Monitoring Atmospheric Composition MOOC
Topic outline
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In this course, we will introduce you to the role of ground and air based in situ data and satellite ‘Earth observation’ (EO) technology in monitoring our atmosphere, and to the informative and critically important data it produces.
This course will provide you with an overview of the different ways in which we monitor the atmosphere and will introduce you to the fundamental techniques and methodologies of working with this data. You will also learn about the ways in which this data is used to inform policy and decision making in attempts to negate and minimise the damage that is being done to our atmosphere.
Significance of this Course
The composition of our planet’s atmosphere is a delicate balance - even the slightest changes could be catastrophic. However this delicate balance is being put under pressure from multiple factors, such as air pollution and the emission of greenhouse gases, which is in turn having a very real and significant impact on our everyday lives. You will learn more about these factors and impacts throughout this course.
What you will learn
- Explore how we observe and measure the atmosphere with satellites, ground-based and other forms of in-situ measurements
- Understand the importance of satellite observations and other forms of measurements for atmospheric monitoring
- Investigate how atmospheric data is used in policy and decision-making, in a range of arenas, in conjunction with models
- Recognise the importance of the data for monitoring long-range transportation of pollutants in the atmosphere
Downloads
- English transcript (pdf)
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Week 1 of the course will introduce you to the Earth's atmosphere and why we monitor it.
Topics covered include threats the atmosphere is facing and why monitoring matters; an introduction to the Copernicus Programme and CAMS; the structure of the atmosphere; what we measure; the different satellites used to measure the atmosphere; and how atmospheric data can support enterprises and innovative solutions.
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Now that you have covered the initial topics in Week 1, we hope that you are starting to become familiar with key terms, technologies and names of satellite missions. You can download and use the table, from the downloads section on the right, to explore all of the Earth observation satellite missions that are mentioned throughout this course. You can refer back to this table at any time, and additional links to these missions can be found in each topic.
Downloads
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For this exercise we will be looking at Breezometer which provides accurate live air quality emissions around the world. It provides real-time information on health sensitivities related to air pollution, indoor and outdoor pollutant levels, and if it is safe for children and sport activities.
- Click here to go to the Breezometer website.
- Search for an area of your choice using the search bar. This could be where you live, where you work or study, or just an area you are interested in.
- What is the dominant pollutant in the area? What are the levels for each pollutant? How do levels change depending on the time of day?
- Compare this area to somewhere else of your choice. Is it similar or different, can you tell why this might be?
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Week 2 of the course will look at types of atmospheric pollution, methods of measurement and how pollution effects human health in more depth.
We will look into more detail at air quality and the types of atmospheric pollution, how we measure and model this pollution and the effects this pollutants have on human health. This week will also go over the various techniques for how this data is collected from multiple sources, combined and then mapped out into models and digestible data sources, which can then be used to create policy and help people who are at risk to avoid areas where pollution is high.
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Citizen science involves members of the general public collaborating with scientists on a project. It is a great way for people to learn about air pollution where they live and also for local scientific research, as it provides data from more sources then ground-based stations and gives a more regional perspective than satellite data.
iSpex-EU was a citizen science project that allowed the public to use their smartphones to measure air pollution. It ran from 1 September to 15 October 2015 and 5386 measurements were made.
Britain Breathing - A citizen science project that aims to engage the UK public to act as ‘citizen sensors’ to help scientists discover more about seasonal allergies such as hay fever or asthma, which may be caused by different pollen, pollution or the weather. It involves using a phone app to log allergy symptoms.
Friends of the Earth Clean Air Kit campaign is another UK based citizen science project. It involves the public installing a tube to measure NO2 in a location of their choice. They then mail this back after 2 weeks. The results will help to build a picture of air pollution across the UK, as well as to enable people to discover what air pollution is like in places that matter to them.
SenseBox - Is a German based citizen science toolkit which works as a low-cost weather station. It can be used to measure light intensity and ultraviolet light, temperature, air moisture, and air-pressure, and future extensions will provide air quality measurements. There are two versions of the kit, senseBox: home for use local research and senseBox:Edu for schools and junior scientists.
