Articles | Volume 14, issue 12
https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-14-7775-2021
https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-14-7775-2021
Model experiment description paper
 | 
23 Dec 2021
Model experiment description paper |  | 23 Dec 2021

How well can inverse analyses of high-resolution satellite data resolve heterogeneous methane fluxes? Observing system simulation experiments with the GEOS-Chem adjoint model (v35)

Xueying Yu, Dylan B. Millet, and Daven K. Henze

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Cited articles

Bloom, A. A., Bowman, K. W., Lee, M., Turner, A. J., Schroeder, R., Worden, J. R., Weidner, R., McDonald, K. C., and Jacob, D. J.: A global wetland methane emissions and uncertainty dataset for atmospheric chemical transport models (WetCHARTs version 1.0), Geosci. Model Dev., 10, 2141–2156, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-10-2141-2017, 2017. 
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Bousserez, N., Henze, D. K., Rooney, B., Perkins, A., Wecht, K. J., Turner, A. J., Natraj, V., and Worden, J. R.: Constraints on methane emissions in North America from future geostationary remote-sensing measurements, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 6175–6190, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-6175-2016, 2016. 
Chen, C., Dubovik, O., Henze, D. K., Lapyonak, T., Chin, M., Ducos, F., Litvinov, P., Huang, X., and Li, L.: Retrieval of desert dust and carbonaceous aerosol emissions over Africa from POLDER/PARASOL products generated by the GRASP algorithm, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 12551–12580, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-12551-2018, 2018. 
Chen, Y., Shen, H., Kaiser, J., Hu, Y., Capps, S. L., Zhao, S., Hakami, A., Shih, J.-S., Pavur, G. K., Turner, M. D., Henze, D. K., Resler, J., Nenes, A., Napelenok, S. L., Bash, J. O., Fahey, K. M., Carmichael, G. R., Chai, T., Clarisse, L., Coheur, P.-F., Van Damme, M., and Russell, A. G.: High-resolution hybrid inversion of IASI ammonia columns to constrain US ammonia emissions using the CMAQ adjoint model, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 2067–2082, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-2067-2021, 2021. 
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Short summary
We conduct observing system simulation experiments to test how well inverse analyses of high-resolution satellite data from sensors such as TROPOMI can quantify methane emissions. Inversions can improve monthly flux estimates at 25 km even with a spatially biased prior or model transport errors, but results are strongly degraded when both are present. We further evaluate a set of alternate formalisms to overcome limitations of the widely used scale factor approach that arise for missing sources.
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