EGU21-7486, updated on 04 Mar 2021
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu21-7486
EGU General Assembly 2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Using emissions derived from atmospheric observations to inform the reported UK inventory

Alistair Manning1, Alison Redington1, Simon O'Doherty2, Dickon Young2, Dan Say2, Tim Arnold3, Chris Rennick3, Adam Wisher2, Gerry Spain4, Arnoud Frumau5, Grant Forster6, Kieran Stanley7, Martin Vollmer8, Stefan Reimann8, Jgor Arduini9, Michela Maione9, Tanja Schuck7, and Andreas Engel7
Alistair Manning et al.
  • 1Met Office, Exeter, UK
  • 2University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
  • 3NPL, Teddington, UK
  • 4University of Galway, Galway, Ireland
  • 5TNO, The Netherlands
  • 6University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK
  • 7University of Frankfurt, Frankfurt, Germany
  • 8Empa, Zurich, Switzerland
  • 9University of Urbino, Urbino, Italy

Verification of the nationally reported greenhouse gas (GHG) inventories using inverse modelling and atmospheric observations is considered to be best practice by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). It allows for an independent assessment of the nationally reported GHG emissions using a comprehensively different approach to the inventory methods. Significant differences in the emissions estimated using the two approaches are a means of identifying areas worthy of further investigation.

 

An inversion methodology called Inversion Technique for Emission Modelling (InTEM) has been developed that uses a non-negative least squares minimisation technique to determine the emission magnitude and distribution that most accurately reproduces the observations. By estimating the underlying baseline time series, atmospheric concentrations where the short-term impact of regional pollution has been removed, and by modelling where the air has passed over on route to the observation stations on a regional scale, estimates of UK emissions are made. In this study we use an extensive network of observations with six stations across the UK and six more in neighbouring countries. InTEM uses information from a Lagrangian dispersion model NAME (Numerical Atmospheric dispersion Modelling Environment), driven by three-dimensional, modelled meteorology, to understand how the air mixes during transport from the emission sources to observation points. The InTEM inversion results are submitted annually by the UK as part of their National Inventory Report to the UNFCCC. They are used within the UK inventory team to highlight areas for investigation and have led to significant improvements to the submitted UK inventory. The latest UK comparisons will be shown along with examples of how the inversion results have informed the inventory.

How to cite: Manning, A., Redington, A., O'Doherty, S., Young, D., Say, D., Arnold, T., Rennick, C., Wisher, A., Spain, G., Frumau, A., Forster, G., Stanley, K., Vollmer, M., Reimann, S., Arduini, J., Maione, M., Schuck, T., and Engel, A.: Using emissions derived from atmospheric observations to inform the reported UK inventory, EGU General Assembly 2021, online, 19–30 Apr 2021, EGU21-7486, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu21-7486, 2021.

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