First observations of SO2 from the satellite Suomi NPP OMPS: Widespread air pollution events over China

Authors

Kay Yang, University of Maryland College Park, 2Atmospheric Chemistry and Dynamics Laboratory, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MarylandFollow
Russell Dickerson, University of Maryland College Park
Simon Carn, Michigan Technological University
Cui Ge, University of Nebraska LincolnFollow
Jun Wang, University of Nebraska LincolnFollow

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

2013

Citation

GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, VOL. 40, 4957–4962, doi:10.1002/grl.50952, 2013

Comments

This article is a U.S. government work, and is not subject to copyright in the United States.

Abstract

Severe smog episodes over China in January 2013 received worldwide attention. This air pollution was distinguished by heavy loadings of fine particulate matter and SO₂. To characterize these episodes, we employed the Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite, Nadir Mapper (OMPS NM), an ultraviolet (UV) spectrometer flying on the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (SNPP) spacecraft since October 2011. We developed an advanced algorithm to quantify SO₂ in the lower troposphere and achieved highquality retrievals from OMPS NM, which are characterized by high precision, ~0.2 Dobson Units (DU; 1 DU = 2.69x1016 molecules/cm2) for instantaneous field of view SO₂ data and low biases (within ±0.2 DU). Here we report SO₂ retrievals and UV aerosol index data for these pollution events. The SO₂ columns and the areas covered by high pollutant concentrations are quantified; the results reveal for the first time the full extent (an area of ~106 km2 containing up to 60 kt of SO₂) of these episodes.