Mahuika-Auckland: A spatially and temporally resolved fossil fuel CO2 emissions data product for Auckland, New Zealand

Abstract

Accurate, high-resolution and sector-specific greenhouse gas emissions information is increasingly needed for the development of local, targeted mitigation policies. We describe a detailed, spatially and temporally resolved CO₂ emissions data product, Mahuika-Auckland, for Auckland, New Zealand, based on Auckland's regional greenhouse gas and air emissions inventories. Emissions are provided at 500 m spatial resolution and at a 1-hr time step, a level of detail not previously available for any New Zealand city. We divide fossil fuel emissions into six sectors that comprise the majority of Auckland Region's CO₂ emissions profile: on-road transport, industrial non-point buildings and point sources, commercial non-point buildings, residential non-point buildings, air transport and sea transport. We also include separate layers representing biogenic CO₂ emissions (primarily waste and wood burning), as these are significant sources in Auckland. We distribute emissions spatially and temporally based on activity data, energy and fuel consumption patterns, and population statistics. The code to generate Mahuika-Auckland has been designed to be flexible so that updated information and/or data from more recent years can easily be incorporated. This data product improves upon New Zealand's current inventories that are only resolved at the regional and annual scale, providing a new level of detail that can be used as a prior estimate for atmospheric inversions, to inform emissions reduction policies and to guide the development of zero carbon pathways.