Articles | Volume 16, issue 23
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5771-2023
© Author(s) 2023. 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-16-5771-2023
© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
01 Dec 2023
Research article |
| 01 Dec 2023
| 01 Dec 2023
Methane point source quantification using MethaneAIR: a new airborne imaging spectrometer
Apisada Chulakadabba
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
Maryann Sargent
Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
Thomas Lauvaux
Molecular and Atmospheric Spectrometry Group (GSMA) – UMR 7331, University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne, Reims, France
Joshua S. Benmergui
Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
Environmental Defense Fund, New York, NY, USA
MethaneSAT, LLC, Austin, TX, USA
Jonathan E. Franklin
Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
Christopher Chan Miller
Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
Center for Astrophysics, Harvard & Smithsonian, Cambridge, MA, USA
Jonas S. Wilzewski
Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
Center for Astrophysics, Harvard & Smithsonian, Cambridge, MA, USA
Sébastien Roche
Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
Center for Astrophysics, Harvard & Smithsonian, Cambridge, MA, USA
Eamon Conway
Center for Astrophysics, Harvard & Smithsonian, Cambridge, MA, USA
Kostas Research Institute for Homeland Security, Northeastern University, Burlington, MA, USA
Amir H. Souri
Center for Astrophysics, Harvard & Smithsonian, Cambridge, MA, USA
Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, USA
Research and Education in Energy, Environment and Water Institute, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, USA
Bingkun Luo
Center for Astrophysics, Harvard & Smithsonian, Cambridge, MA, USA
Jacob Hawthrone
Center for Astrophysics, Harvard & Smithsonian, Cambridge, MA, USA
Jenna Samra
Center for Astrophysics, Harvard & Smithsonian, Cambridge, MA, USA
Bruce C. Daube
Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
Xiong Liu
Center for Astrophysics, Harvard & Smithsonian, Cambridge, MA, USA
Kelly Chance
Center for Astrophysics, Harvard & Smithsonian, Cambridge, MA, USA
Department of Environmental Science, Baylor University, Waco, TX, USA
Ritesh Gautam
Environmental Defense Fund, New York, NY, USA
MethaneSAT, LLC, Austin, TX, USA
Mark Omara
Environmental Defense Fund, New York, NY, USA
MethaneSAT, LLC, Austin, TX, USA
Jeff S. Rutherford
Department of Energy Science & Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
Evan D. Sherwin
Department of Energy Science & Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
Adam Brandt
Department of Energy Science & Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
Steven C. Wofsy
Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
Related authors
Luis Guanter, Jack Warren, Mark Omara, Apisada Chulakadabba, Javier Roger, Maryann Sargent, Jonathan E. Franklin, Steven C. Wofsy, and Ritesh Gautam
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 3857–3872, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-3857-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-3857-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
This study presents a data processing scheme for the detection and quantification of methane emissions using the MethaneAIR airborne spectrometer. We show that the proposed methods enable the detection of smaller plumes (compared with those detectable using other existing methods) and improve the potential of MethaneAIR to survey methane point sources across large regions.
Jack D. Warren, Maryann Sargent, James P. Williams, Mark Omara, Christopher C. Miller, Sebastien Roche, Katlyn MacKay, Ethan Manninen, Apisada Chulakadabba, Anthony Himmelberger, Joshua Benmergui, Zhan Zhang, Luis Guanter, Steve Wofsy, and Ritesh Gautam
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3865, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3865, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Mitigating anthropogenic methane emissions requires a detailed understanding of emitting facilities. We use observations of methane point sources from the MethaneAIR instrument from 2021–2023 that covered ~80 % of U.S. onshore oil and gas production regions. We attribute these observations to facility types to explore how emissions vary by industrial sectors. Oil and gas facilities make up most point source emissions nationally, but in certain basins other sectors can make up the majority.
Christopher Chan Miller, Sébastien Roche, Jonas S. Wilzewski, Xiong Liu, Kelly Chance, Amir H. Souri, Eamon Conway, Bingkun Luo, Jenna Samra, Jacob Hawthorne, Kang Sun, Carly Staebell, Apisada Chulakadabba, Maryann Sargent, Joshua S. Benmergui, Jonathan E. Franklin, Bruce C. Daube, Yang Li, Joshua L. Laughner, Bianca C. Baier, Ritesh Gautam, Mark Omara, and Steven C. Wofsy
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 5429–5454, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-5429-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-5429-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
MethaneSAT is an upcoming satellite mission designed to monitor methane emissions from the oil and gas (O&G) industry globally. Here, we present observations from the first flight campaign of MethaneAIR, a MethaneSAT-like instrument mounted on an aircraft. MethaneAIR can map methane with high precision and accuracy over a typically sized oil and gas basin (~200 km2) in a single flight. This paper demonstrates the capability of the upcoming satellite to routinely track global O&G emissions.
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
Short summary
Short summary
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.
Mark Omara, Ritesh Gautam, Madeleine A. O'Brien, Anthony Himmelberger, Alex Franco, Kelsey Meisenhelder, Grace Hauser, David R. Lyon, Apisada Chulakadabba, Christopher Chan Miller, Jonathan Franklin, Steven C. Wofsy, and Steven P. Hamburg
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 3761–3790, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-3761-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-3761-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We acquire, integrate, and analyze ~ 6 million geospatial oil and gas infrastructure data records based on information available in the public domain and develop an open-access global database including all the major oil and gas facility types that are important sources of methane emissions. This work helps fulfill a crucial geospatial data need, in support of the assessment, attribution, and mitigation of global oil and gas methane emissions at high resolution.
Rafaela Cruz Alves Alberti, Thomas Lauvaux, Angel Liduvino Vara-Vela, Ricard Segura Barrero, Christoffer Karoff, Maria de Fátima Andrade, Márcia Talita Amorim Marques, Noelia Rojas Benavente, Osvaldo Machado Rodrigues Cabral, Humberto Ribeiro da Rocha, and Rita Yuri Ynoue
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 9803–9829, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-9803-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-9803-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
This study addresses uncertainties in atmospheric models by analyzing CO2 dynamics in a complex urban environment characterized by a dense population and tropical vegetation. High-accuracy sensors were deployed, and the Weather Research and Forecasting model coupled with Chemistry (WRF-Chem) was utilized to simulate CO2 transport, capturing variations and assessing contributions from both anthropogenic and biogenic sources.
Audrey McManemin, Catherine Juéry, Vincent Blandin, James L. France, Philippine Burdeau, and Adam R. Brandt
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-3793, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-3793, 2025
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Atmospheric Measurement Techniques (AMT).
Short summary
Short summary
This experiment tested the ability of different technologies to detect and measure methane emissions. Participating teams used satellites, drones, and other systems to estimate methane leak rates without knowing the true rate. Some systems were more accurate than others, and wind and other environmental conditions made measurements harder. Our findings help improve these tools and support efforts to track and reduce methane emissions as new environmental rules take shape in Europe and beyond.
Ruize Sun, Xiao Lu, Haipeng Lin, Tongwen Wu, Xingpei Ye, Lu Shen, Xuan Wang, Haolin Wang, Jingyu Li, Ni Lu, Jiayin Su, Jie Zhang, Fang Zhang, Xiaoge Xin, Xiong Liu, and Lin Zhang
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-3829, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-3829, 2025
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Geoscientific Model Development (GMD).
Short summary
Short summary
We present the development of a global chemistry-climate coupled model BCC-GEOS-Chem v2.0, with improved representation of comprehensive troposphere-stratosphere chemistry and new capability to account for radiative-cloud feedbacks from short-lived climate forcers. The development of the BCC-GEOS-Chem v2.0 provides a powerful tool to study climate-chemistry interactions and for future projection of global atmospheric chemistry and regional air quality.
Luis Guanter, Jack Warren, Mark Omara, Apisada Chulakadabba, Javier Roger, Maryann Sargent, Jonathan E. Franklin, Steven C. Wofsy, and Ritesh Gautam
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 3857–3872, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-3857-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-3857-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
This study presents a data processing scheme for the detection and quantification of methane emissions using the MethaneAIR airborne spectrometer. We show that the proposed methods enable the detection of smaller plumes (compared with those detectable using other existing methods) and improve the potential of MethaneAIR to survey methane point sources across large regions.
Jasna V. Pittman, Bruce C. Daube, Steven C. Wofsy, Elliot L. Atlas, Maria A. Navarro, Eric J. Hintsa, Fred L. Moore, Geoff S. Dutton, James W. Elkins, Troy D. Thornberry, Andrew W. Rollins, Eric J. Jensen, Thaopaul Bui, Jonathan Dean-Day, and Leonhard Pfister
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 7543–7562, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-7543-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-7543-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Biomass fires emit aerosols and precursors that can provide a novel environment for initiating stratospheric ozone loss. The Airborne Tropical TRopopause EXperiment campaign sampled the western Pacific, the dominant longitudes for surface air lofted by convection to enter the global stratosphere. Aircraft measurements over multiple flights revealed persistent layers of biomass burning pollutants entering the lower stratosphere and originating from fires as far away as Africa and Indonesia.
Katlyn MacKay, Joshua Benmergui, James P. Williams, Mark Omara, Anthony Himmelberger, Maryann Sargent, Jack D. Warren, Christopher C. Miller, Sébastien Roche, Zhan Zhang, Luis Guanter, Steven Wofsy, and Ritesh Gautam
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-3008, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-3008, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Reducing methane emissions from the oil/gas sector can mitigate near-term climate warming and the losses of a valuable energy resource. We analyze data collected using MethaneAIR to assess methane emissions in regions accounting for 70 % of United States onshore oil/gas production in 2023. We estimate total oil/gas methane emissions across all measured regions to be ~8 Tg/yr, equivalent to 1.6 % of produced gas, which is five times higher than reported by the US Environmental Protection Agency.
Juseon Bak, Arno Keppens, Daesung Choi, Sungjae Hong, Jae-Hwan Kim, Cheol-Hee Kim, Hyo-Jung Lee, Wonbae Jeon, Jhoon Kim, Ja-Ho Koo, Joowan Kim, Kanghyun Beak, Kai Yang, Xiong Liu, Gonzalo Gonzalez Abad, Klaus-Peter Heue, Jean-Christopher Lambert, Yeonjin Jung, Hyunkee Hong, and Won-Jin Lee
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2276, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2276, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
This study presents the first complete description of the operational version 3 ozone profile retrieval algorithm for the Geostationary Environment Monitoring Spectrometer (GEMS) and its performance characteristics. Improvements in radiometric and wavelength calibration reduce spectral fitting uncertainties and enhance agreement with ozonesonde profiles and Pandora total ozone measurements.
