scholarly journals The CHRONOS mission: Capability for sub-hourly synoptic observations of carbon monoxide and methane to quantify emissions and transport of air pollution

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
David P. Edwards ◽  
Helen M. Worden ◽  
Doreen Neil ◽  
Gene Francis ◽  
Tim Valle ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Carbon Monoxide ◽  
Atmospheric Chemistry ◽  
Scientific Data ◽  
Low Earth Orbit ◽  
Atmospheric Composition ◽  
High Temporal Resolution ◽  
Diurnal Changes ◽  
Pollution Transport ◽  
Continental Scale

Abstract. The CHRONOS space mission concept provides time-resolved abundance for emissions and transport studies of the highly variable and highly uncertain air pollutants carbon monoxide and methane, with sub-hourly revisit rate at fine (~ 4 km) horizontal spatial resolution across a North American domain. CHRONOS can provide complete synoptic air pollution maps (snapshots) of the continental domain with fewer than 10 minutes of observations. This rapid mapping enables visualization of air pollution transport simultaneously across the entire continent and enables a sentinel-like capability for monitoring evolving, or unanticipated, air pollution sources in multiple locations at the same time with high temporal resolution. CHRONOS uses a compact imaging gas filter correlation radiometer for these observations, with heritage from more than 17 years of scientific data and algorithm advances by the science teams for the MOPITT instrument on NASA's Terra spacecraft in low Earth orbit. To achieve continental-scale sub-hourly sampling, the CHRONOS mission would be conducted from geostationary orbit, with the instrument hosted on a communications or meteorological platform. CHRONOS observations would contribute to an integrated observing system for atmospheric composition using surface, suborbital and satellite data with atmospheric chemistry models, as defined by the Committee on Earth Observing Satellites. Addressing the U.S. National Academy's 2007 Decadal Survey direction to characterize diurnal changes in tropospheric composition, CHRONOS observations would find direct societal applications for air quality management and forecasting to protect public health.

scholarly journals The CHRONOS mission: capability for sub-hourly synoptic observations of carbon monoxide and methane to quantify emissions and transport of air pollution

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 1061-1085 ◽  
Author(s):  
David P. Edwards ◽  
Helen M. Worden ◽  
Doreen Neil ◽  
Gene Francis ◽  
Tim Valle ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Carbon Monoxide ◽  
Atmospheric Chemistry ◽  
Scientific Data ◽  
Low Earth Orbit ◽  
Atmospheric Composition ◽  
High Temporal Resolution ◽  
Diurnal Changes ◽  
Pollution Transport ◽  
Continental Scale

Abstract. The CHRONOS space mission concept provides time-resolved abundance for emissions and transport studies of the highly variable and highly uncertain air pollutants carbon monoxide and methane, with sub-hourly revisit rate at fine (∼ 4 km) horizontal spatial resolution across a North American domain. CHRONOS can provide complete synoptic air pollution maps (snapshots) of the continental domain with less than 10 min of observations. This rapid mapping enables visualization of air pollution transport simultaneously across the entire continent and enables a sentinel-like capability for monitoring evolving, or unanticipated, air pollution sources in multiple locations at the same time with high temporal resolution. CHRONOS uses a compact imaging gas filter correlation radiometer for these observations, with heritage from more than 17 years of scientific data and algorithm advances by the science teams for the Measurements of Pollution in the Troposphere (MOPITT) instrument on NASA's Terra spacecraft in low Earth orbit. To achieve continental-scale sub-hourly sampling, the CHRONOS mission would be conducted from geostationary orbit, with the instrument hosted on a communications or meteorological platform. CHRONOS observations would contribute to an integrated observing system for atmospheric composition using surface, suborbital and satellite data with atmospheric chemistry models, as defined by the Committee on Earth Observing Satellites. Addressing the U.S. National Academy's 2007 decadal survey direction to characterize diurnal changes in tropospheric composition, CHRONOS observations would find direct societal applications for air quality management and forecasting to protect public health.

scholarly journals Clean air in the Anthropocene

2017 ◽  
Vol 200 ◽  
pp. 693-703 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jos Lelieveld
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Human Health ◽  
Atmospheric Chemistry ◽  
Clean Energy ◽  
Atmospheric Composition ◽  
Anthropogenic Sources ◽  
Years Of Life Lost ◽  
Clean Air

