CO2 emission maps inferred from co-emitted anthropogenic NOx emissions

Satellite observations of CO₂ concentrations have limited spatial coverage, which makes it difficult to derive compete gridded maps of CO₂ emissions. On the other hand, the co-emitted anthropogenic NO_x emissions can be derived almost on a daily basis using the observations from the TROPOMI instrument on the Sentinel 5P satellite. We introduce an innovative approach to indirectly infer and map anthropogenic CO₂ emissions using the co-emitted NO_x emissions derived from TROPOMI NO₂ observations using the DECSO algorithm. The satellite-derived emissions over Europe are close to the reported emissions indicating a low uncertainty of currently reported European emissions. The reported CO₂ emissions over the Middle East and Africa are underestimated by about 40 % according our results, revealing significant reporting uncertainties. Our approach demonstrates the capability for fast and independent quantifying and mapping CO₂ emissions on a continental scale based on global satellite observations. 
The derived annual CO₂ emissions derived are compared with the CAMS CO₂ emission inventory for country totals and for individual cities. The results demonstrate the potential for DECSO to quickly quantify and map anthropogenic CO₂ emissions based on Sentinel 5P observations.