scholarly journals Air Quality Assessment over Sudan using NASA Remote Sensing Satellites Data and MERRA-2 Model

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 438-441
Author(s):  
Ibrahim Muntasir ◽  
Curci Gabriele ◽  
Habbani Farouk

Satellite remote detecting instruments have been to a great extent used to evaluate air pollutants on the ground and their impacts on human wellbeing. These instruments play an essential job by assessing emanations and air quality models yield. The study concentrated on the analysis of monthly data for the period January 2003 -December 2016 using remote sensing technology and via satellite data products for NASA's Earth navigation satellite. The tools used are Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrophotometer (MODIS), Multi-angle Imaging Spectrophotometer (MISR), the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI), and the Retrospective Analysis of Modern Times for Research and Applications, Version 2 (MERRA-2). Sudan is influenced by airborne particles because of its diverse climate systems, which differ from the desert in the north to poor savanna in the center and to rich savanna in the south. The impact of air pollution is obvious during these years in Sudan. Likewise, OMI trace gas vertical column observations of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) watched higher convergences of tropospheric column NO2 in 2016 than in 2005 over Khartoum that recommends NOx emissions have increased in the city over this time period. The most elevated grouping of dust, a particulate matter (PM2.5), observed in March 2012 over Khartoum state. The highest concentration of sulfur dioxide (SO2) saw by MERRA-2 over Kuwait and South Sudan during December 2015. Noteworthy centralization concentration of black carbon observed over Iraq, Egypt, Central Africa, and South Sudan in December 2015. The most contamination from carbon monoxide watched by MERRA-2 over Iraq and north of Uganda during December 2014.

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 488
Author(s):  
Aimon Tanvir ◽  
Zeeshan Javed ◽  
Zhu Jian ◽  
Sanbao Zhang ◽  
Muhammad Bilal ◽  
...  

Reduced mobility and less anthropogenic activity under special case circumstances over various parts of the world have pronounced effects on air quality. The objective of this study is to investigate the impact of reduced anthropogenic activity on air quality in the mega city of Shanghai, China. Observations from the highly sophisticated multi-axis differential optical absorption spectroscope (MAX-DOAS) instrument were used for nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and formaldehyde (HCHO) column densities. In situ measurements for NO2, ozone (O3), particulate matter (PM2.5) and the air quality index (AQI) were also used. The concentration of trace gases in the atmosphere reduces significantly during annual Spring Festival holidays, whereby mobility is reduced and anthropogenic activities come to a halt. The COVID-19 lockdown during 2020 resulted in a considerable drop in vertical column densities (VCDs) of HCHO and NO2 during lockdown Level-1, which refers to strict lockdown, i.e., strict measures taken to reduce mobility (43% for NO2; 24% for HCHO), and lockdown Level-2, which refers to relaxed lockdown, i.e., when the mobility restrictions were relaxed somehow (20% for NO2; 22% for HCHO), compared with pre-lockdown days, as measured by the MAX-DOAS instrument. However, for 2019, a reduction in VCDs was found only during Level-1 (24% for NO2; 6.62% for HCHO), when the Spring Festival happened. The weekly cycle for NO2 and HCHO depicts no significant effect of weekends on the lockdown. After the start of the Spring Festival, the VCDs of NO2 and HCHO showed a decline for 2019 as well as 2020. Backward trajectories calculated using the Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT) model indicated more air masses coming from the sea after the Spring Festival for 2019 and 2020, implying that a low pollutant load was carried by them. No impact of anthropogenic activity was found on O3 concentration. The results indicate that the ratio of HCHO to NO2 (RFN) fell in the volatile organic compound (VOC)-limited regime.


