Invited Paper 691801: IASI Satellite Observations during the Covid-19 Lockdown

Abstract:

Pollutant emissions reduced during the COVID-19 lockdowns due to less road and air traffic, combined with limited commercial and industrial activity. The analysis of data provided by the IASI satellite instruments residing on the Eumetsat Metop series of polar orbiting satellites during the pandemic shows unprecedented low levels of pollutants.

Developed by the French Space Agency CNES, IASI is a sophisticated and versatile mission that was designed to fulfil the needs of three communities: numerical weather prediction, climate research and atmospheric composition monitoring. Since 2006 it measures calibrated radiance in the thermal infrared spectral range, at a global scale and revisiting all points on the Earth’s surface twice a day in near real time. The recorded radiance spectra exhibit signatures associated with spectroscopic absorption/emission lines of molecules present along the optical path between the Earth’s surface and the satellite detectors.

Among the 30 atmospheric species that can either be measured in routine mode or detected when specific events occur (volcanic eruption, large fires, pollution peaks), several are good tracers of anthropogenic activities. This presentation will illustrate the IASI observations for atmospheric composition between January 2020 and June 2020, before, during, and after lockdowns as observed over several countries and continents.