Deriving Emissions From Satellite Observations: Lessons Learned From EWRE Courses

Assistant Professor

Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering

University at Buffalo

Friday, February 14 | 11 a.m. | 223 Jarvis Hall

Anthropogenic emissions have substantially altered the Earth's atmospheric composition, leading to air pollution and climate change. A unified framework connecting emissions with satellite-observed column amounts is derived from the first principles that are taught and learned from EWRE courses. The emission information originates from the inner product of the horizontal wind and the gradient of column amount, which is more accurate than the horizontal flux divergence as used in previous studies.

Additionally, the topographical and chemical effects are accounted for through fitted scale height and chemical reactivity. This framework is applied to derive emissions of multiple key atmospheric species observed by the new generation satellite instruments. 

Dr. Kang Sun received his BS in Environmental Sciences from Peking University in Beijing, China and a PhD in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Princeton University in Princeton, NJ. He worked as a physicist at Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory before joining UB in 2018. His research focuses on the chemistry and physics of the Earth’s atmosphere and their implications for air quality, public health and the climate.