Hyperspectral thermal infrared sounders enable us to grasp the global behavior of minor atmospheric constituents. Ammonia, which imparts large impacts on the atmospheric environment by reacting with ...other species, is one of them. In this work, we present an ammonia retrieval system that we developed for the Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite (GOSAT) and the estimates of global atmospheric ammonia column amounts that we derived from 2009 to 2014. The horizontal distributions of the seasonal ammonia column amounts represent significantly high values stemming from six anthropogenic emission source areas and four biomass burning ones. The monthly mean time series of these sites were investigated, and their seasonality was clearly revealed. A comparison with the Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI) ammonia product showed good agreement spatially and seasonally, though there are some differences in detail. The values from GOSAT tend to be slightly larger than those from IASI for low concentrations, especially in spring and summer. On the other hand, they are lower for particularly high concentrations during summer, such as eastern China and northern India. In addition, the largest differences were observed in central Africa. These differences seem to stem from the temporal gaps in observations and the fundamental differences in the retrieval systems.
The Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite (GOSAT) was successfully launched in January 2009, with the aim of providing global observations of greenhouse gases. We developed an algorithm to retrieve ...CO2 vertical profiles from the terrestrial radiation spectra at 700–800 cm−1 and assessed its validity. For this purpose, we first computed GOSAT pseudomeasurement spectra and then performed CO2 retrieval simulations using the maximum a posteriori (MAP) method, with analytical data for temperature information. Our simulations with no uncertainty in the estimates of atmospheric conditions such as surface temperature, surface emissivity, and profiles of temperature, water vapor, and ozone showed that the retrieved CO2 profiles had an accuracy of 1% above 800 hPa, with little dependence on the a priori profiles. Introducing correlations between layers in an a priori error covariance matrix was important for CO2 retrieval especially above 200 hPa. Enhancing the correlations below 800 hPa was important for CO2 retrieval there. Selecting 100 channels based on CO2 information content for all layers, 10 channels for the region above 55 hPa, and 50 channels for the region below 800 hPa was sufficient to achieve CO2 retrieval with 1% accuracy from the troposphere through the stratosphere. Our simulations with possible errors in the atmospheric conditions showed that 1% accuracy was also achieved at 600–100 hPa in every latitude region, although the retrieved CO2 concentrations probably included up to 4% positive and negative biases at 30°S–30°N above 100 hPa and at mid‐ and high latitudes below 600 hPa, respectively.
Methane (CH4) is an important greenhouse gas and plays a significant role in tropospheric and stratospheric chemistry. Despite the relevance of methane (CH4) in human-induced climate change and air ...pollution chemistry, there is no scientific consensus on the causes of changes in its growth rates and variability over the past three decades. We use a well-validated chemistry–transport model for simulating CH4 concentration and estimation of regional CH4 emissions by inverse modeling during 1988–2016. The control simulations are conducted using seasonally varying hydroxyl (OH) concentrations and assumed no interannual variability. Using inverse modeling of atmospheric observations, emission inventories, a wetland model, and a δ13C-CH4 box model, we show that reductions in emissions from Europe and Russia since 1988, particularly from oil–gas exploitation and enteric fermentation, led to decreased CH4 growth rates in the 1990s. This period was followed by a quasi-stationary state of CH4 in the atmosphere during the early 2000s. CH4 resumed growth from 2007, which we attribute to increases in emissions from coal mining mainly in China and the intensification of ruminant farming in tropical regions. A sensitivity simulation using interannually varying OH shows that regional emission estimates by inversion are unaffected for the mid- and high latitude areas. We show that meridional shift in CH4 emissions toward the lower latitudes and the increase in CH4 loss by hydroxyl (OH) over the tropics finely balance out, keeping the CH4 gradients between the southern hemispheric tropical and polar sites relatively unchanged during 1988–2016. The latitudinal emissions shift is confirmed using the global distributions of the total column CH4 observations via satellite remote sensing. During our analysis period, there is no evidence of emission enhancement due to climate warming, including the boreal regions. These findings highlight key sectors for effective emission reduction strategies toward climate change mitigation.
