature of local infrastructure and management practices. We find that the industry target for oil/gas methane intensity is achievable through associated gas capture, modern infrastructure, and centralized operations.
Shixian Zhai, Daniel J. Jacob, Drew C. Pendergrass, Nadia K. Colombi, Viral Shah, Laura Hyesung Yang, Qiang Zhang, Shuxiao Wang, Hwajin Kim, Yele Sun, Jin-Soo Choi, Jin-Soo Park, Gan Luo, Fangqun Yu, Jung-Hun Woo, Younha Kim, Jack E. Dibb, Taehyoung Lee, Jin-Seok Han, Bruce E. Anderson, Ke Li, and Hong Liao
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 4271–4281, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-4271-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-4271-2023, 2023
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Anthropogenic fugitive dust in East Asia not only causes severe coarse particulate matter air pollution problems, but also affects fine particulate nitrate. Due to emission control efforts, coarse PM decreased steadily. We find that the decrease of coarse PM is a major driver for a lack of decrease of fine particulate nitrate, as it allows more nitric acid to form fine particulate nitrate. The continuing decrease of coarse PM requires more stringent ammonia and nitrogen oxides emission controls.
Nadia K. Colombi, Daniel J. Jacob, Laura Hyesung Yang, Shixian Zhai, Viral Shah, Stuart K. Grange, Robert M. Yantosca, Soontae Kim, and Hong Liao
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 4031–4044, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-4031-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-4031-2023, 2023
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Surface ozone, detrimental to human and ecosystem health, is very high and increasing in South Korea. Using a global model of the atmosphere, we found that emissions from South Korea and China contribute equally to the high ozone observed. We found that in the absence of all anthropogenic emissions over East Asia, ozone is still very high, implying that the air quality standard in South Korea is not practically achievable unless this background external to East Asia can be decreased.
Laura Hyesung Yang, Daniel J. Jacob, Nadia K. Colombi, Shixian Zhai, Kelvin H. Bates, Viral Shah, Ellie Beaudry, Robert M. Yantosca, Haipeng Lin, Jared F. Brewer, Heesung Chong, Katherine R. Travis, James H. Crawford, Lok N. Lamsal, Ja-Ho Koo, and Jhoon Kim
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 2465–2481, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-2465-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-2465-2023, 2023
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A geostationary satellite can now provide hourly NO2 vertical columns, and obtaining the NO2 vertical columns from space relies on NO2 vertical distribution from the chemical transport model (CTM). In this work, we update the CTM to better represent the chemistry environment so that the CTM can accurately provide NO2 vertical distribution. We also find that the changes in NO2 vertical distribution driven by a change in mixing depth play an important role in the NO2 column's diurnal variation.
Viral Shah, Daniel J. Jacob, Ruijun Dang, Lok N. Lamsal, Sarah A. Strode, Stephen D. Steenrod, K. Folkert Boersma, Sebastian D. Eastham, Thibaud M. Fritz, Chelsea Thompson, Jeff Peischl, Ilann Bourgeois, Ilana B. Pollack, Benjamin A. Nault, Ronald C. Cohen, Pedro Campuzano-Jost, Jose L. Jimenez, Simone T. Andersen, Lucy J. Carpenter, Tomás Sherwen, and Mat J. Evans
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 1227–1257, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-1227-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-1227-2023, 2023
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NOx in the free troposphere (above 2 km) affects global tropospheric chemistry and the retrieval and interpretation of satellite NO2 measurements. We evaluate free tropospheric NOx in global atmospheric chemistry models and find that recycling NOx from its reservoirs over the oceans is faster than that simulated in the models, resulting in increases in simulated tropospheric ozone and OH. Over the U.S., free tropospheric NO2 contributes the majority of the tropospheric NO2 column in summer.
Javier Gorroño, Daniel J. Varon, Itziar Irakulis-Loitxate, and Luis Guanter
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 89–107, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-89-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-89-2023, 2023
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We present a methane flux rate retrieval methodology using the Sentinel-2 mission, validating the algorithm for different scenes and plumes. The detection limit is 1000–2000 kg h−1 for homogeneous scenes and temporally invariant surfaces and above 5000 kg h−1 for heterogeneous ones. Dominant quantification errors are wind-related or plume mask-related. For heterogeneous scenes, the surface structure underlying the methane plume can become a dominant source of uncertainty.
Zhan Zhang, Evan D. Sherwin, Daniel J. Varon, and Adam R. Brandt
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 7155–7169, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-7155-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-7155-2022, 2022
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This work developed a multi-band–multi-pass–multi-comparison-date Sentinel-2 methane retrieval algorithm, and the method was calibrated by data from a controlled release test. To our knowledge, this is the first study that validates the performance of a Sentinel-2 methane detection algorithm by calibration with a ground-truth testing. It illustrates the potential for additional validation with systematic future experiments wherein algorithms can be tuned to meet different detection expectations.
Randall V. Martin, Sebastian D. Eastham, Liam Bindle, Elizabeth W. Lundgren, Thomas L. Clune, Christoph A. Keller, William Downs, Dandan Zhang, Robert A. Lucchesi, Melissa P. Sulprizio, Robert M. Yantosca, Yanshun Li, Lucas Estrada, William M. Putman, Benjamin M. Auer, Atanas L. Trayanov, Steven Pawson, and Daniel J. Jacob
Geosci. Model Dev., 15, 8731–8748, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-8731-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-8731-2022, 2022
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Atmospheric chemistry models must be able to operate both online as components of Earth system models and offline as standalone models. The widely used GEOS-Chem model operates both online and offline, but the classic offline version is not suitable for massively parallel simulations. We describe a new generation of the offline high-performance GEOS-Chem (GCHP) that enables high-resolution simulations on thousands of cores, including on the cloud, with improved access, performance, and accuracy.
Thibaud M. Fritz, Sebastian D. Eastham, Louisa K. Emmons, Haipeng Lin, Elizabeth W. Lundgren, Steve Goldhaber, Steven R. H. Barrett, and Daniel J. Jacob
Geosci. Model Dev., 15, 8669–8704, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-8669-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-8669-2022, 2022
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We bring the state-of-the-science chemistry module GEOS-Chem into the Community Earth System Model (CESM). We show that some known differences between results from GEOS-Chem and CESM's CAM-chem chemistry module may be due to the configuration of model meteorology rather than inherent differences in the model chemistry. This is a significant step towards a truly modular Earth system model and allows two strong but currently separate research communities to benefit from each other's advances.
Haolin Wang, Xiao Lu, Daniel J. Jacob, Owen R. Cooper, Kai-Lan Chang, Ke Li, Meng Gao, Yiming Liu, Bosi Sheng, Kai Wu, Tongwen Wu, Jie Zhang, Bastien Sauvage, Philippe Nédélec, Romain Blot, and Shaojia Fan
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 13753–13782, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-13753-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-13753-2022, 2022
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We report significant global tropospheric ozone increases in 1995–2017 based on extensive aircraft and ozonesonde observations. Using GEOS-Chem (Goddard Earth Observing System chemistry model) multi-decadal global simulations, we find that changes in global anthropogenic emissions, in particular the rapid increases in aircraft emissions, contribute significantly to the increases in tropospheric ozone and resulting radiative impact.
Lu Shen, Ritesh Gautam, Mark Omara, Daniel Zavala-Araiza, Joannes D. Maasakkers, Tia R. Scarpelli, Alba Lorente, David Lyon, Jianxiong Sheng, Daniel J. Varon, Hannah Nesser, Zhen Qu, Xiao Lu, Melissa P. Sulprizio, Steven P. Hamburg, and Daniel J. Jacob
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 11203–11215, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-11203-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-11203-2022, 2022
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We use 22 months of TROPOMI satellite observations to quantity methane emissions from the oil (O) and natural gas (G) sector in the US and Canada at the scale of both individual basins as well as country-wide aggregates. We find that O/G-related methane emissions are underestimated in these inventories by 80 % for the US and 40 % for Canada, and 70 % of the underestimate in the US is from five O/G basins, including Permian, Haynesville, Anadarko, Eagle Ford, and Barnett.
Zichong Chen, Daniel J. Jacob, Hannah Nesser, Melissa P. Sulprizio, Alba Lorente, Daniel J. Varon, Xiao Lu, Lu Shen, Zhen Qu, Elise Penn, and Xueying Yu
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 10809–10826, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-10809-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-10809-2022, 2022
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We quantify methane emissions in China and contributions from different sectors by inverse analysis of 2019 TROPOMI satellite observations of atmospheric methane. We find that anthropogenic methane emissions for China are underestimated in the national inventory. Our estimate of emissions indicates a small life-cycle loss rate, implying net climate benefits from the current
coal-to-gasenergy transition in China. However, this small loss rate can be misleading given China's high gas imports.
Daniel J. Jacob, Daniel J. Varon, Daniel H. Cusworth, Philip E. Dennison, Christian Frankenberg, Ritesh Gautam, Luis Guanter, John Kelley, Jason McKeever, Lesley E. Ott, Benjamin Poulter, Zhen Qu, Andrew K. Thorpe, John R. Worden, and Riley M. Duren
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 9617–9646, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-9617-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-9617-2022, 2022
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We review the capability of satellite observations of atmospheric methane to quantify methane emissions on all scales. We cover retrieval methods, precision requirements, inverse methods for inferring emissions, source detection thresholds, and observations of system completeness. We show that current instruments already enable quantification of regional and national emissions including contributions from large point sources. Coverage and resolution will increase significantly in coming years.
Daniel J. Varon, Daniel J. Jacob, Melissa Sulprizio, Lucas A. Estrada, William B. Downs, Lu Shen, Sarah E. Hancock, Hannah Nesser, Zhen Qu, Elise Penn, Zichong Chen, Xiao Lu, Alba Lorente, Ashutosh Tewari, and Cynthia A. Randles
Geosci. Model Dev., 15, 5787–5805, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-5787-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-5787-2022, 2022
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Reducing atmospheric methane emissions is critical to slow near-term climate change. Globally surveying satellite instruments like the TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) have unique capabilities for monitoring atmospheric methane around the world. Here we present a user-friendly cloud-computing tool that enables researchers and stakeholders to quantify methane emissions across user-selected regions of interest using TROPOMI satellite observations.
John R. Worden, Daniel H. Cusworth, Zhen Qu, Yi Yin, Yuzhong Zhang, A. Anthony Bloom, Shuang Ma, Brendan K. Byrne, Tia Scarpelli, Joannes D. Maasakkers, David Crisp, Riley Duren, and Daniel J. Jacob
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 6811–6841, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-6811-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-6811-2022, 2022
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This paper is intended to accomplish two goals: 1) describe a new algorithm by which remotely sensed measurements of methane or other tracers can be used to not just quantify methane fluxes, but also attribute these fluxes to specific sources and regions and characterize their uncertainties, and 2) use this new algorithm to provide methane emissions by sector and country in support of the global stock take.
Elena Sánchez-García, Javier Gorroño, Itziar Irakulis-Loitxate, Daniel J. Varon, and Luis Guanter
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 1657–1674, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-1657-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-1657-2022, 2022
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This study seeks to present the as-yet-unknown potential use of WorldView-3 for the mapping of methane point source emissions. The proposed retrieval methodology is based on the idea that the spectral channels not affected by methane can be used to predict the methane-affected band through regression analysis. The results show the precise location of 26 independent point emissions over different methane hotspot regions worldwide, which prove the game-changing potential that this mission entails.
Tia R. Scarpelli, Daniel J. Jacob, Shayna Grossman, Xiao Lu, Zhen Qu, Melissa P. Sulprizio, Yuzhong Zhang, Frances Reuland, Deborah Gordon, and John R. Worden
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 3235–3249, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-3235-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-3235-2022, 2022
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We present a spatially explicit version of the national inventories of oil, gas, and coal methane emissions as submitted by individual countries to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 2021. We then use atmospheric modeling to compare our inventory emissions to atmospheric methane observations with the goal of identifying potential under- and overestimates of oil–gas methane emissions in the national inventories.
Drew C. Pendergrass, Shixian Zhai, Jhoon Kim, Ja-Ho Koo, Seoyoung Lee, Minah Bae, Soontae Kim, Hong Liao, and Daniel J. Jacob
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 1075–1091, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-1075-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-1075-2022, 2022
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This paper uses a machine learning algorithm to infer high-resolution maps of particulate air quality in eastern China, Japan, and the Korean peninsula, using data from a geostationary satellite along with meteorology. We then perform an extensive evaluation of this inferred air quality and use it to diagnose trends in the region. We hope this paper and the associated data will be valuable to other scientists interested in epidemiology, air quality, remote sensing, and machine learning.
Lu Shen, Daniel J. Jacob, Mauricio Santillana, Kelvin Bates, Jiawei Zhuang, and Wei Chen
Geosci. Model Dev., 15, 1677–1687, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-1677-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-1677-2022, 2022
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The high computational cost of chemical integration is a long-standing limitation in global atmospheric chemistry models. Here we present an adaptive and efficient algorithm that can reduce the computational time of atmospheric chemistry by 50 % and maintain the error below 2 % for important species, inspired by machine learning clustering techniques and traditional asymptotic analysis ideas.