Riley Duren, Daniel Cusworth, Alana Ayasse, Kate Howell, Alex Diamond, Tia Scarpelli, Jinsol Kim, Kelly O'neill, Judy Lai-Norling, Andrew Thorpe, Sander R. Zandbergen, Lucas Shaw, Mark Keremedjiev, Jeff Guido, Paul Giuliano, Malkam Goldstein, Ravi Nallapu, Geert Barentsen, David R. Thompson, Keely Roth, Daniel Jensen, Michael Eastwood, Frances Reuland, Taylor Adams, Adam Brandt, Eric A. Kort, James Mason, and Robert O. Green
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2275, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2275, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
We describe the Carbon Mapper emissions monitoring system including methane and carbon dioxide observations from the constellation of Tanager hyperspectral satellites, a global monitoring strategy optimized for enabling mitigation impact at the scale of individual facilities, and a data platform that delivers timely and transparent information for diverse stakeholders. We present early findings from Tanager-1 including the use of our data to locate and repair a leaking oil and gas pipeline.
Amir H. Souri, Gonzalo González Abad, Bryan N. Duncan, and Luke D. Oman
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1679, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1679, 2025
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (ACP).
Short summary
Short summary
We create long-term maps of PO3 magnitudes along with their corresponding sensitivity maps. This is achieved using a deep learning parameterization method that relies on satellite data, atmospheric models, and ground-based remote sensing. Our approach provides more quantitative information than commonly used methods that depend on ratio-based indicators (such as HCHO/NO2). Additionally, our method considers light and water vapor, making it suitable for applications with GEO satellites.
Bianca C. Baier, John B. Miller, Colm Sweeney, Scott Lehman, Chad Wolak, Joshua P. DiGangi, Yonghoon Choi, Kenneth Davis, Sha Feng, and Thomas Lauvaux
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-821, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-821, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
CO2 radiocarbon content (Δ14CO2) is a unique tracer helps to accurately quantify anthropogenic CO2 emitted into the atmosphere. Δ14CO2 measured in airborne flask samples is used to distinguish fossil versus biogenic CO2 sources. Mid-Atlantic U.S. CO2 variability is found to be driven by the biosphere. Errors in modeled fossil fuel CO2 are evaluated using Δ14CO2 airborne data as an avenue to improving future regional models of atmospheric CO2 transport.
Zitong Li, Kang Sun, Kaiyu Guan, Sheng Wang, Bin Peng, Lieven Clarisse, Martin Van Damme, Pierre-François Coheur, Karen Cady-Pereira, Mark W. Shephard, Mark Zondlo, and Daniel Moore
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-725, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-725, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
We estimate ammonia fluxes over the contiguous U.S. from 2008 to 2022 using a directional derivative approach applied to satellite observations from IASI and CrIS. Satellite-based flux estimates reveal that ammonia emissions deposit in nearby vegetation, with pronounced seasonal and spatial variability driven by agricultural activities, underscoring the need for improved monitoring and management strategies.
Amir H. Souri, Gonzalo González Abad, Glenn M. Wolfe, Tijl Verhoelst, Corinne Vigouroux, Gaia Pinardi, Steven Compernolle, Bavo Langerock, Bryan N. Duncan, and Matthew S. Johnson
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 2061–2086, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-2061-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-2061-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
We establish a simple yet robust relationship between ozone production rates and geophysical parameters obtained from several intensive atmospheric composition campaigns. We show that satellite remote sensing data can effectively constrain these parameters, enabling us to produce the first global maps of ozone production rates with unprecedented resolution.
James P. Williams, Mark Omara, Anthony Himmelberger, Daniel Zavala-Araiza, Katlyn MacKay, Joshua Benmergui, Maryann Sargent, Steven C. Wofsy, Steven P. Hamburg, and Ritesh Gautam
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 1513–1532, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1513-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1513-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
We utilize peer-reviewed facility-level oil and gas methane emission rate data gathered in prior work to estimate the relative contributions of methane sources emitting at different emission rates in the United States. We find that the majority of total methane emissions in the US oil and gas sector stem from a large number of small sources emitting in aggregate, corroborating findings from several other studies.
Alexandre Danjou, Grégoire Broquet, Andrew Schuh, François-Marie Bréon, and Thomas Lauvaux
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 533–554, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-533-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-533-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
We study the capacity of XCO2 spaceborne imagery to estimate urban CO2 emissions with synthetic data. We define automatic and standard methods and objective criteria for image selection. The wind variability and urban emission budget guide the emission estimation error. Images with low wind variability and high urban emissions account for 47 % of images and give a bias in the emission estimation of −7 % and a spread of 56 %. Other images give a bias of −31 % and a spread of 99 %.
Jack D. Warren, Maryann Sargent, James P. Williams, Mark Omara, Christopher C. Miller, Sebastien Roche, Katlyn MacKay, Ethan Manninen, Apisada Chulakadabba, Anthony Himmelberger, Joshua Benmergui, Zhan Zhang, Luis Guanter, Steve Wofsy, and Ritesh Gautam
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3865, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3865, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Mitigating anthropogenic methane emissions requires a detailed understanding of emitting facilities. We use observations of methane point sources from the MethaneAIR instrument from 2021–2023 that covered ~80 % of U.S. onshore oil and gas production regions. We attribute these observations to facility types to explore how emissions vary by industrial sectors. Oil and gas facilities make up most point source emissions nationally, but in certain basins other sectors can make up the majority.
Félix Langot, Cyril Crevoisier, Thomas Lauvaux, Charbel Abdallah, Jérôme Pernin, Xin Lin, Marielle Saunois, Axel Guedj, Thomas Ponthieu, Anke Roiger, Klaus-Dirk Gottschaldt, and Alina Fiehn
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3559, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3559, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Our study compares outputs from meteorological and atmospheric composition models to data from the MAGIC2021 campaign that took place in Sweden. Our results highlight performance differences among models, revealing strengths and weaknesses of different modelling techniques. We also found that wetland emission inventories overestimated emissions in regional simulations. This work helps refining methane emission predictions, essential for understanding climate change.
Bryan N. Duncan, Daniel C. Anderson, Arlene M. Fiore, Joanna Joiner, Nickolay A. Krotkov, Can Li, Dylan B. Millet, Julie M. Nicely, Luke D. Oman, Jason M. St. Clair, Joshua D. Shutter, Amir H. Souri, Sarah A. Strode, Brad Weir, Glenn M. Wolfe, Helen M. Worden, and Qindan Zhu
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 13001–13023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-13001-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-13001-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Trace gases emitted to or formed within the atmosphere may be chemically or physically removed from the atmosphere. One trace gas, the hydroxyl radical (OH), is responsible for initiating the chemical removal of many trace gases, including some greenhouse gases. Despite its importance, scientists have not been able to adequately measure OH. In this opinion piece, we discuss promising new methods to indirectly constrain OH using satellite data of trace gases that control the abundance of OH.
Noémie Taquet, Wolfgang Stremme, María Eugenia González del Castillo, Victor Almanza, Alejandro Bezanilla, Olivier Laurent, Carlos Alberti, Frank Hase, Michel Ramonet, Thomas Lauvaux, Ke Che, and Michel Grutter
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 11823–11848, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-11823-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-11823-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We characterize the variability in CO and CO2 emissions over Mexico City from long-term time-resolved Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy solar absorption and surface measurements from 2013 to 2021. Using the average intraday CO growth rate from total columns, the average CO / CO2 ratio and TROPOMI data, we estimate the interannual variability in the CO and CO2 anthropogenic emissions of Mexico City, highlighting the effect of an unprecedented drop in activity due to the COVID-19 lockdown.
Jinghui Lian, Olivier Laurent, Mali Chariot, Luc Lienhardt, Michel Ramonet, Hervé Utard, Thomas Lauvaux, François-Marie Bréon, Grégoire Broquet, Karina Cucchi, Laurent Millair, and Philippe Ciais
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 5821–5839, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-5821-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-5821-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We have designed and deployed a mid-cost medium-precision CO2 sensor monitoring network in Paris since July 2020. The data are automatically calibrated by a newly implemented data processing system. The accuracies of the mid-cost instruments vary from 1.0 to 2.4 ppm for hourly afternoon measurements. Our model–data analyses highlight prospects for integrating mid-cost instrument data with high-precision measurements to improve fine-scale CO2 emission quantification in urban areas.
Josselin Doc, Michel Ramonet, François-Marie Bréon, Delphine Combaz, Mali Chariot, Morgan Lopez, Marc Delmotte, Cristelle Cailteau-Fischbach, Guillaume Nief, Nathanaël Laporte, Thomas Lauvaux, and Philippe Ciais
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2826, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2826, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Description of the network for measuring greenhouse gas concentrations in the Paris region and analysis of eight years of continuous monitoring.
Christopher Chan Miller, Sébastien Roche, Jonas S. Wilzewski, Xiong Liu, Kelly Chance, Amir H. Souri, Eamon Conway, Bingkun Luo, Jenna Samra, Jacob Hawthorne, Kang Sun, Carly Staebell, Apisada Chulakadabba, Maryann Sargent, Joshua S. Benmergui, Jonathan E. Franklin, Bruce C. Daube, Yang Li, Joshua L. Laughner, Bianca C. Baier, Ritesh Gautam, Mark Omara, and Steven C. Wofsy
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 5429–5454, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-5429-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-5429-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
MethaneSAT is an upcoming satellite mission designed to monitor methane emissions from the oil and gas (O&G) industry globally. Here, we present observations from the first flight campaign of MethaneAIR, a MethaneSAT-like instrument mounted on an aircraft. MethaneAIR can map methane with high precision and accuracy over a typically sized oil and gas basin (~200 km2) in a single flight. This paper demonstrates the capability of the upcoming satellite to routinely track global O&G emissions.
Mark Omara, Anthony Himmelberger, Katlyn MacKay, James P. Williams, Joshua Benmergui, Maryann Sargent, Steven C. Wofsy, and Ritesh Gautam
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 16, 3973–3991, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-3973-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-3973-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We review, analyze, and synthesize previous peer-reviewed measurement-based data on facility-level oil and gas methane emissions and use these data to develop a high-resolution spatially explicit inventory of US basin-level and national methane emissions. This work provides an improved assessment of national methane emissions relative to government inventories in support of accurate and comprehensive methane emissions assessment, attribution, and mitigation.
Jonathan F. Dooley, Kenneth Minschwaner, Manvendra K. Dubey, Sahar H. El Abbadi, Evan D. Sherwin, Aaron G. Meyer, Emily Follansbee, and James E. Lee
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 5091–5111, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-5091-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-5091-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas originating from both natural and human activities. We describe a new uncrewed aerial system (UAS) designed to measure methane emission rates over a wide range of scales. This system has been used for direct quantification of point sources and distributed emitters over scales of up to 1 km. The system uses simultaneous measurements of methane and ethane to distinguish between different kinds of natural and human-related emission sources.
