An international research team identified carbon dioxide from human activities by analyzing measurements from the TanSat mission and the Copernicus Sentinel-5 precursor task. This is the first attempt to use TanSat's measurement data to detect human-caused, or human-caused carbon dioxide emission characteristics. One of the most critical criteria for monitoring greenhouse gas globally is to quantify anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions.
The team published their research today (October 25) in the journal "Highlights of Atmospheric Science Advances ". It includes researchers from , Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Finnish Institute of Meteorology.
Carbon dioxide (CO2) is considered the most important anthropogenic greenhouse gas because it has a significant impact on global warming and climate change. Because of this, in the past decade, several satellite missions have been developed specifically for atmospheric greenhouse measurements.
At the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris in 2015, participants agreed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to prevent global surface temperatures from rising. Slowing down the global warming of is a challenge facing the global population in the 21st century. The concentration of carbon dioxide continues to rise due to anthropogenic activities such as fossil fuel combustion and land use changes. Emissions related to fossil fuel combustion are local, with urban areas as the main contributors, accounting for more than 70% of global emissions. However, it has been particularly challenging for scientists to obtain the high-precision measurements needed to study urban artificial emissions.
The TanSat launched in 2016 is China's first global carbon dioxide monitoring satellite. Tan is the Chinese pronunciation of carbon. Although TanSat has provided researchers with data for several years, a new algorithm has been added to TanSat's instruments, greatly improving TanSat's measurement accuracy.
The research team conducted the study by observing two sets of measurement data collected in two cities. The scientists used TanSat carbon dioxide data collected in May 2018 near Tangshan, China and in March 2018 near Tokyo, Japan. They compared TanSat data with nitrogen dioxide measurements captured by TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument on the Copernicus Sentinel-5 precursor satellite on the same date. "We analyzed the synergy between TanSat data and the nitrogen dioxide observation data of European Copernicus Sentinel-5 precursor TROPOMI to help detect anthropogenic plume and analyze the ratio of carbon dioxide to nitrogen dioxide," said Yang Dongxu from the Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. "We analyzed the synergy between TanSat data and the nitrogen dioxide observation data of European Copernicus Sentinel-5 precursor TROPOMI to help detect anthropogenic plume and analyze the ratio of carbon dioxide to nitrogen dioxide." Two case studies showed that TanSat carbon dioxide measurements have the ability to capture anthropogenic changes in the plume and have spatial patterns like the nitrogen dioxide observations of TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument. In addition, the ratio of carbon dioxide to nitrogen dioxide in Tangshan, China and Tokyo, Japan is consistent with the emission list.
"This is an important step in the analysis of satellite data in Tangshan." said Janne Hakkarainen of the Finnish Meteorological Institute. "The next step is to infer emissions and prepare for the TanSat-2 constellation, including a joint analysis of carbon dioxide and nitrogen dioxide plumes."
looks to the future, and the team has plans to expand the study. "TanSat is our first attempt at global carbon monitoring," said Liu Yi from the Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. "China's next-generation global carbon dioxide monitoring satellite mission, namely TanSat-2, is now in the design stage."
According to Liu, TanSat-2's target measurement will be concentrated in cities with a scanning range of 800-1,000 kilometers (500-620 miles) wide, using imaging processes and 500 meters (1,600 feet) footprint size to record carbon dioxide gradients from urban centers to rural areas to improve the accuracy of emission estimates. TanSat-2 will be a constellation composed of satellites distributed in at least two orbits in the morning and afternoon, covering a city or a point source twice a day.
"Our goal is to use satellite measurements to improve our understanding of carbon cycle and further analyze and restrict carbon dioxide sources and sinks and their uncertainties," Liu said.
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