A team of researchers estimated the carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from coal-fired power plants and other major anthropogenic point sources in the South African Highveld region using space-based data. The results indicate that CO2 emissions can be obtained also in challenging cases where the plumes from multiple sources overlap. The new publication characterizes CO2 emissions …
The ESA Methane+ project aims at exploiting the SWIR and TIR CH4 observations from different satellites in order to better differentiate between sources and sinks of CH4 on the regional and global scale. For this we will use the CH4 observations of TROPOMI on Copernicus Sentinel-5p, IASI on MetOp-B, and CrIS on Suomi NPP in combination with atmospheric inversion models. OBJECTIVES: Given the identified opportunities and challenges of …
Currently we speak of the ‘golden age’ of Earth Observation (EO). Not only can we access a variety of data from heritage and current EO missions serving scientific and operational needs, new systems for monitoring our blue planet are constantly being planned, built, and sent into the Earth orbit. Regarding atmospheric science, a major step …
A recent study provides maps of man-made carbon dioxide anomalies around the globe. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is the most important anthropogenic greenhouse gas and its increase in the atmosphere is responsible for the global warming. CO2 is emitted into the atmosphere by the burning of fossil fuels. Satellite-based observations provide information on the concentration of …
Methane continues to increase in our atmosphere, and now researchers want to quantify the role of high Northern latitudes to this increase. Earth-observing satellites open the window to this remote, rapidly changing environment. Carbon cycle in the Arctic and boreal regions links strongly to the evolving cryosphere – ice, snow and frost. Especially natural methane …
The project aims at developing a new methodology for detecting anthropogenic carbon dioxide emission sources. CO2 data from OCO-2 and NO2, SO2 and CO data from Sentinel-5P are collocated. The plan is to analyze these data in synergy to better detect anthropogenic CO2 sources and plumes. In detail OCO-2 XCO2 data is deseasonalized and detrended, …
The project will investigate Northern Hemisphere methane (CH4) sources and their connection to the soil freezing and thawing at high latitudes. We will innovatively combine methods for monitoring of CH4 (methane) emissions in the Northern Hemisphere by applying both data from Earth Observing (EO) satellites and global atmospheric methane inversion model estimates. The EO data …
Living Planet Fellowship research project carried out by Diane Knappett. Global distributions of the methane (CH4) column average and carbon monoxide (CO) total column are observable by satellite shortwave infrared (SWIR) spectrometers through detection of surface-reflected solar radiation. Observations by ENVISAT SCIAMACHY and GOSAT-TANSO have been exploited extensively to investigate biogenic, pyrogenic and anthropogenic sources …
Living Planet Fellowship research project carried out by Jasdeep Singh Anand. Terrestrial ecosystems are a major carbon pool, and so act to mitigate anthropogenic climate change. However, vegetation in these carbon pools are damaged by tropospheric O3, which is formed from anthropogenic NOx and aerosol emissions. Damaged vegetation cannot sequester as much carbon, so this …