The European Space Agency set up a project called EducEO, to review existing citizen science projects to to enhance the scientific exploitation of Earth Observation (EO) data while simultaneously supporting education and public awareness raising of EO.
Breath Clean - Tower Hamlets, London is a ongoing local citizen science project that commenced in May 2018. It provides Tower Hamlets residents with the materials & training needed to monitor nitrogen dioxide levels around the places that matter to them.
Air quality Citizen Science This is a NASA funded project which aims to collect spatially dense, quality PM2.5 data using low-cost sensors deployed by citizen scientists. The data will be compared to NASA satellites. They are currently recruiting citizen scientists based in Southern California, and will be expanding to other regions later on. You can sign up to take part here
Citizen-Enabled Aerosol Measurements for Satellites (CEAMS) This is another NASA funded Citizen Science project which is led by Colorado State University, and measures local air quality using using inexpensive, but high-quality instruments to take backyard measurements. You can take part if you are based in the USA.
Featured Educator:
- Dr Martin Adams
Downloads
- English transcript (PDF)
The preliminary results of the iSpex project showing all results collected between 1st September - 29th October 2015.Copyright: iSpex-EU http://ispex-eu.org
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The ability to monitor and track air pollution is vital in being able to understand how much is coming from where, how we can reduce it and mitigate its negative effects. Pollution.org provides an interactive world map with data on air, water and soil pollution globally. Sources are credible, government approved data-sets and updated on a regular basis.
Task
Visit Pollution.org on your browser.
Focus on air pollution by toggling contaminated sites and water pollution off.
Select two locations of interest on the map and take a look at the AQI (air quality index)
Is there a significant difference in AQI levels or not? Why might this be?
Share your findings in the discussion section below
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Week 3 will look at how we monitor GHGs from both satellites and in-situ measurement methods.
We will look at how we can accurately measure GHGs to help aid us in dealing with climate change and particularly methane, which is one of the most potent GHGs in the atmosphere. This week will also look at measurement techniques such as using aircraft to measure CO2 and methane, the data products we can use to GHGs and ozone hole prediction, and how policy has been implemented to combat this.
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The Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer is a Multilateral Environmental Agreement that was agreed upon at the Vienna Conference of 1985 and entered into force in 1988. It acts as a framework for the international efforts to protect the ozone layer. The Montreal Protocol lays out the legally binding reduction goals for the use of CFCs. It took place due to scientific research on the negative effect of CFCs on ozone in the 1970s and the discovery of the ozone hole in 1985.
The Montreal Protocol has been instrumental in phasing out the production and use of CFCs resulting in a slowed-down depletion of the ozone layer. Climate scientists studying three decades of ozone measurements from seven satellites see a positive trend in global recovery thanks to international efforts to curb ozone-depleting substances. It provides a stable framework that allows governments, industry, environmental groups and scientists and technical experts to work together to plan long-term research and innovation.
Arctic ozone - 26 Feb 2018 False-color view of total ozone over the Arctic pole. The purple and blue colors are where there is the least ozone, and the yellows and reds are where there is more ozone. The data is from the Suomi NPP satellite. Copyright: NASA https://ozonewatch.gsfc.nasa.gov
Featured Educators:
- Prof. John Burrows
Optional Further Reading
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This week’s guided exercise will look at carbon emissions using the Global Carbon Atlas. This tool can be used to explore, display and download data and figures on carbon dioxide emissions from the combustion of fossil fuels, cement production and land use change over multiple decades, including their drivers.
Task
Visit the Global Carbon Atlas
Read the numbered instructions and click on the ‘Ok, I get it’ button once you are done.
On the left-hand panel click ‘All’ then at the top click on ‘deselect all’. Now in the search box on the left panel search for your country or a country of your choice and tick the box so that only data for that country is showing.
Press the play button on the timeline at the bottom and watch the circle size and amount of MtCO2. Does the amount of carbon decrease or increase from 1960 until 2016? What is the difference? Does it fluctuate a lot of the 50-year period?
Now reselect every country again and play press the play button again. Is the data for the world similar to your country? Or is it the opposite?