Xiao Lu, Daniel J. Jacob, Haolin Wang, Joannes D. Maasakkers, Yuzhong Zhang, Tia R. Scarpelli, Lu Shen, Zhen Qu, Melissa P. Sulprizio, Hannah Nesser, A. Anthony Bloom, Shuang Ma, John R. Worden, Shaojia Fan, Robert J. Parker, Hartmut Boesch, Ritesh Gautam, Deborah Gordon, Michael D. Moran, Frances Reuland, Claudia A. Octaviano Villasana, and Arlyn Andrews
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 395–418, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-395-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-395-2022, 2022
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We evaluate methane emissions and trends for 2010–2017 in the gridded national emission inventories for the United States, Canada, and Mexico by inversion of in situ and satellite methane observations. We find that anthropogenic methane emissions for all three countries are underestimated in the national inventories, largely driven by oil emissions. Anthropogenic methane emissions in the US peak in 2014, in contrast to the report of a steadily decreasing trend over 2010–2017 from the US EPA.
Kelvin H. Bates, Daniel J. Jacob, Ke Li, Peter D. Ivatt, Mat J. Evans, Yingying Yan, and Jintai Lin
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 18351–18374, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-18351-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-18351-2021, 2021
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Simple aromatic compounds (benzene, toluene, xylene) have complex gas-phase chemistry that is inconsistently represented in atmospheric models. We compile recent experimental and theoretical insights to develop a new mechanism for gas-phase aromatic oxidation that is sufficiently compact for use in multiscale models. We compare our new mechanism to chamber experiments and other mechanisms, and implement it in a global model to quantify the impacts of aromatic oxidation on tropospheric chemistry.
Sabour Baray, Daniel J. Jacob, Joannes D. Maasakkers, Jian-Xiong Sheng, Melissa P. Sulprizio, Dylan B. A. Jones, A. Anthony Bloom, and Robert McLaren
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 18101–18121, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-18101-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-18101-2021, 2021
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We use 2010–2015 surface and satellite observations to disentangle methane from anthropogenic and natural sources in Canada. Using a chemical transport model (GEOS-Chem), the mismatch between modelled and observed methane concentrations can be used to infer emissions according to Bayesian statistics. Compared to prior knowledge, we show higher anthropogenic emissions attributed to energy and/or agriculture in Western Canada and lower natural emissions from Boreal wetlands.
Shixian Zhai, Daniel J. Jacob, Jared F. Brewer, Ke Li, Jonathan M. Moch, Jhoon Kim, Seoyoung Lee, Hyunkwang Lim, Hyun Chul Lee, Su Keun Kuk, Rokjin J. Park, Jaein I. Jeong, Xuan Wang, Pengfei Liu, Gan Luo, Fangqun Yu, Jun Meng, Randall V. Martin, Katherine R. Travis, Johnathan W. Hair, Bruce E. Anderson, Jack E. Dibb, Jose L. Jimenez, Pedro Campuzano-Jost, Benjamin A. Nault, Jung-Hun Woo, Younha Kim, Qiang Zhang, and Hong Liao
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 16775–16791, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-16775-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-16775-2021, 2021
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Geostationary satellite aerosol optical depth (AOD) has tremendous potential for monitoring surface fine particulate matter (PM2.5). Our study explored the physical relationship between AOD and PM2.5 by integrating data from surface networks, aircraft, and satellites with the GEOS-Chem chemical transport model. We quantitatively showed that accurate simulation of aerosol size distributions, boundary layer depths, relative humidity, coarse particles, and diurnal variations in PM2.5 are essential.
Jing Feng and Yi Huang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 15493–15518, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-15493-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-15493-2021, 2021
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This study conducts a comprehensive analysis of thermodynamic fields above tropical cyclones. Using a synergistic retrieval method, we develop the first infrared hyperspectra-based dataset of collocated temperature and water vapor profiles above deep convective clouds. It discloses the unique impacts of convective overshoots on the tropical tropopause layer (TTL). Challenging conventional views, our study suggests that convective hydration may be limited by the radiative balance above cyclones.
Liam Bindle, Randall V. Martin, Matthew J. Cooper, Elizabeth W. Lundgren, Sebastian D. Eastham, Benjamin M. Auer, Thomas L. Clune, Hongjian Weng, Jintai Lin, Lee T. Murray, Jun Meng, Christoph A. Keller, William M. Putman, Steven Pawson, and Daniel J. Jacob
Geosci. Model Dev., 14, 5977–5997, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-14-5977-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-14-5977-2021, 2021
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Atmospheric chemistry models like GEOS-Chem are versatile tools widely used in air pollution and climate studies. The simulations used in such studies can be very computationally demanding, and thus it is useful if the model can simulate a specific geographic region at a higher resolution than the rest of the globe. Here, we implement, test, and demonstrate a new variable-resolution capability in GEOS-Chem that is suitable for simulations conducted on supercomputers.
Zhen Qu, Daniel J. Jacob, Lu Shen, Xiao Lu, Yuzhong Zhang, Tia R. Scarpelli, Hannah Nesser, Melissa P. Sulprizio, Joannes D. Maasakkers, A. Anthony Bloom, John R. Worden, Robert J. Parker, and Alba L. Delgado
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 14159–14175, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-14159-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-14159-2021, 2021
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The recent launch of TROPOMI offers an unprecedented opportunity to quantify the methane budget from a top-down perspective. We use TROPOMI and the more mature GOSAT methane observations to estimate methane emissions and get consistent global budgets. However, TROPOMI shows biases over regions where surface albedo is small and provides less information for the coarse-resolution inversion due to the larger error correlations and spatial variations in the number of observations.
Xuan Wang, Daniel J. Jacob, William Downs, Shuting Zhai, Lei Zhu, Viral Shah, Christopher D. Holmes, Tomás Sherwen, Becky Alexander, Mathew J. Evans, Sebastian D. Eastham, J. Andrew Neuman, Patrick R. Veres, Theodore K. Koenig, Rainer Volkamer, L. Gregory Huey, Thomas J. Bannan, Carl J. Percival, Ben H. Lee, and Joel A. Thornton
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 13973–13996, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-13973-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-13973-2021, 2021
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Halogen radicals have a broad range of implications for tropospheric chemistry, air quality, and climate. We present a new mechanistic description and comprehensive simulation of tropospheric halogens in a global 3-D model and compare the model results with surface and aircraft measurements. We find that halogen chemistry decreases the global tropospheric burden of ozone by 11 %, NOx by 6 %, and OH by 4 %.
Haipeng Lin, Daniel J. Jacob, Elizabeth W. Lundgren, Melissa P. Sulprizio, Christoph A. Keller, Thibaud M. Fritz, Sebastian D. Eastham, Louisa K. Emmons, Patrick C. Campbell, Barry Baker, Rick D. Saylor, and Raffaele Montuoro
Geosci. Model Dev., 14, 5487–5506, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-14-5487-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-14-5487-2021, 2021
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Emissions are a central component of atmospheric chemistry models. The Harmonized Emissions Component (HEMCO) is a software component for computing emissions from a user-selected ensemble of emission inventories and algorithms. It allows users to select, add, and scale emissions from different sources through a configuration file with no change to the model source code. We demonstrate the implementation of HEMCO in several models, all sharing the same HEMCO core code and database library.
Yi Yin, Frederic Chevallier, Philippe Ciais, Philippe Bousquet, Marielle Saunois, Bo Zheng, John Worden, A. Anthony Bloom, Robert J. Parker, Daniel J. Jacob, Edward J. Dlugokencky, and Christian Frankenberg
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 12631–12647, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-12631-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-12631-2021, 2021
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The growth of methane, the second-most important anthropogenic greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide, has been accelerating in recent years. Using an ensemble of multi-tracer atmospheric inversions constrained by surface or satellite observations, we show that global methane emissions increased by nearly 1 % per year from 2010–2017, with leading contributions from the tropics and East Asia.
Jing Feng, Yi Huang, and Zhipeng Qu
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 5717–5734, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-5717-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-5717-2021, 2021
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It is challenging to measure the atmospheric conditions above convective storms. In this study, a method of retrieving thermodynamic variables above convective storms using a combination of satellite-based observations from a hyperspectral infrared sounder and active sensors is developed. We find that this method captures the spatial distributions of thermodynamic anomalies above convective clouds well. This method is potentially applicable to observations from current and future satellites.
Hannah Nesser, Daniel J. Jacob, Joannes D. Maasakkers, Tia R. Scarpelli, Melissa P. Sulprizio, Yuzhong Zhang, and Chris H. Rycroft
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 5521–5534, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-5521-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-5521-2021, 2021
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Analytical inversions of satellite observations of atmospheric composition can improve emissions estimates and quantify errors but are computationally expensive at high resolutions. We propose two methods to decrease this cost. The methods reproduce a high-resolution inversion at a quarter of the cost. The reduced-dimension method creates a multiscale grid. The reduced-rank method solves the inversion where information content is highest.
Xu Feng, Haipeng Lin, Tzung-May Fu, Melissa P. Sulprizio, Jiawei Zhuang, Daniel J. Jacob, Heng Tian, Yaping Ma, Lijuan Zhang, Xiaolin Wang, Qi Chen, and Zhiwei Han
Geosci. Model Dev., 14, 3741–3768, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-14-3741-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-14-3741-2021, 2021
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WRF-GC is an online coupling of the WRF meteorological model and GEOS-Chem chemical transport model for regional atmospheric chemistry and air quality modeling. In WRF-GC v2.0, we implemented the aerosol–radiation interactions and aerosol–cloud interactions, as well as the capability to nest multiple domains for high-resolution simulations based on the modular framework of WRF-GC v1.0. This allows the GEOS-Chem users to investigate the meteorology–atmospheric chemistry interactions.
David R. Lyon, Benjamin Hmiel, Ritesh Gautam, Mark Omara, Katherine A. Roberts, Zachary R. Barkley, Kenneth J. Davis, Natasha L. Miles, Vanessa C. Monteiro, Scott J. Richardson, Stephen Conley, Mackenzie L. Smith, Daniel J. Jacob, Lu Shen, Daniel J. Varon, Aijun Deng, Xander Rudelis, Nikhil Sharma, Kyle T. Story, Adam R. Brandt, Mary Kang, Eric A. Kort, Anthony J. Marchese, and Steven P. Hamburg
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 6605–6626, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-6605-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-6605-2021, 2021
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The Permian Basin (USA) is the world’s largest oil field. We use tower- and aircraft-based approaches to measure how methane emissions in the Permian Basin changed throughout 2020. In early 2020, 3.3 % of the region’s gas was emitted; then in spring 2020, the loss rate temporarily dropped to 1.9 % as oil price crashed. We find this short-term reduction to be a result of reduced well development, less gas flaring, and fewer abnormal events despite minimal reductions in oil and gas production.
Daniel J. Varon, Dylan Jervis, Jason McKeever, Ian Spence, David Gains, and Daniel J. Jacob
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 2771–2785, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-2771-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-2771-2021, 2021
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Satellites can detect methane emissions by measuring sunlight reflected from the Earth's surface and atmosphere. Here we show that the European Space Agency's Sentinel-2 twin satellites can be used to monitor anomalously large methane point sources around the world, with global coverage every 2–5 days and 20 m spatial resolution. We demonstrate this previously unreported capability through high-frequency Sentinel-2 monitoring of two strong methane point sources in Algeria and Turkmenistan.
Xiao Lu, Daniel J. Jacob, Yuzhong Zhang, Joannes D. Maasakkers, Melissa P. Sulprizio, Lu Shen, Zhen Qu, Tia R. Scarpelli, Hannah Nesser, Robert M. Yantosca, Jianxiong Sheng, Arlyn Andrews, Robert J. Parker, Hartmut Boesch, A. Anthony Bloom, and Shuang Ma
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 4637–4657, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-4637-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-4637-2021, 2021
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We use an analytical solution to the Bayesian inverse problem to quantitatively compare and combine the information from satellite and in situ observations, and to estimate global methane budget and their trends over the 2010–2017 period. We find that satellite and in situ observations are to a large extent complementary in the inversion for estimating global methane budget, and reveal consistent corrections of regional anthropogenic and wetland methane emissions relative to the prior inventory.
Joannes D. Maasakkers, Daniel J. Jacob, Melissa P. Sulprizio, Tia R. Scarpelli, Hannah Nesser, Jianxiong Sheng, Yuzhong Zhang, Xiao Lu, A. Anthony Bloom, Kevin W. Bowman, John R. Worden, and Robert J. Parker
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 4339–4356, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-4339-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-4339-2021, 2021
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We use 2010–2015 GOSAT satellite observations of atmospheric methane over North America in a high-resolution inversion to estimate methane emissions. We find general consistency with the gridded EPA inventory but higher oil and gas production emissions, with oil production emissions twice as large as in the latest EPA Greenhouse Gas Inventory. We find lower wetland emissions than predicted by WetCHARTs and a small increasing trend in the eastern US, apparently related to unconventional oil/gas.
