Quantification of local methane emissions from the energy sector
Oliver Schneising, Institute of Environmental Physics, University of Bremen, oliver.schneising@iup.physik.uni-bremen.de (Presenter)
Michael Buchwitz, Institute of Environmental Physics, University of Bremen, buchwitz@uni-bremen.de
Maximilian Reuter, Institute of Environmental Physics, University of Bremen, mreuter@iup.physik.uni-bremen.de
Steffen Vanselow, Institute of Environmental Physics, University of Bremen, vanselow@iup.physik.uni-bremen.de
Heinrich Bovensmann, Institute of Environmental Physics, University of Bremen, heinrich.bovensmann@uni-bremen.de
John P. Burrows, Institute of Environmental Physics, University of Bremen, burrows@iup.physik.uni-bremen.de
Methane (CH4) is an important greenhouse gas, which accounts for the second-largest share of radiative forcing caused by human activities since preindustrial times. It has a much shorter atmospheric lifetime and a considerably higher global warming potential than the most important anthropogenically modified greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide (CO2). Hence, a combined climate change mitigation strategy, aiming at reducing both CO2 and CH4 emissions in parallel, addresses long-term and near-term effects of global warming and is required to achieve climate goals most efficiently.
The TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) onboard the Sentinel-5 Precursor satellite, which was successfully launched in October 2017, is a spaceborne nadir-viewing imaging spectrometer measuring solar radiation reflected by the Earth in a push-broom configuration. It has a wide swath on the terrestrial surface and covers wavelength bands between the ultraviolet (UV) and the shortwave infrared (SWIR), combining a high spatial resolution with daily global coverage. Abundances of the atmospheric column-averaged dry air mole fractions XCH4 are retrieved from TROPOMI's radiance measurements in the 2.3 μm spectral range of the SWIR part of the solar spectrum using the scientific retrieval algorithm Weighting Function Modified Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy (WFM-DOAS).
TROPOMI's unique combination of high precision, accuracy, and spatiotemporal coverage enables the systematic detection of sufficiently large emission sources in a single satellite overpass. We present a method for the quantification of hot spot emissions based on daily recurrent TROPOMI observations and apply it to determine local methane emissions from the energy sector, analysing examples from the oil, gas, and coal industry in North America, Central Asia, and Europe.
Poster: Poster_Schneising__75_25.pdf
Presentation Type: Poster
Session: 3.5b Observations to quantify hot spots and local/urban emissions
Session Date: Wednesday (6/16) 12:00 PM