We examined methane (CH4) variability over different regions of India and the surrounding oceans derived from thermal infrared (TIR) band observations (TIR CH4) by the Thermal and Near-infrared ...Sensor for carbon Observation—Fourier Transform Spectrometer (TANSO-FTS) onboard the Greenhouse gases Observation SATellite (GOSAT) for the period 2009–2014. This study attempts to understand the sensitivity of the vertical profile retrievals at different layers of the troposphere and lower stratosphere, on the basis of the averaging kernel (AK) functions and a priori assumptions, as applied to the simulated concentrations by the MIROC4.0-based Atmospheric Chemistry-Transport Model (MIROC4-ACTM). We stress that this is of particular importance when the satellite-derived products are analyzed using different ACTMs other than those used as retrieved a priori. A comparison of modeled and retrieved CH4 vertical profiles shows that the GOSAT/TANSO-FTS TIR instrument has sufficient sensitivity to provide critical information about the transport of CH4 from the top of the boundary layer to the upper troposphere. The mean mismatch between TIR CH4 and model is within 50 ppb, except for the altitude range above 150 hPa, where the sensitivity of TIR CH4 observations becomes very low. Convolved model profiles with TIR CH4 AK reduces the mismatch to less than the retrieval uncertainty. Distinct seasonal variations of CH4 have been observed near the atmospheric boundary layer (800 hPa), free troposphere (500 hPa), and upper troposphere (300 hPa) over the northern and southern regions of India, corresponding to the southwest monsoon (July–September) and post-monsoon (October–December) seasons. Analysis of the transport and emission contributions to CH4 suggests that the CH4 seasonal cycle over the Indian subcontinent is governed by both the heterogeneous distributions of surface emissions and the influence of the global monsoon divergent wind circulations. The major contrast between monsoon, and pre- and post-monsoon profiles of CH4 over Indian regions are noticed near the boundary layer heights, which is mainly caused by seasonal change in local emission strength with a peak during summer due to increased emissions from the paddy fields and wetlands. A strong difference between seasons in the middle and upper troposphere is caused by convective transport of the emission signals from the surface and redistribution in the monsoon anticyclone of upper troposphere. TIR CH4 observations provide additional information on CH4 in the region compared to what is known from in situ data and total-column (XCH4) measurements. Based on two emission sensitivity simulations compared to TIR CH4 observations, we suggest that the emissions of CH4 from the India region were 51.2 ± 4.6 Tg year−1 during the period 2009–2014. Our results suggest that improvements in the a priori profile shape in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UT/LS) region would help better interpretation of CH4 cycling in the earth’s environment.
The Monitoring Nitrous Oxide Sources (MIN2OS) satellite project aims at monitoring global-scale nitrous oxide (N2O) sources by retrieving N2O surface fluxes from the inversion of space-borne N2O ...measurements that are sensitive to the lowermost atmospheric layers under favorable conditions. MIN2OS will provide emission estimates of N2O at a horizontal resolution of 1° × 1° on the global scale and 10 × 10 km2 on the regional scale on a weekly to monthly basis depending on the application (e.g., agriculture, national inventories, policy, scientific research). Our novel approach is based on the development of: 1) a space-borne instrument operating in the Thermal InfraRed domain providing, in clear sky conditions, N2O mixing ratio in the lowermost atmosphere (900 hPa) under favorable conditions (summer daytime) over land and under favorable and unfavorable (winter nighttime) conditions over the ocean and 2) an atmospheric inversion framework to estimate N2O surface fluxes from the atmospheric satellite observations. After studying three N2O spectral bands (B1 at 1240–1350 cm−1, B2 at 2150–2260 cm−1 and B3 at 2400–2600 cm−1), a new TIR instrument will be developed, centered at 1250–1330 cm−1, with a resolution of 0.125 cm−1, a Full Width at Half Maximum of 0.25 cm−1 and a swath of 300 km. To optimally constrain the retrieval of N2O vertical profiles, the instrument will be on-board a platform at ~830 km altitude in a sun-synchronous orbit crossing the Equator in descending node at 09:30 local time in synergy with two other platforms (Metop-SG and Sentinel-2 NG) expected to fly in 2031–32 aiming at detecting surface properties, agricultural information on the field scale and vertical profiles of atmospheric constituents and temperature. The lifetime of the MIN2OS project would be 4–5 years to study the interannual variability of N2O surface fluxes. The spectral noise can be decreased by at least a factor of 5 compared to the lowest noise accessible to date with the Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer-New Generation (IASI-NG) mission. The N2O total error is expected to be less than ~1% (~3 ppbv) along the vertical. The preliminary design of the MIN2OS project results in a small instrument (payload of 90 kg, volume of 1200 × 600 × 300 mm3) with, in addition to the spectrometer, a wide field and 1-km resolution imager for cloud detection. The instruments could be hosted on a small platform, the whole satellite being largely compatible with a dual launch on VEGA-C. The MIN2OS project has been submitted to the European Space Agency Earth Explorer 11 mission ideas.
