Institute of Climate and Energy Systems (ICE)

Troposphere (ICE-3)

UBA

Improving federal German emission inventories by inverse modelling

Complying with international commitments (Gothenburg protocol of the Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution), emissions of reactive trace gases and aerosols are subject to annual estimations by national authorities, as they cannot be measured directly. Yet, combining atmospheric chemistry models with measurements of air quality monitoring networks and trace gas and aerosol retrievals of remote sensing observations from space borne platforms has the potential to improve emission inventories by advanced spatio-temporal inverse modelling techniques.

In this project, the 4-dimensional variational data assimilation method is selected, based on the forward and adjoint EURopean Air pollution Dispersion - Inverse Model (EURAD-IM) with its capability to model grid resolved emission optimisation. The main objective of this research project is to investigate the potential and limits of regional observation networks to allow for emission corrections on a GNFR (Gridded Nomenclature for Reporting) basis. A detailed description of the analysis and results can be found in the project report (in German).

Article of the effzett – Magazine of Forschungszentrum Jülich:

Excellent estimates

Dirty air is a danger to health. The sources of the air pollutants are largely known, but how much the sources emit is only estimated. Researchers from Jülich have reviewed these estimates, thus also providing an important tool for identifying measures that improve air quality.

To the article