News13.4.2023

New satellite observations help estimate CO2 emissions from South African coal power plants

Researchers studied the degree to which the CO2 emissions from coal-fired power plants and other major emission sources in South Africa can be assessed using satellite data.

Sentinel-5P satellite and the TROPOMI instrument. Image: ESA/ATG medialab.

The results show that emissions can be estimated from satellite data even in situations where the CO2 clouds produced by several emission sources overlap.

In the published study, CO2 emissions are characterised using observations provided by NASA’s OCO-3 and the ESA’s Sentinel-5P/TROPOMI instruments.

Further information:

Senior Research Scientist Janne Hakkarainen, Finnish Meteorological Institute, janne.hakkarainen@fmi.fi

Senior Research Scientist Iolanda Ialongo, Finnish Meteorological Institute, iolanda.ialongo@fmi.fi

Scientific article is available on Environmental Research Letters.

Reference: Janne Hakkarainen, Iolanda Ialongo, Tomohiro Oda, Monika E. Szeląg, Christopher W. O’Dell, Annmarie Eldering, and David Crisp: “Building a bridge: Characterizing major anthropogenic point sources in the South African Highveld region using OCO-3 carbon dioxide Snapshot Area Maps and Sentinel-5P/TROPOMI nitrogen dioxide columns”, Environmental Research Letters, doi:10.1088/1748-9326/acb837, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/acb837