Global atmospheric methanol emissions inferred  from IASI satellite measurements and aircraft data

Müller, Jean-François; Stavrakou, Trissevgeni; Franco, Bruno; Clarisse, Lieven; Amelynck, Crist; Schoon, Niels; Verreyken, Bert W. D.; Opacka, Beata; Vigouroux, Corinne; Guenther, Alex B.; Mahieu, Emmanuel; Makarova, Maria; Strong, Kimberly

doi:10.5194/acp-26-5375-2026

Articles | Volume 26, issue 8

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-5375-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-5375-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 26, issue 8

Research article

|

22 Apr 2026

Research article |

| 22 Apr 2026

Global atmospheric methanol emissions inferred from IASI satellite measurements and aircraft data

Jean-François Müller, Trissevgeni Stavrakou, Bruno Franco, Lieven Clarisse, Crist Amelynck, Niels Schoon, Bert W. D. Verreyken, Beata Opacka, Corinne Vigouroux, Alex B. Guenther, Emmanuel Mahieu, Maria Makarova, and Kimberly Strong

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-5375-2026-supplement

Data sets

Global top-down methanol emissions based on IASI data (2008-2019) (Version 1) Jean-Francois Müller and Trissevgeni Stavrakou https://doi.org/10.18758/5FMK39FW

O)VOC concentration and flux measurements above a mixed forest at the Vielsalm ICOS ecosystem station (Belgium) (Version 1) Crist Amelynck et al. https://doi.org/10.18758/h659pdrv

(O)VOC concentration and flux measurements above a maize field at the Lonzée ICOS ecosystem station (Belgium) (Version 1) Crist Amelynck et al. https://doi.org/10.18758/7V20VH47

(O)VOC concentration and flux measurements above a wheat field at the Lonzée ICOS ecosystem station (Belgium) (Version 1) Crist Amelynck et al. https://doi.org/10.18758/87DE2ABL

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Short summary

We use an atmospheric model and aircraft measurements to evaluate methanol measurements from satellite sensors. The spaceborne data are found to be too low over source regions. Next, we use the model and the bias-corrected satellite data to derive improved terrestrial emissions of methanol between 2008 and 2019, and we evaluate the results against aircraft and ground-based measurements. This work shows that biogenic emissions of methanol might be ~ 60 % larger than previously estimated.