Articles | Volume 23, issue 19
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-12907-2023
© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-12907-2023
© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
13 Oct 2023
Research article |
| 13 Oct 2023
| 13 Oct 2023
Estimation of power plant SO2 emissions using the HYSPLIT dispersion model and airborne observations with plume rise ensemble runs
NOAA Air Resources Laboratory (ARL), NOAA Center for Weather and Climate Prediction, 5830 University Research Court, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Cooperative Institute for Satellites Earth System Studies (CISESS), University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Xinrong Ren
NOAA Air Resources Laboratory (ARL), NOAA Center for Weather and Climate Prediction, 5830 University Research Court, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Fong Ngan
NOAA Air Resources Laboratory (ARL), NOAA Center for Weather and Climate Prediction, 5830 University Research Court, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Cooperative Institute for Satellites Earth System Studies (CISESS), University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Mark Cohen
NOAA Air Resources Laboratory (ARL), NOAA Center for Weather and Climate Prediction, 5830 University Research Court, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Alice Crawford
NOAA Air Resources Laboratory (ARL), NOAA Center for Weather and Climate Prediction, 5830 University Research Court, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Related authors
Alice Crawford, Tianfeng Chai, Binyu Wang, Allison Ring, Barbara Stunder, Christopher P. Loughner, Michael Pavolonis, and Justin Sieglaff
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 13967–13996, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-13967-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-13967-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
This study describes the development of a workflow which produces probabilistic and quantitative forecasts of volcanic ash in the atmosphere. The workflow includes methods of incorporating satellite observations of the ash cloud into a modeling framework as well as verification statistics that can be used to guide further model development and provide information for risk-based approaches to flight planning.
Siqi Ma, Daniel Tong, Lok Lamsal, Julian Wang, Xuelei Zhang, Youhua Tang, Rick Saylor, Tianfeng Chai, Pius Lee, Patrick Campbell, Barry Baker, Shobha Kondragunta, Laura Judd, Timothy A. Berkoff, Scott J. Janz, and Ivanka Stajner
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 16531–16553, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-16531-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-16531-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Predicting high ozone gets more challenging as urban emissions decrease. How can different techniques be used to foretell the quality of air to better protect human health? We tested four techniques with the CMAQ model against observations during a field campaign over New York City. The new system proves to better predict the magnitude and timing of high ozone. These approaches can be extended to other regions to improve the predictability of high-O3 episodes in contemporary urban environments.
Yilin Chen, Huizhong Shen, Jennifer Kaiser, Yongtao Hu, Shannon L. Capps, Shunliu Zhao, Amir Hakami, Jhih-Shyang Shih, Gertrude K. Pavur, Matthew D. Turner, Daven K. Henze, Jaroslav Resler, Athanasios Nenes, Sergey L. Napelenok, Jesse O. Bash, Kathleen M. Fahey, Gregory R. Carmichael, Tianfeng Chai, Lieven Clarisse, Pierre-François Coheur, Martin Van Damme, and Armistead G. Russell
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 2067–2082, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-2067-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-2067-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Ammonia (NH3) emissions can exert adverse impacts on air quality and ecosystem well-being. NH3 emission inventories are viewed as highly uncertain. Here we optimize the NH3 emission estimates in the US using an air quality model and NH3 measurements from the IASI satellite instruments. The optimized NH3 emissions are much higher than the National Emissions Inventory estimates in April. The optimized NH3 emissions improved model performance when evaluated against independent observation.
Liqiang Wang, Shaocai Yu, Pengfei Li, Xue Chen, Zhen Li, Yibo Zhang, Mengying Li, Khalid Mehmood, Weiping Liu, Tianfeng Chai, Yannian Zhu, Daniel Rosenfeld, and John H. Seinfeld
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 14787–14800, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-14787-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-14787-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
The Chinese government has made major strides in curbing anthropogenic emissions. In this study, we constrain a state-of-the-art CTM by a reliable data assimilation method with extensive chemical and meteorological observations. This comprehensive technical design provides a crucial advance in isolating the influences of emission changes and meteorological perturbations over the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) from 2016 to 2019, thus establishing the first map of the PM2.5 mitigation across the YRD.
Hyun Cheol Kim, Tianfeng Chai, Ariel Stein, and Shobha Kondragunta
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 10259–10277, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-10259-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-10259-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Smoke forecasts have been challenged by high uncertainty in fire emission estimates. We develop an inverse modeling system, the HYSPLIT-based Emissions Inverse Modeling System for wildfires, that estimates wildfire emissions from the transport and dispersion of smoke plumes as measured by satellite observations. Using NOAA HYSPLIT and GOES Aerosol/Smoke Product (GASP), the system resolves smoke source strength as a function of time and vertical level and outperforms current operational system.
Shunliu Zhao, Matthew G. Russell, Amir Hakami, Shannon L. Capps, Matthew D. Turner, Daven K. Henze, Peter B. Percell, Jaroslav Resler, Huizhong Shen, Armistead G. Russell, Athanasios Nenes, Amanda J. Pappin, Sergey L. Napelenok, Jesse O. Bash, Kathleen M. Fahey, Gregory R. Carmichael, Charles O. Stanier, and Tianfeng Chai
Geosci. Model Dev., 13, 2925–2944, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-13-2925-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-13-2925-2020, 2020
Tianfeng Chai, Ariel Stein, and Fong Ngan
Geosci. Model Dev., 11, 5135–5148, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-11-5135-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-11-5135-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
While model predictions depend on release parameters, model uncertainties in inverse modeling should also vary with the source terms. In this paper, model uncertainties that will change with the source terms are introduced in a weak-constraint inverse modeling system. Tests using HYSPLIT model and CAPTEX observations show that adding such model uncertainty terms improves release rate estimates. A cost function normalization scheme introduced to avoid spurious solutions proves to be effective.
Youhua Tang, Mariusz Pagowski, Tianfeng Chai, Li Pan, Pius Lee, Barry Baker, Rajesh Kumar, Luca Delle Monache, Daniel Tong, and Hyun-Cheol Kim
Geosci. Model Dev., 10, 4743–4758, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-10-4743-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-10-4743-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
In order to evaluate the data assimilation tools for regional real-time PM2.5 forecasts, we applied a 3D-Var assimilation tool to adjust the aerosol initial condition by assimilating satellite-retrieved aerosol optical depth and surface PM2.5 observations for a regional air quality model, which is compared to another assimilation method, optimal interpolation. We discuss the pros and cons of these two assimilation methods based on the comparison of their 1-month four-cycles-per-day runs.
Tianfeng Chai, Alice Crawford, Barbara Stunder, Michael J. Pavolonis, Roland Draxler, and Ariel Stein
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 2865–2879, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-2865-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-2865-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
An inverse system based on the HYSPLIT dispersion model has been built to estimate volcanic ash source strengths, vertical distribution, and temporal variations. Using MODIS retrievals from the 2008 Kasatochi volcanic ash clouds, three options for matching model results to satellite mass loadings are tested. They all show decent skill. It is also found that simultaneously assimilating observations at different times produces better hindcasts than only assimilating the most recent observations.
T. Chai, H.-C. Kim, P. Lee, D. Tong, L. Pan, Y. Tang, J. Huang, J. McQueen, M. Tsidulko, and I. Stajner
Geosci. Model Dev., 6, 1831–1850, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-6-1831-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-6-1831-2013, 2013
M. Huang, G. R. Carmichael, T. Chai, R. B. Pierce, S. J. Oltmans, D. A. Jaffe, K. W. Bowman, A. Kaduwela, C. Cai, S. N. Spak, A. J. Weinheimer, L. G. Huey, and G. S. Diskin
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 359–391, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-359-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-359-2013, 2013
Rui Zhang, Yuying Wang, Zhanqing Li, Zhibin Wang, Russell R. Dickerson, Xinrong Ren, Hao He, Fei Wang, Ying Gao, Xi Chen, Jialu Xu, Yafang Cheng, and Hang Su
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 14879–14891, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-14879-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-14879-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Factors of cloud condensation nuclei number concentration (NCCN) profiles determined in the North China Plain include air mass sources, temperature structure, anthropogenic emissions, and terrain distribution. Cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) spectra suggest that the ability of aerosol activation into CCN is stronger in southeasterly than in northwesterly air masses and stronger in the free atmosphere than near the surface. A good method to parameterize NCCN from aerosol optical data is found.
Alice Crawford, Tianfeng Chai, Binyu Wang, Allison Ring, Barbara Stunder, Christopher P. Loughner, Michael Pavolonis, and Justin Sieglaff
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 13967–13996, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-13967-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-13967-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
This study describes the development of a workflow which produces probabilistic and quantitative forecasts of volcanic ash in the atmosphere. The workflow includes methods of incorporating satellite observations of the ash cloud into a modeling framework as well as verification statistics that can be used to guide further model development and provide information for risk-based approaches to flight planning.
Siqi Ma, Daniel Tong, Lok Lamsal, Julian Wang, Xuelei Zhang, Youhua Tang, Rick Saylor, Tianfeng Chai, Pius Lee, Patrick Campbell, Barry Baker, Shobha Kondragunta, Laura Judd, Timothy A. Berkoff, Scott J. Janz, and Ivanka Stajner
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 16531–16553, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-16531-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-16531-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Predicting high ozone gets more challenging as urban emissions decrease. How can different techniques be used to foretell the quality of air to better protect human health? We tested four techniques with the CMAQ model against observations during a field campaign over New York City. The new system proves to better predict the magnitude and timing of high ozone. These approaches can be extended to other regions to improve the predictability of high-O3 episodes in contemporary urban environments.
