Determining background concentrations of major atmospheric pollutants using Sentinel-5P TROPOMI data

The increase in concentrations of major atmospheric pollutants such as NO2, CO, CH4 as result of human activities is one of the main causes of the dynamic climate changes observed in recent years. These rapid changes have a strong influence on air quality at local and global levels and directly affect human health. This is one of the main reasons for faster global warming. The concentration of methane in the atmosphere is increasing at an accelerating rate. Three sectors are responsible for most anthropogenic CH4 emissions: fossil fuels, waste and agriculture. Locating, tracking and quantifying all these emissions is an important step towards a more accurate inventory. The use of satellite observations rises at a new label the monitoring process and improves the accuracy of emissions reporting. Medium-resolution satellite data, such as that provided by the TROPOMI sensor on the European Sentinel-5P satellite, is a powerful tool for detecting and tracking large emissions of air pollutants. The methodology presented here enables us to determine background concentrations of CH4, NO2, CO relatively quickly and efficiently. It improves our ability to quickly detect periodic or occasional emissions from unregulated sources, track seasonal and annual variations in concentrations of these air pollutants, etc. Hundreds of cases of high methane, NO2 and CO emissions in coal mining areas have been registered using this methodology. The method is also applicable to lower-intensity emission sources, such as landfills, agriculture or recording methane emissions from wetlands.