EGU2020-20599, updated on 10 Jan 2024
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-20599
EGU General Assembly 2020
© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Spaceborne monitoring of CO2 emissions from large cities and the impact of aerosols

Sander Houweling1,2, Jochen Landgraf2, Friedemann Reum2, Hein van Heck2, Wei Tao3, Yafang Cheng3, Tim Vlemmix4, and Piet Stammes4
Sander Houweling et al.
  • 1Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Earth Sciences, Amsterdam, Netherlands (s.houweling@vu.nl)
  • 2SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research, Utrecht, Netherlands
  • 3Max Plack Institute for Chemistry, Mainz, Germany
  • 4Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI), De Bilt, Netherlands

International agreements to reduce CO2 emissions call for an independent mechanism for evaluating the compliance with emission reduction targets. Atmospheric measurements can provide important information in support of this goal. However, to do this globally requires a drastic expansion of the existing monitoring network, using a combination of surface measurements and satellites. CO2 sensing satellites can deliver the required spatial coverage, filling in the gaps that are difficult to cover on ground. However, to reach the accuracy that is required for monitoring CO2 from space is a challenge, and even more so for anthropogenic CO2.

The European space agency is preparing for the launch of a constellation of satellites for monitoring anthropogenic CO2 within the Copernicus program, starting in 2025. Scientific support studies have been carried out to define this mission in terms of payload and observational requirements. We report on the AeroCarb study, which investigated the impact retrieval errors due to aerosols in CO2 plumes downwind of large cities, and the potential benefit of an onboard aerosol sensor to help mitigate such errors. In this study, CO2 and aerosol plumes have been simulated at high-resolution for the cities of Berlin and Beijing. The impact of aerosol scattering on spaceborne CO2 measurements has been assessed using a combined CO2-aerosol retrieval scheme, with and without the use of an onboard multi-angular spectropolarimeter (MAP) for measuring aerosols. The results have been used to quantify the accuracy at which the CO2 emissions of Berlin and Beijing can be quantified using inverse modelling and the impact of aerosols depending on the chosen satellite payload. 

In this presentation we summarize the outcome of this study, and discuss the implications for the space borne monitoring of anthropogenic CO2 emissions from large cities.

How to cite: Houweling, S., Landgraf, J., Reum, F., van Heck, H., Tao, W., Cheng, Y., Vlemmix, T., and Stammes, P.: Spaceborne monitoring of CO2 emissions from large cities and the impact of aerosols, EGU General Assembly 2020, Online, 4–8 May 2020, EGU2020-20599, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-20599, 2020.

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