Hyun Cheol Kim, Soontae Kim, Mark Cohen, Changhan Bae, Dasom Lee, Rick Saylor, Minah Bae, Eunhye Kim, Byeong-Uk Kim, Jin-Ho Yoon, and Ariel Stein
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 10065–10080, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-10065-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-10065-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Global outbreaks of COVID-19 offer rare opportunities of natural experiments in emission control and corresponding responses of tropospheric chemistry. This study's novel approach investigates (1) isolating the pandemic's impact from natural and anthropogenic variations, (2) emission adjustment to reproduce real-time emissions, and (3) brute-force modeling to investigate Chinese economic activities. Results provide characteristics of the region's chemistry and emissions.
Yilin Chen, Huizhong Shen, Jennifer Kaiser, Yongtao Hu, Shannon L. Capps, Shunliu Zhao, Amir Hakami, Jhih-Shyang Shih, Gertrude K. Pavur, Matthew D. Turner, Daven K. Henze, Jaroslav Resler, Athanasios Nenes, Sergey L. Napelenok, Jesse O. Bash, Kathleen M. Fahey, Gregory R. Carmichael, Tianfeng Chai, Lieven Clarisse, Pierre-François Coheur, Martin Van Damme, and Armistead G. Russell
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 2067–2082, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-2067-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-2067-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Ammonia (NH3) emissions can exert adverse impacts on air quality and ecosystem well-being. NH3 emission inventories are viewed as highly uncertain. Here we optimize the NH3 emission estimates in the US using an air quality model and NH3 measurements from the IASI satellite instruments. The optimized NH3 emissions are much higher than the National Emissions Inventory estimates in April. The optimized NH3 emissions improved model performance when evaluated against independent observation.
Liqiang Wang, Shaocai Yu, Pengfei Li, Xue Chen, Zhen Li, Yibo Zhang, Mengying Li, Khalid Mehmood, Weiping Liu, Tianfeng Chai, Yannian Zhu, Daniel Rosenfeld, and John H. Seinfeld
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 14787–14800, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-14787-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-14787-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
The Chinese government has made major strides in curbing anthropogenic emissions. In this study, we constrain a state-of-the-art CTM by a reliable data assimilation method with extensive chemical and meteorological observations. This comprehensive technical design provides a crucial advance in isolating the influences of emission changes and meteorological perturbations over the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) from 2016 to 2019, thus establishing the first map of the PM2.5 mitigation across the YRD.
Benjamin Gaubert, Louisa K. Emmons, Kevin Raeder, Simone Tilmes, Kazuyuki Miyazaki, Avelino F. Arellano Jr., Nellie Elguindi, Claire Granier, Wenfu Tang, Jérôme Barré, Helen M. Worden, Rebecca R. Buchholz, David P. Edwards, Philipp Franke, Jeffrey L. Anderson, Marielle Saunois, Jason Schroeder, Jung-Hun Woo, Isobel J. Simpson, Donald R. Blake, Simone Meinardi, Paul O. Wennberg, John Crounse, Alex Teng, Michelle Kim, Russell R. Dickerson, Hao He, Xinrong Ren, Sally E. Pusede, and Glenn S. Diskin
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 14617–14647, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-14617-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-14617-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
This study investigates carbon monoxide pollution in East Asia during spring using a numerical model, satellite remote sensing, and aircraft measurements. We found an underestimation of emission sources. Correcting the emission bias can improve air quality forecasting of carbon monoxide and other species including ozone. Results also suggest that controlling VOC and CO emissions, in addition to widespread NOx controls, can improve ozone pollution over East Asia.
Sarah E. Benish, Hao He, Xinrong Ren, Sandra J. Roberts, Ross J. Salawitch, Zhanqing Li, Fei Wang, Yuying Wang, Fang Zhang, Min Shao, Sihua Lu, and Russell R. Dickerson
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 14523–14545, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-14523-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-14523-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Airborne observations of ozone and related pollutants show smog was pervasive in spring 2016 over Hebei Province, China. We find high amounts of ozone precursors throughout and even above the PBL, continuing to generate ozone at high rates to be potentially transported downwind. Concentrations even in the rural areas of this highly industrialized province promote widespread ozone production, and we show that to improve air quality over Hebei both NOx and VOCs should be targeted.
Wayne M. Angevine, Jeff Peischl, Alice Crawford, Christopher P. Loughner, Ilana B. Pollack, and Chelsea R. Thompson
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 11855–11868, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-11855-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-11855-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Emissions of air pollutants must be known for a wide variety of applications. Different methods of estimating emissions often disagree substantially. In this study, we apply standard methods to a well-known source, a power plant. We explore the uncertainty implied by the different answers that come from the different methods, different samples taken over several years, and different pollutants. We find that the overall uncertainty of emissions estimates is about 30 %.
Hyun Cheol Kim, Tianfeng Chai, Ariel Stein, and Shobha Kondragunta
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 10259–10277, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-10259-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-10259-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Smoke forecasts have been challenged by high uncertainty in fire emission estimates. We develop an inverse modeling system, the HYSPLIT-based Emissions Inverse Modeling System for wildfires, that estimates wildfire emissions from the transport and dispersion of smoke plumes as measured by satellite observations. Using NOAA HYSPLIT and GOES Aerosol/Smoke Product (GASP), the system resolves smoke source strength as a function of time and vertical level and outperforms current operational system.
Shunliu Zhao, Matthew G. Russell, Amir Hakami, Shannon L. Capps, Matthew D. Turner, Daven K. Henze, Peter B. Percell, Jaroslav Resler, Huizhong Shen, Armistead G. Russell, Athanasios Nenes, Amanda J. Pappin, Sergey L. Napelenok, Jesse O. Bash, Kathleen M. Fahey, Gregory R. Carmichael, Charles O. Stanier, and Tianfeng Chai
Geosci. Model Dev., 13, 2925–2944, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-13-2925-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-13-2925-2020, 2020
Wenfu Tang, Helen M. Worden, Merritt N. Deeter, David P. Edwards, Louisa K. Emmons, Sara Martínez-Alonso, Benjamin Gaubert, Rebecca R. Buchholz, Glenn S. Diskin, Russell R. Dickerson, Xinrong Ren, Hao He, and Yutaka Kondo
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 1337–1356, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-1337-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-1337-2020, 2020
Yang Wang, Steffen Dörner, Sebastian Donner, Sebastian Böhnke, Isabelle De Smedt, Russell R. Dickerson, Zipeng Dong, Hao He, Zhanqing Li, Zhengqiang Li, Donghui Li, Dong Liu, Xinrong Ren, Nicolas Theys, Yuying Wang, Yang Wang, Zhenzhu Wang, Hua Xu, Jiwei Xu, and Thomas Wagner
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 5417–5449, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-5417-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-5417-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
A MAX-DOAS instrument was operated to derive tropospheric vertical profiles of NO2, SO2, HONO, HCHO, CHOCHO and aerosols in the central western North China Plain in May and June 2016. The MAX-DOAS results are verified by comparisons with a collocated Raman lidar, overpass aircraft measurements, a sun photometer and in situ measurements. The contributions of regional transports and local emissions to the pollutants are evaluated based on case studies and statistic analysis.
Hao He, Xinrong Ren, Sarah E. Benish, Zhanqing Li, Fei Wang, Yuying Wang, Timothy P. Canty, Xiaobo Dong, Feng Lv, Yongtao Hu, Tong Zhu, and Russell R. Dickerson
Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2019-248, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2019-248, 2019
Revised manuscript not accepted
Short summary
Short summary
We conducted aircraft measurements of air pollution in the North China Plain. Concentrations of air pollutants higher than the air quality standards were observed. Our modeling study indicates that the rate of ozone (one major air pollutant) production is determined by volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which is confirmed by satellite observations. Currently, VOCs are not well regulated in China, so this study suggests the future direction of control measures to improve air quality in China.
Tianfeng Chai, Ariel Stein, and Fong Ngan
Geosci. Model Dev., 11, 5135–5148, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-11-5135-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-11-5135-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
While model predictions depend on release parameters, model uncertainties in inverse modeling should also vary with the source terms. In this paper, model uncertainties that will change with the source terms are introduced in a weak-constraint inverse modeling system. Tests using HYSPLIT model and CAPTEX observations show that adding such model uncertainty terms improves release rate estimates. A cost function normalization scheme introduced to avoid spurious solutions proves to be effective.
William H. Brune, Xinrong Ren, Li Zhang, Jingqiu Mao, David O. Miller, Bruce E. Anderson, Donald R. Blake, Ronald C. Cohen, Glenn S. Diskin, Samuel R. Hall, Thomas F. Hanisco, L. Gregory Huey, Benjamin A. Nault, Jeff Peischl, Ilana Pollack, Thomas B. Ryerson, Taylor Shingler, Armin Sorooshian, Kirk Ullmann, Armin Wisthaler, and Paul J. Wooldridge
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 14493–14510, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-14493-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-14493-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
Thunderstorms pull in polluted air from near the ground, transport it up through clouds containing lightning, and deposit it at altitudes where airplanes fly. The resulting chemical mixture in this air reacts to form ozone and particles, which affect climate. In this study, aircraft observations of the reactive gases responsible for this chemistry generally agree with modeled values, even in ice clouds. Thus, atmospheric oxidation chemistry appears to be mostly understood for this environment.
Fei Wang, Zhanqing Li, Xinrong Ren, Qi Jiang, Hao He, Russell R. Dickerson, Xiaobo Dong, and Feng Lv
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 8995–9010, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-8995-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-8995-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
Aerosol optical profiles are characterized for the first time over the North China Plain by aircraft measurements. Statistical summaries of the vertical distributions of aerosol optical properties focused on four target areas in the NCP region. Three typical PBL structures were found and the aerosol scattering coefficients showed different correlations with ambient RH during the field campaign. The air mass back trajectories of three PBL structures were also discussed.
Kenneth E. Christian, William H. Brune, Jingqiu Mao, and Xinrong Ren
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 2443–2460, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-2443-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-2443-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
We applied a global sensitivity analysis to the GEOS-Chem chemical transport model analyzing some well-studied tropospheric oxidants for a time period corresponding to an aircraft field campaign. We find modeled results generally agree with measurements when uncertainties in both the model and measurements are taken into account. While model results were largely sensitive to emissions, chemical reaction rates also represented a large source of uncertainty.
