Reliability Analysis Based on Air Quality Characteristics in East Asia Using Primary Data from the Test Operation of Geostationary Environment Monitoring Spectrometer (GEMS)

Abstract

Air pollutants adversely affect human health, and thus a global improvement in air quality is urgent. A Geostationary Environment Monitoring Spectrometer (GEMS) was mounted on the geostationary Chollian 2B satellite in 2020 to observe the spatial distribution of air pollution, and sequential observations have been released since July 2022. The reliability of GEMS must be analyzed because it is the first payload on the geostationary Earth orbit satellite to observe trace gases. This study analyzed the initial results of GEMS observations such as the aerosol optical depth and vertical column densities (VCD) of ozone (O3), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), sulfur dioxide (SO2), and formaldehyde (HCHO), and compared them with previous studies. The correlation coefficient of O3 ranged from 0.90 (Ozone Monitoring Instrument, OMI) to 0.97 (TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument, TROPOMI), whereas that of NO2 ranged from 0.47 (winter, OMI and OMPS) to 0.83 (summer, TROPOMI). GEMS yielded a higher VCD of NO2 than that of OMI and TROPOMI. Based on the sources of O3 and NO2, GEMS observed the maximum VCD at a different time (3–4 h) to that of the ground observations. Overall, GEMS can make observations several times a day and is a potential tool for atmospheric environmental analysis.