Dylan Jervis, Jason McKeever, Berke O. A. Durak, James J. Sloan, David Gains, Daniel J. Varon, Antoine Ramier, Mathias Strupler, and Ewan Tarrant
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 2127–2140, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-2127-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-2127-2021, 2021
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We describe how the GHGSat-D demonstration satellite is designed and operated in order to measure greenhouse gas emissions from different types of industrial facilities. The distinguishing features of GHGSat-D, or
Claire, are its compact size (< 15 kg) and high spatial resolution (< 50 m). We give a mathematical model of the instrument and describe the techniques used to infer a methane concentration from a measurement of the sunlight that has reflected off the Earth's surface.
Yuzhong Zhang, Daniel J. Jacob, Xiao Lu, Joannes D. Maasakkers, Tia R. Scarpelli, Jian-Xiong Sheng, Lu Shen, Zhen Qu, Melissa P. Sulprizio, Jinfeng Chang, A. Anthony Bloom, Shuang Ma, John Worden, Robert J. Parker, and Hartmut Boesch
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 3643–3666, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-3643-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-3643-2021, 2021
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We use 2010–2018 satellite observations of atmospheric methane to interpret the factors controlling atmospheric methane and its accelerating increase during the period. The 2010–2018 increase in global methane emissions is driven by tropical and boreal wetlands and tropical livestock (South Asia, Africa, Brazil), with an insignificant positive trend in emissions from the fossil fuel sector. The peak methane growth rates in 2014–2015 are also contributed by low OH and high fire emissions.
Susan S. Kulawik, John R. Worden, Vivienne H. Payne, Dejian Fu, Steven C. Wofsy, Kathryn McKain, Colm Sweeney, Bruce C. Daube Jr., Alan Lipton, Igor Polonsky, Yuguang He, Karen E. Cady-Pereira, Edward J. Dlugokencky, Daniel J. Jacob, and Yi Yin
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 335–354, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-335-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-335-2021, 2021
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This paper shows comparisons of a new single-footprint methane product from the AIRS satellite to aircraft-based observations. We show that this AIRS methane product provides useful information to study seasonal and global methane trends of this important greenhouse gas.
Junfeng Wang, Jianhuai Ye, Dantong Liu, Yangzhou Wu, Jian Zhao, Weiqi Xu, Conghui Xie, Fuzhen Shen, Jie Zhang, Paul E. Ohno, Yiming Qin, Xiuyong Zhao, Scot T. Martin, Alex K. Y. Lee, Pingqing Fu, Daniel J. Jacob, Qi Zhang, Yele Sun, Mindong Chen, and Xinlei Ge
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 14091–14102, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-14091-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-14091-2020, 2020
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We compared the organics in total submicron matter and those coated on BC cores during summertime in Beijing and found large differences between them. Traffic-related OA was associated significantly with BC, while cooking-related OA did not coat BC. In addition, a factor likely originated from primary biomass burning OA was only identified in BC-containing particles. Such a unique BBOA requires further field and laboratory studies to verify its presence and elucidate its properties and impacts.
Viral Shah, Daniel J. Jacob, Jonathan M. Moch, Xuan Wang, and Shixian Zhai
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 12223–12245, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-12223-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-12223-2020, 2020
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Cloud water pH affects atmospheric chemistry, and acid rain damages ecosystems. We use model simulations along with observations to present a global view of cloud water and precipitation pH. Sulfuric acid, nitric acid, and ammonia control the pH in the northern midlatitudes, but carboxylic acids and dust cations are important in the tropics and subtropics. The acid inputs to many nitrogen-saturated ecosystems are high enough to cause acidification, with ammonium as the main acidifying species.
Ke Li, Daniel J. Jacob, Lu Shen, Xiao Lu, Isabelle De Smedt, and Hong Liao
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 11423–11433, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-11423-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-11423-2020, 2020
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Surface summer ozone increased in China from 2013 to 2019 despite new governmental efforts targeting ozone pollution. We find that the ozone increase is mostly due to anthropogenic drivers, although meteorology also plays a role. Further analysis for the North China Plain shows that PM2.5 continued to decrease through 2019, while emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) stayed flat. This could explain the anthropogenic increase in ozone, as PM2.5 scavenges the radical precursors of ozone.
Xiao Lu, Lin Zhang, Tongwen Wu, Michael S. Long, Jun Wang, Daniel J. Jacob, Fang Zhang, Jie Zhang, Sebastian D. Eastham, Lu Hu, Lei Zhu, Xiong Liu, and Min Wei
Geosci. Model Dev., 13, 3817–3838, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-13-3817-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-13-3817-2020, 2020
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This study presents the development and evaluation of a new climate chemistry model, BCC-GEOS-Chem v1.0, which couples the GEOS-Chem chemical transport model as an atmospheric chemistry component in the Beijing Climate Center atmospheric general circulation model. A 3-year (2012–2014) simulation of BCC-GEOS-Chem v1.0 shows that the model captures well the spatiotemporal distributions of tropospheric ozone, other gaseous pollutants, and aerosols.
Haipeng Lin, Xu Feng, Tzung-May Fu, Heng Tian, Yaping Ma, Lijuan Zhang, Daniel J. Jacob, Robert M. Yantosca, Melissa P. Sulprizio, Elizabeth W. Lundgren, Jiawei Zhuang, Qiang Zhang, Xiao Lu, Lin Zhang, Lu Shen, Jianping Guo, Sebastian D. Eastham, and Christoph A. Keller
Geosci. Model Dev., 13, 3241–3265, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-13-3241-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-13-3241-2020, 2020
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Online coupling of meteorology and chemistry models often presents maintenance issues with hard-wired coding. We present WRF-GC, an one-way online coupling of the WRF meteorological model and GEOS-Chem atmospheric chemistry model for regional atmospheric chemistry and air quality modeling. Our coupling structure allows future versions of either parent model to be immediately integrated into WRF-GC. The WRF-GC model was able to well reproduce regional PM2.5 with greater computational efficiency.
Lu Shen, Daniel J. Jacob, Mauricio Santillana, Xuan Wang, and Wei Chen
Geosci. Model Dev., 13, 2475–2486, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-13-2475-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-13-2475-2020, 2020
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Chemical mechanisms in air quality models tend to get more complicated with time, reflecting both increasing knowledge and the need for greater scope. This objectively improves the models but increases the computational burden. In this work, we present an approach that can reduce the computational cost of chemical integration by 30–40 % while maintaining an accuracy better than 1 %. It retains the complexity of the full mechanism where it is needed and preserves full diagnostic information.
Tia R. Scarpelli, Daniel J. Jacob, Joannes D. Maasakkers, Melissa P. Sulprizio, Jian-Xiong Sheng, Kelly Rose, Lucy Romeo, John R. Worden, and Greet Janssens-Maenhout
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 12, 563–575, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-563-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-563-2020, 2020
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Methane, a potent greenhouse gas, is emitted through the exploitation of oil, gas, and coal resources, and many efforts to reduce emissions have targeted these sources. We have created a global inventory of oil, gas, and coal methane emissions based on country reporting to the United Nations. The inventory can be used along with satellite observations of methane to better understand the contribution of these sources to global emissions and to identify potential biases in emissions reporting.
Zhipeng Qu, Yi Huang, Paul A. Vaillancourt, Jason N. S. Cole, Jason A. Milbrandt, Man-Kong Yau, Kaley Walker, and Jean de Grandpré
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 2143–2159, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-2143-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-2143-2020, 2020
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This study aims to better understand the mechanism of transport of water vapour through the mid-latitude tropopause. The results affirm the strong influence of overshooting convection on lower-stratospheric water vapour and highlight the importance of both dynamics and cloud microphysics in simulating water vapour distribution in the region of the upper troposphere–lower stratosphere.
Viral Shah, Daniel J. Jacob, Ke Li, Rachel F. Silvern, Shixian Zhai, Mengyao Liu, Jintai Lin, and Qiang Zhang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 1483–1495, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-1483-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-1483-2020, 2020
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We analyze 15 years of satellite observations of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and use an atmospheric chemistry model to understand the seasonal changes and trends in nitrogen oxides (NOx) over China. We show that the seasonal changes in NO2 occur due to changes in the NOx oxidation lifetime. We find that Chinese NOx emissions peaked in 2011 and had decreased by about 25 % by 2018. But the decrease in NO2 in winter was larger, likely because of a simultaneous decrease in the NOx oxidation lifetime.
Yongyun Hu, Yan Xia, Zhengyu Liu, Yuchen Wang, Zhengyao Lu, and Tao Wang
Clim. Past, 16, 199–209, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-16-199-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-16-199-2020, 2020
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The paper shows, using climate simulations, that the Pacific–North American (PNA) teleconnection was distorted or completely broken at the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). The results suggest that ENSO would have little direct impact on North American climates at the LGM.
Daniel H. Cusworth, Daniel J. Jacob, Daniel J. Varon, Christopher Chan Miller, Xiong Liu, Kelly Chance, Andrew K. Thorpe, Riley M. Duren, Charles E. Miller, David R. Thompson, Christian Frankenberg, Luis Guanter, and Cynthia A. Randles
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 5655–5668, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-5655-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-5655-2019, 2019
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We examine the potential for global detection of methane plumes from individual point sources with the new generation of spaceborne imaging spectrometers scheduled for launch in 2019–2025. We perform methane retrievals on simulated scenes with varying surfaces and atmospheric methane concentrations. Our results suggest that imaging spectrometers in space could play a transformative role in the future for quantifying methane emissions from point sources on a global scale.
Shixian Zhai, Daniel J. Jacob, Xuan Wang, Lu Shen, Ke Li, Yuzhong Zhang, Ke Gui, Tianliang Zhao, and Hong Liao
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 11031–11041, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-11031-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-11031-2019, 2019
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Observed annual mean PM2.5 decreased by 30–50 % in China from 2013–2018. However, meteorologically PM2.5 variability complicates trend attribution. We used a stepwise multiple linear regression model to quantitatively separate contributions from anthropogenic emissions and meteorology. Results show that 88 % of the PM2.5 decrease across China is attributable to anthropogenic emission changes, and 12 % is attributable to meteorology.
Katherine R. Travis and Daniel J. Jacob
Geosci. Model Dev., 12, 3641–3648, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-12-3641-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-12-3641-2019, 2019
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Models of ozone air pollution are often evaluated with the policy metric set by the EPA of the maximum daily 8 h average ozone concentration. These models may be used in policy settings to evaluate air quality regulations. However, most models have difficulty simulating how ozone varies over the course of the day, and thus the use of this metric in model evaluation is problematic. Improved representation of mixed layer dynamics and ozone loss to the surface is needed to resolve this issue.
Kelvin H. Bates and Daniel J. Jacob
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 9613–9640, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-9613-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-9613-2019, 2019
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Isoprene is a highly reactive chemical released to the atmosphere by plants. Its gas-phase reactions and interactions with chemicals released by human activity have far-reaching atmospheric consequences, contributing to ozone and particulate pollution and prolonging the lifetime of methane, a potent greenhouse gas. We use global simulations with a new isoprene reaction scheme to quantify those effects and to show how recently discovered aspects of isoprene chemistry play out on a global scale.
Rachel F. Silvern, Daniel J. Jacob, Loretta J. Mickley, Melissa P. Sulprizio, Katherine R. Travis, Eloise A. Marais, Ronald C. Cohen, Joshua L. Laughner, Sungyeon Choi, Joanna Joiner, and Lok N. Lamsal
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 8863–8878, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-8863-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-8863-2019, 2019
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The US EPA reports a steady decrease in nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions from fuel combustion over the 2005–2017 period, while satellite observations show a leveling off after 2009, suggesting emission reductions and related air quality gains have halted. We show the sustained decrease in NOx emissions is in fact consistent with observed trends in surface NO2 and ozone concentrations and that the flattening of the satellite trend reflects a growing influence from the non-anthropogenic background.
Joannes D. Maasakkers, Daniel J. Jacob, Melissa P. Sulprizio, Tia R. Scarpelli, Hannah Nesser, Jian-Xiong Sheng, Yuzhong Zhang, Monica Hersher, A. Anthony Bloom, Kevin W. Bowman, John R. Worden, Greet Janssens-Maenhout, and Robert J. Parker
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 7859–7881, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-7859-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-7859-2019, 2019
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We use 2010–2015 satellite observations of atmospheric methane to improve estimates of methane emissions and their trends, as well as the concentration and trend of tropospheric OH (hydroxyl radical, methane's main sink). We find overestimates of Chinese coal and Middle East oil/gas emissions in the prior estimate. The 2010–2015 growth in methane is attributed to an increase in emissions from India, China, and areas with large tropical wetlands. The contribution from OH is small in comparison.
Lu Shen, Daniel J. Jacob, Xiong Liu, Guanyu Huang, Ke Li, Hong Liao, and Tao Wang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 6551–6560, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-6551-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-6551-2019, 2019
Lei Zhu, Daniel J. Jacob, Sebastian D. Eastham, Melissa P. Sulprizio, Xuan Wang, Tomás Sherwen, Mat J. Evans, Qianjie Chen, Becky Alexander, Theodore K. Koenig, Rainer Volkamer, L. Gregory Huey, Michael Le Breton, Thomas J. Bannan, and Carl J. Percival
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 6497–6507, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-6497-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-6497-2019, 2019
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We quantify the effect of sea salt aerosol on tropospheric bromine chemistry with a new mechanistic description of the halogen chemistry in a global atmospheric chemistry model. For the first time, we are able to reproduce the observed levels of bromide activation from the sea salt aerosol in a manner consistent with bromine oxide radical measured from various platforms. Sea salt aerosol plays a far more complex role in global tropospheric chemistry than previously recognized.