Youhua Tang, Mariusz Pagowski, Tianfeng Chai, Li Pan, Pius Lee, Barry Baker, Rajesh Kumar, Luca Delle Monache, Daniel Tong, and Hyun-Cheol Kim
Geosci. Model Dev., 10, 4743–4758, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-10-4743-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-10-4743-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
In order to evaluate the data assimilation tools for regional real-time PM2.5 forecasts, we applied a 3D-Var assimilation tool to adjust the aerosol initial condition by assimilating satellite-retrieved aerosol optical depth and surface PM2.5 observations for a regional air quality model, which is compared to another assimilation method, optimal interpolation. We discuss the pros and cons of these two assimilation methods based on the comparison of their 1-month four-cycles-per-day runs.
Johannes Bieser, Franz Slemr, Jesse Ambrose, Carl Brenninkmeijer, Steve Brooks, Ashu Dastoor, Francesco DeSimone, Ralf Ebinghaus, Christian N. Gencarelli, Beate Geyer, Lynne E. Gratz, Ian M. Hedgecock, Daniel Jaffe, Paul Kelley, Che-Jen Lin, Lyatt Jaegle, Volker Matthias, Andrei Ryjkov, Noelle E. Selin, Shaojie Song, Oleg Travnikov, Andreas Weigelt, Winston Luke, Xinrong Ren, Andreas Zahn, Xin Yang, Yun Zhu, and Nicola Pirrone
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 6925–6955, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-6925-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-6925-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
We conducted a multi model study to investigate our ability to reproduce the vertical distribution of mercury in the atmosphere. For this, we used observational data from over 40 aircraft flights in EU and US. We compared observations to the results of seven chemistry transport models and found that the models are able to reproduce vertical gradients of total and elemental Hg. Finally, we found that different chemical reactions seem responsible for the oxidation of Hg depending on altitude.
Tianfeng Chai, Alice Crawford, Barbara Stunder, Michael J. Pavolonis, Roland Draxler, and Ariel Stein
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 2865–2879, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-2865-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-2865-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
An inverse system based on the HYSPLIT dispersion model has been built to estimate volcanic ash source strengths, vertical distribution, and temporal variations. Using MODIS retrievals from the 2008 Kasatochi volcanic ash clouds, three options for matching model results to satellite mass loadings are tested. They all show decent skill. It is also found that simultaneously assimilating observations at different times produces better hindcasts than only assimilating the most recent observations.
Yan Ma, Yiwei Diao, Bingjie Zhang, Weiwei Wang, Xinrong Ren, Dongsen Yang, Ming Wang, Xiaowen Shi, and Jun Zheng
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 9, 6101–6116, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-6101-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-6101-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
Here we reported the development of a PTR-ID-CIMS to investigate industry-related emissions of VOCs in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) region, the largest economic zone in China. We observed strong primary HCHO emissions from the industrial zone that overwhelmed local HCHO secondary formation. These primary HCHO sources can potentially lead to severe local and regional air pollution formation. Therefore, primary industrial HCHO emissions should be strictly monitored and regulated in this region.
Hyun Cheol Kim, Soontae Kim, Seok-Woo Son, Pius Lee, Chun-Sil Jin, Eunhye Kim, Byeong-Uk Kim, Fong Ngan, Changhan Bae, Chang-Keun Song, and Ariel Stein
Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2016-673, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2016-673, 2016
Revised manuscript not accepted
Short summary
Short summary
In recent years, frequent occurrence of severe haze events in East Asia is one of the most serious public concerns in this region. We demonstrate that daily pollutant transport patterns in East Asia are visible from satellite images when inspected with corresponding synoptic weather analyses. Our manuscript focuses on the possible role of meteorology, especially by the routine passages of synoptic systems, on the production and removal of regional pollution in East Asia.
Caroline R. Nowlan, Xiong Liu, James W. Leitch, Kelly Chance, Gonzalo González Abad, Cheng Liu, Peter Zoogman, Joshua Cole, Thomas Delker, William Good, Frank Murcray, Lyle Ruppert, Daniel Soo, Melanie B. Follette-Cook, Scott J. Janz, Matthew G. Kowalewski, Christopher P. Loughner, Kenneth E. Pickering, Jay R. Herman, Melinda R. Beaver, Russell W. Long, James J. Szykman, Laura M. Judd, Paul Kelley, Winston T. Luke, Xinrong Ren, and Jassim A. Al-Saadi
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 9, 2647–2668, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-2647-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-2647-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
The Geostationary Trace gas and Aerosol Sensor Optimization (GeoTASO) instrument is a remote sensing airborne instrument developed in support of future air quality satellite missions that will operate from geostationary orbit. GeoTASO flew in its first intensive field campaign during the DISCOVER-AQ 2013 Earth Venture Mission over Houston, Texas. This paper introduces the instrument and data analysis, and presents GeoTASO's first observations of NO2 at 250 m x 250 m spatial resolution.
H. C. Kim, P. Lee, F. Ngan, Y. Tang, H. L. Yoo, and L. Pan
Geosci. Model Dev., 8, 2959–2965, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-8-2959-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-8-2959-2015, 2015
Short summary
Short summary
This study focuses on the evaluation of regional air quality model's performance based on the cloud information from satellites. While cloud information is crucial in photochemistry model, the definitions of cloud fraction from model and satellite are not physically consistent. We demonstrate that improper modeling of cloud fraction is correlated with surface ozone bias, and we also show that current model cloud field might be too bright, causing an overestimation of surface ozone level.
S. Song, N. E. Selin, A. L. Soerensen, H. Angot, R. Artz, S. Brooks, E.-G. Brunke, G. Conley, A. Dommergue, R. Ebinghaus, T. M. Holsen, D. A. Jaffe, S. Kang, P. Kelley, W. T. Luke, O. Magand, K. Marumoto, K. A. Pfaffhuber, X. Ren, G.-R. Sheu, F. Slemr, T. Warneke, A. Weigelt, P. Weiss-Penzias, D. C. Wip, and Q. Zhang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 7103–7125, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-7103-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-7103-2015, 2015
Short summary
Short summary
A better knowledge of mercury (Hg) emission fluxes into the global atmosphere is important for assessing its human health impacts and evaluating the effectiveness of corresponding policy actions. We for the first time apply a top-down approach at a global scale to quantitatively estimate present-day mercury emission sources as well as key parameters in a chemical transport model, in order to better constrain the global biogeochemical cycle of mercury.
S. E. Pusede, D. R. Gentner, P. J. Wooldridge, E. C. Browne, A. W. Rollins, K.-E. Min, A. R. Russell, J. Thomas, L. Zhang, W. H. Brune, S. B. Henry, J. P. DiGangi, F. N. Keutsch, S. A. Harrold, J. A. Thornton, M. R. Beaver, J. M. St. Clair, P. O. Wennberg, J. Sanders, X. Ren, T. C. VandenBoer, M. Z. Markovic, A. Guha, R. Weber, A. H. Goldstein, and R. C. Cohen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 3373–3395, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-3373-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-3373-2014, 2014
H. Lei, D. J. Wuebbles, X.-Z. Liang, Z. Tao, S. Olsen, R. Artz, X. Ren, and M. Cohen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 783–795, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-783-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-783-2014, 2014
T. Chai, H.-C. Kim, P. Lee, D. Tong, L. Pan, Y. Tang, J. Huang, J. McQueen, M. Tsidulko, and I. Stajner
Geosci. Model Dev., 6, 1831–1850, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-6-1831-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-6-1831-2013, 2013
M. Huang, G. R. Carmichael, T. Chai, R. B. Pierce, S. J. Oltmans, D. A. Jaffe, K. W. Bowman, A. Kaduwela, C. Cai, S. N. Spak, A. J. Weinheimer, L. G. Huey, and G. S. Diskin
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 359–391, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-359-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-359-2013, 2013
Related subject area
Subject: Gases | Research Activity: Atmospheric Modelling and Data Analysis | Altitude Range: Troposphere | Science Focus: Physics (physical properties and processes)
Extreme weather exacerbates ozone pollution in the Pearl River Delta, China: role of natural processes
Multidecadal ozone trends in China and implications for human health and crop yields: a hybrid approach combining a chemical transport model and machine learning
On the influence of vertical mixing, boundary layer schemes, and temporal emission profiles on tropospheric NO2 in WRF-Chem – comparisons to in situ, satellite, and MAX-DOAS observations
Decreasing trends of ammonia emissions over Europe seen from remote sensing and inverse modelling
The sensitivity of Southern Ocean atmospheric dimethyl sulfide (DMS) to modeled oceanic DMS concentrations and emissions
Impacts of maritime shipping on air pollution along the US East Coast
Understanding greenhouse gas (GHG) column concentrations in Munich using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model
Impact of transport model resolution and a priori assumptions on inverse modeling of Swiss F-gas emissions
A bottom-up emission estimate for the 2022 Nord-Stream gas leak: derivation, simulations and evaluation
Can we use atmospheric CO2 measurements to verify emission trends reported by cities? Lessons from a 6-year atmospheric inversion over Paris
A new steady-state gas–particle partitioning model of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons: implication for the influence of the particulate proportion in emissions
An analysis of CMAQ gas-phase dry deposition over North America through grid-scale and land-use-specific diagnostics in the context of AQMEII4
Rethinking the role of transport and photochemistry in regional ozone pollution: insights from ozone concentration and mass budgets
Decreasing seasonal cycle amplitude of methane in the northern high latitudes being driven by lower-latitude changes in emissions and transport
Potential of 14C-based versus ∆CO-based ∆ffCO2 observations to estimate urban fossil fuel CO2 (ffCO2) emissions
The effect of anthropogenic emission, meteorological factors, and carbon dioxide on the surface ozone increase in China from 2008 to 2018 during the East Asia summer monsoon season
Development of a CMAQ–PMF-based composite index for prescribing an effective ozone abatement strategy: a case study of sensitivity of surface ozone to precursor volatile organic compound species in southern Taiwan
Comment on “Climate consequences of hydrogen emissions” by Ocko and Hamburg (2022)
Constraining emissions of volatile organic compounds from western US wildfires with WE-CAN and FIREX-AQ airborne observations
Satellite quantification of methane emissions and oil–gas methane intensities from individual countries in the Middle East and North Africa: implications for climate action
European CH4 inversions with ICON-ART coupled to CarbonTracker Data Assimilation Shell
Coupled mesoscale–microscale modeling of air quality in a polluted city using WRF-LES-Chem
