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Title: Constraints on methane emissions in North America from future geostationary remote-sensing measurements

Journal Article · · Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (Online)
 [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [2];  [2];  [3];  [3]
  1. Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States). Dept. of Mechanical Engineering
  2. Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA (United States). School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
  3. California Inst. of Technology (CalTech), Pasadena, CA (United States). Jet Propulsion Lab.
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The success of future geostationary (GEO) satellite observation missions depends on our ability to design instruments that address their key scientific objectives. Here, an Observation System Simulation Experiment (OSSE) is performed to quantify the constraints on methane (CH4) emissions in North America obtained from shortwave infrared (SWIR), thermal infrared (TIR), and multi-spectral (SWIR+TIR) measurements in geostationary orbit and from future SWIR low-Earth orbit (LEO) measurements. Furthermore, we used an efficient stochastic algorithm to compute the information content of the inverted emissions at high spatial resolution (0.5° × 0.7°) in a variational framework using the GEOS-Chem chemistry-transport model and its adjoint. Our results show that at sub-weekly timescales, SWIR measurements in GEO orbit can constrain about twice as many independent flux patterns than in LEO orbit, with a degree of freedom for signal (DOF) for the inversion of 266 and 115, respectively. Comparisons between TIR GEO and SWIR LEO configurations reveal that poor boundary layer sensitivities for the TIR measurements cannot be compensated for by the high spatiotemporal sampling of a GEO orbit. The benefit of a multi-spectral instrument compared to current SWIR products in a GEO context is shown for sub-weekly timescale constraints, with an increase in the DOF of about 50 % for a 3-day inversion. Our results further suggest that both the SWIR and multi-spectral measurements on GEO orbits could almost fully resolve CH4 fluxes at a spatial resolution of at least 100 km × 100 km over source hotspots (emissions > 4 × 105 kg day-1). The sensitivity of the optimized emission scaling factors to typical errors in boundary and initial conditions can reach 30 and 50 % for the SWIR GEO or SWIR LEO configurations, respectively, while it is smaller than 5 % in the case of a multi-spectral GEO system. Our results demonstrate that multi-spectral measurements from a geostationary satellite platform would address the need for higher spatiotemporal constraints on CH4 emissions while greatly mitigating the impact of inherent uncertainties in source inversion methods on the inferred fluxes.

Research Organization:
Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States). Dept. of Mechanical Engineering
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE; National Science Foundation (NSF); National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
Grant/Contract Number:
NNX14AH02G; NA14OAR4310136; CNS-0821794
OSTI ID:
1375408
Journal Information:
Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (Online), Vol. 16, Issue 10; ISSN 1680-7324
Publisher:
European Geosciences UnionCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 17 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (7)

Satellite and In Situ Observations for Advancing Global Earth Surface Modelling: A Review journal December 2018
Satellite observations of atmospheric methane and their value for quantifying methane emissions journal January 2016
Constraining sector-specific CO 2 and CH 4 emissions in the US journal January 2017
The CHRONOS mission: capability for sub-hourly synoptic observations of carbon monoxide and methane to quantify emissions and transport of air pollution journal January 2018
Comparative analysis of low-Earth orbit (TROPOMI) and geostationary (GeoCARB, GEO-CAPE) satellite instruments for constraining methane emissions on fine regional scales: application to the Southeast US journal January 2018
The CHRONOS mission: Capability for sub-hourly synoptic observations of carbon monoxide and methane to quantify emissions and transport of air pollution posted_content June 2017
Satellite and In Situ Observations for Advancing Global Earth Surface Modelling: A Review text January 2018

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