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Estimation of SO 2 emissions using OMI retrievals
Author(s) -
Fioletov V. E.,
McLinden C. A.,
Krotkov N.,
Moran M. D.,
Yang K.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2011gl049402
Subject(s) - ozone monitoring instrument , environmental science , satellite , pollution , atmospheric sciences , ozone , meteorology , climatology , geography , geology , physics , ecology , astronomy , biology
Satellite sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ) measurements from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) satellite sensor, averaged over a period of several years, were compared with emissions inventories for major US sources. Low‐ and high‐ spatial frequency filtration was applied to OMI data to reduce the noise and bias to enhance and reveal weak SO 2 signals that are otherwise not readily apparent. Averaging a large number of individual observations enables the study of SO 2 spatial distributions near larger SO 2 emissions sources with an effective resolution superior to that of an individual OMI observation and even to obtain rough estimates of the emissions level from those sources. It is demonstrated that individual sources (or multiple sources within 50 km) with annual SO 2 emissions greater than about 70 kT y −1 produce a statistically significant signal in 3‐year averaged OMI data. A correlation of 0.93 was found between OMI SO 2 integrated around the source and the annual SO 2 emission rate for the sources greater than 70 kT y −1 . OMI SO 2 data also indicate a 40% decline in SO 2 values over the largest US coal power plants between 2005–2007 and 2008–2010, a value that is consistent with the reported 46% reduction in annual emissions due to the implementation of new SO 2 pollution control measures over this period.