In atmospheric chemistry, interactions between air pollution, the biosphere and human health, often through reaction mixtures from both natural and anthropogenic sources, are of growing interest. Massive pollution emissions in the Anthropocene have transformed atmospheric composition to the extent that biogeochemical cycles, air quality and climate have changed globally and partly profoundly. It is estimated that mortality attributable to outdoor air pollution amounts to 4.33 million individuals per year, associated with 123 million years of life lost. Worldwide, air pollution is the major environmental risk factor to human health, and strict air quality standards have the potential to strongly reduce morbidity and mortality. Preserving clean air should be considered a human right, and is fundamental to many sustainable development goals of the United Nations, such as good health, climate action, sustainable cities, clean energy, and protecting life on land and in the water. It would be appropriate to adopt “clean air” as a sustainable development goal.

scholarly journals Ozone and carbon monoxide observations over open oceans on R/V <i>Mirai</i> from 67° S to 75° N during 2012 to 2017: Testing global chemical reanalysis in terms of Arctic processes, low ozone levels at low latitudes, and pollution transport

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yugo Kanaya ◽  
Kazuyuki Miyazaki ◽  
Fumikazu Taketani ◽  
Takuma Miyakawa ◽  
Hisahiro Takashima ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Monoxide ◽  
Atmospheric Chemistry ◽  
Critical Evaluation ◽  
Chemical Transport ◽  
Tropospheric Chemistry ◽  
Set Covering ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Pollution Transport ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Air Masses

Abstract. Constraints from ozone (O3) observations over oceans are needed in addition to those from terrestrial regions to fully understand global tropospheric chemistry and its impact on the climate. Here, we provide a large data set of ozone and carbon monoxide (CO) levels observed (for 11 666 and 10 681 h, respectively) over oceans. The data set is derived from observations made during 24 research cruise legs of R/V Mirai during 2012 to 2017, in the Southern, Indian, Pacific, and Arctic Oceans, covering the region from 67° S to 75° N. The data are suitable for critical evaluation of the over-ocean distribution of ozone derived from chemical transport models. We first give an overview of the statistics in the data set and highlight key features in terms of geographical distribution and air mass type. We then use the data set to evaluate ozone concentration fields from Tropospheric Chemistry Reanalysis version 2 (TCR-2), produced by assimilating a suite of satellite observations of multiple species into a chemical transport model, namely CHASER. For long-range transport of polluted air masses from continents to the oceans, during which the effects of forest fires and fossil fuel combustion were recognized, TCR-2 gave an excellent performance in reproducing the observed temporal variations and photochemical buildup of O3 when assessed from ΔO3 / ΔCO ratios. For clean marine conditions with low and stable CO concentrations, two focused analyses were performed. The first was in the Arctic (> 70° N) in September every year from 2013 to 2016; TCR-2 underpredicted O3 levels by 6.7 ppb (21 %) on average. The observed vertical profiles from O3 soundings from R/V Mirai during September 2014 had less steep vertical gradients at low altitudes (> 850 hPa) than those obtained TCR-2. This suggests the possibilities of more efficient descent of the O3-rich air from above or less efficient dry deposition on the surface than were assumed in the model. In the second analysis, over the western Pacific equatorial region (125–165° E, 10° S to 25° N), the observed O3 level frequently decreased to less than 10 ppb in comparison to that obtained with TCR-2, and also those obtained in most of the Atmospheric Chemistry Climate Model Intercomparison Project (ACCMIP) model runs for the decade from 2000. These results imply loss processes that are unaccounted for in the models. We found that the model’s positive bias positively correlated with the daytime residence times of air masses over a particular grid, namely 165–180° E and 15–30° N; an additional loss rate of 0.25 ppb h−1 in the grid best explained the gap. Halogen chemistry, which is commonly omitted from currently used models, might be active in this region and could have contributed to additional losses. Our open data set covering wide ocean regions is complementary to the Tropospheric Ozone Assessment Report data set, which basically comprises ground-based observations, and enables a fully global study of the behavior of O3.

