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There is significant political and scientific interest in the changing landscape of urban carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Municipalities are regularly enacting new policies to improve urban air quality. However, evaluation of such policies is often limited to bottom-up emission inventories, which are calculated using reported emissions by companies, traffic counts, and other activity estimates. CO2 measurements can be used to update emissions inventories in a top-down approach: starting from atmospheric measurements to predict surface emissions at neighborhood scales. The Bay area Environmental Air-quality & CO2 Network (BEACO2N) uses low-cost sensors to continuously measure CO2 and key air pollutants at high spatial resolution throughout an urban area. About 50 nodes are located at 2km spacing in the San Francisco Bay Area. We are partnering with the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, CA, Brown University in Providence, RI, the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland and the University of Leicester, UK to deploy networks in additional cities. Integration of the BEACO2N dataset with other data sources (transport models, satellite data, and traffic datasets) provides insights into spatial, temporal, and sectoral changes in urban CO2 emissions in these cities. Here we discuss several recent developments out of the BEACO2N project. Bayesian inverse modeling of the BEACO2N CO2 measurements using a particle dispersion model and satellite-derived photosynthesis estimates provides an updated 1x1km map of emissions in the Bay Area. Carbon monoxide (CO) measurements are used to investigate CO:CO2 ratios and constrain CO2 emissions. Coupling the BEACO2N-derived emission inventory with traffic datasets gives insight into fuel efficiency trends and the accuracy of models of the speed-dependence of fleetwide vehicle emission factors. These developments and related challenges show the diversity of applications of dense ground-based measurements for improved understanding of urban emissions.
Topic : Theme 2: State of play in integrated approaches for advanced GHG emission estimates and the way forward to operational services.
Reference : T2-B12
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