Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Atmospheric Sciences
TROPOMI/S5P sensitivity limits with respect to detection of NO2 plumes from seagoing ships
Published: 2023-09-20
Subjects: Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, Atmospheric Sciences, Environmental Monitoring
The marine shipping industry is among the strong emitters of nitrogen oxides (NOx) -- a substance harmful to ecology and human health. Monitoring of emissions from shipping is a significant societal task. Currently, the only technical possibility to observe NO2 emission from seagoing ships on a global scale is using TROPOMI data. A range of studies reported that NO2 plumes from some individual [...]
Recent methane surges reveal heightened emissions from tropical inundated areas
Published: 2023-09-05
Subjects: Atmospheric Sciences, Biogeochemistry, Earth Sciences
A Review of the Interactions between Tropical Cyclones and Environmental Vertical Wind Shear
Published: 2023-08-24
Subjects: Atmospheric Sciences
Tropical cyclone (TC) structure and intensity are strongly modulated by interactions with deep-layer vertical wind shear (VWS)—the vector difference between horizontal winds at 200 and 850 hPa. This paper presents a comprehensive review of more than a century of research on TC-VWS interactions. The literature broadly agrees that a TC vortex becomes vertically tilted, precipitation organizes into [...]
The Outflow Interactions Between Binary Tropical Cyclones
Published: 2023-08-23
Subjects: Atmospheric Sciences
The three-dimensional representation of an outflow jet can be used to assess whether interactions may have occurred between the outflows of binary, or spatially proximate, tropical cyclones, as outflow jets represent a dominant portion of the upper-tropospheric outflow for TCs. A novel algorithm, POJ3, for identifying and creating a three-dimensional representation of the principal outflow jet(s) [...]
Report on Landsat 8 and Sentinel-2B observations of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline methane leak
Published: 2023-08-11
Subjects: Atmospheric Sciences
In late September 2022, explosions of the Nord Stream pipelines caused what could be the largest anthropogenic methane leak ever recorded. We report on Landsat 8 (L8) and Sentinel-2B (S-2B) observations of the sea foam patch produced by the Nord Stream 2 (NS2) leak located close to Bornholm Island, acquired on September 29 and 30, respectively. Usually, reflected sunlight over sea is insufficient [...]
Coherent subsiding structures in large eddy simulations of atmospheric boundary layers
Published: 2023-07-21
Subjects: Atmospheric Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Coherent structures are characterized in high-resolution simulations of three atmospheric boundary layers: dry convection, marine cumulus, and stratocumulus. Based on radioactive-decaying tracers emitted at different altitudes (surface, top of well-mixed layer, and cloud top), a object-oriented methodology allows individual characterization of coherent tridimensional plumes within the flow. [...]
Last Glacial Maximum pattern effects reduce climate sensitivity estimates
Published: 2023-07-13
Subjects: Atmospheric Sciences, Climate, Oceanography, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology
Here, we show that the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) provides a stronger constraint on equilibrium climate sensitivity (ECS), the global warming from increasing greenhouse gases, after accounting for temperature patterns. Feedbacks governing ECS depend on spatial patterns of surface temperature (“pattern effects”); hence, using the LGM to constrain future warming requires quantifying how [...]
A gridded inventory of annual 2012-2018 U.S. anthropogenic methane emissions
Published: 2023-06-30
Subjects: Atmospheric Sciences
Nationally reported greenhouse gas inventories are a core component of the Paris Agreement transparency framework. Comparisons with emission estimates derived from atmospheric observations help identify improvements to reduce uncertainties and increase confidence in reported values. To facilitate comparisons over the contiguous United States, we present a 0.1°×0.1° gridded inventory of annual [...]
Global 1km Land Surface Parameters for Kilometer-Scale Earth System Modeling
Published: 2023-06-28
Subjects: Atmospheric Sciences, Biogeochemistry, Climate, Earth Sciences, Hydrology, Meteorology, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology
Earth system models (ESMs) are progressively advancing towards the kilometer scale (k-scale). However, the surface parameters for Land Surface Models (LSMs) within ESMs running at the k-scale are typically derived from coarse resolution and outdated datasets. This study aims to develop a new set of global land surface parameters with a resolution of 1 km for multiple years from 2001 to 2020, [...]
Single-blind test of nine methane-sensing satellite systems from three continents
Published: 2023-06-28
Subjects: Atmospheric Sciences, Other Civil and Environmental Engineering
Satellite-based remote sensing enables detection and mitigation of large point sources of climate-warming methane. These satellites will have the greatest impact if stakeholders have a clear-eyed assessment of their capabilities. We performed a single-blind test of nine methane-sensing satellites from three continents and five countries, including both commercial and government satellites. Over [...]
Projected Changes in Hot, Dry and Compound Hot-Dry Extremes over Global Land Regions
Published: 2023-06-10
Subjects: Atmospheric Sciences, Climate, Meteorology, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
The impacts of hot, dry and compound hot-dry extremes are significant for societies, economies and ecosystems worldwide. Such events therefore need to be assessed in the light of anthropogenic climate change so that suitable adaptation measures can be implemented by governments and stakeholders. Here we show a comprehensive analysis of hot, dry and compound hot-dry extremes over global land [...]
Assessing Decadal Variability of Subseasonal Forecasts of Opportunity using Explainable AI
Published: 2023-06-07
Subjects: Atmospheric Sciences, Climate, Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Identifying predictable states of the climate system allows for enhanced prediction skill on the generally low-skill subseasonal timescale via forecasts with higher confidence and accuracy, known as forecasts of opportunity. This study takes a neural network approach to explore decadal variability of subseasonal predictability, particularly during forecasts of opportunity. Specifically, this work [...]
Exponential life-threatening rise of the global temperature
Published: 2023-05-23
Subjects: Atmospheric Sciences, Climate, Nature and Society Relations
Global temperatures are rising. This paper demonstrates for the first time that the global temperature increase has not been linear but is exponential with a doubling time of about 25 years. Both the amount of carbon dioxide produced by the combustion of fossil fuels and the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere have also risen exponentially, with a similar doubling time. The exponential [...]
Strategic Logic of Unilateral Climate Intervention
Published: 2023-05-22
Subjects: Atmospheric Sciences, Climate, International and Area Studies, Other Statistics and Probability, Risk Analysis
Climate change and unabated greenhouse gas emissions are increasing the possibility that the world will turn to climate intervention to curb ever-increasing global temperatures. To date, most work on this topic has imagined that an international organization like the United Nations or an international coalition of states will synchronize their efforts to deploy climate intervention at ideal [...]
Evaluating the spatial patterns of NOx emissions in polluted areas with TROPOMI NO2
Published: 2023-05-18
Subjects: Atmospheric Sciences, Environmental Health and Protection, Environmental Monitoring
Satellite datasets are increasingly used to evaluate NOx emissions inventories. Such studies often require the use of a chemical transport model or a complex statistical framework to account for meteorological factors that can complicate the comparison. Here, we apply a novel method to compare inventory-based emissions directly to Tropospheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) NO2 data without a [...]