Impact of aerosol optics on vertical distribution of ozone in autumn over Yangtze River Delta
A view of the European carbon flux landscape through the lens of the ICOS atmospheric observation network
Technical note: The CAMS greenhouse gas reanalysis from 2003 to 2020
Evaluation of simulated CO2 power plant plumes from six high-resolution atmospheric transport models
Impacts of urbanization on air quality and the related health risks in a city with complex terrain
Optimizing 4 years of CO2 biospheric fluxes from OCO-2 and in situ data in TM5: fire emissions from GFED and inferred from MOPITT CO data
Development and application of a multi-scale modeling framework for urban high-resolution NO2 pollution mapping
Towards monitoring the CO2 source–sink distribution over India via inverse modelling: quantifying the fine-scale spatiotemporal variability in the atmospheric CO2 mole fraction
Methane emissions from China: a high-resolution inversion of TROPOMI satellite observations
Estimated regional CO2 flux and uncertainty based on an ensemble of atmospheric CO2 inversions
Assessing the representativity of NH3 measurements influenced by boundary-layer dynamics and the turbulent dispersion of a nearby emission source
Analysis of CO2, CH4, and CO surface and column concentrations observed at Réunion Island by assessing WRF-Chem simulations
Technical note: Interpretation of field observations of point-source methane plume using observation-driven large-eddy simulations
Quantifying fossil fuel methane emissions using observations of atmospheric ethane and an uncertain emission ratio
The impact of peripheral circulation characteristics of typhoon on sustained ozone episodes over the Pearl River Delta region, China
Updated Global Fuel Exploitation Inventory (GFEI) for methane emissions from the oil, gas, and coal sectors: evaluation with inversions of atmospheric methane observations
High-resolution mapping of regional traffic emissions using land-use machine learning models
Land use and anthropogenic heat modulate ozone by meteorology: a perspective from the Yangtze River Delta region
Four years of global carbon cycle observed from the Orbiting Carbon Observatory 2 (OCO-2) version 9 and in situ data and comparison to OCO-2 version 7
Data assimilation of CrIS NH3 satellite observations for improving spatiotemporal NH3 distributions in LOTOS-EUROS
On the cross-tropopause transport of water by tropical convective overshoots: a mesoscale modelling study constrained by in situ observations during the TRO-Pico field campaign in Brazil
Effects of ozone–vegetation interactions on meteorology and air quality in China using a two-way coupled land–atmosphere model
The drivers and health risks of unexpected surface ozone enhancements over the Sichuan Basin, China, in 2020
Estimating 2010–2015 anthropogenic and natural methane emissions in Canada using ECCC surface and GOSAT satellite observations
Technical note: AQMEII4 Activity 1: evaluation of wet and dry deposition schemes as an integral part of regional-scale air quality models
Evaluating the impact of storage-and-release on aircraft-based mass-balance methodology using a regional air-quality model
The regional impact of urban emissions on air quality in Europe: the role of the urban canopy effects
A new inverse modeling approach for emission sources based on the DDM-3D and 3DVAR techniques: an application to air quality forecasts in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region
Nan Wang, Hongyue Wang, Xin Huang, Xi Chen, Yu Zou, Tao Deng, Tingyuan Li, Xiaopu Lyu, and Fumo Yang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 1559–1570, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-1559-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-1559-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
This study explores the influence of extreme-weather-induced natural processes on ozone pollution, which is often overlooked. By analyzing meteorological factors, natural emissions, chemistry pathways and atmospheric transport, we discovered that these natural processes could substantially exacerbate ozone pollution. The findings contribute to a deeper understanding of ozone pollution and offer valuable insights for controlling ozone pollution in the context of global warming.
Jia Mao, Amos P. K. Tai, David H. Y. Yung, Tiangang Yuan, Kong T. Chau, and Zhaozhong Feng
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 345–366, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-345-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-345-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Surface ozone (O3) is well-known for posing great threats to both human health and agriculture worldwide. However, a multidecadal assessment of the impacts of O3 on public health and agriculture in China is lacking without sufficient O3 observations. We used a hybrid approach combining a chemical transport model and machine learning to provide a robust dataset of O3 concentrations over the past 4 decades in China, thereby filling the gap in the long-term O3 trend and impact assessment in China.
Leon Kuhn, Steffen Beirle, Vinod Kumar, Sergey Osipov, Andrea Pozzer, Tim Bösch, Rajesh Kumar, and Thomas Wagner
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 185–217, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-185-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-185-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
NO₂ is an important air pollutant. It was observed that the WRF-Chem model shows significant deviations in NO₂ abundance when compared to measurements. We use a 1-month simulation over central Europe to show that these deviations can be mostly resolved by reparameterization of the vertical mixing routine. In order to validate our results, they are compared to in situ, satellite, and MAX-DOAS measurements.
Ondřej Tichý, Sabine Eckhardt, Yves Balkanski, Didier Hauglustaine, and Nikolaos Evangeliou
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 15235–15252, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-15235-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-15235-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We show declining trends in NH3 emissions over Europe for 2013–2020 using advanced dispersion and inverse modelling and satellite measurements from CrIS. Emissions decreased by −26% since 2013, showing that the abatement strategies adopted by the European Union have been very efficient. Ammonia emissions are low in winter and peak in summer due to temperature-dependent soil volatilization. The largest decreases were observed in central and western Europe in countries with high emissions.
Yusuf A. Bhatti, Laura E. Revell, Alex J. Schuddeboom, Adrian J. McDonald, Alex T. Archibald, Jonny Williams, Abhijith U. Venugopal, Catherine Hardacre, and Erik Behrens
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 15181–15196, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-15181-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-15181-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Aerosols are a large source of uncertainty over the Southern Ocean. A dominant source of sulfate aerosol in this region is dimethyl sulfide (DMS), which is poorly simulated by climate models. We show the sensitivity of simulated atmospheric DMS to the choice of oceanic DMS data set and emission scheme. We show that oceanic DMS has twice the influence on atmospheric DMS than the emission scheme. Simulating DMS more accurately in climate models will help to constrain aerosol uncertainty.
Maryam Golbazi and Cristina Archer
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 15057–15075, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-15057-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-15057-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We use scientific models to study the impact of ship emissions on air quality along the US East Coast. We find an increase in three major pollutants (PM2.5, NO2, and SO2) in coastal regions. However, we detect a reduction in ozone (O3) levels in major coastal cities. This reduction is linked to the significant emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) from ships, which scavenged O3, especially in highly polluted urban areas experiencing an NOx-limited regime.
Xinxu Zhao, Jia Chen, Julia Marshall, Michal Gałkowski, Stephan Hachinger, Florian Dietrich, Ankit Shekhar, Johannes Gensheimer, Adrian Wenzel, and Christoph Gerbig
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 14325–14347, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-14325-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-14325-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We develop a modeling framework using the Weather Research and Forecasting model at a high spatial resolution (up to 400 m) to simulate atmospheric transport of greenhouse gases and interpret column observations. Output is validated against weather stations and column measurements in August 2018. The differential column method is applied, aided by air-mass transport tracing with the Stochastic Time-Inverted Lagrangian Transport (STILT) model, also for an exploratory measurement interpretation.
Ioannis Katharopoulos, Dominique Rust, Martin K. Vollmer, Dominik Brunner, Stefan Reimann, Simon J. O'Doherty, Dickon Young, Kieran M. Stanley, Tanja Schuck, Jgor Arduini, Lukas Emmenegger, and Stephan Henne
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 14159–14186, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-14159-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-14159-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
The effectiveness of climate change mitigation needs to be scrutinized by monitoring greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Countries report their emissions to the UN in a bottom-up manner. By combining atmospheric observations and transport models someone can independently validate emission estimates in a top-down fashion. We report Swiss emissions of synthetic GHGs based on kilometer-scale transport and inverse modeling, highlighting the role of appropriate resolution in complex terrain.
Rostislav Kouznetsov, Risto Hänninen, Andreas Uppstu, Evgeny Kadantsev, Yalda Fatahi, Marje Prank, Dmitrii Kouznetsov, Steffen Manfred Noe, Heikki Junninen, and Mikhail Sofiev
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-732, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-732, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
With only the publicly available media reports, we were able to infer the temporal evolution and the injection height for the Nord Stream gas leaks in September 2022. The inventory specifies locations, vertical distributions and temporal evolution of the methane sources. The inventory can be used to simulate the event with atmospheric transport models. The inventory is supplemented with a set of observational data tailored to evaluate the results of the simulated atmospheric dispersion.
Jinghui Lian, Thomas Lauvaux, Hervé Utard, François-Marie Bréon, Grégoire Broquet, Michel Ramonet, Olivier Laurent, Ivonne Albarus, Mali Chariot, Simone Kotthaus, Martial Haeffelin, Olivier Sanchez, Olivier Perrussel, Hugo Anne Denier van der Gon, Stijn Nicolaas Camiel Dellaert, and Philippe Ciais
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 8823–8835, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-8823-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-8823-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
This study quantifies urban CO2 emissions via an atmospheric inversion for the Paris metropolitan area over a 6-year period from 2016 to 2021. Results show a long-term decreasing trend of about 2 % ± 0.6 % per year in the annual CO2 emissions over Paris. We conclude that our current capacity can deliver near-real-time CO2 emission estimates at the city scale in under a month, and the results agree within 10 % with independent estimates from multiple city-scale inventories.
