Evaluating Texas NOx emissions using satellite-based observations and model simulations

Anthropogenic NOx is produced primarily from fossil fuel combustion by motor vehicles, power generation, and industrial processes. Satellite-based measurements have been used to assess NOx emission trends on regional to global spatial scales and daily to annual temporal scales. The small horizontal footprints of current satellite-borne instruments, including SCIAMACHY and OMI, can be used to detect NO2 resulting from NOx emitted by isolated point sources and metropolitan areas in the western US. In this study we examine NOx emissions in the state of Texas by comparing NO2 vertical columns retrieved from these satellite instruments to those predicted by a regional chemical-transport model. Comparisons of satellite-derived and model- calculated NO2 columns over US power plants, where in-stack emission monitoring is carried out, enables a critical evaluation of the key parameters leading to uncertainties in the satellite and model data products. By using the satellite retrieval algorithms and model configurations that produce the best agreement in NO2 columns over power plants in northeastern Texas and elsewhere in the western US, satellite-model comparisons of NO2 columns over Texas cities in turn allow urban NOx emission inventories to be assessed. This work focuses on two large Texas metropolitan areas: Dallas/Fort Worth, where NOx is emitted predominantly by mobile and area-wide sources; and Houston, which, like Dallas, has typical urban sources, but also contains large industrial point sources emitting significant amounts of NOx. Year-to-year and day-of- week changes in the satellite data are used to infer NOx emission trends from point and mobile sources and to evaluate the effectiveness of NOx controls on some of these sources.