You are here:
Quantifying Spatial and Seasonal Variability in Atmospheric Ammonia with In Situ and Space-Based Observations
Citation:
PINDER, R. W., J. T. WALKER, JR., J. O. BASH, K. E. Cady-Pereira, D. K. Henze, M. Luo, G. B. Osterman, AND M. W. Shephard. Quantifying Spatial and Seasonal Variability in Atmospheric Ammonia with In Situ and Space-Based Observations. GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS. American Geophysical Union, Washington, DC, 38(L04802):1-5, (2011).
Impact/Purpose:
The National Exposure Research Laboratory′s (NERL′s) Atmospheric Modeling and Analysis Division (AMAD) conducts research in support of EPA′s mission to protect human health and the environment. AMAD′s research program is engaged in developing and evaluating predictive atmospheric models on all spatial and temporal scales for forecasting the Nation′s air quality and for assessing changes in air quality and air pollutant exposures, as affected by changes in ecosystem management and regulatory decisions. AMAD is responsible for providing a sound scientific and technical basis for regulatory policies based on air quality models to improve ambient air quality. The models developed by AMAD are being used by EPA, NOAA, and the air pollution community in understanding and forecasting not only the magnitude of the air pollution problem, but also in developing emission control policies and regulations for air quality improvements.
Description:
Ammonia plays an important role in many biogeochemical processes, yet atmospheric mixing ratios arc not well known. Recently, methods have been developed for retrieving NH3 from space-based observations, but they have not been compared to in situ measurements. We have conducted a field campaign combining co-located surface measurements and satellite special observations from the Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES). Our study includes 25 surface monitoring sites spanning 350 km across eastern North Carolina, a region with large seasonal and spatial variability in NH3. From the TES spectra, we retrieve a NH3 representative volume mixing ratio (RVMR), and we restrict our analysis to times when the region of the atmosphere observed by TES is representative or the surface measurement. We find that the TES NH3 RVMR qualitatively captures the seasonal and spatial variability found in eastern North Carolina. Both surface measurements and TES NH3 show a strong correspondence with the number of livestock facilities within 10 km of the observation. Furthermore, we find that TES NH3 RVMR captures the month-to-month variability present in the surface observations. The high correspondence with in situ measurements and vast spatial coverage make TES NH3 RVMR a valuable tool for understanding regional and global NH3 fluxes.
URLs/Downloads:
Quantifying Spatial and Seasonal Variability in Atmospheric Ammonia with In Situ and Space-Based Observations (PDF, NA pp, 271 KB, about PDF)Geophysical Research Letters