Xuan Wang, Daniel J. Jacob, Sebastian D. Eastham, Melissa P. Sulprizio, Lei Zhu, Qianjie Chen, Becky Alexander, Tomás Sherwen, Mathew J. Evans, Ben H. Lee, Jessica D. Haskins, Felipe D. Lopez-Hilfiker, Joel A. Thornton, Gregory L. Huey, and Hong Liao
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 3981–4003, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-3981-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-3981-2019, 2019
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Chlorine radicals have a broad range of implications for tropospheric chemistry, air quality, and climate. We present a comprehensive simulation of tropospheric chlorine in a global 3-D model, which includes explicit accounting of chloride mobilization from sea salt aerosol. We find the chlorine chemistry contributes 1.0 % of the global oxidation of methane and decreases global burdens of tropospheric ozone by 7 % and OH by 3 % through the associated bromine radical chemistry.
Shaojie Song, Meng Gao, Weiqi Xu, Yele Sun, Douglas R. Worsnop, John T. Jayne, Yuzhong Zhang, Lei Zhu, Mei Li, Zhen Zhou, Chunlei Cheng, Yibing Lv, Ying Wang, Wei Peng, Xiaobin Xu, Nan Lin, Yuxuan Wang, Shuxiao Wang, J. William Munger, Daniel J. Jacob, and Michael B. McElroy
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 1357–1371, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-1357-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-1357-2019, 2019
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Chemistry responsible for sulfate production in northern China winter haze remains mysterious. We propose a potentially key pathway through the reaction of formaldehyde and sulfur dioxide that has not been accounted for in previous studies. The special atmospheric conditions favor the formation and existence of their complex, hydroxymethanesulfonate (HMS).
Lu Shen, Daniel J. Jacob, Loretta J. Mickley, Yuxuan Wang, and Qiang Zhang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 17489–17496, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-17489-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-17489-2018, 2018
Eloise A. Marais, Daniel J. Jacob, Sungyeon Choi, Joanna Joiner, Maria Belmonte-Rivas, Ronald C. Cohen, Steffen Beirle, Lee T. Murray, Luke D. Schiferl, Viral Shah, and Lyatt Jaeglé
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 17017–17027, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-17017-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-17017-2018, 2018
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We intercompare two new products of global upper tropospheric nitrogen dioxide (NO2) retrieved from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI). We evaluate these products with aircraft observations from NASA DC8 aircraft campaigns and interpret the useful information these products can provide about nitrogen oxides (NOx) in the global upper troposphere using the GEOS-Chem chemical transport model.
Jian-Xiong Sheng, Daniel J. Jacob, Joannes D. Maasakkers, Yuzhong Zhang, and Melissa P. Sulprizio
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 6379–6388, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-6379-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-6379-2018, 2018
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We conduct Observing System Simulation Experiments to compare the ability of future satellite measurements of atmospheric methane columns for constraining methane emissions at the 25 km scale. We find that the geostationary instruments can do much better than TROPOMI and are less sensitive to cloud cover. GeoCARB observing twice a day would provide 70 % of the information from the nominal GEO-CAPE mission considered by NASA in response to the Decadal Survey of the US National Research Council.
Daniel H. Cusworth, Daniel J. Jacob, Jian-Xiong Sheng, Joshua Benmergui, Alexander J. Turner, Jeremy Brandman, Laurent White, and Cynthia A. Randles
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 16885–16896, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-16885-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-16885-2018, 2018
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Methane emissions from oil/gas fields originate from a large number of small and densely clustered point sources. We examine the potential of recently launched or planned satellites to locate these high-mode emitters through measurements of atmospheric methane. We find that the recently launched TROPOMI and the planned GeoCARB instruments are successful at locating high-emitting sources for fields of 20-50 emitters within the 50 × 50 km2 geographic domain but are unsuccessful for denser fields.
Lu Hu, Christoph A. Keller, Michael S. Long, Tomás Sherwen, Benjamin Auer, Arlindo Da Silva, Jon E. Nielsen, Steven Pawson, Matthew A. Thompson, Atanas L. Trayanov, Katherine R. Travis, Stuart K. Grange, Mat J. Evans, and Daniel J. Jacob
Geosci. Model Dev., 11, 4603–4620, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-11-4603-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-11-4603-2018, 2018
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We present a full-year online global simulation of tropospheric chemistry at 12.5 km resolution. To the best of our knowledge, such a resolution in a state-of-the-science global simulation of tropospheric chemistry is unprecedented. This simulation will serve as the Nature Run for observing system simulation experiments to support the future geostationary satellite constellation for tropospheric chemistry, and can also be used for various air quality applications.
Yuzhong Zhang, Daniel J. Jacob, Joannes D. Maasakkers, Melissa P. Sulprizio, Jian-Xiong Sheng, Ritesh Gautam, and John Worden
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 15959–15973, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-15959-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-15959-2018, 2018
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We assess the potential of using satellite observations of atmospheric methane to monitor global mean tropospheric OH concentration, a key parameter for the oxidizing power of the atmosphere.
Jian-Xiong Sheng, Daniel J. Jacob, Alexander J. Turner, Joannes D. Maasakkers, Joshua Benmergui, A. Anthony Bloom, Claudia Arndt, Ritesh Gautam, Daniel Zavala-Araiza, Hartmut Boesch, and Robert J. Parker
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 12257–12267, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-12257-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-12257-2018, 2018
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Analysis of 7 years (2010–2016) of GOSAT methane trends over Canada, the contiguous US, and Mexico suggests that US methane emissions increased by 2.5 ± 1.4 % a−1 over the 7-year period, with contributions from both oil–gas systems and livestock in the Midwest. Mexican emissions show a decrease that can be attributed to a decreasing cattle population. Canadian emissions show year-to-year variability driven by wetland emissions and correlated with wetland areal extent.
Sebastian D. Eastham, Michael S. Long, Christoph A. Keller, Elizabeth Lundgren, Robert M. Yantosca, Jiawei Zhuang, Chi Li, Colin J. Lee, Matthew Yannetti, Benjamin M. Auer, Thomas L. Clune, Jules Kouatchou, William M. Putman, Matthew A. Thompson, Atanas L. Trayanov, Andrea M. Molod, Randall V. Martin, and Daniel J. Jacob
Geosci. Model Dev., 11, 2941–2953, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-11-2941-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-11-2941-2018, 2018
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Global atmospheric chemical transport models are crucial tools in atmospheric science, used to address problems ranging from climate change to acid rain. GEOS-Chem High Performance (GCHP) is a new implementation of the widely used GEOS-Chem model, designed for massively parallel architectures. GCHP v11-02c is shown to be highly scalable from 6 to over 500 cores, enabling the routine simulation of global atmospheric chemistry from the surface to the stratopause at resolutions of ~50 km or finer.
Alexander J. Turner, Daniel J. Jacob, Joshua Benmergui, Jeremy Brandman, Laurent White, and Cynthia A. Randles
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 8265–8278, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-8265-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-8265-2018, 2018
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We conduct a 1-week WRF-STILT simulation to generate methane column footprints at 1.3 km spatial resolution and hourly temporal resolution over the Barnett Shale. We find that a week of TROPOMI observations should provide regional (~30 km) information on temporally invariant sources and GeoCARB should provide information on temporally invariant sources at 2–7 km spatial resolution. An instrument precision better than 6 ppb is an important threshold for achieving fine resolution of emissions.
Jian-Xiong Sheng, Daniel J. Jacob, Alexander J. Turner, Joannes D. Maasakkers, Melissa P. Sulprizio, A. Anthony Bloom, Arlyn E. Andrews, and Debra Wunch
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 6483–6491, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-6483-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-6483-2018, 2018
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We use observations of boundary layer methane from the SEAC4RS aircraft campaign over the Southeast US to estimate methane emissions in that region. Our results suggest that the EPA inventory is regionally unbiased but there are large local biases, suggesting variable emission factors. Our results also suggest that the choice of landcover map is the dominant source of error for wetland emission estimates.
Jiawei Zhuang, Daniel J. Jacob, and Sebastian D. Eastham
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 6039–6055, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-6039-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-6039-2018, 2018
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Our work explains why current model simulations are unable to capture the intercontinental influences of pollution plumes that are often observed over some regions like California. Due to inadequate vertical grid resolution in these models, the plumes get diffused too rapidly during intercontinental transport. Increasing the vertical grid resolution greatly improves the simulation of plumes and considerably increases the estimate of local surface pollution influence.
Jennifer Kaiser, Daniel J. Jacob, Lei Zhu, Katherine R. Travis, Jenny A. Fisher, Gonzalo González Abad, Lin Zhang, Xuesong Zhang, Alan Fried, John D. Crounse, Jason M. St. Clair, and Armin Wisthaler
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 5483–5497, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-5483-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-5483-2018, 2018
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Isoprene emissions from vegetation have a large effect on atmospheric chemistry and air quality. Here we use the adjoint of GEOS-Chem in an inversion of OMI formaldehyde observations to produce top-down estimates of isoprene emissions in the southeast US during the summer of 2013. We find that MEGAN v2.1 is biased high on average by 40 %. Our downward correction of isoprene emissions leads to a small reduction in modeled surface O3 and decreases the contribution of isoprene to organic aerosol.
Karen Yu, Christoph A. Keller, Daniel J. Jacob, Andrea M. Molod, Sebastian D. Eastham, and Michael S. Long
Geosci. Model Dev., 11, 305–319, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-11-305-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-11-305-2018, 2018
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Global simulations of atmospheric chemistry are generally conducted with off-line chemical transport models (CTMs) driven by archived meteorological data from general circulation models (GCMs). The off-line approach has the advantages of simplicity and expediency, but it is unable to reproduce the GCM transport exactly. We investigate the cascade of errors associated with the off-line approach using the GEOS-5 GCM and GEOS-Chem CTM and discuss improvements in the use of archived meteorology.
Theodore K. Koenig, Rainer Volkamer, Sunil Baidar, Barbara Dix, Siyuan Wang, Daniel C. Anderson, Ross J. Salawitch, Pamela A. Wales, Carlos A. Cuevas, Rafael P. Fernandez, Alfonso Saiz-Lopez, Mathew J. Evans, Tomás Sherwen, Daniel J. Jacob, Johan Schmidt, Douglas Kinnison, Jean-François Lamarque, Eric C. Apel, James C. Bresch, Teresa Campos, Frank M. Flocke, Samuel R. Hall, Shawn B. Honomichl, Rebecca Hornbrook, Jørgen B. Jensen, Richard Lueb, Denise D. Montzka, Laura L. Pan, J. Michael Reeves, Sue M. Schauffler, Kirk Ullmann, Andrew J. Weinheimer, Elliot L. Atlas, Valeria Donets, Maria A. Navarro, Daniel Riemer, Nicola J. Blake, Dexian Chen, L. Gregory Huey, David J. Tanner, Thomas F. Hanisco, and Glenn M. Wolfe
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 15245–15270, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-15245-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-15245-2017, 2017
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Tropospheric inorganic bromine (BrO and Bry) shows a C-shaped profile over the tropical western Pacific Ocean, and supports previous speculation that marine convection is a source for inorganic bromine from sea salt to the upper troposphere. The Bry profile in the tropical tropopause layer (TTL) is complex, suggesting that the total Bry budget in the TTL is not closed without considering aerosol bromide. The implications for atmospheric composition and bromine sources are discussed.
Katherine R. Travis, Daniel J. Jacob, Christoph A. Keller, Shi Kuang, Jintai Lin, Michael J. Newchurch, and Anne M. Thompson
Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2017-596, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2017-596, 2017
Preprint retracted
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Models severely overestimate surface ozone in the Southeast US during summertime which has implications for the design of air quality regulations. We use a model (GEOS-Chem) to interpret ozone observations from a suite of observations taken during August–September 2013. The model is unbiased relative to observations below 1 km but is biased high at the surface. We attribute this bias to model representation error, an underestimate in low-cloud, and insufficient treatment of vertical mixing.
Christopher Chan Miller, Daniel J. Jacob, Eloise A. Marais, Karen Yu, Katherine R. Travis, Patrick S. Kim, Jenny A. Fisher, Lei Zhu, Glenn M. Wolfe, Thomas F. Hanisco, Frank N. Keutsch, Jennifer Kaiser, Kyung-Eun Min, Steven S. Brown, Rebecca A. Washenfelder, Gonzalo González Abad, and Kelly Chance
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 8725–8738, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-8725-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-8725-2017, 2017
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The use of satellite glyoxal observations for estimating isoprene emissions has been limited by knowledge of the glyoxal yield from isoprene. We use SENEX aircraft observations over the southeast US to evaluate glyoxal yields from isoprene in a 3-D atmospheric model. The SENEX observations support a pathway for glyoxal formation in pristine regions that we propose here, which may have implications for improving isoprene emissions estimates from upcoming high-resolution geostationary satellites.