Amir H. Souri, Bryan N. Duncan, Sarah A. Strode, Daniel C. Anderson, Michael E. Manyin, Junhua Liu, Luke D. Oman, Zhen Zhang, and Brad Weir
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 8677–8701, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-8677-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-8677-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We explore a new method of using the wealth of information obtained from satellite observations of Aura OMI NO2, HCHO, and MERRA-2 reanalysis in NASA’s GEOS model equipped with an efficient tropospheric OH (TOH) estimator to enhance the representation of TOH spatial distribution and its long-term trends. This new framework helps us pinpoint regional inaccuracies in TOH and differentiate between established prior knowledge and newly acquired information from satellites on TOH trends.
Akinleye Folorunsho, Jimy Dudhia, John Sullivan, Paul Walter, James Flynn, Travis Griggs, Rebecca Sheesley, Sascha Usenko, Guillaume Gronoff, Mark Estes, and Yang Li
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1190, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1190, 2024
Preprint archived
Short summary
Short summary
Our study investigates the factors driving high ozone levels over the Houston urban area. Using advanced modeling techniques and real-world measurements, we found vehicle and industrial emissions especially of highly reactive organic compounds play a key role in ozone formation. Our study highlights spatial and temporal changes in ozone sensitivity and variability of atmosphere's self-cleaning capacity to emissions, signifying effective ways of controlling emissions to mitigate urban ozone.
Zhendong Lu, Jun Wang, Yi Wang, Daven K. Henze, Xi Chen, Tong Sha, and Kang Sun
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 7793–7813, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-7793-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-7793-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
In contrast with past work showing that the reduction of emissions was the dominant factor for the nationwide increase of surface O3 during the lockdown in China, this study finds that the variation in meteorology (temperature and other parameters) plays a more important role. This result is obtained through sensitivity simulations using a chemical transport model constrained by satellite (TROPOMI) data and calibrated with surface observations.
Andrea E. Gordon, Cameron R. Homeyer, Jessica B. Smith, Rei Ueyama, Jonathan M. Dean-Day, Elliot L. Atlas, Kate Smith, Jasna V. Pittman, David S. Sayres, David M. Wilmouth, Apoorva Pandey, Jason M. St. Clair, Thomas F. Hanisco, Jennifer Hare, Reem A. Hannun, Steven Wofsy, Bruce C. Daube, and Stephen Donnelly
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 7591–7608, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-7591-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-7591-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
In situ airborne observations of ongoing tropopause-overshooting convection and an above-anvil cirrus plume from the 31 May 2022 flight of the Dynamics and Chemistry of the Summer Stratosphere (DCOTSS) field campaign are examined. Upper troposphere and lower stratosphere composition changes are evaluated along with possible contributing dynamical and physical processes. Measurements reveal multiple changes in air mass composition and stratospheric hydration throughout the flight.
Brian Nathan, Joannes D. Maasakkers, Stijn Naus, Ritesh Gautam, Mark Omara, Daniel J. Varon, Melissa P. Sulprizio, Lucas A. Estrada, Alba Lorente, Tobias Borsdorff, Robert J. Parker, and Ilse Aben
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 6845–6863, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-6845-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-6845-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Venezuela's Lake Maracaibo region is notoriously hard to observe from space and features intensive oil exploitation, although production has strongly decreased in recent years. We estimate methane emissions using 2018–2020 TROPOMI satellite observations with national and regional transport models. Despite the production decrease, we find relatively constant emissions from Lake Maracaibo between 2018 and 2020, indicating that there could be large emissions from abandoned infrastructure.
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
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 2873–2916, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2873-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2873-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We present a new bromine monoxide (BrO) product derived using radiances measured from OMPS-NM on board the Suomi-NPP satellite. This product provides nearly a decade of global stratospheric and tropospheric column retrievals, a feature that is currently rare in publicly accessible datasets. Both stratospheric and tropospheric columns from OMPS-NM demonstrate robust performance, exhibiting good agreement with ground-based observations collected at three stations (Lauder, Utqiagvik, and Harestua).
Joshua L. Laughner, Geoffrey C. Toon, Joseph Mendonca, Christof Petri, Sébastien Roche, Debra Wunch, Jean-Francois Blavier, David W. T. Griffith, Pauli Heikkinen, Ralph F. Keeling, Matthäus Kiel, Rigel Kivi, Coleen M. Roehl, Britton B. Stephens, Bianca C. Baier, Huilin Chen, Yonghoon Choi, Nicholas M. Deutscher, Joshua P. DiGangi, Jochen Gross, Benedikt Herkommer, Pascal Jeseck, Thomas Laemmel, Xin Lan, Erin McGee, Kathryn McKain, John Miller, Isamu Morino, Justus Notholt, Hirofumi Ohyama, David F. Pollard, Markus Rettinger, Haris Riris, Constantina Rousogenous, Mahesh Kumar Sha, Kei Shiomi, Kimberly Strong, Ralf Sussmann, Yao Té, Voltaire A. Velazco, Steven C. Wofsy, Minqiang Zhou, and Paul O. Wennberg
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 16, 2197–2260, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-2197-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-2197-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
This paper describes a new version, called GGG2020, of a data set containing column-integrated observations of greenhouse and related gases (including CO2, CH4, CO, and N2O) made by ground stations located around the world. Compared to the previous version (GGG2014), improvements have been made toward site-to-site consistency. This data set plays a key role in validating space-based greenhouse gas observations and in understanding the carbon cycle.
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
Short summary
Short summary
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.
Piyushkumar N. Patel, Jonathan H. Jiang, Ritesh Gautam, Harish Gadhavi, Olga Kalashnikova, Michael J. Garay, Lan Gao, Feng Xu, and Ali Omar
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 2861–2883, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-2861-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-2861-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Global measurements of cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) are essential for understanding aerosol–cloud interactions and predicting climate change. To address this gap, we introduced a remote sensing algorithm that retrieves vertically resolved CCN number concentrations from airborne and spaceborne lidar systems. This innovation offers a global distribution of CCN concentrations from space, facilitating model evaluation and precise quantification of aerosol climate forcing.
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
Short summary
Short summary
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.
Evan D. Sherwin, Sahar H. El Abbadi, Philippine M. Burdeau, Zhan Zhang, Zhenlin Chen, Jeffrey S. Rutherford, Yuanlei Chen, and Adam R. Brandt
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 765–782, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-765-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-765-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Countries and companies increasingly rely on a growing fleet of satellites to find large emissions of climate-warming methane, particularly from oil and natural gas systems across the globe. We independently assessed the performance of nine such systems by releasing controlled, undisclosed amounts of methane as satellites passed overhead. The tested systems produced reliable detection and quantification results, including the smallest-ever emission detected from space in such a test.
Haklim Choi, Xiong Liu, Ukkyo Jeong, Heesung Chong, Jhoon Kim, Myung Hwan Ahn, Dai Ho Ko, Dong-Won Lee, Kyung-Jung Moon, and Kwang-Mog Lee
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 145–164, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-145-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-145-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
GEMS is the first geostationary satellite to measure the UV--Vis region, and this paper reports the polarization characteristics of GEMS and an algorithm. We develop a polarization correction algorithm optimized for GEMS based on a look-up-table approach that simultaneously considers the polarization of incoming light and polarization sensitivity characteristics of the instrument. Pre-launch polarization error was adjusted close to zero across the spectral range after polarization correction.
Karen E. Cady-Pereira, Xuehui Guo, Rui Wang, April B. Leytem, Chase Calkins, Elizabeth Berry, Kang Sun, Markus Müller, Armin Wisthaler, Vivienne H. Payne, Mark W. Shephard, Mark A. Zondlo, and Valentin Kantchev
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 15–36, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-15-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-15-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Ammonia is a significant precursor of PM2.5 particles and thus contributes to poor air quality in many regions. Furthermore, ammonia concentrations are rising due to the increase of large-scale, intensive agricultural activities. Here we evaluate satellite measurements of ammonia against aircraft and surface network data, and show that there are differences in magnitude, but the satellite data are spatially and temporally well correlated with the in situ data.
Rui Zhu, Zhaojun Tang, Xiaokang Chen, Xiong Liu, and Zhe Jiang
Geosci. Model Dev., 16, 6337–6354, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-6337-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-6337-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
A single ozone (O3) tracer mode was developed in this work to build the capability of the GEOS-Chem model for rapid O3 simulation. It is combined with OMI and surface O3 observations to investigate the changes in tropospheric O3 in China in 2015–2020. The assimilations indicate rapid surface O3 increases that are underestimated by the a priori simulations. We find stronger increases in tropospheric O3 columns over polluted areas and a large discrepancy by assimilating different observations.
Ioannis Cheliotis, Thomas Lauvaux, Jinghui Lian, Theodoros Christoudias, George Georgiou, Alba Badia, Frédéric Chevallier, Pramod Kumar, Yathin Kudupaje, Ruixue Lei, and Philippe Ciais
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-2487, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-2487, 2023
Preprint withdrawn
Short summary
Short summary
A consistent estimation of CO2 emissions is complicated due to the scarcity of CO2 observations. In this study, we showcase the potential to improve the CO2 emissions estimations from the NO2 concentrations based on the NO2-to-CO2 ratio, which should be constant for a source co-emitting NO2 and CO2, by comparing satellite observations with atmospheric chemistry and transport model simulations for NO2 and CO2. Furthermore, we demonstrate the significance of the chemistry in NO2 simulations.
Wenfu Tang, Louisa K. Emmons, Helen M. Worden, Rajesh Kumar, Cenlin He, Benjamin Gaubert, Zhonghua Zheng, Simone Tilmes, Rebecca R. Buchholz, Sara-Eva Martinez-Alonso, Claire Granier, Antonin Soulie, Kathryn McKain, Bruce C. Daube, Jeff Peischl, Chelsea Thompson, and Pieternel Levelt
Geosci. Model Dev., 16, 6001–6028, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-6001-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-6001-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
The new MUSICAv0 model enables the study of atmospheric chemistry across all relevant scales. We develop a MUSICAv0 grid for Africa. We evaluate MUSICAv0 with observations and compare it with a previously used model – WRF-Chem. Overall, the performance of MUSICAv0 is comparable to WRF-Chem. Based on model–satellite discrepancies, we find that future field campaigns in an eastern African region (30°E–45°E, 5°S–5°N) could substantially improve the predictive skill of air quality models.
Rui Wang, Da Pan, Xuehui Guo, Kang Sun, Lieven Clarisse, Martin Van Damme, Pierre-François Coheur, Cathy Clerbaux, Melissa Puchalski, and Mark A. Zondlo
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 13217–13234, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-13217-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-13217-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Ammonia (NH3) is a key precursor for fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and a primary form of reactive nitrogen, yet it has sparse ground measurements. We perform the first comprehensive comparison between ground observations and satellite retrievals in the US, demonstrating that satellite NH3 data can help fill spatial gaps in the current ground monitoring networks. Trend analyses using both datasets highlight increasing NH3 trends across the US, including the NH3 hotspots and urban areas.
