Title: Incorporating Space-borne Observations to Improve Biogenic Emission Estimates in Texas
Institution(s) Represented: University of Alabama - Huntsville - Arastoo Pour Biazar, Rice University - Daniel Cohan
Lead PI: Arastoo Pour Biazar
AQRP Project Manager: Elena McDonald-Buller
TCEQ Project Liaison: Mark Estes
Awarded Amount: $199,982.00
Abstract
Incorporating Space-borne Observations to Improve Biogenic Emission Estimates in Texas
One of the challenges in understanding the Texas air quality has been the uncertainties in estimating the biogenic hydrocarbon emissions. Biogenic volatile organic compounds, BVOCs, play a critical role in atmospheric chemistry, particularly in ozone and particulate matter (PM) formation. In southeast Texas, BVOCs (mostly as isoprene) are the dominant summertime source of reactive hydrocarbon. Despite significant efforts by the State of Texas in improving BVOC estimates, the errors in emission inventories remain a concern. This is partly due to the diversity of the land use/land cover (LU/LC) over southeast Texas coupled with a complex weather pattern, and partly due to the fact that isoprene is highly reactive and relating atmospheric observations of isoprene to the emissions source (vegetation) relies on many meteorological factors that control the emission, chemistry, and atmospheric transport.
BVOC estimates depend on the amount of radiation reaching the canopy (Photosynthetically Active Radiation, PAR), and temperature. However, the treatment of temperature and PAR is not uniform across emissions models and still poses a problem when evaluating the inventories. Recent studies show that the largest uncertainty comes from the model solar radiation estimates and that using satellite-based PAR would be preferable. Emissions from soils also remain as one of the poorly quantified sources of NOx (nitrogen oxides) in most air quality models. Soils can be the largest source of NOx in rural regions where low-NOx conditions make ozone production efficiency especially high, contributing to background ozone levels.
The overall objective of the current activity is to advance our understanding of Texas Air Quality by utilizing satellite observations and the new advances in biogenic emissions modeling to improve biogenic emission estimates. This work specifically addresses a priority area in Texas AQ studies by improving biogenic emission estimates. In particular, the objectives are:
(1) To provide satellite-based PAR estimates for Texas during selected periods of 2006 and the Discover-AQ period (September, 2013).
(2) To produce an improved biogenic emission estimate for Texas and help in the evaluation of biogenic emission inventories over Texas by providing the best model representation of the atmospheric condition during the observations used for evaluation.
(3) To prepare and use a new soil NOx scheme that provides more mechanistic representation of how emissions respond to nitrogen deposition, fertilizer application, and changing meteorology.
The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) currently generates a set of products from the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) that includes surface incident short-wave radiation as well as cloud albedo and cloud top temperature. Under this activity, UAH will produce the Photosynthetically Active Radiation (PAR) needed in the estimation of biogenic hydrocarbon emissions. Satellite-derived PAR will be evaluated against previous satellite-based products as well as surface observations for the summer of 2006 and also during Texas Discover-AQ campaign. Furthermore, the new PAR retrievals will be used in MEGAN (the Model of Emissions of Gases and Aerosols from Nature) to generate BVOC emissions.
The new soil NOx scheme to be used is an implementation of the Berkeley-Dalhousie Soil NOx Parameterization (BDSNP) within MEGAN. A series of sensitivity simulations will be performed and evaluated against Discover-AQ observations to test the impact of satellite-derived PAR and the new soil NOx emission model on air quality simulations.
Executive Summary: projectinfoFY14_15\14-017\14-017 Executive Summary.pdf
Work Plan: projectinfoFY14_15\14-017\14-017 Scope.pdf
Technical Report(s): projectinfoFY14_15\14-017\14-017 MTR Aug 2014.pdf
Technical Report(s): projectinfoFY14_15\14-017\14-017 MTR Sep 2014.pdf
Technical Report(s): projectinfoFY14_15\14-017\14-017 MTR Oct 2014.pdf
Technical Report(s): projectinfoFY14_15\14-017\14-017 MTR Nov 2014.pdf
Technical Report(s): projectinfoFY14_15\14-017\14-017 MTR Dec 2014.pdf
Technical Report(s): projectinfoFY14_15\14-017\14-017 MTR Jan 2015.pdf
Technical Report(s): projectinfoFY14_15\14-017\14-017 MTR Feb 2015.pdf
Technical Report(s): projectinfoFY14_15\14-017\14-017 MTR Mar 2015.pdf
Technical Report(s): projectinfoFY14_15\14-017\14-017 MTR Apr 2015.pdf
Technical Report(s): projectinfoFY14_15\14-017\14-017 MTR May 2015.pdf
Technical Report(s): projectinfoFY14_15\14-017\14-017 MTR Jun 2015.pdf
Technical Report(s): projectinfoFY14_15\14-017\14-017 MTR Jul 2015.pdf
QAPP: projectinfoFY14_15\14-017\14-017 QAPP.pdf
Final Report: projectinfoFY14_15\14-017\14-017 Final Report.pdf