A. Anthony Bloom, Kevin W. Bowman, Meemong Lee, Alexander J. Turner, Ronny Schroeder, John R. Worden, Richard Weidner, Kyle C. McDonald, and Daniel J. Jacob
Geosci. Model Dev., 10, 2141–2156, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-10-2141-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-10-2141-2017, 2017
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Wetland emissions are a principal source of uncertainty in the global atmospheric methane budget due to poor knowledge of wetland processes. We construct a wetland methane emission and uncertainty dataset for use in global atmospheric methane models. Our wetland model ensemble is based on static wetland maps, satellite-derived inundation and carbon cycle models. The ensemble performs favourably against regional flux estimates and atmospheric methane measurements relative to previous studies.
Hannah M. Horowitz, Daniel J. Jacob, Yanxu Zhang, Theodore S. Dibble, Franz Slemr, Helen M. Amos, Johan A. Schmidt, Elizabeth S. Corbitt, Eloïse A. Marais, and Elsie M. Sunderland
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 6353–6371, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-6353-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-6353-2017, 2017
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Mercury is a toxic, global pollutant released to the air from human activities like coal burning. Chemical reactions in air determine how far mercury is transported before it is deposited to the environment, where it may be converted to a form that accumulates in fish. We use a 3-D atmospheric model to evaluate a new set of chemical reactions and its effects on mercury deposition. We find it is consistent with observations and leads to increased deposition to oceans, especially in the tropics.
Rachel F. Silvern, Daniel J. Jacob, Patrick S. Kim, Eloise A. Marais, Jay R. Turner, Pedro Campuzano-Jost, and Jose L. Jimenez
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 5107–5118, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-5107-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-5107-2017, 2017
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We identify a fundamental discrepancy between thermodynamic equilibrium theory and observations of inorganic aerosol composition in the eastern US in summer that shows low ammonium sulfate aerosol ratios. In addition, from 2003 to 2013, while SO2 emissions have declined due to US emission controls, aerosols have become more acidic in the southeastern US. To explain these observations, we suggest that the large and increasing source of organic aerosol may be affecting thermodynamic equilibrium.
Sebastian D. Eastham and Daniel J. Jacob
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 2543–2553, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-2543-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-2543-2017, 2017
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Intercontinental atmospheric transport can disrupt local chemistry and cause air quality issues thousands of kilometers from the source, complicating correct attribution of air quality exceedances. This transport occurs in long, thin plumes which current-generation models consistently fail to reproduce. Our study investigates the cause of this failure, finding that greater vertical resolution than is currently available is required to reliably resolve the plumes and their effects.
Daniel J. Jacob, Alexander J. Turner, Joannes D. Maasakkers, Jianxiong Sheng, Kang Sun, Xiong Liu, Kelly Chance, Ilse Aben, Jason McKeever, and Christian Frankenberg
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 14371–14396, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-14371-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-14371-2016, 2016
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Methane is a greenhouse gas emitted by a range of natural and anthropogenic sources. Atmospheric methane has been measured continuously from space since 2003, and new instruments are planned to launch in the near future that will greatly expand the capabilities of space-based observations. We review the value of current, future, and proposed satellite observations to better quantify methane emissions from the global scale down to the scale of point sources.
Katherine R. Travis, Daniel J. Jacob, Jenny A. Fisher, Patrick S. Kim, Eloise A. Marais, Lei Zhu, Karen Yu, Christopher C. Miller, Robert M. Yantosca, Melissa P. Sulprizio, Anne M. Thompson, Paul O. Wennberg, John D. Crounse, Jason M. St. Clair, Ronald C. Cohen, Joshua L. Laughner, Jack E. Dibb, Samuel R. Hall, Kirk Ullmann, Glenn M. Wolfe, Illana B. Pollack, Jeff Peischl, Jonathan A. Neuman, and Xianliang Zhou
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 13561–13577, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-13561-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-13561-2016, 2016
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Ground-level ozone pollution in the Southeast US involves complex chemistry driven by anthropogenic emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) and biogenic emissions of isoprene. We find that US NOx emissions are overestimated nationally by as much as 50 % and that reducing model emissions by this amount results in good agreement with SEAC4RS aircraft measurements in August and September 2013. Observations of nitrate wet deposition fluxes and satellite NO2 columns further support this result.
Lei Zhu, Daniel J. Jacob, Patrick S. Kim, Jenny A. Fisher, Karen Yu, Katherine R. Travis, Loretta J. Mickley, Robert M. Yantosca, Melissa P. Sulprizio, Isabelle De Smedt, Gonzalo González Abad, Kelly Chance, Can Li, Richard Ferrare, Alan Fried, Johnathan W. Hair, Thomas F. Hanisco, Dirk Richter, Amy Jo Scarino, James Walega, Petter Weibring, and Glenn M. Wolfe
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 13477–13490, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-13477-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-13477-2016, 2016
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HCHO column data are widely used as a proxy for VOCs emissions, but validation of the data has been extremely limited. We use accurate aircraft observations to validate and intercompare 6 HCHO retrievals with GEOS-Chem as the intercomparison platform. Retrievals are interconsistent in spatial variability over the SE US and in daily variability, but are biased low by 20–51 %. Our work supports the use of HCHO column as a quantitative proxy for isoprene emission after correction of the low bias.
Tomás Sherwen, Johan A. Schmidt, Mat J. Evans, Lucy J. Carpenter, Katja Großmann, Sebastian D. Eastham, Daniel J. Jacob, Barbara Dix, Theodore K. Koenig, Roman Sinreich, Ivan Ortega, Rainer Volkamer, Alfonso Saiz-Lopez, Cristina Prados-Roman, Anoop S. Mahajan, and Carlos Ordóñez
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 12239–12271, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-12239-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-12239-2016, 2016
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We present a simulation of tropospheric Cl, Br, I chemistry within the GEOS-Chem CTM. We find a decrease in tropospheric ozone burden of 18.6 % and a 8.2 % decrease in global mean OH concentrations. Cl oxidation of some VOCs range from 15 to 27 % of the total loss. Bromine plays a small role in oxidising oVOCs. Surface ozone, ozone sondes, and methane lifetime are in general improved by the inclusion of halogens. We argue that simulated bromine and chlorine represent a lower limit.
Yan Xia, Yongyun Hu, and Yi Huang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 7559–7567, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-7559-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-7559-2016, 2016
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In this work, we discover a strong cloud radiative adjustment that affects the sign of the global surface temperature change in response to stratospheric ozone forcing. We believe this discovery is both interesting, in that our GCM experiments show that a global cooling can result from a warming forcing, and new, in that a strong cloud adjustment to ozone forcing, to the best of our knowledge, has not being documented before.
Jenny A. Fisher, Daniel J. Jacob, Katherine R. Travis, Patrick S. Kim, Eloise A. Marais, Christopher Chan Miller, Karen Yu, Lei Zhu, Robert M. Yantosca, Melissa P. Sulprizio, Jingqiu Mao, Paul O. Wennberg, John D. Crounse, Alex P. Teng, Tran B. Nguyen, Jason M. St. Clair, Ronald C. Cohen, Paul Romer, Benjamin A. Nault, Paul J. Wooldridge, Jose L. Jimenez, Pedro Campuzano-Jost, Douglas A. Day, Weiwei Hu, Paul B. Shepson, Fulizi Xiong, Donald R. Blake, Allen H. Goldstein, Pawel K. Misztal, Thomas F. Hanisco, Glenn M. Wolfe, Thomas B. Ryerson, Armin Wisthaler, and Tomas Mikoviny
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 5969–5991, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-5969-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-5969-2016, 2016
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We use new airborne and ground-based observations from two summer 2013 campaigns in the southeastern US, interpreted with a chemical transport model, to understand the impact of isoprene and monoterpene chemistry on the atmospheric NOx budget via production of organic nitrates (RONO2). We find that a diversity of species contribute to observed RONO2. Our work implies that the NOx sink to RONO2 production is only sensitive to NOx emissions in regions where they are already low.
Christopher Chan Miller, Daniel J. Jacob, Gonzalo González Abad, and Kelly Chance
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 4631–4639, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-4631-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-4631-2016, 2016
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Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are important precursors for photochemical smog.
Glyoxal is an organic compound produced in the atmosphere from reactions of larger VOCs. OMI satellite observations of glyoxal show a large hotspot over the Pearl River delta. The hotspot can be explained by industrial paint and solvent emissions of aromatic VOCs. Our work shows OMI observations are consistent with current VOC emissions estimates, whereas previous work has suggested large underestimates.
Karen Yu, Daniel J. Jacob, Jenny A. Fisher, Patrick S. Kim, Eloise A. Marais, Christopher C. Miller, Katherine R. Travis, Lei Zhu, Robert M. Yantosca, Melissa P. Sulprizio, Ron C. Cohen, Jack E. Dibb, Alan Fried, Tomas Mikoviny, Thomas B. Ryerson, Paul O. Wennberg, and Armin Wisthaler
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 4369–4378, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-4369-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-4369-2016, 2016
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Increasing the spatial resolution of a chemical transport model may improve simulations but can be computationally expensive. Using observations from the SEAC4RS aircraft campaign, we find that at higher spatial resolutions, models are better able to simulate the chemical pathways of ozone precursors, but the overall effect on regional mean concentrations is small. This implies that for continental boundary layer applications, coarse resolution models are adequate.
E. A. Marais, D. J. Jacob, J. L. Jimenez, P. Campuzano-Jost, D. A. Day, W. Hu, J. Krechmer, L. Zhu, P. S. Kim, C. C. Miller, J. A. Fisher, K. Travis, K. Yu, T. F. Hanisco, G. M. Wolfe, H. L. Arkinson, H. O. T. Pye, K. D. Froyd, J. Liao, and V. F. McNeill
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 1603–1618, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-1603-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-1603-2016, 2016
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Isoprene secondary organic aerosol (SOA) is a dominant aerosol component in the southeast US, but models routinely underestimate isoprene SOA with traditional schemes based on chamber studies operated under conditions not representative of isoprene-emitting forests. We develop a new irreversible uptake mechanism to reproduce isoprene SOA yields (3.3 %) and composition, and find a factor of 2 co-benefit of SO2 emission controls on reducing sulfate and organic aerosol in the southeast US.
H.-M. Lee, F. Paulot, D. K. Henze, K. Travis, D. J. Jacob, L. H. Pardo, and B. A. Schichtel
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 525–540, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-525-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-525-2016, 2016
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Sources of nitrogen deposition (Ndep) in Federal Class I areas in the US are investigated, identifying unique features in contributions from different species, sectors and locations. Ndep in many parks is impacted by emissions several hundred km away; the role of oxidized vs reduced sources varies regionally. Emissions reductions in the western US most effectively reduce the extent of areas in critical load exceedance, while reductions in the east most effectively reduce exceedance magnitudes.
P. S. Kim, D. J. Jacob, J. A. Fisher, K. Travis, K. Yu, L. Zhu, R. M. Yantosca, M. P. Sulprizio, J. L. Jimenez, P. Campuzano-Jost, K. D. Froyd, J. Liao, J. W. Hair, M. A. Fenn, C. F. Butler, N. L. Wagner, T. D. Gordon, A. Welti, P. O. Wennberg, J. D. Crounse, J. M. St. Clair, A. P. Teng, D. B. Millet, J. P. Schwarz, M. Z. Markovic, and A. E. Perring
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 10411–10433, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-10411-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-10411-2015, 2015
J. Kaiser, G. M. Wolfe, K. E. Min, S. S. Brown, C. C. Miller, D. J. Jacob, J. A. deGouw, M. Graus, T. F. Hanisco, J. Holloway, J. Peischl, I. B. Pollack, T. B. Ryerson, C. Warneke, R. A. Washenfelder, and F. N. Keutsch
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 7571–7583, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-7571-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-7571-2015, 2015
A. J. Turner and D. J. Jacob
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 7039–7048, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-7039-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-7039-2015, 2015
A. J. Turner, D. J. Jacob, K. J. Wecht, J. D. Maasakkers, E. Lundgren, A. E. Andrews, S. C. Biraud, H. Boesch, K. W. Bowman, N. M. Deutscher, M. K. Dubey, D. W. T. Griffith, F. Hase, A. Kuze, J. Notholt, H. Ohyama, R. Parker, V. H. Payne, R. Sussmann, C. Sweeney, V. A. Velazco, T. Warneke, P. O. Wennberg, and D. Wunch
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 7049–7069, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-7049-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-7049-2015, 2015
M. S. Long, R. Yantosca, J. E. Nielsen, C. A. Keller, A. da Silva, M. P. Sulprizio, S. Pawson, and D. J. Jacob
Geosci. Model Dev., 8, 595–602, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-8-595-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-8-595-2015, 2015
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This paper presents results from the modularization of the GEOS-Chem chemical transport model, and its coupling as the chemical operator within the NASA-GMAO GEOS-5 Earth system model (ESM). The key findings are that chemistry within the modular GEOS-Chem system shows consistent, high strong-scaling properties across the range of distributed processors, transport is the limiting component prohibiting efficient scalability, and GEOS-Chem is able to generate suitable chemical results in an ESM.