Rui Zhu, Zhaojun Tang, Xiaokang Chen, Xiong Liu, and Zhe Jiang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 9745–9763, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-9745-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-9745-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) and surface O3 observations are used to investigate the changes in tropospheric O3 in the USA and Europe in 2005–2020. The surface-based assimilations show limited changes in surface and tropospheric column O3. The OMI-based assimilations show larger decreases in tropospheric O3 columns in 2010–2014, related to a decline in free-tropospheric NO2. Analysis suggests limited impacts of local emissions decline on tropospheric O3 over the USA and Europe in 2005–2020.
Mark Omara, Ritesh Gautam, Madeleine A. O'Brien, Anthony Himmelberger, Alex Franco, Kelsey Meisenhelder, Grace Hauser, David R. Lyon, Apisada Chulakadabba, Christopher Chan Miller, Jonathan Franklin, Steven C. Wofsy, and Steven P. Hamburg
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 3761–3790, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-3761-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-3761-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We acquire, integrate, and analyze ~ 6 million geospatial oil and gas infrastructure data records based on information available in the public domain and develop an open-access global database including all the major oil and gas facility types that are important sources of methane emissions. This work helps fulfill a crucial geospatial data need, in support of the assessment, attribution, and mitigation of global oil and gas methane emissions at high resolution.
Jinghui Lian, Thomas Lauvaux, Hervé Utard, François-Marie Bréon, Grégoire Broquet, Michel Ramonet, Olivier Laurent, Ivonne Albarus, Mali Chariot, Simone Kotthaus, Martial Haeffelin, Olivier Sanchez, Olivier Perrussel, Hugo Anne Denier van der Gon, Stijn Nicolaas Camiel Dellaert, and Philippe Ciais
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 8823–8835, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-8823-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-8823-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
This study quantifies urban CO2 emissions via an atmospheric inversion for the Paris metropolitan area over a 6-year period from 2016 to 2021. Results show a long-term decreasing trend of about 2 % ± 0.6 % per year in the annual CO2 emissions over Paris. We conclude that our current capacity can deliver near-real-time CO2 emission estimates at the city scale in under a month, and the results agree within 10 % with independent estimates from multiple city-scale inventories.
Chantelle R. Lonsdale and Kang Sun
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 8727–8748, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-8727-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-8727-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
The COVID-19 pandemic, which was caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, emerged in 2019, and its still evolving variants have resulted in unprecedented shifts in human activities and anthropogenic emissions into the Earth's atmosphere. We present monthly nitrogen oxide emissions over three major continents from May 2018 to January 2023 to capture variations before and after the COVID-19 pandemic. We focus on a diverse collection of 54 cities to quantify the post-COVID-19 perturbations.
Shoma Yamanouchi, Stephanie Conway, Kimberly Strong, Orfeo Colebatch, Erik Lutsch, Sébastien Roche, Jeffrey Taylor, Cynthia H. Whaley, and Aldona Wiacek
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 3387–3418, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-3387-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-3387-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Nineteen years of atmospheric composition measurements made at the University of Toronto Atmospheric Observatory (TAO; 43.66° N, 79.40° W; 174 m.a.s.l.) are presented. These are retrieved from Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) solar absorption spectra recorded with a spectrometer from May 2002 to December 2020. The retrievals have been optimized for fourteen species: O3, HCl, HF, HNO3, CH4, C2H6, CO, HCN, N2O, C2H2, H2CO, CH3OH, HCOOH, and NH3.
Joffrey Dumont Le Brazidec, Pierre Vanderbecken, Alban Farchi, Marc Bocquet, Jinghui Lian, Grégoire Broquet, Gerrit Kuhlmann, Alexandre Danjou, and Thomas Lauvaux
Geosci. Model Dev., 16, 3997–4016, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-3997-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-3997-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Monitoring of CO2 emissions is key to the development of reduction policies. Local emissions, from cities or power plants, may be estimated from CO2 plumes detected in satellite images. CO2 plumes generally have a weak signal and are partially concealed by highly variable background concentrations and instrument errors, which hampers their detection. To address this problem, we propose and apply deep learning methods to detect the contour of a plume in simulated CO2 satellite images.
Daniel J. Varon, Daniel J. Jacob, Benjamin Hmiel, Ritesh Gautam, David R. Lyon, Mark Omara, Melissa Sulprizio, Lu Shen, Drew Pendergrass, Hannah Nesser, Zhen Qu, Zachary R. Barkley, Natasha L. Miles, Scott J. Richardson, Kenneth J. Davis, Sudhanshu Pandey, Xiao Lu, Alba Lorente, Tobias Borsdorff, Joannes D. Maasakkers, and Ilse Aben
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 7503–7520, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-7503-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-7503-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
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.
Huiqun Wang, Gonzalo González Abad, Chris Chan Miller, Hyeong-Ahn Kwon, Caroline R. Nowlan, Zolal Ayazpour, Heesung Chong, Xiong Liu, Kelly Chance, Ewan O'Sullivan, Kang Sun, Robert Spurr, and Robert J. Hargreaves
Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2023-66, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2023-66, 2023
Preprint withdrawn
Short summary
Short summary
A pipeline for retrieving Total Column Water Vapor from satellite blue spectra is developed. New constraints are considered. Water-leaving radiance is important over the oceans. Results agree with reference datasets well under clear conditions. Due to high sensitivity to clouds, strict data filtering criteria are required. All-sky retrievals can be corrected using machine learning. GPS stations’ representation errors follow a power law relationship with grid resolutions.
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
Short summary
Short summary
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.
Matthew S. Johnson, Amir H. Souri, Sajeev Philip, Rajesh Kumar, Aaron Naeger, Jeffrey Geddes, Laura Judd, Scott Janz, Heesung Chong, and John Sullivan
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 2431–2454, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2431-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2431-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Satellites provide vital information for studying the processes controlling ozone formation. Based on the abundance of particular gases in the atmosphere, ozone formation is sensitive to specific human-induced and natural emission sources. However, errors and biases in satellite retrievals hinder this data source’s application for studying ozone formation sensitivity. We conducted a thorough statistical evaluation of two commonly applied satellites for investigating ozone formation sensitivity.
Nasrin Mostafavi Pak, Jacob K. Hedelius, Sébastien Roche, Liz Cunningham, Bianca Baier, Colm Sweeney, Coleen Roehl, Joshua Laughner, Geoffrey Toon, Paul Wennberg, Harrison Parker, Colin Arrowsmith, Joseph Mendonca, Pierre Fogal, Tyler Wizenberg, Beatriz Herrera, Kimberly Strong, Kaley A. Walker, Felix Vogel, and Debra Wunch
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 1239–1261, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1239-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1239-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Ground-based remote sensing instruments in the Total Carbon Column Observing Network (TCCON) measure greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Consistency between TCCON measurements is crucial to accurately infer changes in atmospheric composition. We use portable remote sensing instruments (EM27/SUN) to evaluate biases between TCCON stations in North America. We also improve the retrievals of EM27/SUN instruments and evaluate the previous (GGG2014) and newest (GGG2020) retrieval algorithms.
Joshua L. Laughner, Sébastien Roche, Matthäus Kiel, Geoffrey C. Toon, Debra Wunch, Bianca C. Baier, Sébastien Biraud, Huilin Chen, Rigel Kivi, Thomas Laemmel, Kathryn McKain, Pierre-Yves Quéhé, Constantina Rousogenous, Britton B. Stephens, Kaley Walker, and Paul O. Wennberg
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 1121–1146, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1121-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1121-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Observations using sunlight to measure surface-to-space total column of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere need an initial guess of the vertical distribution of those gases to start from. We have developed an approach to provide those initial guess profiles that uses readily available meteorological data as input. This lets us make these guesses without simulating them with a global model. The profiles generated this way match independent observations well.
Amir H. Souri, Matthew S. Johnson, Glenn M. Wolfe, James H. Crawford, Alan Fried, Armin Wisthaler, William H. Brune, Donald R. Blake, Andrew J. Weinheimer, Tijl Verhoelst, Steven Compernolle, Gaia Pinardi, Corinne Vigouroux, Bavo Langerock, Sungyeon Choi, Lok Lamsal, Lei Zhu, Shuai Sun, Ronald C. Cohen, Kyung-Eun Min, Changmin Cho, Sajeev Philip, Xiong Liu, and Kelly Chance
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 1963–1986, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-1963-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-1963-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We have rigorously characterized different sources of error in satellite-based HCHO / NO2 tropospheric columns, a widely used metric for diagnosing near-surface ozone sensitivity. Specifically, the errors were categorized/quantified into (i) an inherent chemistry error, (ii) the decoupled relationship between columns and the near-surface concentration, (iii) the spatial representativeness error of ground satellite pixels, and (iv) the satellite retrieval errors.
Zolal Ayazpour, Shiqi Tao, Dan Li, Amy Jo Scarino, Ralph E. Kuehn, and Kang Sun
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 563–580, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-563-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-563-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Accurate knowledge of the planetary boundary layer height (PBLH) is essential to study air pollution. However, PBLH observations are sparse in space and time, and PBLHs used in atmospheric models are often inaccurate. Using PBLH observations from the Aircraft Meteorological DAta Relay (AMDAR), we present a machine learning framework to produce a spatially complete PBLH product over the contiguous US that shows a better agreement with reference PBLH observations than commonly used PBLH products.
Hao Guo, Clare M. Flynn, Michael J. Prather, Sarah A. Strode, Stephen D. Steenrod, Louisa Emmons, Forrest Lacey, Jean-Francois Lamarque, Arlene M. Fiore, Gus Correa, Lee T. Murray, Glenn M. Wolfe, Jason M. St. Clair, Michelle Kim, John Crounse, Glenn Diskin, Joshua DiGangi, Bruce C. Daube, Roisin Commane, Kathryn McKain, Jeff Peischl, Thomas B. Ryerson, Chelsea Thompson, Thomas F. Hanisco, Donald Blake, Nicola J. Blake, Eric C. Apel, Rebecca S. Hornbrook, James W. Elkins, Eric J. Hintsa, Fred L. Moore, and Steven C. Wofsy
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 99–117, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-99-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-99-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We have prepared a unique and unusual result from the recent ATom aircraft mission: a measurement-based derivation of the production and loss rates of ozone and methane over the ocean basins. These are the key products of chemistry models used in assessments but have thus far lacked observational metrics. It also shows the scales of variability of atmospheric chemical rates and provides a major challenge to the atmospheric models.
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
Short summary
Short summary
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.
Ali Jalali, Kaley A. Walker, Kimberly Strong, Rebecca R. Buchholz, Merritt N. Deeter, Debra Wunch, Sébastien Roche, Tyler Wizenberg, Erik Lutsch, Erin McGee, Helen M. Worden, Pierre Fogal, and James R. Drummond
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 6837–6863, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-6837-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-6837-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
This study validates MOPITT version 8 carbon monoxide measurements over the Canadian high Arctic for the period 2006 to 2019. The MOPITT products from different detector pixels and channels are compared with ground-based measurements from the Polar Environment Atmospheric Research Laboratory (PEARL) in Eureka, Nunavut, Canada. These results show good consistency between the satellite and ground-based measurements and provide guidance on the usage of these MOPITT data at high latitudes.