Fu-Jie Zhu, Peng-Tuan Hu, and Wan-Li Ma
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 8583–8590, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-8583-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-8583-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
A new steady-state gas–particle partitioning model of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons was established based on the level-III multimedia fugacity model, which proved that the particulate proportion of PAHs in emissions was a crucial factor for G–P partitioning of PAHs. In addition, gaseous and particulate interference was also derived in the new steady-state model determined by the particulate proportion in emission that could derivate the G–P partitioning quotients from the equilibrium state.
Christian Hogrefe, Jesse O. Bash, Jonathan E. Pleim, Donna B. Schwede, Robert C. Gilliam, Kristen M. Foley, K. Wyat Appel, and Rohit Mathur
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 8119–8147, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-8119-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-8119-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Under the umbrella of the fourth phase of the Air Quality Model Evaluation International Initiative (AQMEII4), this study applies AQMEII4 diagnostic tools to better characterize how dry deposition removes pollutants from the atmosphere in the widely used CMAQ model. The results illustrate how these tools can provide insights into similarities and differences between the two CMAQ dry deposition options that affect simulated pollutant budgets and ecosystem impacts from atmospheric pollution.
Kun Qu, Xuesong Wang, Xuhui Cai, Yu Yan, Xipeng Jin, Mihalis Vrekoussis, Maria Kanakidou, Guy P. Brasseur, Jin Shen, Teng Xiao, Limin Zeng, and Yuanhang Zhang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 7653–7671, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-7653-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-7653-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Basic understandings of ozone processes, especially transport and chemistry, are essential to support ozone pollution control, but studies often have different views on their relative importance. We developed a method to quantify their contributions in the ozone mass and concentration budgets based on the WRF-CMAQ model. Results in a polluted region highlight the differences between two budgets. For future studies, two budgets are both needed to fully understand the effects of ozone processes.
Emily Dowd, Chris Wilson, Martyn P. Chipperfield, Emanuel Gloor, Alistair Manning, and Ruth Doherty
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 7363–7382, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-7363-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-7363-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Surface observations of methane show that the seasonal cycle amplitude (SCA) of methane is decreasing in the northern high latitudes (NHLs) but increased globally (1995–2020). The NHL decrease is counterintuitive, as we expect the SCA to increase with increasing concentrations. We use a chemical transport model to investigate changes in SCA in the NHLs. We find well-mixed methane and changes in emissions from Canada, the Middle East, and Europe are the largest contributors to the SCA in NHLs.
Fabian Manuel Maier, Christian Rödenbeck, Ingeborg Levin, Christoph Gerbig, Maksym Gachkivskyi, and Samuel Hammer
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-1239, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-1239, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We investigate the usage of discrete radiocarbon (14C)-based fossil fuel carbon dioxide (ffCO2) concentration estimates versus continuous carbon monoxide (CO)-based ffCO2 estimates to evaluate the seasonal cycle of the ffCO2 emissions in an urban region with an inverse modelling framework. We find that the CO-based ffCO2 estimates allow to reconstruct robust seasonal cycles, which show the distinct Covid-19 drawdown in 2020 and can be used to validate emission inventories.
Danyang Ma, Tijian Wang, Hao Wu, Yawei Qu, Jian Liu, Jane Liu, Shu Li, Bingliang Zhuang, Mengmeng Li, and Min Xie
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 6525–6544, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-6525-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-6525-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Increasing surface ozone (O3) concentrations have long been a significant environmental issue in China, despite the Clean Air Action Plan launched in 2013. Most previous research ignores the contributions of CO2 variations. Our study comprehensively analyzed O3 variation across China from various perspectives and highlighted the importance of considering CO2 variations when designing long-term O3 control policies, especially in high-vegetation-coverage areas.
Jackson Hian-Wui Chang, Stephen M. Griffith, Steven Soon-Kai Kong, Ming-Tung Chuang, and Neng-Huei Lin
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 6357–6382, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-6357-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-6357-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
A novel CMAQ–PMF-based composite index is developed to identify the key VOC source species for an effective ozone abatement strategy. The index provides information as to which VOC species are key to ozone formation and where to reduce sources of these VOC species. Using the composite index, we recommended the VOC control measures in southern Taiwan should prioritize solvent usage, vehicle emissions, and the petrochemical industry.
Lei Duan and Ken Caldeira
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 6011–6020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-6011-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-6011-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Ocko and Hamburg (2022) emphasize the short-term climate impact of hydrogen, and we present an analysis that places greater focus on long-term outcomes. We have derived equations that describe the time-evolving impact of hydrogen and show that higher methane leakage is primarily responsible for the warming potential of blue hydrogen, while hydrogen leakage plays a less critical role. Fossil fuels show more prominent longer-term climate impacts than clean hydrogen under all emission scenarios.
Lixu Jin, Wade Permar, Vanessa Selimovic, Damien Ketcherside, Robert J. Yokelson, Rebecca S. Hornbrook, Eric C. Apel, I-Ting Ku, Jeffrey L. Collett Jr., Amy P. Sullivan, Daniel A. Jaffe, Jeffrey R. Pierce, Alan Fried, Matthew M. Coggon, Georgios I. Gkatzelis, Carsten Warneke, Emily V. Fischer, and Lu Hu
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 5969–5991, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-5969-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-5969-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Air quality in the USA has been improving since 1970 due to anthropogenic emission reduction. Those gains have been partly offset by increased wildfire pollution in the western USA in the past 20 years. Still, we do not understand wildfire emissions well due to limited measurements. Here, we used a global transport model to evaluate and constrain current knowledge of wildfire emissions with recent observational constraints, showing the underestimation of wildfire emissions in the western USA.
Zichong Chen, Daniel J. Jacob, Ritesh Gautam, Mark Omara, Robert N. Stavins, Robert C. Stowe, Hannah Nesser, Melissa P. Sulprizio, Alba Lorente, Daniel J. Varon, Xiao Lu, Lu Shen, Zhen Qu, Drew C. Pendergrass, and Sarah Hancock
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 5945–5967, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-5945-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-5945-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We quantify methane emissions from individual countries in the Middle East and North Africa by inverse analysis of 2019 TROPOMI satellite observations of atmospheric methane. We show that the ability to simply relate oil/gas emissions to activity metrics is compromised by stochastic nature of local infrastructure and management practices. We find that the industry target for oil/gas methane intensity is achievable through associated gas capture, modern infrastructure, and centralized operations.
Michael Steiner, Wouter Peters, Ingrid Luijkx, Stephan Henne, Huilin Chen, Samuel Hammer, and Dominik Brunner
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-853, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-853, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
The Paris Agreement increased the interest in estimating GHG emissions of individual countries, but top-down emission estimation is not yet considered policy-relevant. It is therefore paramount to reduce the large errors and to build systems that are based on the newest atmospheric transport models (e.g., ICON-ART). In this study, we present the first application of ICON-ART in inverse modelling of GHG fluxes with an Ensemble Kalman Filter and present our results for European CH4 emissions.
Yuting Wang, Yong-Feng Ma, Domingo Muñoz-Esparza, Jianing Dai, Cathy Wing Yi Li, Pablo Lichtig, Roy Chun-Wang Tsang, Chun-Ho Liu, Tao Wang, and Guy Pierre Brasseur
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 5905–5927, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-5905-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-5905-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Air quality in urban areas is difficult to simulate in coarse-resolution models. This work exploits the WRF (Weather Research and Forecasting) model coupled with a large-eddy simulation (LES) component and online chemistry to perform high-resolution (33.3 m) simulations of air quality in a large city. The evaluation of the simulations with observations shows that increased model resolution improves the representation of the chemical species near the pollution sources.
Shuqi Yan, Bin Zhu, Shuangshuang Shi, Wen Lu, Jinhui Gao, Hanqing Kang, and Duanyang Liu
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 5177–5190, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-5177-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-5177-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We analyze ozone response to aerosol mixing states in the vertical direction by WRF-Chem simulations. Aerosols generally lead to turbulent suppression, precursor accumulation, low-level photolysis reduction, and upper-level photolysis enhancement under different underlying surface and pollution conditions. Thus, ozone decreases within the entire boundary layer during the daytime, and the decrease is the least in aerosol external mixing states compared to internal and core shell mixing states.
Ida Storm, Ute Karstens, Claudio D'Onofrio, Alex Vermeulen, and Wouter Peters
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 4993–5008, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-4993-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-4993-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
In this study, we evaluate what is in the influence regions of the ICOS atmospheric measurement stations to gain insight into what land cover types and land-cover-associated fluxes the network represents. Subsequently, insights about strengths, weaknesses, and potential gaps can assist in future network expansion decisions. The network is concentrated in central Europe, which leads to a general overrepresentation of coniferous forest and cropland and underrepresentation of grass and shrubland.
Anna Agustí-Panareda, Jérôme Barré, Sébastien Massart, Antje Inness, Ilse Aben, Melanie Ades, Bianca C. Baier, Gianpaolo Balsamo, Tobias Borsdorff, Nicolas Bousserez, Souhail Boussetta, Michael Buchwitz, Luca Cantarello, Cyril Crevoisier, Richard Engelen, Henk Eskes, Johannes Flemming, Sébastien Garrigues, Otto Hasekamp, Vincent Huijnen, Luke Jones, Zak Kipling, Bavo Langerock, Joe McNorton, Nicolas Meilhac, Stefan Noël, Mark Parrington, Vincent-Henri Peuch, Michel Ramonet, Miha Razinger, Maximilian Reuter, Roberto Ribas, Martin Suttie, Colm Sweeney, Jérôme Tarniewicz, and Lianghai Wu
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 3829–3859, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-3829-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-3829-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We present a global dataset of atmospheric CO2 and CH4, the two most important human-made greenhouse gases, which covers almost 2 decades (2003–2020). It is produced by combining satellite data of CO2 and CH4 with a weather and air composition prediction model, and it has been carefully evaluated against independent observations to ensure validity and point out deficiencies to the user. This dataset can be used for scientific studies in the field of climate change and the global carbon cycle.