•The MIN2OS satellite project aims at retrieving global-scale N2O sources.•MIN2OS is an IR spectrometer (1250–1330 cm-1) dedicated to N2O measurements.•MIN2OS will observe N2O in the lowermost troposphere at 10x10 km2 resolution.•A source inversion tool will estimate N2O surface fluxes from MIN2OS observations.•The MIN2OS project has been submitted to the ESA EE11 mission ideas.
Methane emission in South Asia is poorly understood due to a lack of observations, despite being a major contributor to methane emissions globally. We present the first results of atmospheric CH
4
...inversions using air samples collected weekly at Nainital, India (NTL), and Comilla, Bangladesh (CLA), in addition to surface background flask measurements by NOAA, CSIRO and AGAGE using the MIROC4-ACTM. Our simulations span from 2000 to 2020 (considering the fixed “edge” effect), but the main analysis period is 2013–2020, when both the NTL and CLA datasets are available. An additional flux uncertainty reduction of up to 40% was obtained (mainly in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent), which enhanced our confidence in flux estimation and reaffirmed the significance of observations at the NTL and CLA sites. Our estimated regional flux was 64.0 ± 4.7 Tg-CH
4
yr
−1
in South Asia for the period 2013–2020. We considered two combinations of a priori fluxes that represented different approaches for CH
4
emission from rice fields and wetlands. By the inversion, the difference in emissions between these combinations was notably reduced due to the adjustment of the CH
4
emission from the agriculture, oil and gas, and waste sectors. At the same time, the discrepancy in wetland emissions, approximately 8 Tg-CH
4
yr
−1
, remained unchanged. In addition to adjusting the annual totals, the inclusion of NTL/CLA observations in the inversion analysis modified the seasonal cycle of total fluxes, possibly due to the agricultural sector. While the a priori fluxes consisted of a single peak in August, the a posteriori values indicated double peaks in May and September. These peaks are highly likely associated with field preparation for summer crops and emissions from rice fields during the heading stage (panicle formation). The newly incorporated sites primarily exhibit sensitivity to the Indo-Gangetic Plain subregion, while coverage in southern India remains limited. Expanding the observation network is necessary, with careful analysis of potential locations using back-trajectory methods for footprint evaluation.
The Greenhouse gases Observing SATellite 2 (GOSAT-2) was launched in October 2018 as a successor to GOSAT (launched in 2009), the first satellite to specialize in greenhouse gas observations. ...Compared to the GOSAT sensors, the sensors of GOSAT-2 offer higher performance in most respects. The quality and quantity of data from observations are expected to be improved accordingly. The signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is better in both the SWIR and TIR bands of TANSO-FTS-2, which is the main sensor of GOSAT-2. This improvement ultimately enhances the accuracy of greenhouse gas concentration analysis. Furthermore, because of the improved SNR in the SWIR band, the northern limit at which data are obtainable in high-latitude regions of the Northern Hemisphere in winter, where observation data have remained unavailable because of weak signal strength, has moved to higher latitudes. As better data are obtained in greater quantities, progress in carbon cycle research for high-latitude regions is anticipated. Moreover, the improvement of SNR in the TIR band is expected to be considerable. Particularly, the resolutions of the vertical concentration distributions of CO
2
and CH
4
have been improved drastically. The first function introduced for GOSAT-2 that is not in GOSAT is an intelligent pointing mechanism: a cloud area avoidance function using the in-field camera of TANSO-FTS-2. This function can increase the amounts of observation data globally and can improve the accuracy of CO
2
emissions estimation and measurements of uptake intensity. The effects are expected to be strong, especially for the tropics because cumulus clouds are the most common cloud type. The intelligent pointing system can avoid the clouds effectively. Another important benefit of TANSO-FTS-2 is that the wavelength range of Band 3 of SWIR has been expanded for measuring carbon monoxide (CO). Because CO originates from combustion, it is used to evaluate some effects of human activities in urban areas and biomass burning in fields. Particularly, black carbon-type aerosols can be measured by the sub-sensor, TANSO-CAI-2, to assess biomass burning along with CO
2
and CO by TANSO-FTS-2.
