High-Resolution Mapping of Nitrogen Dioxide With TROPOMI: First Results and Validation Over the Canadian Oil Sands

Debora Griffin*, Xiaoyi Zhao, Chris A. McLinden, Folkert Boersma, Adam Bourassa, Enrico Dammers, Doug Degenstein, Henk Eskes, Pepijn Veefkind, More Authors

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

167 Citations (Scopus)
235 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI), on-board the Sentinel-5 Precurser satellite, is a nadir-viewing spectrometer measuring reflected sunlight in the ultraviolet, visible, near-infrared, and shortwave infrared. From these spectra several important air quality and climate-related atmospheric constituents are retrieved, including nitrogen dioxide (NO2) at unprecedented spatial resolution from a satellite platform. We present the first retrievals of TROPOMI NO2 over the Canadian Oil Sands, contrasting them with observations from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument satellite instrument, and demonstrate TROPOMI's ability to resolve individual plumes and highlight its potential for deriving emissions from individual mining facilities. Further, the first TROPOMI NO2 validation is presented, consisting of aircraft and surface in situ NO2 observations, and ground-based remote-sensing measurements between March and May 2018. Our comparisons show that the TROPOMI NO2 vertical column densities are highly correlated with the aircraft and surface in situ NO2 observations, and the ground-based remote-sensing measurements with a low bias (15–30 %); this bias can be reduced by improved air mass factors.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1049-1060
Number of pages12
JournalGeophysical Research Letters
Volume46
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2019

Keywords

  • nitrogen dioxide
  • OMI
  • TROPOMI

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