Quantifying Urban Daily Nitrogen Oxide Emissions from Satellite Observations

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Abstract
Urban areas, characterized by dense anthropogenic activities, are among the primary sources of nitrogen oxides (NOx), impacting global atmospheric conditions and human health. Satellite observations, renowned for their continuity and global coverage, have emerged as an effective means to quantify pollutant emissions. Previous bottom-up emission inventories exhibit considerable discrepancies and lack a comprehensive and reliable database. To develop a high-precision emission inventory for individual cities, this study utilizes high-resolution single-pass observations from the TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) on the Sentinel-5 Precursor satellite to quantify the emission rates of NOx. The Exponentially Modified Gaussian (EMG) model is validated for estimating NOx emission strength using real plumes observed in satellite single-pass observations, demonstrating good consistency with existing inventories. Further analysis based on the results reveals the existence of a weekend effect and seasonal variations in NOx emissions for the majority of the studied cities.
Funding Information
  • National Key Research and Development Program of China (2023YFB3907405)
  • State Key Laboratory of Resources and Environmental Information System, Chinese Academy of Sciences (2023YFB3907405)

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