Abstract
Measurements from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument are used to investigate the temporal and spatial dynamics of global nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ). The results show that the global tropospheric column NO 2 increased by 11.10% during 2005 to 2010 at a 1.76% annual growth rate. The largest tropospheric and total NO 2 columns are mainly concentrated in the industrialized regions of North America, Europe, and east Asia. The large values of column NO 2 are also observed and scattered in South America, Africa, and Indonesia due to biomass burning and savannah fires. Average tropospheric column NO 2 increased by 32.62% at a 4.82% annual rate over eastern Asia. On the contrary, the trend decreased by 35.47% at a 7.04% annual rate over eastern America. The trend was not significant over Europe as a whole, where a decrease was observed over western and southern Europe and an increase was observed over eastern and northern Europe. Over the polluted urban areas, the ratios of tropospheric to total column NO 2 are larger than 0.6 and the correlation coefficients are larger than 0.8. This can be mainly attributed to the anthropogenic NO x emissions over land, and it is noteworthy that the ratios are higher than 0.8 (correlation coefficients >0.95 ) over northern China.
Highlights
Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) is an important trace gas in both the troposphere and the stratosphere and plays an important role in atmospheric chemistry
The global tropospheric column NO2 increased by 11.10% from late (October, November, and December) 2004 to 2010 at a 1.76% annual growth rate, and this result is similar to the studies of Lamsal et al.,[10] in which the authors argued that global anthropogenic NOx emissions increased by 5.2% during 3 years from 2003 to 2006
We described the characteristics of total column and tropospheric NO2 during the period October 2004 to December 2010 using remote sensing data obtained from OMI
Summary
Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) is an important trace gas in both the troposphere and the stratosphere and plays an important role in atmospheric chemistry. Data from the Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment (GOME, launched in 1995) has successfully been used to analyze the general features of the global distribution of tropospheric NO2.11–14 More recently, improved satellite instruments have been deployed, e.g., the Scanning Imaging Absorption Spectrometer for Atmospheric Chartography (SCIAMACHY, launched in 2002),[15] which has been used to study the trends, seasonal variability, and dominant NOx sources over the globe,[16] the GOME-2 (launched in 2006) and Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI, launched in 2004) with better spatial and temporal resolution. Several pieces of research work have validated the OMI NO2 column densities using ground-based measurements and have been used to analyze the characteristics of tropospheric NO2.17–21 This investigation of the similarities and differences between tropospheric and total column NO2 in terms of their global distribution and seasonal variations will provide further understanding about the global distribution of NO2. We focus on the characteristics of three typical regions of northern America, western and southern Europe, and eastern Asia (EAS), which are the regions of largest anthropogenic NOx emissions
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