You can also look the ‘Focus’, ‘Time series’ or ‘Ranking’ information by clicking on the buttons on the right, and play around with the data. If you find anything interesting or shocking share in the discussion.
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Week 4 will look at how emissions from natural and anthropogenic sources such as volcanoes, wildfires and dust storms can be transported long distances, and how we can measure and monitor this.
We will go over aerosols, how pollution is transported through the air and the sources of these pollutants in more detail.
This week will also look at how we can monitor wildfires and biomass burning and using this data to enforce policy, as well as aerosol forecasting.
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Remote sensing can be used to detect carbon dioxide and sulphur dioxide emissions from volcanoes. Measuring emissions from space eliminates the danger to equipment and humans that in situ measurements would face.
It is important to measure volcanic ash due to its effect on climate and airline transportation. Ash particles can abrade forward-facing surfaces, including windscreens, fuselage surfaces, and compressor fan blades on airplanes, and if sucked into an engine they can melt quickly and accumulate as re-solidified deposits in cooler parts, degrading engine performance even to the point of in-flight compressor stall and loss of thrust power. Ash can also cool the planet by shading incoming solar radiation.
Satellites are used to track the movement and extent of volcanic ash clouds and to cross-check predictions from numerical models of the spread of the ash. The geostationary Meteosat satellites can detect ash in the atmosphere and play an important role in following its movement and dispersion in European airspace, in near real-time. The Metop satellites with the aid of the IASI, GOME-2 and AVHRR instruments, are able to collect more detailed data about volcanic ash clouds, including sulphur dioxide, ash and ice content, but with less frequency as they only pass over the same area roughly twice a day.
In the 2021-40 timeframe, the next generations of EUMETSAT’s Meteosat and Metop satellites will provide even more detailed, higher resolution data to monitor volcanic ash and other types of aerosols.EUMETSAT’s Meteosat Third Generation (MTG) satellites will be crucial to volcanic ash monitoring with their higher resolution and more frequent imagery and new sounding capabilities. In addition to improved imagery at 10-minute repeat cycles, the provision of data from the MTG infrared and Sentinel-4 ultraviolet/visible sounding missions will be crucial for volcanic ash modelling.
Sinabung Volcano data products. The image on the top left is a true colour image from MODIS aboard NASA’s Aqua satellite, showing the Sinabung eruption. The image on the top right is the same view but showing the sulphur dioxide in purple. The bottom image is a cross section of the eruption area which shows the ash cloud in red. Copyright: NASA JPL
Featured Educators
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Dr Kenneth Holmlund
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Dr Johannes Flemming
Optional mini task
Volcanic ash creates a number of risks; one such risk is to the navigation of aircraft. In the past unexpected encounters with volcanic ash have caused damage to numerous aircraft including in-flight loss of jet engine power, which put the lives of all passengers and crew at risk. Therefore, being able to monitor volcanic ash is essential in being able to ensure safe flying conditions.
EUMETSAT has created an informative 60-minute training module on volcanic ash. This training module is dedicated to forecasters/aviation forecasters. The main intention is to provide a guideline on how to assess the potential of hazardous weather events such as volcanic ash. Click here to begin the training module.
Optional Further Reading
Downloads
- English transcript (PDF)
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As you know there are many different sources of pollutants in the atmosphere, these can be from cities, factories, traffic, or shipping for examples, but also natural sources such as dust storms and wildfires. Carbon monoxide from wildfires has a very long photo-chemical lifetime in the atmosphere, which means it can be tracked from the source over towns, countries, or even continents.
There are products that can be used to predict how dust and aerosols will affect solar energy. For example to help farmers re-orientate their solar panels or to help predict solar radiation levels, for management of solar energy production.
During Saharan dust outbreaks the photovoltaic output is reduced not only through a significant increase in atmospheric aerosol content by 10 to 20 percent, but also through dust deposition on the photovoltaic modules on subsequent days. This dust can spread to Europe.