Distributions of trace gases in the atmosphere provide key information on the transport and chemical properties of the Earth's environment. In this study, we examine the observed seasonal variability ...of SF6, CO2, CH4, and N2O from commercial aircraft‐based measurements in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UT/LS) in combination with atmospheric chemistry‐transport model (ACTM) simulations. We used a dynamical tropopause defined based on maximum PV gradient that better allows for model‐observation comparisons in the UT and LS regions separately. The ACTM simulated the following observed features well: (1) smaller seasonality in SF6 in the UT than in the LS due to seasonal change in the transport processes, (2) large seasonality in CO2 in the UT, in phase with the source‐sink balance on the Earth's surface, (3) pronounced seasonality in CH4 in the UT with opposite phase in the subtropics and Eurasian high latitudes as contrasting phases of source and chemical loss seasonality develop, and (4) small N2O variability in the UT but stratospheric loss produces distinct seasonality in the LS. Vertical profile comparisons of all the species show that ACTM better simulated the photo‐chemically inert CO2 vertical gradients in all seasons, suggesting a realistic representation of the Brewer‐Dobson circulation in the model. The seasonal variabilities of the long‐lived species in the LS can be explained based on age of air derived from CO2 in the older air regime, except for the months of May‐July, when the model mixes UT and LS air more vigorously than suggested by the observations.
Key Points
We have analyzed seasonal variations of SF6, CO2, CH4, and N2O in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere
Roles of surface sources, transport processes, and chemical losses in variabilities of each species in the upper troposphere are discussed
The age of air diagnostic is used to explain their seasonal cycle variability due to the Brewer‐Dobson circulation in the lower stratosphere
The Thermal and Near Infrared Sensor for Carbon Observation (TANSO)–Fourier Transform Spectrometer (FTS) on board the Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite (GOSAT) has been observing carbon dioxide ...(CO2) concentrations in several atmospheric layers in the thermal infrared (TIR) band since its launch. This study compared TANSO-FTS TIR version 1 (V1) CO2 data and CO2 data obtained in the Comprehensive Observation Network for TRace gases by AIrLiner (CONTRAIL) project in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UTLS), where the TIR band of TANSO-FTS is most sensitive to CO2 concentrations, to validate the quality of the TIR V1 UTLS CO2 data from 287 to 162 hPa. We first evaluated the impact of considering TIR CO2 averaging kernel functions on CO2 concentrations using CO2 profile data obtained by the CONTRAIL Continuous CO2 Measuring Equipment (CME), and found that the impact at around the CME level flight altitudes (∼ 11 km) was on average less than 0.5 ppm at low latitudes and less than 1 ppm at middle and high latitudes. From a comparison made during flights between Tokyo and Sydney, the averages of the TIR upper-atmospheric CO2 data were within 0.1 % of the averages of the CONTRAIL CME CO2 data with and without TIR CO2 averaging kernels for all seasons in the Southern Hemisphere. The results of comparisons for all of the eight airline routes showed that the agreements of TIR and CME CO2 data were worse in spring and summer than in fall and winter in the Northern Hemisphere in the upper troposphere. While the differences between TIR and CME CO2 data were on average within 1 ppm in fall and winter, TIR CO2 data had a negative bias up to 2.4 ppm against CME CO2 data with TIR CO2 averaging kernels at the northern low and middle latitudes in spring and summer. The negative bias at the northern middle latitudes resulted in the maximum of TIR CO2 concentrations being lower than that of CME CO2 concentrations, which led to an underestimate of the amplitude of CO2 seasonal variation.
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