CHAPS: A Compact Hyperspectral Imager for Air Pollution Remote Sensing

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Swartz ◽  
Nickolay Krotkov ◽  
Lok Lamsal ◽  
Frank Morgan ◽  
Philip Huang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Anthropogenic Activities ◽  
Low Earth Orbit ◽  
High Temporal Resolution ◽  
Earth Orbit ◽  
Premature Deaths ◽  
Compact Size ◽  
Freeform Optics

&lt;p&gt;Air pollution is responsible for ~7 million premature deaths every year.&amp;#160; Current and planned low Earth orbit and geostationary satellite instruments have long provided global surveys, revealing pollution characteristics and trends.&amp;#160; We need a robust, sustainable observing strategy, however, for measuring the distribution of air pollution at high spatial and high temporal resolution.&amp;#160; The Compact Hyperspectral Air Pollution Sensor (CHAPS) incorporates technologies enabling a sustainable approach to air pollution observation from space.&amp;#160; CHAPS is a hyperspectral imager using freeform optics in a form factor suitable for accommodation on a small satellite or hosted payload.&amp;#160; It will make measurements of air pollution at unprecedented spatial resolution from low Earth orbit (1 x 1 km&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt;) and will characterize, quantify, and monitor emissions from urban areas, power plants, and other anthropogenic activities.&amp;#160; The compact size and relatively lower cost of CHAPS makes a constellation feasible for the first time, with unprecedented spatiotemporal sampling of global point pollution sources. &amp;#160;NASA recently funded the development of a CHAPS&amp;#8211;Demonstrator (CHAPS-D), which will result in an airborne demonstration of a CHAPS prototype instrument. &amp;#160;CHAPS derives heritage from the TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) on the Sentinel-5 Precursor, which uses a freeform mirror telescope. &amp;#160;Freeform optics has potentially huge advantages over traditional optical designs, including fewer optical surfaces, less mass and volume, and improved image quality. &amp;#160;CHAPS-D combines a radiometrically calibrated freeform hyperspectral imager (300&amp;#8211;500 nm @ 0.5-nm resolution) with associated detector and payload electronics within the design constraints of a 6U CubeSat. &amp;#160;We present the measurement requirements and preliminary design of CHAPS-D.&lt;/p&gt;

scholarly journals Frontiers in air quality modelling

2014 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 203-210 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Colette ◽  
B. Bessagnet ◽  
F. Meleux ◽  
E. Terrenoire ◽  
L. Rouïl
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Atmospheric Chemistry ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
High Performance ◽  
Transport Model ◽  
Atomic Energy Commission ◽  
Computing System ◽  
Mitigation Strategies ◽  
Continental Scale ◽  
Computing Center

Abstract. The first pan-European kilometre-scale atmospheric chemistry simulation is introduced. The continental-scale air pollution episode of January 2009 is modelled with the CHIMERE offline chemistry transport model with a massive grid of 2 million horizontal points, performed on 2000 CPU of a high-performance computing system hosted by the Research and Technology Computing Center at the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CCRT/CEA). Besides the technical challenge, we find that model biases are significantly reduced, especially over urban areas. The high-resolution grid also allows revisiting of the contribution of individual city plumes to the European burden of pollution, providing new insights to target the appropriate geographical level of action when designing air pollution mitigation strategies.

scholarly journals The United States' Next Generation of Atmospheric Composition and Coastal Ecosystem Measurements: NASA's Geostationary Coastal and Air Pollution Events (GEO-CAPE) Mission

2012 ◽  
Vol 93 (10) ◽  
pp. 1547-1566 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Fishman ◽  
L. T. Iraci ◽  
J. Al-Saadi ◽  
K. Chance ◽  
F. Chavez ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Atmospheric Chemistry ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Temporal Frequency ◽  
Ocean Color ◽  
The United States ◽  
Coastal Ocean ◽  
Atmospheric Composition ◽  
Multiple Observations ◽  
Pollution Events

The Geostationary Coastal and Air Pollution Events (GEO-CAPE) mission was recommended by the National Research Council's (NRC's) Earth Science Decadal Survey to measure tropospheric trace gases and aerosols and coastal ocean phytoplankton, water quality, and biogeochemistry from geostationary orbit, providing continuous observations within the field of view. To fulfill the mandate and address the challenge put forth by the NRC, two GEO-CAPE Science Working Groups (SWGs), representing the atmospheric composition and ocean color disciplines, have developed realistic science objectives using input drawn from several community workshops. The GEO-CAPE mission will take advantage of this revolutionary advance in temporal frequency for both of these disciplines. Multiple observations per day are required to explore the physical, chemical, and dynamical processes that determine tropospheric composition and air quality over spatial scales ranging from urban to continental, and over temporal scales ranging from diurnal to seasonal. Likewise, high-frequency satellite observations are critical to studying and quantifying biological, chemical, and physical processes within the coastal ocean. These observations are to be achieved from a vantage point near 95°–100°W, providing a complete view of North America as well as the adjacent oceans. The SWGs have also endorsed the concept of phased implementation using commercial satellites to reduce mission risk and cost. GEO-CAPE will join the global constellation of geostationary atmospheric chemistry and coastal ocean color sensors planned to be in orbit in the 2020 time frame.

