Nehrkorn, Thomas: AER, Inc (Project Lead)
Callahan, Bill: Earth Networks (Co-Investigator)
Hutyra, Lucy: Boston University (Co-Investigator)
Sargent, Maryann: Harvard University (Co-Investigator)
Wofsy, Steven (Steve): Harvard University (Co-Investigator)
Chen, Jia: Technical University of Munich (Collaborator)
Guha, Abhinav: Bay Area Air Quality Management District (Collaborator)
Reinmann, Andrew: Boston University (Participant)
Chu, Hong-Hanh: Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy & Environmental Affairs (Stakeholder)
Cleveland, Cutler: Boston University Institute for Sustainable Energy (and Carbon Free Boston Initiative) (Stakeholder)
Fox-Penner, Peter: Boston University Institute for Sustainable Energy (and Carbon Free Boston Initiative) (Stakeholder)
Gupta, Vineet: City of Boston, Boston Transportation Department (Stakeholder)
Hamburg, Steven: Environmental Defense Fund (Stakeholder)
Osgood, Chris: City of Boston, Office of New Urban Mechanics (Stakeholder)
Peterson, Scott: Boston Metropolitan Planning Organization (Stakeholder)
Rudek, Joe: Environmental Defense Fund (Stakeholder)
Project Funding:
2016 - 2019
NRA: 2015 NASA: Carbon Monitoring System
Funded by NASA
Abstract:
The 2015 COP21 meeting in Paris fundamentally changed the approach to carbon monitoring, reporting, verification and validation (MRV/MRVV). The emphasis on voluntary measures, and the large number of ongoing GHG reduction efforts at sub- national levels in government, non-profit, and private sectors, require monitoring capability at policy-relevant scales: region, state, and city. Urban regions are particularly important because cities account for more than 70% of all global fossil-fuel CO2 emissions, and urban losses of natural gas CH4 equal or exceed emissions from production and processing.
We propose research to develop a prototype MRV system for Boston and the urban Northeastern US, leveraging results of our current CMS project. We will advance our framework and help deploy a similar system in the San Francisco Bay Area, collaborating with the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD). Both cities have strong GHG reduction efforts (Boston's plan was honored at COP21, and the BAAQMD has ambitious GHG reduction goals for their 10-point Climate Action Work Program). We propose new or enhanced capabilities in four key areas: (1) observational networks that
 ground-based remote sensing from new solar-viewing spectrometers and Lidar with observations from space-borne platforms (OCO-2, OCO-3, TROPOMI, and CALIPSO) and in situ networks; (2) novel bottom-up approaches to generate high- resolution flux inventories in urban and surrounding areas; (3) a high-resolution transport modeling (WRF-STILT) framework, coupled to inversion algorithms to provide posterior estimates of fluxes and uncertainties on scales from urban region to neighborhood; and (4) strong engagement with stakeholder communities and local and state entities.
Quantification and reduction of uncertainties are a key focus. We assess bottom-up inventories by comparing with independent estimates; verify meteorological fields used for transport modeling against a wide range of observations; and undertake intensive field studies to quantify systematic errors in emissions estimates.
The San Francisco Bay area and Boston have contrasting meteorological (e.g., marine vs. continental inflow) and biophysical characteristics (e.g., biomes, seasonality, topographical heterogeneity). We plan an intensive study in the Bay Area under auspices of the BAAQMD, and will focus on transferring to the District methods we have developed for bottom-up inventories at high resolution and elements of our network design and analysis. This work will help us to apply our techniques and findings from the Northeast to elsewhere in the US and the world.
We will assess the MRV capability of column-integrated measurements, both from new ground-based FTS instruments, and space-borne platforms (OCO-2 and OCO-3). Our transport modeling framework will take advantage of recent advances in the treatment of near-field emissions and high-resolution modeling for urban areas. Our proposed bottom- up inventory approach for anthropogenic emissions leverages working relationships with stakeholders to enable use of non-standard activity data, and it treats previously neglected sectors (urban biosphere, human respiration) needed to interpret observational data. We plan to widen stakeholder interactions and address user needs by involving interested parties through exposure to pilot data products and methods transfer.
