NASA Logo

NTRS

NTRS - NASA Technical Reports Server

Back to Results
Air Pollution Trends Measured From Terra: CO and AOD Over Industrial, Fire-prone, and Background RegionsFollowing past studies to quantify decadal trends in global carbon monoxide (CO) using satellite observations, we update estimates and find a CO trend in column amounts of about −0.50 % per year between 2002 to 2018, which is a deceleration compared to analyses performed on shorter records that found −1 % per year. Aerosols are co-emitted with CO from both fires and anthropogenic sources but with a shorter lifetime than CO. A combined trend analysis of CO and aerosol optical depth (AOD) measurements from space helps to diagnose the drivers of regional differences in the CO trend. We use the long-term records of CO from the Measurements of Pollution in the Troposphere (MOPITT) and AOD from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument. Other satellite instruments measuring CO in the thermal infrared, AIRS, TES, IASI, and CrIS, show consistent hemispheric CO variability and corroborate results from the trend analysis performed with MOPITT CO. Trends are examined by hemisphere and in regions for 2002 to 2018, with uncertainties quantified. The CO and AOD records are split into two sub-periods (2002 to 2010 and 2010 to 2018) in order to assess trend changes over the 16 years. We focus on four major population centers: Northeast China, North India, Europe, and Eastern USA, as well as fire-prone regions in both hemispheres. In general, CO declines faster in the first half of the record compared to the second half, while AOD trends show more variability across regions. We find evidence of the atmospheric impact of air quality management policies. The large decline in CO found over Northeast China is initially associated with an improvement in combustion efficiency, with subsequent additional air quality improvements from 2010 onwards. Industrial regions with minimal emission control measures such as North India become more globally relevant as the global CO trend weakens. We also examine the CO trends in monthly percentile values to understand seasonal implications and find that local changes in biomass burning are sufficiently strong to counteract the global downward trend in atmospheric CO, particularly in late summer.
Document ID
20210000972
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Accepted Manuscript (Version with final changes)
Authors
Rebecca R Buchholz ORCID
(National Center for Atmospheric Research Boulder, Colorado, United States)
Helen M Worden
(National Center for Atmospheric Research Boulder, Colorado, United States)
Mijeong Park
(National Center for Atmospheric Research Boulder, Colorado, United States)
Gene Francis
(National Center for Atmospheric Research Boulder, Colorado, United States)
Merritt N Deeter
(National Center for Atmospheric Research Boulder, Colorado, United States)
David P Edwards
(National Center for Atmospheric Research Boulder, Colorado, United States)
Louisa K Emmons
(National Center for Atmospheric Research Boulder, Colorado, United States)
Benjamin Gaubert
(National Center for Atmospheric Research Boulder, Colorado, United States)
John Gille
(National Center for Atmospheric Research Boulder, Colorado, United States)
Sara Martínez-Alonso
(National Center for Atmospheric Research Boulder, Colorado, United States)
Wenfu Tang
(National Center for Atmospheric Research Boulder, Colorado, United States)
Rajesh Kumar
(National Center for Atmospheric Research Boulder, Colorado, United States)
James R Drummond
(University of Toronto Toronto, Ontario, Canada)
Cathy Clerbaux
(Sorbonne University Paris, France)
Maya George
(Sorbonne University Paris, France)
Pierre- François Coheur
(Université Libre de Bruxelles Brussels, Belgium)
Daniel Hurtmans
(Université Libre de Bruxelles Brussels, Belgium)
Kevin W Bowman
(Jet Propulsion Lab La Cañada Flintridge, California, United States)
Mingzhao Luo
(Jet Propulsion Lab La Cañada Flintridge, California, United States)
Vivienne Helen Payne ORCID
(Jet Propulsion Lab La Cañada Flintridge, California, United States)
John R Worden
(Jet Propulsion Lab La Cañada Flintridge, California, United States)
Mian Chin
(Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, Maryland, United States)
Robert C Levy
(Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, Maryland, United States)
Juying Warner
(University of Maryland, College Park College Park, Maryland, United States)
Zigang Wei
(IMSG, Inc)
Susan S Kulawik
(Bay Area Environmental Research Institute Petaluma, California, United States)
Date Acquired
January 28, 2021
Publication Date
January 26, 2021
Publication Information
Publication: Remote Sensing of Environment
Publisher: Elsevier
Volume: 256
Issue Publication Date: April 1, 2021
ISSN: 0034-4257
URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0034425720306489
Subject Category
Environment Pollution
Funding Number(s)
WBS: 720817.04.14.01.06
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Portions of document may include copyright protected material.
Technical Review
Single Expert
Keywords
carbon monoxide
AOD
NASA/Terra satellite
trend
interannual variability
No Preview Available