Deriving CO2 emissions of localized sources from OCO-3 XCO2 and TROPOMI NO2 satellite data

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Blanca Fuentes Andrade ◽  
Michael Buchwitz ◽  
Maximilian Reuter ◽  
Heinrich Bovensmann ◽  
John P. Burrows
Keyword(s):  
Greenhouse Gas ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Background Concentration ◽  
Vertical Column ◽  
Greenhouse Gas Inventories ◽  
Main Driver ◽  
National Greenhouse Gas Inventories ◽  
Individual Source ◽  
Localized Sources

<p>Carbon dioxide (CO<sub>2</sub>) is the most important anthropogenic greenhouse gas and the main driver of global warming. Its atmospheric concentrations have risen more than 40% since pre-industrial times. Almost 90% of this increase results from fossil fuel combustion, emitting CO<sub>2</sub> predominantly from localized sources. In order to track the reduction efforts to comply with the objectives of the Paris Agreement, emissions need to be monitored. For this purpose, bottom-up emission estimates are regularly reported in the national greenhouse gas inventories. Top-down observation-based estimates can complement and verify these inventories. Satellite observations have an important role in this context, since they can provide global information.</p> <p>Due to CO<sub>2</sub>'s long lifetime and large fluxes of natural origin, the column-average concentrations resulting from anthropogenic emissions from individual source points are usually small compared to the background concentration, and these enhancements are often barely larger than the satellite's instrument noise. This makes the detection of CO<sub>2</sub> emission plumes and the quantification of anthropogenic fluxes challenging.</p> <p>NO<sub>2</sub> is co-emitted with CO<sub>2</sub> in the combustion of fossil fuels. It has a much shorter lifetime, and as a result, its vertical column densities can exceed background values and sensor noise by orders of magnitude in emission plumes. This makes it a suitable tracer for recently emitted CO<sub>2</sub>.</p> <p>The objective of this study is to quantify the CO<sub>2</sub> emissions from localized sources such as power plants by using XCO<sub>2</sub> (the column-averaged dry air mole fraction of CO<sub>2</sub>) retrievals from the Orbiting Carbon Observatory 3 (OCO-3) in its snapshot area mode. Our presentation describes a plume detection method using NO<sub>2</sub> as a tracer for recently emitted CO<sub>2</sub> and an inversion technique to quantify CO<sub>2</sub> emissions from detected CO<sub>2</sub> plumes.</p>

scholarly journals Towards monitoring localized CO<sub>2</sub> emissions from space: co-located regional CO<sub>2</sub> and NO<sub>2</sub> enhancements observed by the OCO-2 and S5P satellites

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maximilian Reuter ◽  
Michael Buchwitz ◽  
Oliver Schneising ◽  
Sven Krautwurst ◽  
Christopher W. O'Dell ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Dioxide ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Open Data ◽  
Point Sources ◽  
Background Concentration ◽  
Multiple Sources ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Fire Emissions ◽  
Dry Air

Abstract. Despite its key role for climate change, large uncertainties persist in our knowledge of the anthropogenic emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) and no global observing system exists allowing to monitor emissions from localized CO2 sources with sufficient accuracy. The Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) satellite can retrieve the column-average dry-air mole fractions of CO2 (XCO2). However, regional column-average enhancements of individual point sources are usually small compared to the background concentration and its natural variability. This makes the unambiguous identification and quantification of anthropogenic emission plume signals challenging. NO2 is co-emitted with CO2 when fossil fuels are combusted at high temperatures. It has a short lifetime of the order of hours so that NO2 columns often exceed background levels by orders of magnitude near sources making it a suitable tracer of recently emitted CO2. Based on six case studies (Moscow, Russia; Lipetsk, Russia; Baghdad, Iraq; Medupi and Matimba power plants, South Africa; Australian wildfires; and Nanjing, China), we demonstrate the usefulness of simultaneous satellite observations of NO2 and the column-average dry-air mole fraction of CO2 (XCO2). For this purpose, we analyze co-located regional enhancements of XCO2 observed by OCO-2 and NO2 observed by the Sentinel-5 Precursor (S5P) satellite and estimate the CO2 plume's cross-sectional fluxes. We take advantage of the nearly simultaneous NO2 measurements with S5P's wide swath by identifying the source of the observed XCO2 enhancements, excluding interference with remote upwind sources, allowing to adjust the wind direction, and by constraining the shape of the CO2 plumes. We compare the inferred cross-sectional fluxes with the Emissions Database for Global Atmospheric Research (EDGAR), the Open-Data Inventory for Anthropogenic Carbon dioxide (ODIAC), and, in the case of the Australian wildfires, with the Global Fire Emissions Database (GFED). The inferred cross-sectional fluxes range from 32 Mt CO2/a to 158 Mt CO2/a with uncertainties (1σ) between 23 % and 72 %. For the majority of analyzed emission sources, the estimated cross-sectional fluxes agree within their uncertainty with either EDGAR or ODIAC or lie in between them. We assess the contribution of multiple sources of uncertainty and find that the dominating contributions are related to the computation of the effective wind speed normal to the plume's cross-section. The planned European Copernicus anthropogenic CO2 monitoring mission (CO2M) will not only provide precise measurements with high spatial resolution but also imaging capabilities with a wider swath of simultaneous XCO2 and NO2 observations. Such a mission, in particular as a constellation of satellites, will deliver CO2 emission estimates from localized sources at an unprecedented frequency and level of accuracy.