C. Chan Miller, G. Gonzalez Abad, H. Wang, X. Liu, T. Kurosu, D. J. Jacob, and K. Chance
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 7, 3891–3907, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-3891-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-3891-2014, 2014
K. J. Wecht, D. J. Jacob, M. P. Sulprizio, G. W. Santoni, S. C. Wofsy, R. Parker, H. Bösch, and J. Worden
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 8173–8184, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-8173-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-8173-2014, 2014
C. A. Keller, M. S. Long, R. M. Yantosca, A. M. Da Silva, S. Pawson, and D. J. Jacob
Geosci. Model Dev., 7, 1409–1417, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-7-1409-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-7-1409-2014, 2014
P. Zoogman, D. J. Jacob, K. Chance, X. Liu, M. Lin, A. Fiore, and K. Travis
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 6261–6271, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-6261-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-6261-2014, 2014
L. Zhang, D. J. Jacob, X. Yue, N. V. Downey, D. A. Wood, and D. Blewitt
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 5295–5309, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-5295-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-5295-2014, 2014
E. V. Fischer, D. J. Jacob, R. M. Yantosca, M. P. Sulprizio, D. B. Millet, J. Mao, F. Paulot, H. B. Singh, A. Roiger, L. Ries, R.W. Talbot, K. Dzepina, and S. Pandey Deolal
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 2679–2698, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-2679-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-2679-2014, 2014
P. S. Kim, D. J. Jacob, X. Liu, J. X. Warner, K. Yang, K. Chance, V. Thouret, and P. Nedelec
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 9321–9335, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-9321-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-9321-2013, 2013
J. Mao, S. Fan, D. J. Jacob, and K. R. Travis
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 509–519, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-509-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-509-2013, 2013
Related subject area
Subject: Gases | Technique: Remote Sensing | Topic: Data Processing and Information Retrieval
Greenhouse gas retrievals for the CO2M mission using the FOCAL method: first performance estimates
Quantitative imaging of carbon dioxide plumes using a ground-based shortwave infrared spectral camera
The transition to new ozone absorption cross sections for Dobson and Brewer total ozone measurements
Advantages of assimilating multispectral satellite retrievals of atmospheric composition: a demonstration using MOPITT carbon monoxide products
An improved OMI ozone profile research product version 2.0 with collection 4 L1b data and algorithm updates
Tropospheric ozone column dataset from OMPS-LP/OMPS-NM limb–nadir matching
Version 8 IMK/IAA MIPAS measurements of CFC-11, CFC-12, and HCFC-22
The importance of digital elevation model accuracy in XCO2 retrievals: improving the Orbiting Carbon Observatory 2 Atmospheric Carbon Observations from Space version 11 retrieval product
Level0 to Level1B processor for MethaneAIR
Exploiting the entire near-infrared spectral range to improve the detection of methane plumes with high-resolution imaging spectrometers
A method for estimating localized CO2 emissions from co-located satellite XCO2 and NO2 images
The GeoCarb greenhouse gas retrieval algorithm: simulations and sensitivity to sources of uncertainty
Airborne lidar measurements of atmospheric CO2 column concentrations to cloud tops made during the 2017 ASCENDS/ABoVE campaign
A new method for estimating megacity NOx emissions and lifetimes from satellite observations
Accounting for Aerosols Effect in GHGSat Methane Retrieval
Airborne observation with a low-cost hyperspectral instrument: retrieval of NO2 vertical column densities (VCDs) and the satellite sub-grid variability over industrial point sources
A survey of methane point source emissions from coal mines in Shanxi province of China using AHSI on board Gaofen-5B
A nonlinear data-driven approach to bias correction of XCO2 for NASA's OCO-2 ACOS version 10
MIPAS ozone retrieval version 8: middle-atmosphere measurements
Atmospheric N2O and CH4 total columns retrieved from low-resolution Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra (Bruker VERTEX 70) in the mid-infrared region
A new accurate retrieval algorithm of bromine monoxide columns inside minor volcanic plumes from Sentinel-5P TROPOMI observations
Estimation of anthropogenic and volcanic SO2 emissions from satellite data in the presence of snow/ice on the ground
The IASI NH3 version 4 product: averaging kernels and improved consistency
A physically based correction for stray light in Brewer spectrophotometer data analysis
A research product for tropospheric NO2 columns from Geostationary Environment Monitoring Spectrometer based on Peking University OMI NO2 algorithm
Report on Landsat 8 and Sentinel-2B observations of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline methane leak
Methane retrievals from airborne HySpex observations in the shortwave infrared
Feasibility analysis of optimal terahertz (THz) bands for passive limb sounding of middle and upper atmospheric wind
Retrieval of temperature and humidity profiles from ground-based high-resolution infrared observations using an adaptive fast iterative algorithm
A retrieval of xCO2 from ground-based mid-infrared NDACC solar absorption spectra and comparison to TCCON
U-Plume: Automated algorithm for plume detection and source quantification by satellite point-source imagers
Optimal estimation retrieval of tropospheric ammonia from the Geostationary Interferometric Infrared Sounder on board FengYun-4B
Stratospheric-trace-gas-profile retrievals from balloon-borne limb imaging of mid-infrared emission spectra
Diurnal carbon monoxide observed from a geostationary infrared hyperspectral sounder: first result from GIIRS on board FengYun-4B
IMK/IAA MIPAS retrievals version 8: CH4 and N2O
Vertical information of CO from TROPOMI total column measurements in context of the CAMS-IFS data assimilation scheme
Global retrieval of stratospheric and tropospheric BrO columns from OMPS-NM onboard the Suomi-NPP satellite
Using a deep neural network to detect methane point sources and quantify emissions from PRISMA hyperspectral satellite images
Inferring the vertical distribution of CO and CO2 from TCCON total column values using the TARDISS algorithm
CH4Net: a deep learning model for monitoring methane super-emitters with Sentinel-2 imagery
Estimation of NO2 emission strengths over Riyadh and Madrid from space from a combination of wind-assigned anomalies and a machine learning technique
Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research/Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía version 8 retrieval of nitric oxide and lower-thermospheric temperature
Near-real-time detection of unexpected atmospheric events using principal component analysis on the Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI) radiances
Differences in MOPITT surface level CO retrievals and trends from Level 2 and Level 3 products in coastal grid boxes
Updated merged SAGE-CCI-OMPS+ dataset for the evaluation of ozone trends in the stratosphere
Accounting for meteorological biases in simulated plumes using smarter metrics
Accounting for surface reflectance spectral features in TROPOMI methane retrievals
Investigation of three-dimensional radiative transfer effects for UV–Vis satellite and ground-based observations of volcanic plumes
Retrievals of precipitable water vapor and aerosol optical depth from direct sun measurements with EKO MS711 and MS712 spectroradiometers
Update on the GOSAT TANSO–FTS SWIR Level 2 retrieval algorithm
Stefan Noël, Michael Buchwitz, Michael Hilker, Maximilian Reuter, Michael Weimer, Heinrich Bovensmann, John P. Burrows, Hartmut Bösch, and Ruediger Lang
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 2317–2334, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2317-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2317-2024, 2024
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FOCAL-CO2M is one of the three operational retrieval algorithms which will be used to derive XCO2 and XCH4 from measurements of the forthcoming European CO2M mission. We present results of applications of FOCAL-CO2M to simulated spectra, from which confidence is gained that the algorithm is able to fulfil the challenging requirements on systematic errors for the CO2M mission (spatio-temporal bias ≤ 0.5 ppm for XCO2 and ≤ 5 ppb for XCH4).
Marvin Knapp, Ralph Kleinschek, Sanam N. Vardag, Felix Külheim, Helge Haveresch, Moritz Sindram, Tim Siegel, Bruno Burger, and André Butz
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 2257–2275, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2257-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2257-2024, 2024
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Imaging carbon dioxide (CO2) plumes of anthropogenic sources from planes and satellites has proven valuable for detecting emitters and monitoring climate mitigation efforts. We present the first images of CO2 plumes taken with a ground-based spectral camera, observing a coal-fired power plant as a validation target. We develop a technique to find the source emission strength with an hourly resolution, which reasonably agrees with the expected emissions under favorable conditions.
Karl Voglmeier, Voltaire A. Velazco, Luca Egli, Julian Gröbner, Alberto Redondas, and Wolfgang Steinbrecht
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 2277–2294, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2277-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2277-2024, 2024
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Comparison between total ozone column (TOC) measurements from ground-based Dobson and Brewer spectrophotometers generally reveals seasonally varying differences of a few percent. This study recommends a new TOC retrieval approach, which effectively eliminates these seasonally varying differences by applying new ozone absorption cross sections, appropriate slit functions for the Dobson instrument, and climatological values for the effective ozone temperature.
Wenfu Tang, Benjamin Gaubert, Louisa Emmons, Daniel Ziskin, Debbie Mao, David Edwards, Avelino Arellano, Kevin Raeder, Jeffrey Anderson, and Helen Worden
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 1941–1963, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1941-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1941-2024, 2024
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We assimilate different MOPITT CO products to understand the impact of (1) assimilating multispectral and joint retrievals versus single spectral products, (2) assimilating satellite profile products versus column products, and (3) assimilating multispectral and joint retrievals versus assimilating individual products separately.
Juseon Bak, Xiong Liu, Kai Yang, Gonzalo Gonzalez Abad, Ewan O'Sullivan, Kelly Chance, and Cheol-Hee Kim
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 1891–1911, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1891-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1891-2024, 2024
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The new version (V2) of the OMI ozone profile product is introduced to improve retrieval quality and long-term consistency of tropospheric ozone by incorporating the recent collection 4 OMI L1b spectral products and refining radiometric correction, forward model calculation, and a priori ozone data.
Andrea Orfanoz-Cheuquelaf, Carlo Arosio, Alexei Rozanov, Mark Weber, Annette Ladstätter-Weißenmayer, John P. Burrows, Anne M. Thompson, Ryan M. Stauffer, and Debra E. Kollonige
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 1791–1809, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1791-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1791-2024, 2024
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Valuable information on the tropospheric ozone column (TrOC) can be obtained globally by combining space-borne limb and nadir measurements (limb–nadir matching, LNM). This study describes the retrieval of TrOC from the OMPS instrument (since 2012) using the LNM technique. The OMPS-LNM TrOC was compared with ozonesondes and other satellite measurements, showing a good agreement with a negative bias within 1 to 4 DU. This new dataset is suitable for pollution studies.
Gabriele P. Stiller, Thomas von Clarmann, Norbert Glatthor, Udo Grabowski, Sylvia Kellmann, Michael Kiefer, Alexandra Laeng, Andrea Linden, Bernd Funke, Maya García-Comas, and Manuel López-Puertas
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 1759–1789, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1759-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1759-2024, 2024
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CFC-11, CFC-12, and HCFC-22 contribute to the depletion of ozone and are potent greenhouse gases. They have been banned by the Montreal protocol. With MIPAS on Envisat the atmospheric composition could be observed between 2002 and 2012. We present here the retrieval of their atmospheric distributions for the final data version 8. We characterise the derived data by their error budget and their spatial resolution. An additional representation for direct comparison to models is also provided.
Nicole Jacobs, Christopher W. O'Dell, Thomas E. Taylor, Thomas L. Logan, Brendan Byrne, Matthäus Kiel, Rigel Kivi, Pauli Heikkinen, Aronne Merrelli, Vivienne H. Payne, and Abhishek Chatterjee
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 1375–1401, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1375-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1375-2024, 2024
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The accuracy of trace gas retrievals from spaceborne observations, like those from the Orbiting Carbon Observatory 2 (OCO-2), are sensitive to the referenced digital elevation model (DEM). Therefore, we evaluate several global DEMs, used in versions 10 and 11 of the OCO-2 retrieval along with the Copernicus DEM. We explore the impacts of changing the DEM on biases in OCO-2-retrieved XCO2 and inferred CO2 fluxes. Our findings led to an update to OCO-2 v11.1 using the Copernicus DEM globally.
Eamon K. Conway, Amir H. Souri, Joshua Benmergui, Kang Sun, Xiong Liu, Carly Staebell, Christopher Chan Miller, Jonathan Franklin, Jenna Samra, Jonas Wilzewski, Sebastien Roche, Bingkun Luo, Apisada Chulakadabba, Maryann Sargent, Jacob Hohl, Bruce Daube, Iouli Gordon, Kelly Chance, and Steven Wofsy
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 1347–1362, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1347-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1347-2024, 2024
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The work presented here describes the processes required to convert raw sensor data for the MethaneAIR instrument to geometrically calibrated data. Each algorithm is described in detail. MethaneAIR is the airborne simulator for MethaneSAT, a new satellite under development by MethaneSAT LLC, a subsidiary of the EDF. MethaneSAT's goals are to precisely map over 80 % of the production sources of methane emissions from oil and gas fields across the globe to a high degree of accuracy.
