EGU23-15895
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-15895
EGU General Assembly 2023
© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Characterizing major anthropogenic point sources in the South African Highveld region using OCO-3 carbon dioxide Snapshot Area Maps and Sentinel-5P/TROPOMI nitrogen dioxide columns

Janne Hakkarainen1, Iolanda Ialongo1, Tomohiro Oda2,3,4, Monika Szeląg1, Christopher W. O'Dell6, Annmarie Eldering6,7, and David Crisp6,7
Janne Hakkarainen et al.
  • 1Finnish Meteorological Institute, Earth Observation, Helsinki, Finland (janne.hakkarainen@fmi.fi)
  • 2Earth from Space Institute, Universities Space Research Association, Washington, D.C., USA
  • 3Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA
  • 4Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka University, Suita-city, Osaka, Japan
  • 6Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
  • 7now retired

We characterize major anthropogenic point sources in the South African Highveld region using Orbiting Carbon Observatory-3 (OCO-3) Snapshot Area Map (SAM) carbon dioxide (CO2) and Sentinel-5 Precursor (S5P) TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) nitrogen dioxide (NO2) observations. Altogether we analyze six OCO-3 SAMs. We estimate the emissions of six power stations (Kendal, Kriel, Matla, Majuba, Tutuka and Grootvlei) and the largest single emitter of greenhouse gas in the world, Secunda CTL synthetic fuel plant. We apply the cross-sectional flux method for the emission estimation, and we extend the method to fit several plumes at the same time. Overall, the satellite-based emission estimates are in good agreement (within the uncertainties) as compared to emission inventories, even for the cases where several plumes are mixed. We also discuss the advantages and challenges of the current measurement systems for greenhouse gas emission monitoring and reporting, and the applicability of different emission estimation approaches to future satellite missions such as the Copernicus CO2 Monitoring Mission (CO2M) and the Global Observing SATellite for Greenhouse gases and Water cycle (GOSAT-GW), including the joint analysis of CO2 and NO2 observations.

How to cite: Hakkarainen, J., Ialongo, I., Oda, T., Szeląg, M., O'Dell, C. W., Eldering, A., and Crisp, D.: Characterizing major anthropogenic point sources in the South African Highveld region using OCO-3 carbon dioxide Snapshot Area Maps and Sentinel-5P/TROPOMI nitrogen dioxide columns, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 24–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-15895, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-15895, 2023.