scholarly journals The analysis of carbon footprint of the settlement activity in the village of Pedurungan District, Semarang City, Central Java Province

2021 ◽  
Vol 909 (1) ◽  
pp. 012016
Author(s):  
Y I Rahmila ◽  
I M Kusuma ◽  
Syafrudin
Keyword(s):  
Greenhouse Gases ◽  
Greenhouse Gas ◽  
Carbon Footprint ◽  
Greenhouse Gas Inventories ◽  
Central Java ◽  
Transportation Sector ◽  
Ipcc Guidelines ◽  
National Greenhouse Gas Inventories ◽  
The Village ◽  
Central Java Province

Abstract Some important sectors influenced the increase of greenhouse gases, such as waste, transportation, settlement, and agricultural sectors. This research aimed to analyze the amount of CO2 emissions, map the carbon footprint, and analyze tree capability in reducing CO2 in 12 villages in Pedurungan district, Semarang city, Central Java. The method used was based on IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories 2006 and Ministry of Environment 2012 about the Implementation of National Greenhouse Gas Inventories Guidelines. The carbon footprint was mapped using ArcGIS software. The results showed that the energy sector produced 13.723,35 tons CO2 Eq, the transportation sector emitted 1.624,58 tons CO2 Eq, and the waste sector emitted 7.677,08 CO2 Eq. The carbon footprint map was presented in three classifications of carbon footprint: lower, middle, and upper, represented by green, yellow, and red colors. An effort to reduce the carbon footprint was planting 300 trees of ten species in the Pedurungan district.

scholarly journals Towards monitoring localized CO<sub>2</sub> emissions from space: co-located regional CO<sub>2</sub> and NO<sub>2</sub> enhancements observed by the OCO-2 and S5P satellites

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (14) ◽  
pp. 9371-9383 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maximilian Reuter ◽  
Michael Buchwitz ◽  
Oliver Schneising ◽  
Sven Krautwurst ◽  
Christopher W. O'Dell ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Dioxide ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Open Data ◽  
Point Sources ◽  
Measurement Noise ◽  
Background Concentration ◽  
Multiple Sources ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Fire Emissions

Abstract. Despite its key role in climate change, large uncertainties persist in our knowledge of the anthropogenic emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) and no global observing system exists that allows us to monitor emissions from localized CO2 sources with sufficient accuracy. The Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) satellite allows retrievals of the column-average dry-air mole fractions of CO2 (XCO2). However, regional column-average enhancements of individual point sources are usually small, compared to the background concentration and its natural variability, and often not much larger than the satellite's measurement noise. This makes the unambiguous identification and quantification of anthropogenic emission plume signals challenging. NO2 is co-emitted with CO2 when fossil fuels are combusted at high temperatures. It has a short lifetime on the order of hours so that NO2 columns often greatly exceed background and noise levels of modern satellite sensors near sources, which makes it a suitable tracer of recently emitted CO2. Based on six case studies (Moscow, Russia; Lipetsk, Russia; Baghdad, Iraq; Medupi and Matimba power plants, South Africa; Australian wildfires; and Nanjing, China), we demonstrate the usefulness of simultaneous satellite observations of NO2 and XCO2. For this purpose, we analyze co-located regional enhancements of XCO2 observed by OCO-2 and NO2 from the Sentinel-5 Precursor (S5P) satellite and estimate the CO2 plume's cross-sectional fluxes. We take advantage of the nearly simultaneous NO2 measurements with S5P's wide swath and small measurement noise by identifying the source of the observed XCO2 enhancements, excluding interference with remote upwind sources, allowing us to adjust the wind direction, and by constraining the shape of the CO2 plumes. We compare the inferred cross-sectional fluxes with the Emissions Database for Global Atmospheric Research (EDGAR), the Open-Data Inventory for Anthropogenic Carbon dioxide (ODIAC), and, in the case of the Australian wildfires, with the Global Fire Emissions Database (GFED). The inferred cross-sectional fluxes range from 31 MtCO2 a−1 to 153 MtCO2 a−1 with uncertainties (1σ) between 23 % and 72 %. For the majority of analyzed emission sources, the estimated cross-sectional fluxes agree, within their uncertainty, with either EDGAR or ODIAC or lie somewhere between them. We assess the contribution of multiple sources of uncertainty and find that the dominating contributions are related to the computation of the effective wind speed normal to the plume's cross section. The flux uncertainties are expected to be reduced by the planned European Copernicus anthropogenic CO2 monitoring mission (CO2M), which will provide not only precise measurements with high spatial resolution but also imaging capabilities with a wider swath of simultaneous XCO2 and NO2 observations. Such a mission, particularly if performed by a constellation of satellites, will deliver CO2 emission estimates from localized sources at an unprecedented frequency and level of accuracy.

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