Two Air Quality Regimes in Total Column NO2 over the Gulf of Mexico in May 2019: Shipboard and Satellite Views

The Satellite Coastal and Oceanic Atmospheric Pollution Experiment (SCOAPE) cruise in the Gulf of Mexico was conducted in May 2019 by NASA and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to determine the feasibility of using satellite data to measure air quality in a region of concentrated oil and natural gas (ONG) operations. SCOAPE addressed both technological and scientific issues related to measuring NO2 columns over the Outer Continental Shelf. Featured were nitrogen dioxide (NO2) instruments (Pandora, Teledyne API analyzer) at Cocodrie, LA (29.26°, -90.66°), and on the Research Vessel Point Sur operating off the Louisiana coast with measurements of ozone, carbon monoxide and volatile organic compounds (VOC). The findings: (1) All NO2 observations revealed two atmospheric regimes over the Gulf, the first influenced by tropical air in 10-14 May, the second influenced by flow from urban areas on 15-17 May; (2) Comparisons of OMI v4 and TROPOMI v1.3 TC (total column) NO2 data with shipboard Pandora NO2 column observations averaged 13% agreement with the largest difference during 15-17 May (~20%). At Cocodrie, the satellite-Pandora agreement was ~5%. (3) Three new-model Pandora instruments displayed a TC NO2 precision of 0.01 Dobson Units (~5%); (4) Regions of smaller, older natural gas operations showed high methane readings from leakage; elevated VOC were also detected. Neither satellite nor spectrometer captured the magnitude of ambient NO2 variability near ONG platforms. Given an absence of regular air quality monitoring over the Gulf of Mexico, SCOAPE data constitute a baseline against which future observations can be compared.