Javier Roger, Luis Guanter, Javier Gorroño, and Itziar Irakulis-Loitxate
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 1333–1346, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1333-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1333-2024, 2024
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Methane emissions can be identified using remote sensing, but surface-related structures disturb detection. In this work, a variation of the matched filter method that exploits a large fraction of the near-infrared range (1000–2500 nm) is applied. In comparison to the raw matched filter, it reduces background noise and strongly attenuates the surface-related artifacts, which leads to a greater detection capability. We propose this variation as a standard methodology for methane detection.
Blanca Fuentes Andrade, Michael Buchwitz, Maximilian Reuter, Heinrich Bovensmann, Andreas Richter, Hartmut Boesch, and John P. Burrows
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 1145–1173, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1145-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1145-2024, 2024
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We developed a method to estimate CO2 emissions from localized sources, such as power plants, using satellite data and applied it to estimate CO2 emissions from the Bełchatów Power Station (Poland). As the detection of CO2 emission plumes from satellite data is difficult, we used observations of co-emitted NO2 to constrain the emission plume region. Our results agree with CO2 emission estimations based on the power-plant-generated power and emission factors.
Gregory R. McGarragh, Christopher W. O'Dell, Sean M. R. Crowell, Peter Somkuti, Eric B. Burgh, and Berrien Moore III
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 1091–1121, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1091-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1091-2024, 2024
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Carbon dioxide and methane are greenhouse gases that have been rapidly increasing due to human activity since the industrial revolution, leading to global warming and subsequently negative affects on the climate. It is important to measure the concentrations of these gases in order to make climate predictions that drive policy changes to mitigate climate change. GeoCarb aims to measure the concentrations of these gases from space over the Americas at unprecedented spatial and temporal scales.
Jianping Mao, James B. Abshire, S. Randy Kawa, Xiaoli Sun, and Haris Riris
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 1061–1074, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1061-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1061-2024, 2024
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NASA Goddard Space Flight Center has developed an integrated-path, differential absorption lidar approach to measure column-averaged atmospheric CO2 (XCO2). We demonstrated the lidar’s capability to measure XCO2 to cloud tops ,as well as to the ground, with the data from the summer 2017 airborne campaign in the US and Canada. This active remote sensing technique can provide all-sky data coverage and high-quality XCO2 measurements for future airborne science campaigns and space missions.
Steffen Beirle and Thomas Wagner
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-3079, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-3079, 2024
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We present a new method for estimating emissions and lifetimes for nitrogen oxides emitted from large cities by using satellite NO2 observations combined with wind fields. The estimate is based on the simultaneous evaluation of the downwind plumes for opposing wind directions. This allows us to derive seasonal mean emissions and lifetimes for 100 cities around the globe.
Qiurun Yu, Dylan Jervis, and Yi Huang
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-2958, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-2958, 2024
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This study estimated the effects of aerosols on GHGSat satellite methane retrieval and investigated the performance of simultaneously retrieving aerosol and methane information using a multi-angle viewing method. Results suggested that the performance of GHGsat methane retrieval improved when aerosols were considered, and the multi-angle viewing method is insensitive to the satellite angle setting. The performance assessment is useful for improving future GHGSat-like instruments.
Jong-Uk Park, Hyun-Jae Kim, Jin-Soo Park, Jinsoo Choi, Sang Seo Park, Kangho Bae, Jong-Jae Lee, Chang-Keun Song, Soojin Park, Kyuseok Shim, Yeonsoo Cho, and Sang-Woo Kim
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 197–217, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-197-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-197-2024, 2024
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The high-spatial-resolution NO2 vertical column densities (VCDs) were measured from airborne observations using the low-cost hyperspectral imaging sensor (HIS) at three industrial areas in South Korea with the newly developed versatile NO2 VCD retrieval algorithm apt to be applied to the instruments with volatile optical and radiometric properties. The airborne HIS observations emphasized the intensifying satellite sub-grid variability in NO2 VCDs near the emission sources.
Zhonghua He, Ling Gao, Miao Liang, and Zhao-Cheng Zeng
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-3047, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-3047, 2023
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Our research, utilizing Gaofen-5b satellite data, detected methane emissions from 32 coal mines and 93 plume events in Shanxi, China, showing significant variability among sources. Emission rates spanned from 857.67 to 14333.02 kg·h-1. This study highlights satellites' capacity to monitor specific methane origins, offering valuable support in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
William R. Keely, Steffen Mauceri, Sean Crowell, and Christopher W. O'Dell
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 5725–5748, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5725-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5725-2023, 2023
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Measurement errors in satellite observations of CO2 attributed to co-estimated atmospheric variables are corrected using a linear regression on quality-filtered data. We propose a nonlinear method that improves correction against a set of ground truth proxies and allows for high throughput of well-corrected data.
Manuel López-Puertas, Maya García-Comas, Bernd Funke, Thomas von Clarmann, Norbert Glatthor, Udo Grabowski, Sylvia Kellmann, Michael Kiefer, Alexandra Laeng, Andrea Linden, and Gabriele P. Stiller
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 5609–5645, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5609-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5609-2023, 2023
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This paper describes a new version (V8) of ozone data from MIPAS middle-atmosphere spectra. The dataset comprises high-quality ozone profiles from 20 to 100 km, with pole-to-pole latitude coverage for the day- and nighttime, spanning 2005 until 2012. An exhaustive treatment of errors has been performed. Compared to other satellite instruments, MIPAS ozone shows a positive bias of 5 %–8 % below 70 km. In the upper mesosphere, this new version agrees much better than previous ones (within 10 %).
Minqiang Zhou, Bavo Langerock, Mahesh Kumar Sha, Christian Hermans, Nicolas Kumps, Rigel Kivi, Pauli Heikkinen, Christof Petri, Justus Notholt, Huilin Chen, and Martine De Mazière
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 5593–5608, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5593-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5593-2023, 2023
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Atmospheric N2O and CH4 columns are successfully retrieved from low-resolution FTIR spectra recorded by a Bruker VERTEX 70. The 1-year measurements at Sodankylä show that the N2O total columns retrieved from 125HR and VERTEX 70 spectra are −0.3 ± 0.7 % with an R value of 0.93. The relative differences between the CH4 total columns retrieved from the 125HR and VERTEX spectra are 0.0 ± 0.8 % with an R value of 0.87. Such a technique can help to fill the gap in NDACC N2O and CH4 measurements.
Simon Warnach, Holger Sihler, Christian Borger, Nicole Bobrowski, Steffen Beirle, Ulrich Platt, and Thomas Wagner
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 5537–5573, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5537-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5537-2023, 2023
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BrO inside volcanic gas plumes but can be used in combination with SO2 to characterize the volcanic property and its activity state. High-quality satellite observations can provide a global inventory of this important quantity. This paper investigates how to accurately detect BrO inside volcanic plumes from the satellite UV spectrum. A sophisticated novel non-volcanic background correction scheme is presented, and systematic errors including cross-interference with formaldehyde are minimized.
Vitali E. Fioletov, Chris A. McLinden, Debora Griffin, Nickolay A. Krotkov, Can Li, Joanna Joiner, Nicolas Theys, and Simon Carn
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 5575–5592, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5575-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5575-2023, 2023
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Snow-covered terrain, with its high reflectance in the UV, typically enhances satellite sensitivity to boundary layer pollution. However, a significant fraction of high-quality cloud-free measurements over snow is currently excluded from analyses. In this study, we investigated how satellite SO2 measurements over snow-covered surfaces can be used to improve estimations of annual SO2 emissions.
Lieven Clarisse, Bruno Franco, Martin Van Damme, Tommaso Di Gioacchino, Juliette Hadji-Lazaro, Simon Whitburn, Lara Noppen, Daniel Hurtmans, Cathy Clerbaux, and Pierre Coheur
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 5009–5028, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5009-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5009-2023, 2023
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Ammonia is an important atmospheric pollutant. This article presents version 4 of the algorithm which retrieves ammonia abundances from the infrared measurements of the satellite sounder IASI. A measurement operator is introduced that can emulate the measurements (so-called averaging kernels) and measurement uncertainty is better characterized. Several other changes to the product itself are also documented, most of which improve the temporal consistency of the 2007–2022 IASI NH3 dataset.
Vladimir Savastiouk, Henri Diémoz, and C. Thomas McElroy
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 4785–4806, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4785-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4785-2023, 2023
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This paper describes a way to significantly improve ozone measurements at low sun elevations and large ozone amounts when using the Brewer ozone spectrophotometer. The proposed algorithm will allow more uniform ozone measurements across the monitoring network. This will contribute to more reliable trend analysis and support the satellite validation. This research contributes to better understanding the physics of the instrument, and the new algorithm is based on this new knowledge.
Yuhang Zhang, Jintai Lin, Jhoon Kim, Hanlim Lee, Junsung Park, Hyunkee Hong, Michel Van Roozendael, Francois Hendrick, Ting Wang, Pucai Wang, Qin He, Kai Qin, Yongjoo Choi, Yugo Kanaya, Jin Xu, Pinhua Xie, Xin Tian, Sanbao Zhang, Shanshan Wang, Siyang Cheng, Xinghong Cheng, Jianzhong Ma, Thomas Wagner, Robert Spurr, Lulu Chen, Hao Kong, and Mengyao Liu
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 4643–4665, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4643-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4643-2023, 2023
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Our tropospheric NO2 vertical column density product with high spatiotemporal resolution is based on the Geostationary Environment Monitoring Spectrometer (GEMS) and named POMINO–GEMS. Strong hotspot signals and NO2 diurnal variations are clearly seen. Validations with multiple satellite products and ground-based, mobile car and surface measurements exhibit the overall great performance of the POMINO–GEMS product, indicating its capability for application in environmental studies.
Matthieu Dogniaux, Joannes D. Maasakkers, Daniel J. Varon, and Ilse Aben
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.31223/X53M42, https://doi.org/10.31223/X53M42, 2023
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We analyze Landsat 8 (L8) and Sentinel-2B (S-2B) observations of the 2022 Nord Stream 2 methane leak, and show how challenging this case is for usual data analysis methods. We provide customized calibrations for this Nord Stream 2 case and assess that no firm conclusion can be drawn from L8 or S-2B single overpasses. However, if we opportunistically assume that L8 and S-2B results are independent, we find an averaged L8 and S-2B combined methane leak rate of 415 +/- 321 t/hr.
Philipp Hochstaffl, Franz Schreier, Claas Henning Köhler, Andreas Baumgartner, and Daniele Cerra
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 4195–4214, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4195-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4195-2023, 2023
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The study examines methane enhancements inferred from hyperspectral imaging observations using different retrieval schemes. One of the core challenges is the high spatial and moderate spectral resolution as it makes separation of spectral variations caused by molecular absorption and surface reflectivity challenging. It was found that localized methane enhancements can be detected and quantified from HySpex airborne observations using various retrieval schemes.
Wenyu Wang, Jian Xu, and Zhenzhan Wang
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 4137–4153, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4137-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4137-2023, 2023
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This article presents a study for feasibility analysis of atmospheric wind measurement using a terahertz (THz) passive limb radiometer with high spectral resolution. The simulations show that line-of-sight wind from 40 to 120 km can be obtained better than 10 m s−1 (at most altitudes it is better than 5 m s−1) using the O3, O2, H2O, and OI bands. This study will provide reference for future payload design.
Wei Huang, Lei Liu, Bin Yang, Shuai Hu, Wanying Yang, Zhenfeng Li, Wantong Li, and Xiaofan Yang
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 4101–4114, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4101-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4101-2023, 2023
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To improve the retrieval speed of the AERI optimal estimation (AERIoe) method, a fast-retrieval algorithm named Fast AERIoe is proposed on the basis of the findings that the change in Jacobians during the retrieval process had little effect on the performance of AERIoe. The results of the experiment show that the retrieved profiles from Fast AERIoe are comparable to those of AERIoe and that the retrieval speed is significantly improved, with the average retrieval time reduced by 59 %.
Rafaella Chiarella, Matthias Buschmann, Joshua Laughner, Isamu Morino, Justus Notholt, Christof Petri, Geoffrey Toon, Voltaire A. Velazco, and Thorsten Warneke
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 3987–4007, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3987-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3987-2023, 2023
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The goal is to establish a window and strategy for xCO2 retrieval from ground-based Fourier transform spectrometers for NDACC. In the study we describe the spectroscopy of the region, the locations and instruments used, and the methods of calculating the retrieved xCO2. We performed tests to assess the sensitivity to diverse factors and sources of errors while comparing the retrieval to a well-established xCO2 retrieval from TCCON.
Jack Bruno, Dylan Jervis, Daniel Varon, and Daniel Jacob
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-1343, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-1343, 2023
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Methane is a potent greenhouse gas and a current high priority target for short/mid term climate change mitigation. Detection of individual methane emitters from space has become possible in recent years, and the volume of data for this task has been rapidly growing and the data volume is outpacing processing capabilities. We introduce an automated approach, U-Plume, which can detect and quantify emissions from individual methane sources in high spatial resolution satellite data.