2011 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 29807-29843 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.-T. Lin

Abstract. Vertical column densities (VCDs) of tropospheric nitrogen dioxide (NO2) retrieved from space provide valuable information to estimate emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) inversely. Accurate emission attribution to individual sources, important both for understanding the global biogeochemical cycling of nitrogen and for emission control, remains difficult. This study presents a regression-based multi-step inversion approach to estimate emissions of NOx from anthropogenic, lightning and soil sources individually for 2006 over East China on a 0.25° long × 0.25° lat grid, employing the DOMINO product version 2 retrieved from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument. The nested GEOS-Chem model for East Asia is used to simulate the seasonal variations of different emission sources and impacts on VCDs of NO2 for the inversion purpose. Sensitivity tests are conducted to evaluate key assumptions embedded in the inversion process. The inverse estimate suggests annual budgets of about 7.1 TgN (±38%), 0.22 TgN (±46%), and 0.40 TgN (±48%) for the a posteriori anthropogenic, lightning and soil emissions, respectively, each about 24% higher than the respective a priori values. The enhancements in anthropogenic emissions are largest in cities and areas with extensive use of coal, particularly in the north in winter, as evident on the high-resolution grid. Derived soil emissions are consistent with recent bottom-up estimates. They are each less than 6% of anthropogenic emissions annually, increasing to about 13% for July. Overall, anthropogenic emissions are found to be the dominant source of NOx over East China with important implications for nitrogen control.


2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (12) ◽  
pp. 7509-7530 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lin Tang ◽  
Martin O. P. Ramacher ◽  
Jana Moldanová ◽  
Volker Matthias ◽  
Matthias Karl ◽  
...  

Abstract. Ship emissions in and around ports are of interest for urban air quality management in many harbour cities. We investigated the impact of regional and local ship emissions on urban air quality for 2012 conditions in the city of Gothenburg, Sweden, the largest cargo port in Scandinavia. In order to assess the effects of ship emissions, a coupled regional- and local-scale model system has been set up using ship emissions in the Baltic Sea and the North Sea as well as in and around the port of Gothenburg. Ship emissions were calculated with the Ship Traffic Emission Assessment Model (STEAM), taking into account individual vessel characteristics and vessel activity data. The calculated contributions from local and regional shipping to local air pollution in Gothenburg were found to be substantial, especially in areas around the city ports. The relative contribution from local shipping to annual mean NO2 concentrations was 14 % as the model domain average, while the relative contribution from regional shipping in the North Sea and the Baltic Sea was 26 %. In an area close to the city terminals, the contribution of NO2 from local shipping (33 %) was higher than that of road traffic (28 %), which indicates the importance of controlling local shipping emissions. Local shipping emissions of NOx led to a decrease in the summer mean O3 levels in the city by 0.5 ppb (∼2 %) on average. Regional shipping led to a slight increase in O3 concentrations; however, the overall effect of regional and the local shipping together was a small decrease in the summer mean O3 concentrations in the city. In addition, volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions from local shipping compensate up to 4 ppb of the decrease in summer O3 concentrations due to the NO titration effect. For particulate matter with a median aerodynamic diameter less than or equal to 2.5 µm (PM2.5), local ship emissions contributed only 3 % to the annual mean in the model domain, while regional shipping under 2012 conditions was a larger contributor, with an annual mean contribution of 11 % of the city domain average. Based on the modelled local and regional shipping contributions, the health effects of PM2.5, NO2 and ozone were assessed using the ALPHA-RiskPoll (ARP) model. An effect of the shipping-associated PM2.5 exposure in the modelled area was a mean decrease in the life expectancy by 0.015 years per person. The relative contribution of local shipping to the impact of total PM2.5 was 2.2 %, which can be compared to the 5.3 % contribution from local road traffic. The relative contribution of the regional shipping was 10.3 %. The mortalities due to the exposure to NO2 associated with shipping were calculated to be 2.6 premature deaths yr−1. The relative contribution of local and regional shipping to the total exposure to NO2 in the reference simulation was 14 % and 21 %, respectively. The shipping-related ozone exposures were due to the NO titration effect leading to a negative number of premature deaths. Our study shows that overall health impacts of regional shipping can be more significant than those of local shipping, emphasizing that abatement policy options on city-scale air pollution require close cooperation across governance levels. Our findings indicate that the strengthened Sulphur Emission Control Areas (SECAs) fuel sulphur limit from 1 % to 0.1 % in 2015, leading to a strong decrease in the formation of secondary particulate matter on a regional scale was an important step in improving the air quality in the city.