Juseon Bak, Eun-Ji Song, Hyo-Jung Lee, Xiong Liu, Ja-Ho Koo, Joowan Kim, Wonbae Jeon, Jae-Hwan Kim, and Cheol-Hee Kim
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 14177–14187, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-14177-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-14177-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Our study investigates the temporal variations of ozone profiles at Pohang in the Korean Peninsula from multiple ozone products. We discuss the quantitative relationships between daily surface measurements and key meteorological variables, different seasonality of ozone between the troposphere and stratosphere, and interannual changes in the lower tropospheric ozone, linked by the weather pattern driven by the East Asian summer monsoon.
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
Short summary
Short summary
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.
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
Short summary
Short summary
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.
Kang Sun, Mahdi Yousefi, Christopher Chan Miller, Kelly Chance, Gonzalo González Abad, Iouli E. Gordon, Xiong Liu, Ewan O'Sullivan, Christopher E. Sioris, and Steven C. Wofsy
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 3721–3745, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-3721-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-3721-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
This study of upper atmospheric airglow from oxygen is motivated by the need to measure oxygen simultaneously with methane and CO2 in satellite remote sensing. We provide an accurate understanding of the spatial, temporal, and spectral distribution of airglow emissions, which will help in the satellite remote sensing of greenhouse gases and constraining the chemical and physical processes in the upper atmosphere.
E. Ouerghi, T. Ehret, C. de Franchis, G. Facciolo, T. Lauvaux, E. Meinhardt, and J.-M. Morel
ISPRS Ann. Photogramm. Remote Sens. Spatial Inf. Sci., V-3-2022, 147–154, https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-annals-V-3-2022-147-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-annals-V-3-2022-147-2022, 2022
Carlos Alberti, Frank Hase, Matthias Frey, Darko Dubravica, Thomas Blumenstock, Angelika Dehn, Paolo Castracane, Gregor Surawicz, Roland Harig, Bianca C. Baier, Caroline Bès, Jianrong Bi, Hartmut Boesch, André Butz, Zhaonan Cai, Jia Chen, Sean M. Crowell, Nicholas M. Deutscher, Dragos Ene, Jonathan E. Franklin, Omaira García, David Griffith, Bruno Grouiez, Michel Grutter, Abdelhamid Hamdouni, Sander Houweling, Neil Humpage, Nicole Jacobs, Sujong Jeong, Lilian Joly, Nicholas B. Jones, Denis Jouglet, Rigel Kivi, Ralph Kleinschek, Morgan Lopez, Diogo J. Medeiros, Isamu Morino, Nasrin Mostafavipak, Astrid Müller, Hirofumi Ohyama, Paul I. Palmer, Mahesh Pathakoti, David F. Pollard, Uwe Raffalski, Michel Ramonet, Robbie Ramsay, Mahesh Kumar Sha, Kei Shiomi, William Simpson, Wolfgang Stremme, Youwen Sun, Hiroshi Tanimoto, Yao Té, Gizaw Mengistu Tsidu, Voltaire A. Velazco, Felix Vogel, Masataka Watanabe, Chong Wei, Debra Wunch, Marcia Yamasoe, Lu Zhang, and Johannes Orphal
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 2433–2463, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-2433-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-2433-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Space-borne greenhouse gas missions require ground-based validation networks capable of providing fiducial reference measurements. Here, considerable refinements of the calibration procedures for the COllaborative Carbon Column Observing Network (COCCON) are presented. Laboratory and solar side-by-side procedures for the characterization of the spectrometers have been refined and extended. Revised calibration factors for XCO2, XCO and XCH4 are provided, incorporating 47 new spectrometers.
Zhu Deng, Philippe Ciais, Zitely A. Tzompa-Sosa, Marielle Saunois, Chunjing Qiu, Chang Tan, Taochun Sun, Piyu Ke, Yanan Cui, Katsumasa Tanaka, Xin Lin, Rona L. Thompson, Hanqin Tian, Yuanzhi Yao, Yuanyuan Huang, Ronny Lauerwald, Atul K. Jain, Xiaoming Xu, Ana Bastos, Stephen Sitch, Paul I. Palmer, Thomas Lauvaux, Alexandre d'Aspremont, Clément Giron, Antoine Benoit, Benjamin Poulter, Jinfeng Chang, Ana Maria Roxana Petrescu, Steven J. Davis, Zhu Liu, Giacomo Grassi, Clément Albergel, Francesco N. Tubiello, Lucia Perugini, Wouter Peters, and Frédéric Chevallier
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 14, 1639–1675, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-1639-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-1639-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
In support of the global stocktake of the Paris Agreement on climate change, we proposed a method for reconciling the results of global atmospheric inversions with data from UNFCCC national greenhouse gas inventories (NGHGIs). Here, based on a new global harmonized database that we compiled from the UNFCCC NGHGIs and a comprehensive framework presented in this study to process the results of inversions, we compared their results of carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O).
Lei Hu, Stephen A. Montzka, Fred Moore, Eric Hintsa, Geoff Dutton, M. Carolina Siso, Kirk Thoning, Robert W. Portmann, Kathryn McKain, Colm Sweeney, Isaac Vimont, David Nance, Bradley Hall, and Steven Wofsy
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 2891–2907, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-2891-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-2891-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
The unexpected increase in CFC-11 emissions between 2012 and 2017 resulted in concerns about delaying the stratospheric ozone recovery. Although the subsequent decline of CFC-11 emissions indicated a mitigation in part to this problem, the regions fully responsible for these large emission changes were unclear. Here, our new estimate, based on atmospheric measurements from two global campaigns and from NOAA, suggests Asia primarily contributed to the global CFC-11 emission rise during 2012–2017.
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
Short summary
Short summary
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.
Amir H. Souri, Kelly Chance, Kang Sun, Xiong Liu, and Matthew S. Johnson
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 41–59, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-41-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-41-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
The central component of satellite and model validation is pointwise measurements. A point is an element of space, whereas satellite (model) pixels represent an averaged area. These two datasets are inherently different. We leveraged some geostatistical tools to transform discrete points to gridded data with quantified uncertainty, comparable to satellite footprint (and response functions). This in part alleviated some complications concerning point–pixel comparisons.
Amir H. Souri, Kelly Chance, Juseon Bak, Caroline R. Nowlan, Gonzalo González Abad, Yeonjin Jung, David C. Wong, Jingqiu Mao, and Xiong Liu
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 18227–18245, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-18227-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-18227-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
The global pandemic is believed to have an impact on emissions of air pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and formaldehyde (HCHO). This study quantifies the changes in the amount of NOx and VOC emissions via state-of-the-art inverse modeling technique using satellite observations during the lockdown 2020 with respect to a baseline over Europe, which in turn, it permits unraveling atmospheric processes being responsible for ozone formation in a less cloudy month.
Eric J. Hintsa, Fred L. Moore, Dale F. Hurst, Geoff S. Dutton, Bradley D. Hall, J. David Nance, Ben R. Miller, Stephen A. Montzka, Laura P. Wolton, Audra McClure-Begley, James W. Elkins, Emrys G. Hall, Allen F. Jordan, Andrew W. Rollins, Troy D. Thornberry, Laurel A. Watts, Chelsea R. Thompson, Jeff Peischl, Ilann Bourgeois, Thomas B. Ryerson, Bruce C. Daube, Yenny Gonzalez Ramos, Roisin Commane, Gregory W. Santoni, Jasna V. Pittman, Steven C. Wofsy, Eric Kort, Glenn S. Diskin, and T. Paul Bui
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 6795–6819, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-6795-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-6795-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
We built UCATS to study atmospheric chemistry and transport. It has measured trace gases including CFCs, N2O, SF6, CH4, CO, and H2 with gas chromatography, as well as ozone and water vapor. UCATS has been part of missions to study the tropical tropopause; transport of air into the stratosphere; greenhouse gases, transport, and chemistry in the troposphere; and ozone chemistry, on both piloted and unmanned aircraft. Its design, capabilities, and some results are shown and described here.
Charles A. Brock, Karl D. Froyd, Maximilian Dollner, Christina J. Williamson, Gregory Schill, Daniel M. Murphy, Nicholas J. Wagner, Agnieszka Kupc, Jose L. Jimenez, Pedro Campuzano-Jost, Benjamin A. Nault, Jason C. Schroder, Douglas A. Day, Derek J. Price, Bernadett Weinzierl, Joshua P. Schwarz, Joseph M. Katich, Siyuan Wang, Linghan Zeng, Rodney Weber, Jack Dibb, Eric Scheuer, Glenn S. Diskin, Joshua P. DiGangi, ThaoPaul Bui, Jonathan M. Dean-Day, Chelsea R. Thompson, Jeff Peischl, Thomas B. Ryerson, Ilann Bourgeois, Bruce C. Daube, Róisín Commane, and Steven C. Wofsy
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 15023–15063, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-15023-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-15023-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
The Atmospheric Tomography Mission was an airborne study that mapped the chemical composition of the remote atmosphere. From this, we developed a comprehensive description of aerosol properties that provides a unique, global-scale dataset against which models can be compared. The data show the polluted nature of the remote atmosphere in the Northern Hemisphere and quantify the contributions of sea salt, dust, soot, biomass burning particles, and pollution particles to the haziness of the sky.
Mahesh Kumar Sha, Bavo Langerock, Jean-François L. Blavier, Thomas Blumenstock, Tobias Borsdorff, Matthias Buschmann, Angelika Dehn, Martine De Mazière, Nicholas M. Deutscher, Dietrich G. Feist, Omaira E. García, David W. T. Griffith, Michel Grutter, James W. Hannigan, Frank Hase, Pauli Heikkinen, Christian Hermans, Laura T. Iraci, Pascal Jeseck, Nicholas Jones, Rigel Kivi, Nicolas Kumps, Jochen Landgraf, Alba Lorente, Emmanuel Mahieu, Maria V. Makarova, Johan Mellqvist, Jean-Marc Metzger, Isamu Morino, Tomoo Nagahama, Justus Notholt, Hirofumi Ohyama, Ivan Ortega, Mathias Palm, Christof Petri, David F. Pollard, Markus Rettinger, John Robinson, Sébastien Roche, Coleen M. Roehl, Amelie N. Röhling, Constantina Rousogenous, Matthias Schneider, Kei Shiomi, Dan Smale, Wolfgang Stremme, Kimberly Strong, Ralf Sussmann, Yao Té, Osamu Uchino, Voltaire A. Velazco, Corinne Vigouroux, Mihalis Vrekoussis, Pucai Wang, Thorsten Warneke, Tyler Wizenberg, Debra Wunch, Shoma Yamanouchi, Yang Yang, and Minqiang Zhou
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 6249–6304, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-6249-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-6249-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
This paper presents, for the first time, Sentinel-5 Precursor methane and carbon monoxide validation results covering a period from November 2017 to September 2020. For this study, we used global TCCON and NDACC-IRWG network data covering a wide range of atmospheric and surface conditions across different terrains. We also show the influence of a priori alignment, smoothing uncertainties and the sensitivity of the validation results towards the application of advanced co-location criteria.