Dominik Brunner, Gerrit Kuhlmann, Stephan Henne, Erik Koene, Bastian Kern, Sebastian Wolff, Christiane Voigt, Patrick Jöckel, Christoph Kiemle, Anke Roiger, Alina Fiehn, Sven Krautwurst, Konstantin Gerilowski, Heinrich Bovensmann, Jakob Borchardt, Michal Galkowski, Christoph Gerbig, Julia Marshall, Andrzej Klonecki, Pascal Prunet, Robert Hanfland, Margit Pattantyús-Ábrahám, Andrzej Wyszogrodzki, and Andreas Fix
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 2699–2728, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-2699-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-2699-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We evaluated six atmospheric transport models for their capability to simulate the CO2 plumes from two of the largest power plants in Europe by comparing the models against aircraft observations collected during the CoMet (Carbon Dioxide and Methane Mission) campaign in 2018. The study analyzed how realistically such plumes can be simulated at different model resolutions and how well the planned European satellite mission CO2M will be able to quantify emissions from power plants.
Chenchao Zhan, Min Xie, Hua Lu, Bojun Liu, Zheng Wu, Tijian Wang, Bingliang Zhuang, Mengmeng Li, and Shu Li
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 771–788, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-771-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-771-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
With the development of urbanization, urban land use and anthropogenic
emissions increase, affecting urban air quality and, in turn, the health risks associated with air pollutants. In this study, we systematically evaluate the impacts of urbanization on air quality and the corresponding health risks in a highly urbanized city with severe air pollution and complex terrain. This work focuses on the health risks caused by urbanization and can provide valuable insight for air pollution strategies.
Hélène Peiro, Sean Crowell, and Berrien Moore III
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 15817–15849, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-15817-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-15817-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
CO data can provide a powerful constraint on fire fluxes, supporting more accurate estimation of biospheric CO2 fluxes. We converted CO fire flux into CO2 fire prior, which is then used to adjust CO2 respiration. We applied this to two other fire flux products. CO2 inversions constrained by satellites or in situ data are then performed. Results show larger variations among the data assimilated than across the priors, but tropical flux from in situ inversions is sensitive to priors.
Zhaofeng Lv, Zhenyu Luo, Fanyuan Deng, Xiaotong Wang, Junchao Zhao, Lucheng Xu, Tingkun He, Yingzhi Zhang, Huan Liu, and Kebin He
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 15685–15702, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-15685-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-15685-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
This study developed a hybrid model, CMAQ-RLINE_URBAN, to predict the urban NO2 concentrations at a high spatial resolution. To estimate the influence of various street canyons on the dispersion of air pollutants, a new parameterization scheme was established based on computational fluid dynamics and machine learning methods. This work created a new method to identify the characteristics of vehicle-related air pollution at both city and street scales simultaneously and accurately.
Vishnu Thilakan, Dhanyalekshmi Pillai, Christoph Gerbig, Michal Galkowski, Aparnna Ravi, and Thara Anna Mathew
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 15287–15312, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-15287-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-15287-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
This paper demonstrates how we can use atmospheric observations to improve the CO2 flux estimates in India. This is achieved by improving the representation of terrain, mesoscale transport, and flux variations. We quantify the impact of the unresolved variations in the current models on optimally estimated fluxes via inverse modelling and quantify the associated flux uncertainty. We illustrate how a parameterization scheme captures this variability in the coarse models.
Zichong Chen, Daniel J. Jacob, Hannah Nesser, Melissa P. Sulprizio, Alba Lorente, Daniel J. Varon, Xiao Lu, Lu Shen, Zhen Qu, Elise Penn, and Xueying Yu
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 10809–10826, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-10809-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-10809-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
We quantify methane emissions in China and contributions from different sectors by inverse analysis of 2019 TROPOMI satellite observations of atmospheric methane. We find that anthropogenic methane emissions for China are underestimated in the national inventory. Our estimate of emissions indicates a small life-cycle loss rate, implying net climate benefits from the current
coal-to-gasenergy transition in China. However, this small loss rate can be misleading given China's high gas imports.
Naveen Chandra, Prabir K. Patra, Yousuke Niwa, Akihiko Ito, Yosuke Iida, Daisuke Goto, Shinji Morimoto, Masayuki Kondo, Masayuki Takigawa, Tomohiro Hajima, and Michio Watanabe
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 9215–9243, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-9215-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-9215-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
This paper is intended to accomplish two goals: (1) quantify mean and uncertainty in non-fossil-fuel CO2 fluxes estimated by inverse modeling and (2) provide in-depth analyses of regional CO2 fluxes in support of emission mitigation policymaking. CO2 flux variability and trends are discussed concerning natural climate variability and human disturbances using multiple lines of evidence.
Ruben B. Schulte, Margreet C. van Zanten, Bart J. H. van Stratum, and Jordi Vilà-Guerau de Arellano
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 8241–8257, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-8241-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-8241-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
We present a fine-scale simulation framework, utilizing large-eddy simulations, to assess NH3 measurements influenced by boundary-layer dynamics and turbulent dispersion of a nearby emission source. The minimum required distance from an emission source differs for concentration and flux measurements, from 0.5–3.0 km and 0.75–4.5 km, respectively. The simulation framework presented here proves to be a powerful and versatile tool for future NH3 research at high spatio-temporal resolutions.
Sieglinde Callewaert, Jérôme Brioude, Bavo Langerock, Valentin Duflot, Dominique Fonteyn, Jean-François Müller, Jean-Marc Metzger, Christian Hermans, Nicolas Kumps, Michel Ramonet, Morgan Lopez, Emmanuel Mahieu, and Martine De Mazière
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 7763–7792, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-7763-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-7763-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
A regional atmospheric transport model is used to analyze the factors contributing to CO2, CH4, and CO observations at Réunion Island. We show that the surface observations are dominated by local fluxes and dynamical processes, while the column data are influenced by larger-scale mechanisms such as biomass burning plumes. The model is able to capture the measured time series well; however, the results are highly dependent on accurate boundary conditions and high-resolution emission inventories.
Anja Ražnjević, Chiel van Heerwaarden, Bart van Stratum, Arjan Hensen, Ilona Velzeboer, Pim van den Bulk, and Maarten Krol
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 6489–6505, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-6489-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-6489-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Mobile measurement techniques (e.g., instruments placed in cars) are often employed to identify and quantify individual sources of greenhouse gases. Due to road restrictions, those observations are often sparse (temporally and spatially). We performed high-resolution simulations of plume dispersion, with realistic weather conditions encountered in the field, to reproduce the measurement process of a methane plume emitted from an oil well and provide additional information about the plume.
Alice E. Ramsden, Anita L. Ganesan, Luke M. Western, Matthew Rigby, Alistair J. Manning, Amy Foulds, James L. France, Patrick Barker, Peter Levy, Daniel Say, Adam Wisher, Tim Arnold, Chris Rennick, Kieran M. Stanley, Dickon Young, and Simon O'Doherty
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 3911–3929, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-3911-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-3911-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Quantifying methane emissions from different sources is a key focus of current research. We present a method for estimating sectoral methane emissions that uses ethane as a tracer for fossil fuel methane. By incorporating variable ethane : methane emission ratios into this model, we produce emissions estimates with improved uncertainty characterisation. This method will be particularly useful for studying methane emissions in areas with complex distributions of sources.
Ying Li, Xiangjun Zhao, Xuejiao Deng, and Jinhui Gao
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 3861–3873, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-3861-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-3861-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
This study finds a new phenomenon of weak wind deepening (WWD) associated with the peripheral circulation of typhoon and gives the influence mechanism of WWD on its contribution to daily variation during sustained ozone episodes. The WWD provides the premise for pollution accumulation in the whole PBL and continued enhancement of ground-level ozone via vertical mixing processes. These findings could benefit the daily daytime ozone forecast in the PRD region and other areas.
Tia R. Scarpelli, Daniel J. Jacob, Shayna Grossman, Xiao Lu, Zhen Qu, Melissa P. Sulprizio, Yuzhong Zhang, Frances Reuland, Deborah Gordon, and John R. Worden
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 3235–3249, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-3235-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-3235-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
We present a spatially explicit version of the national inventories of oil, gas, and coal methane emissions as submitted by individual countries to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 2021. We then use atmospheric modeling to compare our inventory emissions to atmospheric methane observations with the goal of identifying potential under- and overestimates of oil–gas methane emissions in the national inventories.
Xiaomeng Wu, Daoyuan Yang, Ruoxi Wu, Jiajun Gu, Yifan Wen, Shaojun Zhang, Rui Wu, Renjie Wang, Honglei Xu, K. Max Zhang, Ye Wu, and Jiming Hao
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 1939–1950, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-1939-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-1939-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Our work pioneered land-use machine learning methods for developing link-level emission inventories, utilizing hourly traffic profiles, including volume, speed, and fleet mix, obtained from the governmental intercity highway monitoring network in the "capital circles" of China. This research provides a platform to realize the near-real-time process of establishing high-resolution vehicle emission inventories for policy makers to engage in sophisticated traffic management.
Chenchao Zhan and Min Xie
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 1351–1371, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-1351-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-1351-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
The changes of land use and anthropogenic heat (AH) derived from urbanization can affect meteorology and in turn O3 evolution. In this study, we briefly describe the general features of O3 pollution in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) based on in situ observational data. Then, the impacts of land use and anthropogenic heat on O3 via changing the meteorological factors and local circulations are investigated in this region using the WRF-Chem model.
