Comment on acp-2021-437
Abstract
Abstract. The objective of this study is to derive methane (CH4) emissions from three landfills, which are found to be the most significant CH4 sources in the metropolitan area of Madrid in Spain. We derive CH4 emissions from the CH4 enhancements observed by spaceborne and ground-based instruments. We apply satellite-based measurements from the TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) and the Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI) together with measurements from the ground-based COllaborative Carbon Column Observing Network (COCCON) instruments. In 2018, a 2-week field campaign for measuring the atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases was performed in Madrid in the framework of Monitoring of the Greenhouse Gases Concentrations in Madrid (MEGEI-MAD) project. Five COCCON instruments were deployed at different locations around the Madrid city center, enabling the observation of total column-averaged CH4 mixing ratios (XCH4). Considering the prevalent wind regimes, we calculate the wind-assigned XCH4 anomalies for two opposite wind directions. Pronounced bipolar plumes are found when applying the method to NO2, which implies that our method of wind-assigned anomaly is suitable to estimate enhancements of trace gases at the urban level from satellite-based measurements. For quantifying the CH4 emissions, the wind-assigned plume method is applied to the TROPOMI XCH4 and to the lower tropospheric CH4 / dry-air column ratio (TXCH4) of the combined TROPOMI+IASI product. As CH4 emission strength we estimate 7.4 × 1025 ± 6.4 × 1024 molec. s−1 from the TROPOMI XCH4 data and 7.1 × 1025 ± 1.0 × 1025 molec. s−1 from the TROPOMI+IASI merged TXCH4 data. We use COCCON observations to estimate the local source strength as an independent method. COCCON observations indicate a weaker CH4 emission strength of 3.7 × 1025 molec. s−1 from a local source (the Valdemingómez waste plant) based on observations from a single day. This strength is lower than the one derived from the satellite observations, and it is a plausible result. This is because the analysis of the satellite data refers to a larger area, covering further emission sources in the study region, whereas the signal observed by COCCON is generated by a nearby local source. All emission rates estimated from the different observations are significantly larger than the emission rates provided via the official Spanish Register of Emissions and Pollutant Sources.
Authors 24
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Qiansi Tu corresponding
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
Affiliation as printed
Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research (IMK-ASF), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Karlsruhe, Germany
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Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
Affiliation as printed
Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research (IMK-ASF), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Karlsruhe, Germany
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Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
Affiliation as printed
Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research (IMK-ASF), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Karlsruhe, Germany
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Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
Affiliation as printed
Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research (IMK-ASF), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Karlsruhe, Germany
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Space Research Organisation Netherlands
Affiliation as printed
SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research, Utrecht, the Netherlands
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Karlsruhe Institute of Technology · National Institute for Environmental Studies
Affiliation as printed
Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research (IMK-ASF), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Karlsruhe, Germany
now at: National Institute for Environmental Studies, Tsukuba, Japan
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Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
Affiliation as printed
Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research (IMK-ASF), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Karlsruhe, Germany
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Space Research Organisation Netherlands
Affiliation as printed
SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research, Utrecht, the Netherlands
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Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
Affiliation as printed
Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research (IMK-ASF), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Karlsruhe, Germany
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Agencia Estatal de Meteorología
Affiliation as printed
Izaña Atmospheric Research Centre (IARC), Meteorological State Agency of Spain (AEMet), Tenerife, Spain
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Affiliation as printed
Institut für Umweltphysik, Heidelberg University (UH), Heidelberg, Germany
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Agencia Estatal de Meteorología
Affiliation as printed
Izaña Atmospheric Research Centre (IARC), Meteorological State Agency of Spain (AEMet), Tenerife, Spain
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Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona · Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya
Affiliation as printed
Institute of Environmental Science and Technology (ICTA), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain
now at: Institute of Energy Technologies, Polytechnic University of Catalonia, Barcelona, Spain
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Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
Affiliation as printed
Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research (IMK-ASF), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Karlsruhe, Germany
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Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
Affiliation as printed
Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research (IMK-ASF), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Karlsruhe, Germany
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Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
Affiliation as printed
Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research (IMK-ASF), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Karlsruhe, Germany
Steinbuch Centre for Computing (SCC), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Karlsruhe, Germany
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Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
Affiliation as printed
Institute of Environmental Science and Technology (ICTA), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain
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Agencia Estatal de Meteorología
Affiliation as printed
Izaña Atmospheric Research Centre (IARC), Meteorological State Agency of Spain (AEMet), Tenerife, Spain
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Agencia Estatal de Meteorología
Affiliation as printed
Izaña Atmospheric Research Centre (IARC), Meteorological State Agency of Spain (AEMet), Tenerife, Spain
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Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
Affiliation as printed
Institute of Environmental Science and Technology (ICTA), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain
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Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
Affiliation as printed
Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research (IMK-ASF), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Karlsruhe, Germany
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Affiliation as printed
Institut für Umweltphysik, Heidelberg University (UH), Heidelberg, Germany
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Affiliation as printed
Group of Atmospheric Optics, University of Valladolid, Valladolid, Spain
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Agencia Estatal de Meteorología
Affiliation as printed
Izaña Atmospheric Research Centre (IARC), Meteorological State Agency of Spain (AEMet), Tenerife, Spain
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