A

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 28

  1. Karlsruhe Institute of Technology

    Affiliation as printed

    Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research (IMK-ASF), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Karlsruhe, Germany

  2. Karlsruhe Institute of Technology

    Affiliation as printed

    Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research (IMK-ASF), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Karlsruhe, Germany

  3. Karlsruhe Institute of Technology

    Affiliation as printed

    Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research (IMK-ASF), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Karlsruhe, Germany

  4. Agencia Estatal de Meteorología

    Affiliation as printed

    Izaña Atmospheric Research Centre (IARC), Meteorological State Agency of Spain (AEMet), Tenerife, Spain

  5. Karlsruhe Institute of Technology

    Affiliation as printed

    Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research (IMK-ASF), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Karlsruhe, Germany

  6. Space Research Organisation Netherlands

    Affiliation as printed

    SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research, Utrecht, the Netherlands

  7. 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

  8. Karlsruhe Institute of Technology

    Affiliation as printed

    Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research (IMK-ASF), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Karlsruhe, Germany

  9. Space Research Organisation Netherlands

    Affiliation as printed

    SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research, Utrecht, the Netherlands

  10. Karlsruhe Institute of Technology

    Affiliation as printed

    Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research (IMK-ASF), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Karlsruhe, Germany

  11. Agencia Estatal de Meteorología

    Affiliation as printed

    Izaña Atmospheric Research Centre (IARC), Meteorological State Agency of Spain (AEMet), Tenerife, Spain

  12. Heidelberg University

    Affiliation as printed

    Institut für Umweltphysik, Heidelberg University (UH), Heidelberg, Germany

  13. Agencia Estatal de Meteorología

    Affiliation as printed

    Izaña Atmospheric Research Centre (IARC), Meteorological State Agency of Spain (AEMet), Tenerife, Spain

  14. Agencia Estatal de Meteorología

    Affiliation as printed

    Izaña Atmospheric Research Centre (IARC), Meteorological State Agency of Spain (AEMet), Tenerife, Spain

  15. 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

  16. Karlsruhe Institute of Technology

    Affiliation as printed

    Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research (IMK-ASF), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Karlsruhe, Germany

  17. Karlsruhe Institute of Technology

    Affiliation as printed

    Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research (IMK-ASF), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Karlsruhe, Germany

  18. 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

  19. Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

    Affiliation as printed

    Institute of Environmental Science and Technology (ICTA), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain

  20. Agencia Estatal de Meteorología

    Affiliation as printed

    Izaña Atmospheric Research Centre (IARC), Meteorological State Agency of Spain (AEMet), Tenerife, Spain

  21. Agencia Estatal de Meteorología

    Affiliation as printed

    Izaña Atmospheric Research Centre (IARC), Meteorological State Agency of Spain (AEMet), Tenerife, Spain

  22. Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

    Affiliation as printed

    Institute of Environmental Science and Technology (ICTA), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain

  23. Agencia Estatal de Meteorología

    Affiliation as printed

    Izaña Atmospheric Research Centre (IARC), Meteorological State Agency of Spain (AEMet), Tenerife, Spain

  24. Karlsruhe Institute of Technology

    Affiliation as printed

    Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research (IMK-ASF), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Karlsruhe, Germany

  25. Heidelberg University

    Affiliation as printed

    Institut für Umweltphysik, Heidelberg University (UH), Heidelberg, Germany

  26. Agencia Estatal de Meteorología

    Affiliation as printed

    Izaña Atmospheric Research Centre (IARC), Meteorological State Agency of Spain (AEMet), Tenerife, Spain

  27. Universidad de Valladolid

    Affiliation as printed

    Group of Atmospheric Optics, University of Valladolid, Valladolid, Spain

  28. Agencia Estatal de Meteorología

    Affiliation as printed

    Izaña Atmospheric Research Centre (IARC), Meteorological State Agency of Spain (AEMet), Tenerife, Spain

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