Constraining regional greenhouse gas emissions using geostationary concentration measurements: a theoretical study

• Published in: Atmospheric measurement techniques Vol. 7; no. 10; pp. 3285 - 3293
• Main Authors: Rayner, P. J, Utembe, S. R, Crowell, S
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Katlenburg-Lindau Copernicus GmbH 02.10.2014; Copernicus Publications
• Subjects: Air pollution; Carbon dioxide; Carbon monoxide; Estimating; Fluxes; Greenhouse gases; Instruments (Equipment); Measurement; Policies; Pollution control; Regional; China, People's Rep., Shanghai
• ISSN: 1867-8548; 1867-1381; 1867-8548; 1867-1381
• DOI: 10.5194/amt-7-3285-2014

We investigate the ability of column-integrated trace gas measurements from a geostationary satellite to constrain surface fluxes at regional scale. The proposed GEOCARB instrument measures CO sub(2), CO and CH sub(4) at a maximum resolution of 3 km east-west 2.7 km north-south. Precisions are 3 ppm for CO sub(2), 10 ppb for CO and 18 ppb for CH sub(4). Sampling frequency is flexible. Here we sample a region at the location of Shanghai every 2 daylight hours for 6 days in June. We test the observing system by calculating the posterior uncertainty covariance of fluxes. We are able to constrain urban emissions at 3 km resolution including an isolated power plant. The CO measurement plays the strongest role; without it our effective resolution falls to 5 km. Methane fluxes are similarly well estimated at 5 km resolution. Estimating the errors for a full year suggests such an instrument would be a useful tool for both science and policy applications.