EGU2020-1464, updated on 16 Oct 2020
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-1464
EGU General Assembly 2020
© Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Estimating real driving emissions from MAX-DOAS measurements at the A60 motorway near Mainz

Bianca Lauster, Steffen Dörner, Sebastian Donner, Katharina Uhlmannsiek, Sergey Gromov, Steffen Beirle, and Thomas Wagner
Bianca Lauster et al.
  • Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, Satellite Remote Sensing, Mainz, Germany (b.lauster@mpic.de)

Nitrogen oxides (NOx = NO + NO2) have a direct and indirect impact on human health. Therefore, the World Health Organization recommends limiting the concentration of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) in the atmosphere. Nevertheless, these limits are regularly exceeded. Especially, fossil fuel combustion from road traffic is a major contributor to the emission of NOx.

Multi Axis-Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy (MAX-DOAS) is able to measure trace gases in the lower troposphere. Here, this remote sensing method was used to measure NOx emissions at a highly frequented motorway. Two MAX-DOAS instruments were set up on both sides of the A60 motorway close to Mainz, Germany. The parallel viewing direction allows measuring the background signal at the upwind side and the background plus traffic emissions on the downwind side. Together with the effective wind speed perpendicular to the motorway, it is thus possible to retrieve the total traffic emissions. Compared to the expected emissions calculated from the European emission standards, the derived emissions of NOx are by a factor 7±4 higher.

In this study, first measurement results are presented and the method is evaluated with regard to the practicability and error margin.

How to cite: Lauster, B., Dörner, S., Donner, S., Uhlmannsiek, K., Gromov, S., Beirle, S., and Wagner, T.: Estimating real driving emissions from MAX-DOAS measurements at the A60 motorway near Mainz, EGU General Assembly 2020, Online, 4–8 May 2020, EGU2020-1464, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-1464, 2019