Hélène Peiro, Sean Crowell, Andrew Schuh, David F. Baker, Chris O'Dell, Andrew R. Jacobson, Frédéric Chevallier, Junjie Liu, Annmarie Eldering, David Crisp, Feng Deng, Brad Weir, Sourish Basu, Matthew S. Johnson, Sajeev Philip, and Ian Baker
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 1097–1130, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-1097-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-1097-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Satellite CO2 observations are constantly improved. We study an ensemble of different atmospheric models (inversions) from 2015 to 2018 using separate ground-based data or two versions of the OCO-2 satellite. Our study aims to determine if different satellite data corrections can yield different estimates of carbon cycle flux. A difference in the carbon budget between the two versions is found over tropical Africa, which seems to show the impact of corrections applied in satellite data.
Shelley van der Graaf, Enrico Dammers, Arjo Segers, Richard Kranenburg, Martijn Schaap, Mark W. Shephard, and Jan Willem Erisman
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 951–972, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-951-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-951-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
CrIS NH3 satellite observations are assimilated into the LOTOS-EUROS model using two different methods. In the first method the data are used to fit spatially varying NH3 emission time factors. In the second method a local ensemble transform Kalman filter is used. Compared to in situ observations, combining both methods led to the most significant improvements in the modeled concentrations and deposition, illustrating the usefulness of CrIS NH3 to improve the spatiotemporal distribution of NH3.
Abhinna K. Behera, Emmanuel D. Rivière, Sergey M. Khaykin, Virginie Marécal, Mélanie Ghysels, Jérémie Burgalat, and Gerhard Held
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 881–901, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-881-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-881-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Deep convection overshooting the stratosphere's contribution to the global stratospheric water budget is still being quantified. We ran three different cloud-resolving simulations of an observed case of overshoots in Bauru during the TRO-Pico balloon campaign in the context of upscaling the impact of overshoots at a large scale. These simulations, which have been validated with balloon-borne and S-band radar measurements, shed light on the local-scale variability and composition of overshoots.
Jiachen Zhu, Amos P. K. Tai, and Steve Hung Lam Yim
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 765–782, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-765-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-765-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
This study assessed O3 damage to plant and the subsequent effects on meteorology and air quality in China, whereby O3, meteorology, and vegetation can co-evolve with each other. We provided comprehensive understanding about how O3–vegetation impacts adversely affect plant growth and crop production, and contribute to global warming and severe O3 air pollution in China. Our findings clearly pinpoint the need to consider the O3 damage effects in both air quality studies and climate change studies.
Youwen Sun, Hao Yin, Xiao Lu, Justus Notholt, Mathias Palm, Cheng Liu, Yuan Tian, and Bo Zheng
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 18589–18608, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-18589-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-18589-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
This study uses high-resolution nested-grid GEOS-Chem simulation, the eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) machine learning method, and the exposure–response relationship to determine the drivers and evaluate the health risks of the unexpected surface O3 enhancements over the Sichuan Basin in 2020. These unexpected O3 enhancements were induced by meteorological anomalies and caused dramatically high health risks.
Sabour Baray, Daniel J. Jacob, Joannes D. Maasakkers, Jian-Xiong Sheng, Melissa P. Sulprizio, Dylan B. A. Jones, A. Anthony Bloom, and Robert McLaren
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 18101–18121, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-18101-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-18101-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
We use 2010–2015 surface and satellite observations to disentangle methane from anthropogenic and natural sources in Canada. Using a chemical transport model (GEOS-Chem), the mismatch between modelled and observed methane concentrations can be used to infer emissions according to Bayesian statistics. Compared to prior knowledge, we show higher anthropogenic emissions attributed to energy and/or agriculture in Western Canada and lower natural emissions from Boreal wetlands.
Stefano Galmarini, Paul Makar, Olivia E. Clifton, Christian Hogrefe, Jesse O. Bash, Roberto Bellasio, Roberto Bianconi, Johannes Bieser, Tim Butler, Jason Ducker, Johannes Flemming, Alma Hodzic, Christopher D. Holmes, Ioannis Kioutsioukis, Richard Kranenburg, Aurelia Lupascu, Juan Luis Perez-Camanyo, Jonathan Pleim, Young-Hee Ryu, Roberto San Jose, Donna Schwede, Sam Silva, and Ralf Wolke
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 15663–15697, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-15663-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-15663-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
This technical note presents the research protocols for phase 4 of the Air Quality Model Evaluation International Initiative (AQMEII4). This initiative has three goals: (i) to define the state of wet and dry deposition in regional models, (ii) to evaluate how dry deposition influences air concentration and flux predictions, and (iii) to identify the causes for prediction differences. The evaluation compares LULC-specific dry deposition and effective conductances and fluxes.
Sepehr Fathi, Mark Gordon, Paul A. Makar, Ayodeji Akingunola, Andrea Darlington, John Liggio, Katherine Hayden, and Shao-Meng Li
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 15461–15491, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-15461-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-15461-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
We have investigated the accuracy of aircraft-based mass balance methodologies through computer model simulations of the atmosphere and air quality at a regional high-resolution scale. We have defined new quantitative metrics to reduce emission retrieval uncertainty by evaluating top-down mass balance estimates against the known simulated meteorology and input emissions. We also recommend methodologies and flight strategies for improved retrievals in future aircraft-based studies.
Peter Huszar, Jan Karlický, Jana Marková, Tereza Nováková, Marina Liaskoni, and Lukáš Bartík
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 14309–14332, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-14309-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-14309-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Urban areas are strong hot spots of emissions influencing local and regional air quality. Cities furthermore influence the meteorological conditions due to their characteristic surface properties and geometry. We found that if these latter effects are not included in the quantification of the impact of urban emissions on regional air quality, this impact will be overestimated, and this overestimation is mainly due to the enhanced turbulence that is present in cities compared to rural areas.
Xinghong Cheng, Zilong Hao, Zengliang Zang, Zhiquan Liu, Xiangde Xu, Shuisheng Wang, Yuelin Liu, Yiwen Hu, and Xiaodan Ma
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 13747–13761, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-13747-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-13747-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
We develop a new inversion method of emission sources based on sensitivity analysis and the three-dimension variational technique. The novel explicit observation operator matrix between emission sources and the receptor’s concentrations is established. Then this method is applied to a typical heavy haze episode in North China, and spatiotemporal variations of SO2, NO2, and O3 concentrations simulated using a posterior emission sources are compared with results using an a priori inventory.
Cited articles
Akingunola, A., Makar, P. A., Zhang, J., Darlington, A., Li, S.-M., Gordon, M., Moran, M. D., and Zheng, Q.:
A chemical transport model study of plume-rise and particle size distribution for the Athabasca oil sands, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 8667–8688, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-8667-2018, 2018. a, b
Angevine, W. M., Peischl, J., Crawford, A., Loughner, C. P., Pollack, I. B., and Thompson, C. R.:
Errors in top-down estimates of emissions using a known source, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 11855–11868, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-11855-2020, 2020. a, b
Arya, S. P.:
Air pollution meteorology and dispersion, Oxford University Press, New York, NY, ISBN 0-19-507398-3, 1999. a
Bieringer, P. E., Young, G. S., Rodriguez, L. M., Annunzio, A. J., Vandenberghe, F., and Haupt, S. E.:
Paradigms and commonalities in atmospheric source term estimation methods, Atmos. Environ., 156, 102–112, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2017.02.011, 2017. a
Cambaliza, M. O. L., Shepson, P. B., Caulton, D. R., Stirm, B., Samarov, D., Gurney, K. R., Turnbull, J., Davis, K. J., Possolo, A., Karion, A., Sweeney, C., Moser, B., Hendricks, A., Lauvaux, T., Mays, K., Whetstone, J., Huang, J., Razlivanov, I., Miles, N. L., and Richardson, S. J.:
Assessment of uncertainties of an aircraft-based mass balance approach for quantifying urban greenhouse gas emissions, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 9029–9050, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-9029-2014, 2014. a
Chai, T., Crawford, A., Stunder, B., Pavolonis, M. J., Draxler, R., and Stein, A.:
Improving volcanic ash predictions with the HYSPLIT dispersion model by assimilating MODIS satellite retrievals, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 2865–2879, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-2865-2017, 2017. a, b
Chai, T., Stein, A., and Ngan, F.:
