Pope, RJ orcid.org/0000-0002-3587-837X, Kelly, R, Marais, EA et al. (7 more authors) (2022) Exploiting satellite measurements to explore uncertainties in UK bottom-up NOx emission estimates. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 22 (7). pp. 4323-4338. ISSN 1680-7316
Abstract
Nitrogen oxides (NOx, NO + NO2) are potent air pollutants which directly impact on human health and which aid the formation of other hazardous pollutants such as ozone (O3) and particulate matter. In this study, we use satellite tropospheric column nitrogen dioxide (TCNO2) data to evaluate the spatiotemporal variability and magnitude of the United Kingdom (UK) bottom-up National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory (NAEI) NOx emissions. Although emissions and TCNO2 represent different quantities, for UK city sources we find a spatial correlation of ∼0.5 between the NAEI NOx emissions and TCNO2 from the high-spatial-resolution TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI), suggesting a good spatial distribution of emission sources in the inventory. Between 2005 and 2015, the NAEI total UK NOx emissions and long-term TCNO2 record from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI), averaged over England, show annually decreasing trends of 4.4 % and 2.2 %, respectively. Top-down NOx emissions were derived in this study by applying a simple mass balance approach to TROPOMI-observed downwind NO2 plumes from city sources. Overall, these top-down estimates were consistent with the NAEI, but for larger cities such as London and Birmingham the inventory is significantly (>25 %) less than the top-down emissions.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Environment (Leeds) > School of Earth and Environment (Leeds) > Inst for Climate & Atmos Science (ICAS) (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 07 Apr 2022 11:41 |
Last Modified: | 07 Apr 2022 11:41 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Copernicus Publications |
Identification Number: | 10.5194/acp-22-4323-2022 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:185415 |