Forecasting products available include EUMETSAT/WMO dust storm products. These get satellite data from the Meteosat satellites SEVIRI instrument and output a RGB composite. SEVIRI can monitor the evolution of dust storms over deserts during both day and night. The RGB combination exploits the difference in emissivity of dust and desert surfaces. In addition, during daytime, it exploits the temperature difference between the hot desert surface and the cooler dust cloud.
Global Wildfires. Map of global wildfires in 2017. ECMWF/CAMS
Featured Educators
- Dr Mark Parrington
Optional Further Reading
Downloads- English transcript (PDF)
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Practical products - Aerosol forecasting
There are 5 main aerosol species that are used in CAMS aerosol forecasts, these are: sea-salt, desert dust, organic matter, black carbon and sulphates. These forecasts are available daily as total aerosol optical depth (AOD) ), which is a measure of the total amount of aerosol in a vertical column of the atmosphere, or as individual forecasts of each 5 species.
In this video Dr Melanie Ades shows us 3 different aerosol products, including a forecast during hurricane Ophelia in 2017 that brought desert dust from the Sahara over to Europe.
Aerosol Optical Depth - Europe. This is an image from MODIS showing aerosol optical depth over Europe on 16th October 2017. The areas in red have high aerosol optical depths. NASA
CAMS Aerosol forecast. This is an example of what a total aerosol optical depth (AOD) forecast from CAMS looks like. CAMS
Featured Educator
- Dr Melanie Ades
Downloads
- English transcript (PDF)
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For this week’s guided exercise, we will be using the NASA World View tool. On the 16th October 2017 an orange haze and ‘red sun’ could be experienced in parts of Europe, including the UK and France, due to wildfires in Portugal and Spain, and dust in the Sahara being carried along by winds from Hurricane Ophelia.
Task
Open NASA World View here.
Go to ‘Add Layers’ and under ‘Hazard and Disaster’ tab choose ‘Dust Storms’, then ‘Aerosol Optical Depth’. On the left-hand side choose ‘Suomi NPP/OMPS’, then tick the box for ‘Aerosol Index’. Once you have done this, close the pop-up box by clicking the x.
Select the date at the bottom as October 15th, 2017, can you see where the high amounts of Aerosols are (shown in bright yellow and red). Now move the date to the 16th through to the 18th and focus on Europe. Can you see the movement of aerosols?
You can also go to ‘Fires’ and then ‘Fires and Thermal Anomalies’ to add a layer on showing active fires. You will now be able to spot the source more easily, of the aerosols that were coming from the wildfires in Portugal and Spain.
Can you spot any other similar events to this? Such as the red haze in Crete, Greece on 22nd March 2018.
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In this final week of the course we will take a look at Copernicus missions and strategies for the future, and round up the course.
We will look into the free and open data provided by Copernicus and how we can benefit from this data. This week will also cover how earth observation data supports effective international policy and decision making for climate change mitigation and adaptation.
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Future satellite missions in depth
This video looks at future satellite missions and innovations in more depth, including Meteosat Third Generation.
MTG-I. Meteosat Third Generation (MTG) is EUMETSAT’s next generation of geostationary satellites, following on from earlier successful missions. This next generation, following on from Meteosat Second Generation, will provide an evolution of the imaging service, including a new Lightning Imager, on MTG-I, and a state-of-the-art atmospheric sounding service providing measurements in the infrared and ultraviolet spectrum. The sounding satellites, MTG-S, will also carry the Sentinel-4 instrument. EUMETSAT
MTG-S. Meteosat Third Generation (MTG) is EUMETSAT’s next generation of geostationary satellites, following on from earlier successful missions. This next generation, following on from Meteosat Second Generation, will provide an evolution of the imaging service, including a new Lightning Imager, on MTG-I, and a state-of-the-art atmospheric sounding service providing measurements in the infrared and ultraviolet spectrum. The sounding satellites, MTG-S, will also carry the Sentinel-4 instrument. MTG will see the launch of six new geostationary (imaging and sounding) satellites from 2022 onwards. EUMETSAT
Featured educators
Dr Vincent-Henri Peuch
Dr Kenneth Holmlund
Dr Mauro Facchini
Downloads- English transcript (PDF)
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