Hao Guo, Clare M. Flynn, Michael J. Prather, Sarah A. Strode, Stephen D. Steenrod, Louisa Emmons, Forrest Lacey, Jean-Francois Lamarque, Arlene M. Fiore, Gus Correa, Lee T. Murray, Glenn M. Wolfe, Jason M. St. Clair, Michelle Kim, John Crounse, Glenn Diskin, Joshua DiGangi, Bruce C. Daube, Roisin Commane, Kathryn McKain, Jeff Peischl, Thomas B. Ryerson, Chelsea Thompson, Thomas F. Hanisco, Donald Blake, Nicola J. Blake, Eric C. Apel, Rebecca S. Hornbrook, James W. Elkins, Eric J. Hintsa, Fred L. Moore, and Steven Wofsy
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 13729–13746, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-13729-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-13729-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
The NASA Atmospheric Tomography (ATom) mission built a climatology of the chemical composition of tropospheric air parcels throughout the middle of the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. The level of detail allows us to reconstruct the photochemical budgets of O3 and CH4 over these vast, remote regions. We find that most of the chemical heterogeneity is captured at the resolution used in current global chemistry models and that the majority of reactivity occurs in the
hottest20 % of parcels.
Pramod Kumar, Grégoire Broquet, Camille Yver-Kwok, Olivier Laurent, Susan Gichuki, Christopher Caldow, Ford Cropley, Thomas Lauvaux, Michel Ramonet, Guillaume Berthe, Frédéric Martin, Olivier Duclaux, Catherine Juery, Caroline Bouchet, and Philippe Ciais
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 5987–6003, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-5987-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-5987-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
This study presents a simple atmospheric inversion modeling framework for the localization and quantification of unknown CH4 and CO2 emissions from point sources based on near-surface mobile concentration measurements and a Gaussian plume dispersion model. It is applied for the estimate of a series of brief controlled releases of CH4 and CO2 with a wide range of rates during the TOTAL TADI-2018 experiment. Results indicate a ~10 %–40 % average error on the estimate of the release rates.
Kang Sun, Lingbo Li, Shruti Jagini, and Dan Li
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 13311–13332, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-13311-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-13311-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
We bridge the gap between satellite column observations and emissions by accounting for the dynamic lifetime of pollutants due to wind dispersion and the chemical lifetime due to chemical reactions. Applying it to the Po Valley air basin, we derive the monthly emissions of nitrogen oxides using satellite nitrogen dioxide observations. We further quantify the COVID-19-driven decline of emissions and estimate a 22 % decrease in nitrogen oxide emissions due to the pandemic in 2020.
Taylor S. Jones, Jonathan E. Franklin, Jia Chen, Florian Dietrich, Kristian D. Hajny, Johannes C. Paetzold, Adrian Wenzel, Conor Gately, Elaine Gottlieb, Harrison Parker, Manvendra Dubey, Frank Hase, Paul B. Shepson, Levi H. Mielke, and Steven C. Wofsy
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 13131–13147, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-13131-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-13131-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Methane emissions from leaks in natural gas pipes are often a large source in urban areas, but they are difficult to measure on a city-wide scale. Here we use an array of innovative methane sensors distributed around the city of Indianapolis and a new method of combining their data with an atmospheric model to accurately determine the magnitude of these emissions, which are about 70 % larger than predicted. This method can serve as a framework for cities trying to account for their emissions.
Jianfeng Li, Yuhang Wang, Ruixiong Zhang, Charles Smeltzer, Andrew Weinheimer, Jay Herman, K. Folkert Boersma, Edward A. Celarier, Russell W. Long, James J. Szykman, Ruben Delgado, Anne M. Thompson, Travis N. Knepp, Lok N. Lamsal, Scott J. Janz, Matthew G. Kowalewski, Xiong Liu, and Caroline R. Nowlan
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 11133–11160, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-11133-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-11133-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Comprehensive evaluations of simulated diurnal cycles of NO2 and NOy concentrations, vertical profiles, and tropospheric vertical column densities at two different resolutions with various measurements during the DISCOVER-AQ 2011 campaign show potential distribution biases of NOx emissions in the National Emissions Inventory 2011 at both 36 and 4 km resolutions, providing another possible explanation for the overestimation of model results.
Yenny Gonzalez, Róisín Commane, Ethan Manninen, Bruce C. Daube, Luke D. Schiferl, J. Barry McManus, Kathryn McKain, Eric J. Hintsa, James W. Elkins, Stephen A. Montzka, Colm Sweeney, Fred Moore, Jose L. Jimenez, Pedro Campuzano Jost, Thomas B. Ryerson, Ilann Bourgeois, Jeff Peischl, Chelsea R. Thompson, Eric Ray, Paul O. Wennberg, John Crounse, Michelle Kim, Hannah M. Allen, Paul A. Newman, Britton B. Stephens, Eric C. Apel, Rebecca S. Hornbrook, Benjamin A. Nault, Eric Morgan, and Steven C. Wofsy
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 11113–11132, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-11113-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-11113-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Vertical profiles of N2O and a variety of chemical species and aerosols were collected nearly from pole to pole over the oceans during the NASA Atmospheric Tomography mission. We observed that tropospheric N2O variability is strongly driven by the influence of stratospheric air depleted in N2O, especially at middle and high latitudes. We also traced the origins of biomass burning and industrial emissions and investigated their impact on the variability of tropospheric N2O.
Jinghui Lian, François-Marie Bréon, Grégoire Broquet, Thomas Lauvaux, Bo Zheng, Michel Ramonet, Irène Xueref-Remy, Simone Kotthaus, Martial Haeffelin, and Philippe Ciais
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 10707–10726, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-10707-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-10707-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Currently there is growing interest in monitoring city-scale CO2 emissions based on atmospheric CO2 measurements, atmospheric transport modeling, and inversion technique. We analyze the various sources of uncertainty that impact the atmospheric CO2 modeling and that may compromise the potential of this method for the monitoring of CO2 emission over Paris. Results suggest selection criteria for the assimilation of CO2 measurements into the inversion system that aims at retrieving city emissions.
E. Ouerghi, T. Ehret, C. de Franchis, G. Facciolo, T. Lauvaux, E. Meinhardt, and J.-M. Morel
ISPRS Ann. Photogramm. Remote Sens. Spatial Inf. Sci., V-3-2021, 81–87, https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-annals-V-3-2021-81-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/isprs-annals-V-3-2021-81-2021, 2021
Carly Staebell, Kang Sun, Jenna Samra, Jonathan Franklin, Christopher Chan Miller, Xiong Liu, Eamon Conway, Kelly Chance, Scott Milligan, and Steven Wofsy
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 3737–3753, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-3737-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-3737-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Given the high global warming potential of CH4, the identification and subsequent reduction of anthropogenic CH4 emissions presents a significant opportunity for climate change mitigation. Satellites are an integral piece of this puzzle, providing data to quantify emissions at a variety of spatial scales. This work presents the spectral calibration of MethaneAIR, the airborne instrument used as a test bed for the forthcoming MethaneSAT satellite.
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
Short summary
Short summary
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.
Sébastien Roche, Kimberly Strong, Debra Wunch, Joseph Mendonca, Colm Sweeney, Bianca Baier, Sébastien C. Biraud, Joshua L. Laughner, Geoffrey C. Toon, and Brian J. Connor
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 3087–3118, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-3087-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-3087-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
We evaluate CO2 profile retrievals from ground-based near-infrared solar absorption spectra after implementing several improvements to the GFIT2 retrieval algorithm. Realistic errors in the a priori temperature profile (~ 2 °C in the lower troposphere) are found to be the leading source of differences between the retrieved and true CO2 profiles, differences that are larger than typical CO2 variability. A temperature retrieval or correction is critical to improve CO2 profile retrieval results.
Juseon Bak, Xiong Liu, Robert Spurr, Kai Yang, Caroline R. Nowlan, Christopher Chan Miller, Gonzalo Gonzalez Abad, and Kelly Chance
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 2659–2672, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-2659-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-2659-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
We apply a principal component analysis (PCA)-based approach combined with lookup tables (LUTs) of corrections to accelerate the VLIDORT radiative transfer (RT) model used in the retrieval of ozone profiles from backscattered ultraviolet (UV) measurements by the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI).
Britton B. Stephens, Eric J. Morgan, Jonathan D. Bent, Ralph F. Keeling, Andrew S. Watt, Stephen R. Shertz, and Bruce C. Daube
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 2543–2574, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-2543-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-2543-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
We describe methods used to make high-precision global-scale airborne measurements of atmospheric oxygen concentrations over a period of 20 years in order to study the global carbon cycle. Our techniques include an in situ vacuum ultraviolet absorption instrument and a pressure- and flow-controlled, cryogenically dried, glass flask sampler. We have deployed these instruments in 15 airborne research campaigns spanning from the Earth’s surface to the lower stratosphere and from pole to pole.
Yang Li, Loretta J. Mickley, and Jed O. Kaplan
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 57–68, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-57-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-57-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Climate models predict a shift toward warmer, drier environments in southwestern North America. Under future climate, the two main drivers of dust trends play opposing roles: (1) CO2 fertilization enhances vegetation and, in turn, decreases dust, and (2) increasing land use enhances dust emissions from northern Mexico. In the worst-case scenario, elevated dust concentrations spread widely over the domain by 2100 in spring, suggesting a large climate penalty on air quality and human health.
Juseon Bak, Xiong Liu, Manfred Birk, Georg Wagner, Iouli E. Gordon, and Kelly Chance
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 5845–5854, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-5845-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-5845-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
This paper evaluates different sets of high-resolution ozone absorption cross-section data for use in atmospheric ozone profile measurements in the Hartley and Huggins bands with a particular focus on BDM 1995 (Daumont et al. 1992; Brion et al., 1993; Malicet et al., 1995) currently used in our retrievals and a new laboratory dataset by Birk and Wagner (BW) (2018).
Benjamin Birner, Martyn P. Chipperfield, Eric J. Morgan, Britton B. Stephens, Marianna Linz, Wuhu Feng, Chris Wilson, Jonathan D. Bent, Steven C. Wofsy, Jeffrey Severinghaus, and Ralph F. Keeling
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 12391–12408, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-12391-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-12391-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
With new high-precision observations from nine aircraft campaigns and 3-D chemical transport modeling, we show that the argon-to-nitrogen ratio (Ar / N2) in the lowermost stratosphere provides a useful constraint on the “age of air” (the time elapsed since entry of an air parcel into the stratosphere). Therefore, Ar / N2 in combination with traditional age-of-air indicators, such as CO2 and N2O, could provide new insights into atmospheric mixing and transport.
