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Detection and quantification of worldwide industrial and urban point-sources of volatile organic compounds with spaceborne infrared measurements

par Franco, Bruno ;Clarisse, Lieven ;Van Damme, Martin ;Hadji-Lazaro, Juliette;Clerbaux, Cathy ;Coheur, Pierre
Référence 20th GEIA Conference - Towards mitigating air pollutant and greenhouse gas emissions (20: 21-23 June 2023: Brussels)
Publication Non publié, 2023-06-21

Communication à un colloque

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Résumé :

Large releases of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) to the atmosphere occur frequently from heavy industries and megacities but these emission fluxes are still poorly constrained in current inventories. Identifying and monitoring such localized sources is therefore key to mitigate air pollution. Using the multi-annual and spatially dense measurements from the Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI) on Metop satellites, in combination with an advanced oversampling technique that augments the spatial resolution of averaged satellite data, we explore the potential of spaceborne infrared observations for tracking down anthropogenic emitters of VOCs. We report the detection of worldwide point-sources of several major VOCs, among which ethylene (C2H4) and methanol (CH3OH). Those are found to be mainly associated with heavy industries such as petrochemical hubs, coal-related activities (e.g., coal mining and processing), and megacities. For some point-sources, we provide a first order estimate of their annual VOC emissions based on the IASI measurements. We find an important mismatch between the top-down industrial fluxes and the VOC emissions from the anthropogenic inventory EDGAR, often dominated by non-industrial sectors. This work highlights the importance of current and future infrared satellite measurements to monitor and track industrial air pollution.