2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 491-516 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julien Chimot ◽  
J. Pepijn Veefkind ◽  
Johan F. de Haan ◽  
Piet Stammes ◽  
Pieternel F. Levelt

Abstract. Global mapping of satellite tropospheric NO2 vertical column density (VCD), a key gas in air quality monitoring, requires accurate retrievals over complex urban and industrialized areas and under any atmospheric conditions. The high abundance of aerosol particles in regions dominated by anthropogenic fossil fuel combustion, e.g. megacities, and/or biomass-burning episodes, affects the space-borne spectral measurement. Minimizing the tropospheric NO2 VCD biases caused by aerosol scattering and absorption effects is one of the main retrieval challenges from air quality satellite instruments. In this study, the reference Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) DOMINO-v2 product was reprocessed over cloud-free scenes, by applying new aerosol correction parameters retrieved from the 477 nm O2−O2 band, over eastern China and South America for 2 years (2006–2007). These new parameters are based on two different and separate algorithms developed during the last 2 years in view of an improved use of the OMI 477 nm O2−O2 band: the updated OMCLDO2 algorithm, which derives improved effective cloud parameters, the aerosol neural network (NN), which retrieves explicit aerosol parameters by assuming a more physical aerosol model. The OMI aerosol NN is a step ahead of OMCLDO2 because it primarily estimates an explicit aerosol layer height (ALH), and secondly an aerosol optical thickness τ for cloud-free observations. Overall, it was found that all the considered aerosol correction parameters reduce the biases identified in DOMINO-v2 over scenes in China with high aerosol abundance dominated by fine scattering and weakly absorbing particles, e.g. from [-20%:-40%] to [0 %:20 %] in summertime. The use of the retrieved OMI aerosol parameters leads in general to a more explicit aerosol correction and higher tropospheric NO2 VCD values, in the range of [0 %:40 %], than from the implicit correction with the updated OMCLDO2. This number overall represents an estimation of the aerosol correction strategy uncertainty nowadays for tropospheric NO2 VCD retrieval from space-borne visible measurements. The explicit aerosol correction theoretically includes a more realistic consideration of aerosol multiple scattering and absorption effects, especially over scenes dominated by strongly absorbing particles, where the correction based on OMCLDO2 seems to remain insufficient. However, the use of ALH and τ from the OMI NN aerosol algorithm is not a straightforward operation and future studies are required to identify the optimal methodology. For that purpose, several elements are recommended in this paper. Overall, we demonstrate the possibility of applying a more explicit aerosol correction by considering aerosol parameters directly derived from the 477 nm O2−O2 spectral band, measured by the same satellite instrument. Such an approach can, in theory, easily be transposed to the new-generation of space-borne instruments (e.g. TROPOMI on board Sentinel-5 Precursor), enabling a fast reprocessing of tropospheric NO2 data over cloud-free scenes (cloudy pixels need to be filtered out), as well as for other trace gas retrievals (e.g. SO2, HCHO).


Atmosphere ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 516 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robin Smit ◽  
Phil Kingston

The objective of this paper is to use remote sensing to measure on-road emissions and to examine the impact and usefulness of additional measurement devices at three sites. Supplementing remote sensing device (RSD) equipment with additional equipment increased the capture rate by almost 10%. Post-processing of raw data is essential to obtain useful and accurate information. A method is presented to identify vehicles with excessive emission levels (high emitters). First, an anomaly detection method is applied, followed by identification of cold start operating conditions using infrared vehicle profiles. Using this method, 0.6% of the vehicles in the full (enhanced) RSD data were identified as high emitters, of which 35% are likely in cold start mode where emissions typically stabilize to low hot running emission levels within a few minutes. Analysis of NOx RSD data confirms that poor real-world NOx performance of Euro 4/5 light-duty diesel vehicles observed around the world is also evident in Australian measurements. This research suggests that the continued dieselisation in Australia, in particular under the current Euro 5 emission standards and the more stringent NO2 air quality criteria expected in 2020 and 2025, could potentially result in local air quality issues near busy roads.