Lei Zhu, Gonzalo González Abad, Caroline R. Nowlan, Christopher Chan Miller, Kelly Chance, Eric C. Apel, Joshua P. DiGangi, Alan Fried, Thomas F. Hanisco, Rebecca S. Hornbrook, Lu Hu, Jennifer Kaiser, Frank N. Keutsch, Wade Permar, Jason M. St. Clair, and Glenn M. Wolfe
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 12329–12345, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-12329-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-12329-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
We develop a validation platform for satellite HCHO retrievals using in situ observations from 12 aircraft campaigns. The platform offers an alternative way to quickly assess systematic biases in HCHO satellite products over large domains and long periods, facilitating optimization of retrieval settings and the minimization of retrieval biases. Application to the NASA operational HCHO product indicates that relative biases range from −44.5 % to +112.1 % depending on locations and seasons.
Sara Martínez-Alonso, Merritt Deeter, Helen Worden, Tobias Borsdorff, Ilse Aben, Róisin Commane, Bruce Daube, Gene Francis, Maya George, Jochen Landgraf, Debbie Mao, Kathryn McKain, and Steven Wofsy
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 4841–4864, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-4841-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-4841-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
CO is of great importance in climate and air quality studies. To understand newly available TROPOMI data in the frame of the global CO record, we compared those to satellite (MOPITT) and airborne (ATom) CO datasets. The MOPITT dataset is the longest to date (2000–present) and is well-characterized. We used ATom to validate cloudy TROPOMI data over oceans and investigate TROPOMI's vertical sensitivity to CO. Our results show that TROPOMI CO data are in excellent agreement with the other datasets.
Ilann Bourgeois, Jeff Peischl, Chelsea R. Thompson, Kenneth C. Aikin, Teresa Campos, Hannah Clark, Róisín Commane, Bruce Daube, Glenn W. Diskin, James W. Elkins, Ru-Shan Gao, Audrey Gaudel, Eric J. Hintsa, Bryan J. Johnson, Rigel Kivi, Kathryn McKain, Fred L. Moore, David D. Parrish, Richard Querel, Eric Ray, Ricardo Sánchez, Colm Sweeney, David W. Tarasick, Anne M. Thompson, Valérie Thouret, Jacquelyn C. Witte, Steve C. Wofsy, and Thomas B. Ryerson
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 10611–10635, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-10611-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-10611-2020, 2020
Cited articles
Bartholomew, J., Lyman, P., Weimer, C., and Tandy, W.: Wide area methane emissions mapping with airborne IPDA lidar, in: Lidar Remote Sensing for Environmental Monitoring 2017, SPIE, vol. 10406, 34–47, https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2276713, 2017. a
Blaylock, B. K., Horel, J. D., and Crosman, E. T.: Impact of Lake Breezes on Summer Ozone Concentrations in the Salt Lake Valley, J. Appl. Meteorol. Clim., 56, 353–370, https://doi.org/10.1175/JAMC-D-16-0216.1, 2017. a
Butz, A., Hasekamp, O. P., Frankenberg, C., Vidot, J., and Aben, I.: CH4 retrievals from space-based solar backscatter measurements: Performance evaluation against simulated aerosol and cirrus loaded scenes, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 115, D24302, https://doi.org/10.1029/2010JD014514, 2010. a
Chan Miller, C., Roche, S., Wilzewksi, J. S., Liu, X., Chance, K., Souri, A. H., Conway, E., Luo, B., Samra, J., Hawthorne, J., Sun, K., Staebell, C., Chulakadabba, A., Sargent, M., Benmergui, J. S., Franklin, J. E., Daube, B. C., Li, Y., Laughner, J. L., Baier, B. C., Gautam, R., Omara, M., and Wofsy, S. C.: Methane retrieval from MethaneAIR using the CO2 Proxy Approach: A demonstration for the upcoming MethaneSAT mission, EGUsphere [preprint], https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-1962, 2023. a, b
Chulakadabba, A.: ju21u/mair_controlled_release: mair_controlled_release, Version v0.1, Zenodo [data set/code], https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10207896, 2023. a
Conley, S., Franco, G., Faloona, I., Blake, D. R., Peischl, J., and Ryerson, T. B.: Methane emissions from the 2015 Aliso Canyon blowout in Los Angeles, CA, Science, 351, 1317–1320, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaf2348, 2016. a
Conrad, B. M., Tyner, D. R., and Johnson, M. R.: Robust Probabilities of Detection and Quantification Uncertainty for Aerial Methane Detection: Examples for Three Airborne Technologies, EarthArXiv [preprint], https://doi.org/10.31223/X5S05F, 2022. a
Conway, E. K., Souri, A. H., Benmergui, J., Sun, K., Liu, X., Staebell, C., Chan Miller, C., Franklin, J., Samra, J., Wilzewski, J., Roche, S., Luo, B., Chulakadabba, A., Sargent, M., Hohl, J., Daube, B., Gordon, I., Chance, K., and Wofsy, S.: Level0-to-Level1B processor for MethaneAIR, Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss. [preprint], https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2023-111, in review, 2023. a
Ehret, G., Bousquet, P., Pierangelo, C., Alpers, M., Millet, B., Abshire, J. B., Bovensmann, H., Burrows, J. P., Chevallier, F., Ciais, P., Crevoisier, C., Fix, A., Flamant, P., Frankenberg, C., Gibert, F., Heim, B., Heimann, M., Houweling, S., Hubberten, H. W., Jöckel, P., Law, K., Löw, A., Marshall, J., Agusti-Panareda, A., Payan, S., Prigent, C., Rairoux, P., Sachs, T., Scholze, M., and Wirth, M.: MERLIN: A French-German Space Lidar Mission Dedicated to Atmospheric Methane, Remote Sens., 9, 1052, https://doi.org/10.3390/rs9101052, 2017. a
El Abbadi, S. H., Chen, Z., Burdeau, P. M., Rutherford, J. S., Chen, Y., Zhang, Z., Sherwin, E. D., and Brandt, A. R.: Comprehensive evaluation of aircraft-based methane sensing for greenhouse gas mitigation, EarthArXiv [preprint], https://doi.org/10.31223/X51D4C, 2023. a
Etminan, M., Myhre, G., Highwood, E. J., and Shine, K. P.: Radiative forcing of carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide: A significant revision of the methane radiative forcing, Geophys. Res. Lett., 43, 12614–12623, https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL071930, 2016. a
Frankenberg, C., Platt, U., and Wagner, T.: Iterative maximum a posteriori (IMAP)-DOAS for retrieval of strongly absorbing trace gases: Model studies for CH4 and CO2 retrieval from near infrared spectra of SCIAMACHY onboard ENVISAT, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 5, 9–22, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-5-9-2005, 2005. a
Frankenberg, C., Meirink, J. F., Bergamaschi, P., Goede, A. P. H., Heimann, M., Körner, S., Platt, U., van Weele, M., and Wagner, T.: Satellite chartography of atmospheric methane from SCIAMACHY on board ENVISAT: Analysis of the years 2003 and 2004, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 111, D07303, https://doi.org/10.1029/2005JD006235, 2006. a
Frankenberg, C., Thorpe, A. K., Thompson, D. R., Hulley, G., Kort, E. A., Vance, N., Borchardt, J., Krings, T., Gerilowski, K., Sweeney, C., Conley, S., Bue, B. D., Aubrey, A. D., Hook, S., and Green, R. O.: Airborne methane remote measurements reveal heavy-tail flux distribution in Four Corners region, P. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 113, 9734–9739, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1605617113, 2016. a, b, c
Gaudet, B. J., Lauvaux, T., Deng, A., and Davis, K. J.: Exploration of the impact of nearby sources on urban atmospheric inversions using large eddy simulation, Elem. Sci. Anth., 5, 60, https://doi.org/10.1525/elementa.247, 2017. a
Guanter, L., Irakulis-Loitxate, I., Gorroño, J., Sánchez-García, E., Cusworth, D. H., Varon, D. J., Cogliati, S., and Colombo, R.: Mapping methane point emissions with the PRISMA spaceborne imaging spectrometer, Remote Sens. Environ., 265, 112671, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2021.112671, 2021. a
Irakulis-Loitxate, I., Guanter, L., Liu, Y.-N., Varon, D. J., Maasakkers, J. D., Zhang, Y., Chulakadabba, A., Wofsy, S. C., Thorpe, A. K., Duren, R. M., Frankenberg, C., Lyon, D. R., Hmiel, B., Cusworth, D. H., Zhang, Y., Segl, K., Gorroño, J., Sánchez-García, E., Sulprizio, M. P., Cao, K., Zhu, H., Liang, J., Li, X., Aben, I., and Jacob, D. J.: Satellite-based survey of extreme methane emissions in the Permian basin, Sci. Adv., 7, eabf4507, https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abf4507, 2021. a
Jacob, D. J., Turner, A. J., Maasakkers, J. D., Sheng, J., Sun, K., Liu, X., Chance, K., Aben, I., McKeever, J., and Frankenberg, C.: Satellite observations of atmospheric methane and their value for quantifying methane emissions, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 14371–14396, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-14371-2016, 2016. a
Jervis, D., McKeever, J., Durak, B. O. A., Sloan, J. J., Gains, D., Varon, D. J., Ramier, A., Strupler, M., and Tarrant, E.: The GHGSat-D imaging spectrometer, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 2127–2140, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-2127-2021, 2021. a
Johnson, M. R., Tyner, D. R., and Szekeres, A. J.: Blinded evaluation of airborne methane source detection using Bridger Photonics LiDAR, Remote Sens. Environ., 259, 112418, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2021.112418, 2021. a, b
Jongaramrungruang, S., Frankenberg, C., Matheou, G., Thorpe, A. K., Thompson, D. R., Kuai, L., and Duren, R. M.: Towards accurate methane point-source quantification from high-resolution 2-D plume imagery, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 6667–6681, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-6667-2019, 2019. a
Lauvaux, T., Schuh, A. E., Uliasz, M., Richardson, S., Miles, N., Andrews, A. E., Sweeney, C., Diaz, L. I., Martins, D., Shepson, P. B., and Davis, K. J.: Constraining the CO2 budget of the corn belt: exploring uncertainties from the assumptions in a mesoscale inverse system, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 12, 337–354, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-12-337-2012, 2012. a