scholarly journals Geostationary Emission Explorer for Europe (G3E): mission concept and initial performance assessment

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (11) ◽  
pp. 4719-4734 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Butz ◽  
J. Orphal ◽  
R. Checa-Garcia ◽  
F. Friedl-Vallon ◽  
T. von Clarmann ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Dioxide ◽  
Carbon Monoxide ◽  
Performance Assessment ◽  
Central Europe ◽  
Near Infrared ◽  
Low Earth Orbit ◽  
Single Shot ◽  
Atmospheric Scattering ◽  
Continental Scale ◽  
Better Than

Abstract. The Geostationary Emission Explorer for Europe (G3E) is a concept for a geostationary satellite sounder that aims to constrain the sources and sinks of greenhouse gases carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) for continental-scale regions. Its primary focus is on central Europe. G3E carries a spectrometer system that collects sunlight backscattered from the Earth's surface and atmosphere in the near-infrared (NIR) and shortwave-infrared (SWIR) spectral range. Solar absorption spectra allow for spatiotemporally dense observations of the column-average concentrations of carbon dioxide (XCO2), methane (XCH4), and carbon monoxide (XCO). The mission concept in particular facilitates sampling of the diurnal variation with several measurements per day during summer. Here, we present the mission concept and carry out an initial performance assessment of the retrieval capabilities. The radiometric performance of the 4 grating spectrometers is tuned to reconcile small ground-pixel sizes (~2 km × 3 km at 50° latitude) with short single-shot exposures (~2.9 s) that allow for sampling continental regions such as central Europe within 2 h while providing a sufficient signal-to-noise ratio. The noise errors to be expected for XCO2, XCH4, and XCO are assessed through retrieval simulations for a European trial ensemble. Generally, single-shot precision for the targeted XCO2 and XCH4 is better than 0.5 % with some exception for scenes with low infrared surface albedo observed under low sun conditions in winter. For XCO, precision is generally better than 10 %. Performance for aerosol and cirrus loaded atmospheres is assessed by mimicking G3E's slant view on Europe for an ensemble of atmospheric scattering properties used previously for evaluating nadir-viewing low-Earth-orbit (LEO) satellites. While retrieval concepts developed for LEO configurations generally succeed in mitigating aerosol- and cirrus-induced retrieval errors for G3E's setup, residual errors are somewhat greater in geostationary orbit (GEO) than in LEO. G3E's deployment in the vicinity of the Meteosat Third Generation (MTG) satellites has the potential to make synergistic use of MTG's sounding capabilities e.g. with respect to characterization of aerosol and cloud properties or with respect to enhancing carbon monoxide retrievals by combining G3E's solar and MTG's thermal infrared spectra.

scholarly journals Calibrating a global atmospheric chemistry transport model using Gaussian process emulation and ground-level concentrations of ozone and carbon monoxide

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edmund Ryan ◽  
Oliver Wild
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Monoxide ◽  
Gaussian Process ◽  
Atmospheric Chemistry ◽  
Dry Deposition ◽  
Ground Level ◽  
Atmospheric Composition ◽  
Transport Models ◽  
Representation Error ◽  
Spatial Coverage ◽  
Gaussian Process Emulation