2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (11) ◽  
pp. 6091-6111 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura M. Judd ◽  
Jassim A. Al-Saadi ◽  
Scott J. Janz ◽  
Matthew G. Kowalewski ◽  
R. Bradley Pierce ◽  
...  

Abstract. NASA deployed the GeoTASO airborne UV–visible spectrometer in May–June 2017 to produce high-resolution (approximately 250 m×250 m) gapless NO2 datasets over the western shore of Lake Michigan and over the Los Angeles Basin. The results collected show that the airborne tropospheric vertical column retrievals compare well with ground-based Pandora spectrometer column NO2 observations (r2=0.91 and slope of 1.03). Apparent disagreements between the two measurements can be sensitive to the coincidence criteria and are often associated with large local variability, including rapid temporal changes and spatial heterogeneity that may be observed differently by the sunward-viewing Pandora observations. The gapless mapping strategy executed during the 2017 GeoTASO flights provides data suitable for averaging to coarser areal resolutions to simulate satellite retrievals. As simulated satellite pixel area increases to values typical of TEMPO (Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring Pollution), TROPOMI (TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument), and OMI (Ozone Monitoring Instrument), the agreement with Pandora measurements degraded, particularly for the most polluted columns as localized large pollution enhancements observed by Pandora and GeoTASO are spatially averaged with nearby less-polluted locations within the larger area representative of the satellite spatial resolutions (aircraft-to-Pandora slope: TEMPO scale =0.88; TROPOMI scale =0.77; OMI scale =0.57). In these two regions, Pandora and TEMPO or TROPOMI have the potential to compare well at least up to pollution scales of 30×1015 molecules cm−2. Two publicly available OMI tropospheric NO2 retrievals are found to be biased low with respect to these Pandora observations. However, the agreement improves when higher-resolution a priori inputs are used for the tropospheric air mass factor calculation (NASA V3 standard product slope =0.18 and Berkeley High Resolution product slope =0.30). Overall, this work explores best practices for satellite validation strategies with Pandora direct-sun observations by showing the sensitivity to product spatial resolution and demonstrating how the high-spatial-resolution NO2 data retrieved from airborne spectrometers, such as GeoTASO, can be used with high-temporal-resolution ground-based column observations to evaluate the influence of spatial heterogeneity on validation results.


2012 ◽  
Vol 226-228 ◽  
pp. 1170-1173
Author(s):  
Qi Peng Zhang ◽  
Xiao Qing Han ◽  
Jing Li ◽  
Jing Jing Zhao ◽  
Wei Biao Zhou ◽  
...  

In order to study the evolved characteristic of sandy coast in Hebei Province, the paper analyzed costal information by Remote Sensing technology from landform maps and remote sensing images from 1956 to 2007. It studied the evolvement characteristics and the reasons of sandy coast deeply. And it also analyzed the evolvement infections to the nearby coast of the sandy engineering. The results showed that the characteristic was erosion condition in sandy coast. There were several different evolved processing in different area from 1959 to 2007. In the region between Daihe River and Tazigou, the highest erosion speed was 3.45 m/a by the coastal current and wave between Daihe River and Yanghe River. The section was deposited into the ocean with the speed of 1.29 m/a by the cultivation ponds building in Bohai Sea farmland between the Yanghe River and Dapuhe River. In the region between Tazigou and Langwokou River, the beach had been eroded about 373 m with the speed of 13.32 m/a by 2007. And the section was eroded offshore more serious with the distance of 610 m and the speed of 21.79 m/a from the north of Luanhe River.In the region between Langwokou River and Daqinghe River, the average erosion distance was about 370 m with the speed of 13.21 m/a in Shegang sandbar. And it was eroded back to mainland about 164 m with the speed of 8.20 m/a. And it was about 504m with the speed of 18.00 m/a.


2017 ◽  
Vol 200 ◽  
pp. 75-100 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Sherwen ◽  
M. J. Evans ◽  
R. Sommariva ◽  
L. D. J. Hollis ◽  
S. M. Ball ◽  
...  