Myhre, G., Shindell, D., Bréon, F.-M., Collins, W., Fuglestvedt, J., Huang, J., Koch, D., Lamarque, J.-F., Lee, D., Mendoza, B., Nakajima, T., Robock, A., Stephens, G., Takemura, T., and H. Zhang, H.: Anthropogenic and Natural Radiative Forcing, in: Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, edited by: Stocker, T. F., Qin, D., Plattner, G.-K., Tignor, M., Allen, S. K., Boschung, J., Nauels, A., Xia, Y., Bex, V., and Midgley, P. M., Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA, 659–740, https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781107415324.018, 2013. a
Nakanishi, M. and Niino, H.: An Improved Mellor–Yamada Level-3 Model: Its Numerical Stability and Application to a Regional Prediction of Advection Fog, Bound.-Lay. Meteorol., 119, 397–407, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10546-005-9030-8, 2006. a
Nakanishi, M. and Niino, H.: Development of an Improved Turbulence Closure Model for the Atmospheric Boundary Layer, J. Meteorol. Soc. Jpn. Ser. II, 87, 895–912, https://doi.org/10.2151/jmsj.87.895, 2009. a
OCD: Notification Of Release, 372422 (44680), OCD, https://ocdimage.emnrd.nm.gov/Imaging/FileStore/santafe/nf/20210826/napp2123850791_08_26_2021_03_58_55.pdf (last access: 22 July 2022), 2021. a
Omara, M., Zavala-Araiza, D., Lyon, D. R., Hmiel, B., Roberts, K. A., and Hamburg, S. P.: Methane emissions from US low production oil and natural gas well sites, Nat. Commun., 13, 2085, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-29709-3, 2022. a
Parker, R. J., Boesch, H., Byckling, K., Webb, A. J., Palmer, P. I., Feng, L., Bergamaschi, P., Chevallier, F., Notholt, J., Deutscher, N., Warneke, T., Hase, F., Sussmann, R., Kawakami, S., Kivi, R., Griffith, D. W. T., and Velazco, V.: Assessing 5 years of GOSAT Proxy XCH4 data and associated uncertainties, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 8, 4785–4801, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-4785-2015, 2015. a
Parker, R. J., Webb, A., Boesch, H., Somkuti, P., Barrio Guillo, R., Di Noia, A., Kalaitzi, N., Anand, J. S., Bergamaschi, P., Chevallier, F., Palmer, P. I., Feng, L., Deutscher, N. M., Feist, D. G., Griffith, D. W. T., Hase, F., Kivi, R., Morino, I., Notholt, J., Oh, Y.-S., Ohyama, H., Petri, C., Pollard, D. F., Roehl, C., Sha, M. K., Shiomi, K., Strong, K., Sussmann, R., Té, Y., Velazco, V. A., Warneke, T., Wennberg, P. O., and Wunch, D.: A decade of GOSAT Proxy satellite CH4 observations, Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 12, 3383–3412, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-3383-2020, 2020. a
Rutherford, J. S., Sherwin, E. D., Chen, Y., Aminfard, S., and Brandt, A. R.: Evaluating methane emission quantification performance and uncertainty of aerial technologies via high-volume single-blind controlled releases, EarthArXiv [preprint], https://doi.org/10.31223/X5KQ0X, 2023. a
Sánchez-García, E., Gorroño, J., Irakulis-Loitxate, I., Varon, D. J., and Guanter, L.: Mapping methane plumes at very high spatial resolution with the WorldView-3 satellite, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 1657–1674, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-1657-2022, 2022. a
Saunois, M., Stavert, A. R., Poulter, B., Bousquet, P., Canadell, J. G., Jackson, R. B., Raymond, P. A., Dlugokencky, E. J., Houweling, S., Patra, P. K., Ciais, P., Arora, V. K., Bastviken, D., Bergamaschi, P., Blake, D. R., Brailsford, G., Bruhwiler, L., Carlson, K. M., Carrol, M., Castaldi, S., Chandra, N., Crevoisier, C., Crill, P. M., Covey, K., Curry, C. L., Etiope, G., Frankenberg, C., Gedney, N., Hegglin, M. I., Höglund-Isaksson, L., Hugelius, G., Ishizawa, M., Ito, A., Janssens-Maenhout, G., Jensen, K. M., Joos, F., Kleinen, T., Krummel, P. B., Langenfelds, R. L., Laruelle, G. G., Liu, L., Machida, T., Maksyutov, S., McDonald, K. C., McNorton, J., Miller, P. A., Melton, J. R., Morino, I., Müller, J., Murguia-Flores, F., Naik, V., Niwa, Y., Noce, S., O'Doherty, S., Parker, R. J., Peng, C., Peng, S., Peters, G. P., Prigent, C., Prinn, R., Ramonet, M., Regnier, P., Riley, W. J., Rosentreter, J. A., Segers, A., Simpson, I. J., Shi, H., Smith, S. J., Steele, L. P., Thornton, B. F., Tian, H., Tohjima, Y., Tubiello, F. N., Tsuruta, A., Viovy, N., Voulgarakis, A., Weber, T. S., van Weele, M., van der Werf, G. R., Weiss, R. F., Worthy, D., Wunch, D., Yin, Y., Yoshida, Y., Zhang, W., Zhang, Z., Zhao, Y., Zheng, B., Zhu, Q., Zhu, Q., and Zhuang, Q.: The Global Methane Budget 2000–2017, Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 12, 1561–1623, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-1561-2020, 2020. a
Schneising, O., Buchwitz, M., Reuter, M., Vanselow, S., Bovensmann, H., and Burrows, J. P.: Remote sensing of methane leakage from natural gas and petroleum systems revisited, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 9169–9182, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-9169-2020, 2020. a, b, c
Sherwin, E., El Abbadi, S., Burdeau, P., Zhang, Z., Chen, Z., Rutherford, J., Chen, Y., and Brandt, A.: Single-blind test of nine methane-sensing satellite systems from three continents, EarthArXiv, https://doi.org/10.31223/X56089, 2023a. a
Sherwin, E., Rutherford, J., Zhang, Z., Chen, Y., Wetherley, E., Yakovlev, P., Berman, E., Jones, B., Thorpe, A., Ayasse, A., Duren, R., and Brandt, A.: Quantifying oil and natural gas system emissions using one million aerial site measurements, PREPRINT (Version 3), Research Square, https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-2406848/v1, 2023b. a
Sherwin, E. D., Chen, Y., Ravikumar, A. P., and Brandt, A. R.: Single-blind test of airplane-based hyperspectral methane detection via controlled releases, Elem. Sci. Anth., 9, 00063, https://doi.org/10.1525/elementa.2021.00063, 2021. a, b
Sherwin, E. D., Rutherford, J. S., Chen, Y., Aminfard, S., Kort, E. A., Jackson, R. B., and Brandt, A. R.: Single-blind validation of space-based point-source methane emissions detection and quantification, Scientific Reports, 13, 3836, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-30761-2, 2023. a
Shindell, D., Kuylenstierna, J. C. I., Vignati, E., van Dingenen, R., Amann, M., Klimont, Z., Anenberg, S. C., Muller, N., Janssens-Maenhout, G., Raes, F., Schwartz, J., Faluvegi, G., Pozzoli, L., Kupiainen, K., Höglund-Isaksson, L., Emberson, L., Streets, D., Ramanathan, V., Hicks, K., Oanh, N. T. K., Milly, G., Williams, M., Demkine, V., and Fowler, D.: Simultaneously Mitigating Near-Term Climate Change and Improving Human Health and Food Security, Science, 335, 183–189, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1210026, 2012. a
Skamarock, C., Klemp, B., Dudhia, J., Gill, O., Barker, D., Duda, G., Huang, X.-Y., Wang, W., and Powers, G.: A Description of the Advanced Research WRF Version 3, NCAR/TN–475+STR, University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, https://doi.org/10.5065/D68S4MVH, 2008. a
Staebell, C., Sun, K., Samra, J., Franklin, J., Chan Miller, C., Liu, X., Conway, E., Chance, K., Milligan, S., and Wofsy, S.: Spectral calibration of the MethaneAIR instrument, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 3737–3753, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-3737-2021, 2021. a
Sun, K., Zhu, L., Cady-Pereira, K., Chan Miller, C., Chance, K., Clarisse, L., Coheur, P.-F., González Abad, G., Huang, G., Liu, X., Van Damme, M., Yang, K., and Zondlo, M.: A physics-based approach to oversample multi-satellite, multispecies observations to a common grid, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 6679–6701, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-6679-2018, 2018. a
Toon, G. C.: Atmospheric Non-Voigt Line List for the TCCON 2020 Data Release, CaltechDATA [data set], https://doi.org/10.14291/TCCON.GGG2020.ATMNV.R0, 2022a. a
Toon, G. C.: Atmospheric Voigt Line List for the TCCON 2020 Data Release, CaltechDATA [data set], https://doi.org/10.14291/TCCON.GGG2020.ATM.R0, 2022b. a
UCAR/NCAR – Earth Observing Laboratory: NSF/NCAR GV HIAPER Aircraft, UCAR/NCAR – Earth Observing Laboratory, https://doi.org/10.5065/D6DR2SJP, 2005. a
Varon, D. J., Jacob, D. J., McKeever, J., Jervis, D., Durak, B. O. A., Xia, Y., and Huang, Y.: Quantifying methane point sources from fine-scale satellite observations of atmospheric methane plumes, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 5673–5686, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-5673-2018, 2018. a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i
Varon, D. J., Jervis, D., McKeever, J., Spence, I., Gains, D., and Jacob, D. J.: High-frequency monitoring of anomalous methane point sources with multispectral Sentinel-2 satellite observations, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 2771–2785, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-2771-2021, 2021. a
Veefkind, J. P., Aben, I., McMullan, K., Förster, H., de Vries, J., Otter, G., Claas, J., Eskes, H. J., de Haan, J. F., Kleipool, Q., van Weele, M., Hasekamp, O., Hoogeveen, R., Landgraf, J., Snel, R., Tol, P., Ingmann, P., Voors, R., Kruizinga, B., Vink, R., Visser, H., and Levelt, P. F.: TROPOMI on the ESA Sentinel-5 Precursor: A GMES mission for global observations of the atmospheric composition for climate, air quality and ozone layer applications, Remote Sens. Environ., 120, 70–83, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2011.09.027, 2012. a
Wunch, D., Toon, G. C., Blavier, J.-F. L., Washenfelder, R. A., Notholt, J., Connor, B. J., Griffith, D. W. T., Sherlock, V., and Wennberg, P. O.: The Total Carbon Column Observing Network, Philos. T. Roy. Soc. A, 369, 2087–2112, https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2010.0240, 2011. a
Short summary
We show that MethaneAIR, a precursor to the MethaneSAT satellite, demonstrates accurate point source quantification during controlled release experiments and regional observations in 2021 and 2022. Results from our two independent quantification methods suggest the accuracy of our sensor and algorithms is better than 25 % for sources emitting 200 kg h−1 or more. Insights from these measurements help establish the capabilities of MethaneSAT and MethaneAIR.
We show that MethaneAIR, a precursor to the MethaneSAT satellite, demonstrates accurate point...