Our proposal addresses core goals of the NNH15ZDA001N-CMS solicitation: 'using remote sensing data products to produce and evaluate prototype MRV system approaches' and 'studies to improve the characterization and quantification of errors and uncertainties [...] in the algorithms, models, and associated methodologies', and 'studies of stakeholder interests and requirements'. The proposed work will benefit from the team's involvement with the OCO-2 Science Team, the Environmental Defense Fund Methane Initiative, and the CMS project led by Dr. A. Andrews.
Publications:
Barrera, Y. D., Nehrkorn, T., Hegarty, J., Sargent, M., Benmergui, J., Gottlieb, E., Wofsy, S. C., DeCola, P., Hutyra, L., Jones, T. 2019. Using Lidar Technology To Assess Urban Air Pollution and Improve Estimates of Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Boston. Environmental Science & Technology. 53(15), 8957-8966. DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.9b00650
Barrera, Yanina Débora: Using Lidar Technology and the STILT Model to Assess Air Pollution and Improve Estimates of Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Cities, Ph.D. thesis, July, 2019, 102pp.
Decina, S. M., Templer, P. H., Hutyra, L. R. 2018. Atmospheric Inputs of Nitrogen, Carbon, and Phosphorus across an Urban Area: Unaccounted Fluxes and Canopy Influences. Earth's Future. 6(2), 134-148. DOI: 10.1002/2017EF000653
Floerchinger, Cody: Airborne methane flux quantification and source identification using high resolution measurements of ethane and methane, Ph.D. thesis, Harvard University, July, 2019, 161pp.
Gately, C. K., Hutyra, L. R. 2017. Large Uncertainties in Urban-Scale Carbon Emissions. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres. 122(20). DOI: 10.1002/2017JD027359
Gately, C. K., Hutyra, L. R., Peterson, S., Sue Wing, I. 2017. Urban emissions hotspots: Quantifying vehicle congestion and air pollution using mobile phone GPS data. Environmental Pollution. 229, 496-504. DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2017.05.091
Hardiman, B. S., Wang, J. A., Hutyra, L. R., Gately, C. K., Getson, J. M., Friedl, M. A. 2017. Accounting for urban biogenic fluxes in regional carbon budgets. Science of The Total Environment. 592, 366-372. DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.03.028
Jones, Taylor: Advances in Environmental Measurement Systems: Remote Sensing of Urban Methane Emissions and Tree Sap Flow Quantification, Ph. D. Thesis, Harvard University, Sep. 2019.
Propp, Adrienne M., "MethaneSat: Detecting Methane Emissions from the Barnett Shale Region", Senior Thesis in Applied Mathematic, Harvard Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Science, 2017, 83pp.
Reinmann, A. B., Hutyra, L. R. 2016. Edge effects enhance carbon uptake and its vulnerability to climate change in temperate broadleaf forests. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 114(1), 107-112. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1612369114
Sargent, M. R., Floerchinger, C., McKain, K., Budney, J., Gottlieb, E. W., Hutyra, L. R., Rudek, J., Wofsy, S. C. 2021. Majority of US urban natural gas emissions unaccounted for in inventories. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 118(44). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2105804118
Sargent, M., Barrera, Y., Nehrkorn, T., Hutyra, L. R., Gately, C. K., Jones, T., McKain, K., Sweeney, C., Hegarty, J., Hardiman, B., Wang, J. A., Wofsy, S. C. 2018. Anthropogenic and biogenic CO
2
fluxes in the Boston urban region. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 115(29), 7491-7496. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1803715115
Viatte, C., Lauvaux, T., Hedelius, J. K., Parker, H., Chen, J., Jones, T., Franklin, J. E., Deng, A. J., Gaudet, B., Verhulst, K., Duren, R., Wunch, D., Roehl, C., Dubey, M. K., Wofsy, S., Wennberg, P. O. 2017. Methane emissions from dairies in the Los Angeles Basin. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics. 17(12), 7509-7528. DOI: 10.5194/acp-17-7509-2017
More details may be found in the following project profile(s):