Weak-constraint inverse modeling using HYSPLIT-4 Lagrangian dispersion model and Cross-Appalachian Tracer Experiment (CAPTEX) observations – effect of including model uncertainties on source term estimation, Geosci. Model Dev., 11, 5135–5148, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-11-5135-2018, 2018. a, b, c, d, e, f, g
Chang, J. S., Middleton, P. B., Stockwell, W. R., Binkowski, F. S., and Byun, D.:
The regional acid deposition model and engineering model, in: Acidic deposition: State of science and technology, Vol I, Emissions, Atmospheric Processes, and Deposition, PB-92-100403/XAB, USA, 1990. a
Chen, F. and Dudhia, J.:
Coupling an advanced land surface-hydrology model with the Penn State-NCAR MM5 modeling system. Part I: Model implementation and sensitivity, Mon. Weather Rev., 129, 569–585, 2001. a
Crawford, A., Chai, T., Wang, B., Ring, A., Stunder, B., Loughner, C. P., Pavolonis, M., and Sieglaff, J.:
Evaluation and bias correction of probabilistic volcanic ash forecasts, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 13967–13996, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-13967-2022, 2022. a
Daley, R.:
Atmospheric Data Analysis, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, ISBN 0-521-38215-7, 1991. a
Draxler, R. and Hess, G.:
An overview of the HYSPLIT_4 modeling system for trajectories, dispersion and deposition, Aust. Meteor. Mag., 47, 295–308, 1998. a
Fathi, S., Gordon, M., Makar, P. A., Akingunola, A., Darlington, A., Liggio, J., Hayden, K., and Li, S.-M.:
Evaluating the impact of storage-and-release on aircraft-based mass-balance methodology using a regional air-quality model, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 15461–15491, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-15461-2021, 2021. a, b, c
Gordon, M., Makar, P. A., Staebler, R. M., Zhang, J., Akingunola, A., Gong, W., and Li, S.-M.:
A comparison of plume rise algorithms to stack plume measurements in the Athabasca oil sands, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 14695–14714, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-14695-2018, 2018. a
Green, J. R., Fiddler, M. N., Holloway, J. S., Fibiger, D. L., McDuffie, E. E., Campuzano-Jost, P., Schroder, J. C., Jimenez, J. L., Weinheimer, A. J., Aquino, J., Montzka, D. D., Hall, S. R., Ullmann, K., Shah, V., Jaegle, L., Thornton, J. A., Bililign, S., and Brown, S. S.:
Rates of Wintertime Atmospheric SO2 Oxidation based on Aircraft Observations during Clear-Sky Conditions over the Eastern United States, J. Geophys. Res., 124, 6630–6649, https://doi.org/10.1029/2018JD030086, 2019. a
Grell, G. and Devenyi, D.:
A generalized approach to parameterizing convection combining ensemble and data assimilation techniques, Geophys. Res. Lett., 29, 1693, https://doi.org/10.1029/2002GL015311, 2002. a
Hutchinson, M., Oh, H., and Chen, W.-H.:
A review of source term estimation methods for atmospheric dispersion events using static or mobile sensors, Inf. Fusion, 36, 130–148, 2017. a
Iacono, M. J., Delamere, J. S., Mlawer, E. J., Shephard, M. W., Clough, S. A., and Collins, W. D.:
Radiative forcing by long-lived greenhouse gases: Calculations with the AER radiative transfer models, J. Geophys. Res., 113, D13103, https://doi.org/10.1029/2008JD009944, 2008. a
Karion, A., Lauvaux, T., Lopez Coto, I., Sweeney, C., Mueller, K., Gourdji, S., Angevine, W., Barkley, Z., Deng, A., Andrews, A., Stein, A., and Whetstone, J.:
Intercomparison of atmospheric trace gas dispersion models: Barnett Shale case study, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 2561–2576, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-2561-2019, 2019. a, b
Kim, H. C., Chai, T., Stein, A., and Kondragunta, S.:
Inverse modeling of fire emissions constrained by smoke plume transport using HYSPLIT dispersion model and geostationary satellite observations, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 10259–10277, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-10259-2020, 2020. a, b, c
Kim, J., Seo, B.-k., Lee, T., Kim, J., Kim, S., Bae, G.-N., and Lee, G.:
Airborne estimation of SO2 emissions rates from a coal-fired power plant using two top-down methods: A mass balance model and Gaussian footprint approach, Sci. Total Environ., 855, 158826, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.158826, 2023. a, b
Liggio, J., Li, S.-M., Hayden, K., Taha, Y. M., Stroud, C., Darlington, A., Drollette, B. D., Gordon, M., Lee, P., Liu, P., Leithead, A., Moussa, S. G., Wang, D., O'Brien, J., Mittermeier, R. L., Brook, J. R., Lu, G., Staebler, R. M., Han, Y., Tokarek, T. W., Osthoff, H. D., Makar, P. A., Zhang, J., Plata, D. L., and Gentner, D. R.:
Oil sands operations as a large source of secondary organic aerosols, Nature, 534, 91–94, https://doi.org/10.1038/nature17646, 2016. a
Lim, K.-S. S. and Hong, S.-Y.:
Development of an Effective Double-Moment Cloud Microphysics Scheme with Prognostic Cloud Condensation Nuclei (CCN) for Weather and Climate Models, Mon. Weather Rev., 138, 1587–1612, https://doi.org/10.1175/2009MWR2968.1, 2010. a
Lopez-Coto, I., Ren, X., Karion, A., McKain, K., Sweeney, C., Dickerson, R. R., McDonald, B. C., Ahn, D. Y., Salawitch, R. J., He, H., Shepson, P. B., and Whetstone, J. R.:
Carbon Monoxide Emissions from the Washington, DC, and Baltimore Metropolitan Area: Recent Trend and COVID-19 Anomaly, Environ. Sci. Technol., 56, 2172–2180, https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.1c06288, 2022. a
Mays, K. L., Shepson, P. B., Stirm, B. H., Karion, A., Sweeney, C., and Gurney, K. R.:
Aircraft-Based Measurements of the Carbon Footprint of Indianapolis, Environ. Sci. Technol., 43, 7816–7823, https://doi.org/10.1021/es901326b, 2009. a
Mesinger, F., DiMego, G., Kalnay, E., Mitchell, K., Shafran, P., Ebisuzaki, W., Jovic, D., Woollen, J., Rogers, E., Berbery, E., Ek, M., Fan, Y., Grumbine, R., Higgins, W., Li, H., Lin, Y., Manikin, G., Parrish, D., and Shi, W.:
North American regional reanalysis, B. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 87, 343–360, 2006. a
Nakanishi, M. and Niino, H.:
An improved Mellor–Yamada level-3 model: Its numerical stability and application to a regional prediction of advection fog, Bound.-Lay. Meteorol., 119, 397–407, 2006. a
NOAA: HYSPLIT model, NOAA Air Resources Laboratory, NOAA [code], https://www.ready.noaa.gov/HYSPLIT.php (last access: 23 September, 2023), 2023. a
Pitt, J. R., Lopez-Coto, I., Hajny, K. D., Tomlin, J., Kaeser, R., Jayarathne, T., Stirm, B. H., Floerchinger, C. R., Loughner, C. P., Gately, C. K., Hutyra, L. R., Gurney, K. R., Roest, G. S., Liang, J., Gourdji, S., Karion, A., Whetstone, J. R., and Shepson, P. B.:
New York City greenhouse gas emissions estimated with inverse modeling of aircraft measurements, Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene, 10, 00082, https://doi.org/10.1525/elementa.2021.00082, 2022. a
Powers, J. G., Klemp, J. B., Skamarock, W. C., Davis, C. A., Dudhia, J., Gill, D. O., Coen, J. L., Gochis, D. J., Ahmadov, R., Peckham, S. E., Grell, G. A., Michalakes, J., Trahan, S., Benjamin, S. G., Alexander, C. R., Dimego, G. J., Wang, W., Schwartz, C. S., Romine, G. S., Liu, Z., Snyder, C., Chen, F., Barlage, M. J., Yu, W., and Duda, M. G.:
THE WEATHER RESEARCH AND FORECASTING MODEL Overview, System Efforts, and Future Directions, B. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 98, 1717–1737, https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-15-00308.1, 2017. a
Ren, X., Salmon, O. E., Hansford, J. R., Ahn, D., Hall, D., Benish, S. E., Stratton, P. R., He, H., Sahu, S., Grimes, C., Heimburger, A. M. F., Martin, C. R., Cohen, M. D., Stunder, B., Salawitch, R. J., Ehrman, S. H., Shepson, P. B., and Dickerson, R. R.:
Methane Emissions From the Baltimore-Washington Area Based on Airborne Observation: Comparison to Emissions Inventories, J. Geophys. Res., 123, 8869–8882, https://doi.org/10.1029/2018JD028851, 2018. a, b
Ryoo, J.-M., Iraci, L. T., Tanaka, T., Marrero, J. E., Yates, E. L., Fung, I., Michalak, A. M., Tadić, J., Gore, W., Bui, T. P., Dean-Day, J. M., and Chang, C. S.:
Quantification of CO2 and CH4 emissions over Sacramento, California, based on divergence theorem using aircraft measurements, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 2949–2966, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-2949-2019, 2019. a
Saunier, O., Mathieu, A., Didier, D., Tombette, M., Quélo, D., Winiarek, V., and Bocquet, M.:
An inverse modeling method to assess the source term of the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant accident using gamma dose rate observations, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 11403–11421, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-11403-2013, 2013. a
Stohl, A., Seibert, P., Wotawa, G., Arnold, D., Burkhart, J. F., Eckhardt, S., Tapia, C., Vargas, A., and Yasunari, T. J.:
Xenon-133 and caesium-137 releases into the atmosphere from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant: determination of the source term, atmospheric dispersion, and deposition, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 12, 2313–2343, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-12-2313-2012, 2012. a
Walmsley, J. L. and Wesely, M. L.:
Modification of coded parametrizations of surface resistances to gaseous dry deposition, Atmos. Environ., 30, 1181–1188, https://doi.org/10.1016/1352-2310(95)00403-3, 1996.
a
Wesely, M. L.:
Parameterization of surface resistances to gaseous dry deposition in regional-scale numerical models, Atmos. Environ., 23, 1293–1304, https://doi.org/10.1016/0004-6981(89)90153-4, 1989. a
Winiarek, V., Bocquet, M., Saunier, O., and Mathieu, A.:
Estimation of errors in the inverse modeling of accidental release of atmospheric pollutant: Application to the reconstruction of the cesium-137 and iodine-131 source terms from the Fukushima Daiichi power plant, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 117, D05122, https://doi.org/10.1029/2011JD016932, 2012. a
Winiarek, V., Bocquet, M., Duhanyan, N., Roustan, Y., Saunier, O., and Mathieu, A.:
Estimation of the caesium-137 source term from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant using a consistent joint assimilation of air concentration and deposition observations, Atmos. Environ., 82, 268–279, 2014. a
Short summary
The SO2 emissions of three power plants are estimated using aircraft observations and an ensemble of HYSPLIT dispersion simulations with different plume rise parameters. The emission estimates using the runs with the lowest root mean square errors (RMSEs) and the runs with the best correlation coefficients between the predicted and observed mixing ratios both agree well with the Continuous Emissions Monitoring Systems (CEMS) data. The RMSE-based plume rise appears to be more reasonable.
The SO2 emissions of three power plants are estimated using aircraft observations and an...
Altmetrics
Final-revised paper
Preprint