Zhao-Cheng Zeng, Lu Lee, Chengli Qi, Lieven Clarisse, and Martin Van Damme
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 3693–3713, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3693-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3693-2023, 2023
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This study presents an NH3 retrieval algorithm based on the optimal estimation method for the Geostationary Interferometric Infrared Sounder (GIIRS) on board China’s FengYun-4B satellite (FY-4B/GIIRS). Retrieval results demonstrate the capability of FY-4B/GIIRS in capturing the diurnal NH3 changes in East Asia. This operational geostationary observation by FY-4B/GIIRS represents an important advancement over the twice-per-day observations provided by current low-Earth-orbit (LEO) instruments.
Ethan Runge, Jeff Langille, Daniel Zawada, Adam Bourassa, and Doug Degenstein
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 3123–3139, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3123-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3123-2023, 2023
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The Limb Imaging Fourier Transform Spectrometer Experiment (LIFE) instrument takes vertical images of limb radiance across a wide mid-infrared spectral band from a stratospheric balloon. Measurements are used to infer vertical-trace-gas-profile retrievals of H2O, O3, HNO3, CH4, and N2O. Nearly time-/space-coincident observations from the Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment Fourier Transform Spectrometer (ACE-FTS) and Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) instruments are compared to the LIFE results.
Zhao-Cheng Zeng, Lu Lee, and Chengli Qi
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 3059–3083, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3059-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3059-2023, 2023
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Observations from geostationary orbit provide contiguous coverage with a high temporal resolution, representing an important advancement over current low-Earth-orbit instruments. Using measurements from GIIRS on board China's FengYun satellite, the world’s first geostationary hyperspectral infrared sounder, we showed the first results of diurnal CO in eastern Asia from a geostationary orbit, which will have great potential in improving local and global air quality and climate research.
Norbert Glatthor, Thomas von Clarmann, Bernd Funke, Maya Garcia-Comas, Udo Grabowski, Michael Höpfner, Sylvia Kellmann, Michael Kiefer, Alexandra Laeng, Andrea Linden, Manuel Lopez-Puertas, and Gabriele P. Stiller
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-919, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-919, 2023
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We present global atmospheric methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) distributions retrieved from measurements of the MIPAS instrument onboard the ENVIronmental SATellite (ENVISAT) during 2002 to 2012. Monitoring of these gases is of scientific interest, because both of them are strong greenhouse gases. We analyse the latest, improved version of calibrated MIPAS measurements. Further, we apply a new retrieval scheme leading to an improved CH4 and N2O data product .
Tobias Borsdorff, Teresa Campos, Natalie Kille, Kyle J. Zarzana, Rainer Volkamer, and Jochen Landgraf
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 3027–3038, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3027-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3027-2023, 2023
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ECMWF plans to assimilate TROPOMI CO with their CAMS-IFS model. This will constrain the total column and the vertical CO distribution of the model. To show this, we combine individual TROPOMI CO column retrievals with different vertical sensitivities and obtain a vertical CO concentration profile. We test the approach on three CO pollution events in comparison with CAMS-IFS simulations that do not assimilate TROPOMI CO data and in situ airborne measurements of the BB-FLUX campaign.
Heesung Chong, Gonzalo González Abad, Caroline R. Nowlan, Christopher Chan Miller, Alfonso Saiz-Lopez, Rafael P. Fernandez, Hyeong-Ahn Kwon, Zolal Ayazpour, Huiqun Wang, Amir H. Souri, Xiong Liu, Kelly Chance, Ewan O’Sullivan, Jhoon Kim, Ja-Ho Koo, William R. Simpson, François Hendrick, Richard Querel, Glen Jaross, Colin Seftor, and Raid M. Suleiman
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-1163, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-1163, 2023
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We describe a new bromine monoxide (BrO) product from the OMPS-NM instrument onboard the Suomi-NPP satellite. This product provides global stratospheric and tropospheric columns separately for nearly a decade, a feature that is currently rare in publicly available datasets. Both stratospheric and the tropospheric BrO vertical columns from OMPS-NM demonstrate good agreement with ground-based observations from three stations (Lauder, Utqiag ̇vik, and Harestua).
Peter Joyce, Cristina Ruiz Villena, Yahui Huang, Alex Webb, Manuel Gloor, Fabien H. Wagner, Martyn P. Chipperfield, Rocío Barrio Guilló, Chris Wilson, and Hartmut Boesch
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 2627–2640, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2627-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2627-2023, 2023
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Methane emissions are responsible for a lot of the warming caused by the greenhouse effect, much of which comes from a small number of point sources. We can identify methane point sources by analysing satellite data, but it requires a lot of time invested by experts and is prone to very high errors. Here, we produce a neural network that can automatically identify methane point sources and estimate the mass of methane that is being released per hour and are able to do so with far smaller errors.
Harrison A. Parker, Joshua L. Laughner, Geoffrey C. Toon, Debra Wunch, Coleen M. Roehl, Laura T. Iraci, James R. Podolske, Kathryn McKain, Bianca C. Baier, and Paul O. Wennberg
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 2601–2625, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2601-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2601-2023, 2023
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We describe a retrieval algorithm for determining limited information about the vertical distribution of carbon monoxide (CO) and carbon dioxide (CO2) from total column observations from ground-based observations. Our retrieved partial column values compare well with integrated in situ data. The average error for our retrieval is 1.51 ppb (~ 2 %) for CO and 5.09 ppm (~ 1.25 %) for CO2. We anticipate that this approach will find broad application for use in carbon cycle science.
Anna Vaughan, Gonzalo Mateo-García, Luis Gómez-Chova, Vít Růžička, Luis Guanter, and Itziar Irakulis-Loitxate
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-563, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-563, 2023
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Methane is a potent greenhouse gas responsible for around 25 % of global warming since the industrial revolution. Consequently identifying and mitigating methane emissions is an important step in combating the climate crisis. We develop a new deep learning model to automatically detect methane plumes from satellite images, and demonstrate that this can be applied to monitor large methane emissions resulting from the oil and gas industry.
Qiansi Tu, Frank Hase, Zihan Chen, Matthias Schneider, Omaira García, Farahnaz Khosrawi, Shuo Chen, Thomas Blumenstock, Fang Liu, Kai Qin, Jason Cohen, Qin He, Song Lin, Hongyan Jiang, and Dianjun Fang
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 2237–2262, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2237-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2237-2023, 2023
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Four-year TROPOMI observations are used to derive tropospheric NO2 emissions in two mega(cities) with high anthropogenic activity. Wind-assigned anomalies are calculated, and the emission rates and spatial patterns are estimated based on a machine learning algorithm. The results are in reasonable agreement with previous studies and the inventory. Our method is quite robust and can be used as a simple method to estimate the emissions of NO2 as well as other gases in other regions.
Bernd Funke, Maya García-Comas, Norbert Glatthor, Udo Grabowski, Sylvia Kellmann, Michael Kiefer, Andrea Linden, Manuel López-Puertas, Gabriele P. Stiller, and Thomas von Clarmann
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 2167–2196, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2167-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2167-2023, 2023
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New global nitric oxide (NO) volume-mixing-ratio and lower-thermospheric temperature data products, retrieved from Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding (MIPAS) spectra with the IMK-IAA MIPAS data processor, have been released. The dataset covers the entire Envisat mission lifetime and includes retrieval results from all MIPAS observation modes. The data are based on ESA version 8 calibration and were processed using an improved retrieval approach.
Adrien Vu Van, Anne Boynard, Pascal Prunet, Dominique Jolivet, Olivier Lezeaux, Patrice Henry, Claude Camy-Peyret, Lieven Clarisse, Bruno Franco, Pierre-François Coheur, and Cathy Clerbaux
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 2107–2127, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2107-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2107-2023, 2023
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With its near-real-time observations and good horizontal coverage, the Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI) instrument can contribute to the monitoring systems for a systematic and continuous detection of exceptional atmospheric events such as fires, anthropogenic pollution episodes, volcanic eruptions, or industrial releases. In this paper, a new approach is described for the detection and characterization of unexpected events in terms of trace gases using IASI radiance spectra.
Ian Ashpole and Aldona Wiacek
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 1923–1949, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1923-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1923-2023, 2023
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The MOPITT instrument has been measuring atmospheric carbon monoxide (CO) from space since 2000. Its data products are valuable for CO trend analysis. This paper compares products with different spatial resolutions to identify discrepancies in mean CO amounts and detectable trends for coastal grid boxes. It is found that CO amounts and trends differ significantly between data products for a large number of these grid boxes, essentially due to how the coarser-resolution products are created.
Viktoria F. Sofieva, Monika Szelag, Johanna Tamminen, Carlo Arosio, Alexei Rozanov, Mark Weber, Doug Degenstein, Adam Bourassa, Daniel Zawada, Michael Kiefer, Alexandra Laeng, Kaley A. Walker, Patrick Sheese, Daan Hubert, Michel van Roozendael, Christian Retscher, Robert Damadeo, and Jerry D. Lumpe
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 1881–1899, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1881-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1881-2023, 2023
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The paper presents the updated SAGE-CCI-OMPS+ climate data record of monthly zonal mean ozone profiles. This dataset covers the stratosphere and combines measurements by nine limb and occultation satellite instruments (SAGE II, OSIRIS, MIPAS, SCIAMACHY, GOMOS, ACE-FTS, OMPS-LP, POAM III, and SAGE III/ISS). The update includes new versions of MIPAS, ACE-FTS, and OSIRIS datasets and introduces data from additional sensors (POAM III and SAGE III/ISS) and retrieval processors (OMPS-LP).
Pierre J. Vanderbecken, Joffrey Dumont Le Brazidec, Alban Farchi, Marc Bocquet, Yelva Roustan, Élise Potier, and Grégoire Broquet
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 1745–1766, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1745-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1745-2023, 2023
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Instruments dedicated to monitoring atmospheric gaseous compounds from space will provide images of urban-scale plumes. We discuss here the use of new metrics to compare observed plumes with model predictions that will be less sensitive to meteorology uncertainties. We have evaluated our metrics on diverse plumes and shown that by eliminating some aspects of the discrepancies, they are indeed less sensitive to meteorological variations.
Alba Lorente, Tobias Borsdorff, Mari C. Martinez-Velarte, and Jochen Landgraf
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 1597–1608, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1597-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1597-2023, 2023
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In the TROPOMI methane data, there are few false methane anomalies that can be misinterpreted as enhancements caused by strong emission sources. These artefacts are caused by features of the underlying surfaces that are not well characterized in the retrieval algorithm. Here we improve the representation of the surface reflectance dependency with wavelength in the forward model, removing the artificial localized CH4 enhancements found in several locations like Siberia, Australia and Algeria.
Thomas Wagner, Simon Warnach, Steffen Beirle, Nicole Bobrowski, Adrian Jost, Janis Puķīte, and Nicolas Theys
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 1609–1662, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1609-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1609-2023, 2023
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We investigate 3D effects of volcanic plumes on the retrieval results of satellite and ground-based UV–Vis observations. With its small ground pixels of 3.5 x 5.5 km², the TROPOMI instrument can detect much smaller volcanic plumes than previous instruments. At the same time, 3D effects become important. The effect of horizontal photon paths especially can lead to a strong underestimation of the derived plume contents of up to > 50 %, which can be further increased for strong absorbers like SO2.
Congcong Qiao, Song Liu, Juan Huo, Xihan Mu, Ping Wang, Shengjie Jia, Xuehua Fan, and Minzheng Duan
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 1539–1549, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1539-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1539-2023, 2023
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We established a spectral-fitting method to derive precipitable water vapor (PWV) and aerosol optical depth based on a strict radiative transfer theory by the spectral measurements of direct sun from EKO MS711 and MS712 spectroradiometers. The retrievals were compared with that of the colocated CE-318 photometer; the results showed a high degree of consistency. In the PWV inversion, a strong water vapor absorption band around 1370 nm is introduced to retrieve PWV in a relatively dry atmosphere.
Yu Someya, Yukio Yoshida, Hirofumi Ohyama, Shohei Nomura, Akihide Kamei, Isamu Morino, Hitoshi Mukai, Tsuneo Matsunaga, Joshua L. Laughner, Voltaire A. Velazco, Benedikt Herkommer, Yao Té, Mahesh Kumar Sha, Rigel Kivi, Minqiang Zhou, Young Suk Oh, Nicholas M. Deutscher, and David W. T. Griffith
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 1477–1501, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1477-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1477-2023, 2023
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The updated retrieval algorithm for the Greenhouse gases Observing SATellite level 2 product is presented. The main changes in the algorithm from the previous one are the treatment of cirrus clouds, the degradation model of the sensor, solar irradiance, and gas absorption coefficient tables. The retrieval results showed improvements in fitting accuracy and an increase in the data amount over land. On the other hand, there are still large biases of XCO2 which should be corrected over the ocean.
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Short summary
Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas emitted from numerous human activities. Space-based observation of point sources would be a cost-effective monitoring solution, but the resolution of most current and planned methane-observing satellites is too coarse to resolve individual emitters. We simulate fine-resolution (50 m) satellite observations of methane plumes as would be measured by GHGSat (to be launched in 2019) and show that such data can usefully quantify large methane point sources.
Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas emitted from numerous human activities. Space-based...