Abstract. Atmospheric chemistry transport models are important tools to investigate the local, regional and global controls on atmospheric composition and air quality. To ensure that these models represent the atmosphere adequately it is important to compare their outputs with measurements. However, ground based measurements of atmospheric composition are typically sparsely distributed and representative of much smaller spatial scales than those resolved in models, and thus direct comparison incurs uncertainty. In this study, we investigate the feasibility of using observations of one or more atmospheric constituents to estimate parameters in chemistry transport models and to explore how these estimates and their uncertainties depend upon representation errors and the level of spatial coverage of the measurements. We apply Gaussian process emulation to explore the model parameter space and use monthly averaged ground-level concentrations of ozone (O3) and carbon monoxide (CO) from across Europe and the US. Using synthetic observations we find that the estimates of parameters with greatest influence on O3 and CO are unbiased, and the associated parameter uncertainties are low even at low spatial coverage or with high representation error. Using reanalysis data, we find that estimates of the most influential parameter – corresponding to the dry deposition process – are closer to its expected value using both O3 and CO data than using O3 alone. This is remarkable because it shows that while CO is largely unaffected by dry deposition, the additional constraints it provides are valuable for achieving unbiased estimates of the dry deposition parameter. In summary, these findings identify the level of spatial representation error and coverage needed to achieve good parameter estimates and highlight the benefits of using multiple constraints to calibrate atmospheric chemistry models.

scholarly journals Ozone and carbon monoxide observations over open oceans on R/V <i>Mirai</i> from 67° S to 75° N during 2012 to 2017: testing global chemical reanalysis in terms of Arctic processes, low ozone levels at low latitudes, and pollution transport

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (11) ◽  
pp. 7233-7254 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yugo Kanaya ◽  
Kazuyuki Miyazaki ◽  
Fumikazu Taketani ◽  
Takuma Miyakawa ◽  
Hisahiro Takashima ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Monoxide ◽  
Atmospheric Chemistry ◽  
Forest Fires ◽  
Critical Evaluation ◽  
Tropospheric Chemistry ◽  
Set Covering ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Pollution Transport ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Air Masses

Abstract. Constraints from ozone (O3) observations over oceans are needed in addition to those from terrestrial regions to fully understand global tropospheric chemistry and its impact on the climate. Here, we provide a large data set of ozone and carbon monoxide (CO) levels observed (for 11 666 and 10 681 h, respectively) over oceans. The data set is derived from observations made during 24 research cruise legs of R/V Mirai during 2012 to 2017, in the Southern, Indian, Pacific, and Arctic oceans, covering the region from 67∘ S to 75∘ N. The data are suitable for critical evaluation of the over-ocean distribution of ozone derived from global atmospheric chemistry models. We first give an overview of the statistics in the data set and highlight key features in terms of geographical distribution and air mass type. We then use the data set to evaluate ozone mixing ratio fields from the tropospheric chemistry reanalysis version 2 (TCR-2), produced by assimilating a suite of satellite observations of multiple species into a global atmospheric chemistry model, namely CHASER. For long-range transport of polluted air masses from continents to the oceans, during which the effects of forest fires and fossil fuel combustion were recognized, TCR-2 gave an excellent performance in reproducing the observed temporal variations and photochemical buildup of O3 when assessed from ΔO3∕ΔCO ratios. For clean marine conditions with low and stable CO mixing ratios, two focused analyses were performed. The first was in the Arctic (> 70∘ N) in September every year from 2013 to 2016; TCR-2 underpredicted O3 levels by 6.7 ppbv (21 %) on average. The observed vertical profiles from O3 soundings from R/V Mirai during September 2014 had less steep vertical gradients at low altitudes (> 850 hPa) than those obtained by TCR-2. This suggests the possibility of a more efficient descent of the O3-rich air from above than assumed in the models. For TCR-2 (CHASER), dry deposition on the Arctic ocean surface might also have been overestimated. In the second analysis, over the western Pacific equatorial region (125–165∘ E, 10∘ S to 25∘ N), the observed O3 level more frequently decreased to less than 10 ppbv in comparison to that obtained with TCR-2 and also those obtained in most of the Atmospheric Chemistry Climate Model Intercomparison Project (ACCMIP) model runs for the decade from 2000. These results imply loss processes that are unaccounted for in the models. We found that the model's positive bias positively correlated with the daytime residence times of air masses over a particular grid, namely 165–180∘ E and 15–30∘ N; an additional loss rate of 0.25 ppbv h−1 in the grid best explained the gap. Halogen chemistry, which is commonly omitted from currently used models, might be active in this region and could have contributed to additional losses. Our open data set covering wide ocean regions is complementary to the Tropospheric Ozone Assessment Report data set, which basically comprises ground-based observations and enables a fully global study of the behavior of O3.

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