Satellite-observed U.S. power plant NOx emission reductions and their impact on air quality

doi:doi:10.1029/2006GL027749

Abstract

GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, VOL. 33, L22812, 5 PP., 2006
doi:10.1029/2006GL027749

Satellite-observed U.S. power plant NO_x emission reductions and their impact on air quality

S.-W. Kim

Chemical Sciences Division, NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory, Boulder, Colorado, USA

A. Heckel

Institute of Environmental Physics and Institute of Remote Sensing, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany

S. A. McKeen

Chemical Sciences Division, NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory, Boulder, Colorado, USA

G. J. Frost

Chemical Sciences Division, NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory, Boulder, Colorado, USA

E.-Y. Hsie

Chemical Sciences Division, NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory, Boulder, Colorado, USA

M. K. Trainer

Chemical Sciences Division, NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory, Boulder, Colorado, USA

A. Richter

Institute of Environmental Physics and Institute of Remote Sensing, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany

J. P. Burrows

Institute of Environmental Physics and Institute of Remote Sensing, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany

S. E. Peckham

Global Systems Division, NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory, Boulder, Colorado, USA

G. A. Grell

Global Systems Division, NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory, Boulder, Colorado, USA

Nitrogen oxide (NO_x) emissions resulting from fossil fuel combustion lead to unhealthy levels of near-surface ozone (O₃). One of the largest U.S. sources, electric power generation, represented about 25% of the U.S. anthropogenic NO_x emissions in 1999. Here we show that space-based instruments observed declining regional NO_x levels between 1999 and 2005 in response to the recent implementation of pollution controls by utility companies in the eastern U.S. Satellite-retrieved summertime nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) columns and bottom-up emission estimates show larger decreases in the Ohio River Valley, where power plants dominate NO_x emissions, than in the northeast U.S. urban corridor. Model simulations predict lower O₃ across much of the eastern U.S. in response to these emission reductions.

Received 1 August 2006; accepted 24 October 2006; published 29 November 2006.

Citation: Kim, S.-W., A. Heckel, S. A. McKeen, G. J. Frost, E.-Y. Hsie, M. K. Trainer, A. Richter, J. P. Burrows, S. E. Peckham, and G. A. Grell (2006), Satellite-observed U.S. power plant NO_x emission reductions and their impact on air quality, Geophys. Res. Lett., 33, L22812, doi:10.1029/2006GL027749.

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