Examination of the accuracy of retrievals of trace-gas emissions and lifetimes from satellite measurements using high-resolution plume modelling.

Abstract:

A recent method uses satellite measurements to estimate lifetimes and emissions of trace-gases from point sources (Fioletov et al., 2015). Emissions are retrieved by fitting measured vertical column densities (VCDs) of trace-gases to a three-dimensional function of the wind speed and spatial coordinates. In this study, a plume model was used to generate “synthetic” satellite observations of emissions to compare the emissions retrieved with the input emisisons. The Lagrangian Particle dispersion model FLEXPART (v10.0) modelled the plume from a point source over a multi-day simulation period at a resolution much higher than current satellite observations. The study aims to determine how various assumptions in the retrieval method impact the accuracy and precision of emissions. These assumptions include a constant emission rate. The study will also examine the impact on the accuracy of emissions due to uneven terrain, satellite resolution, trace-gas lifetime, the inclusion of both a point and area source, and random and systematic errors in the modelled data.