Halogens (Cl, Br) have a profound influence on stratospheric ozone (O3). They (Cl, Br and I) have recently also been shown to impact the troposphere, notably by reducing the mixing ratios of O3 and OH. Their potential for impacting regional air-quality is less well understood. We explore the impact of halogens on regional pollutants (focussing on O3) with the European grid of the GEOS-Chem model (0.25° × 0.3125°). It has recently been updated to include a representation of halogen chemistry. We focus on the summer of 2015 during the ICOZA campaign at the Weybourne Atmospheric Observatory on the North Sea coast of the UK. Comparisons between these observations together with those from the UK air-quality network show that the model has some skill in representing the mixing ratios/concentration of pollutants during this period. Although the model has some success in simulating the Weybourne ClNO2 observations, it significantly underestimates ClNO2 observations reported at inland locations. It also underestimates mixing ratios of IO, OIO, I2 and BrO, but this may reflect the coastal nature of these observations. Model simulations, with and without halogens, highlight the processes by which halogens can impact O3. Throughout the domain O3 mixing ratios are reduced by halogens. In northern Europe this is due to a change in the background O3 advected into the region, whereas in southern Europe this is due to local chemistry driven by Mediterranean emissions. The proportion of hourly O3 above 50 nmol mol−1 in Europe is reduced from 46% to 18% by halogens. ClNO2 from N2O5 uptake onto sea-salt leads to increases in O3 mixing ratio, but these are smaller than the decreases caused by the bromine and iodine. 12% of ethane and 16% of acetone within the boundary layer is oxidised by Cl. Aerosol response to halogens is complex with small (∼10%) reductions in PM2.5 in most locations. A lack of observational constraints coupled to large uncertainties in emissions and chemical processing of halogens make these conclusions tentative at best. However, the results here point to the potential for halogen chemistry to influence air quality policy in Europe and other parts of the world.


2011 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 17699-17757 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. J. Allen ◽  
K. E. Pickering ◽  
R. W. Pinder ◽  
B. H. Henderson ◽  
K. W. Appel ◽  
...  

Abstract. A lightning-nitrogen oxide (NO) algorithm is developed for the regional Community Multiscale Air Quality Model (CMAQ) and used to evaluate the impact of lightning-NO emissions (LNOx) on tropospheric photochemistry over the Eastern United States during the summer of 2006. The scheme assumes flash rates are proportional to the model convective precipitation rate but then adjusts the flash rates locally to match monthly average observations. Over the Eastern United States, LNOx is responsible for 20–25 % of the tropospheric nitrogen dioxide (NO2) column. This additional NO2 reduces the low-bias of simulated NO2 columns with respect to satellite-retrieved Dutch Ozone Monitoring Instrument NO2 (DOMINO) columns from 41 to 14 %. It also adds 10–20 ppbv to upper tropospheric ozone and 1.5–4.5 ppbv to 8-h maximum surface layer ozone, although, on average, the contribution of LNOx to surface ozone is 1–2 ppbv less on poor air quality days. Biases between modeled and satellite-retrieved tropospheric NO2 columns vary greatly between urban and rural locations. In general, CMAQ overestimates columns at urban locations and underestimates columns at rural locations. These biases are consistent with in situ measurements that also indicate that CMAQ has too much NO2 in urban regions and not enough in rural regions. However, closer analysis suggests that most of the differences between modeled and satellite-retrieved urban to rural ratios are likely a consequence of the horizontal and vertical smoothing inherent in columns retrieved by the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI). Within CMAQ, LNOx increases wet deposition of nitrate by 50 % and total deposition of nitrogen by 11 %. This additional deposition reduces the magnitude of the CMAQ low-bias in nitrate wet deposition with respect to National Atmospheric Deposition monitors to near zero. In order to obtain an upper bound on the contribution of uncertainties in chemistry to upper tropospheric NOx low biases, sensitivity calculations with updated chemistry were run for the time period of the Intercontinental Chemical Transport Experiment (INTEX-A) field campaign (summer 2004). After adjusting for possible interferences in NO2 measurements and averaging over the entire campaign, these updates reduced 7–9 km biases from 32 to 17 % and 9–12 km biases from 57 to 46 %. While these changes lead to better agreement, a considerable NO2 low-bias remains in the uppermost troposphere.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document