Constraining Emissions of Volatile Organic Compounds Over the Indian Subcontinent Using Space-Based Formaldehyde Measurements.

ABSTRACT: India is an air pollution mortality hot spot, but regional emissions are poorly understood. We present a high-resolution nested chemical transport model (GEOS-Chem) simulation for the Indian subcontinent and use it to interpret formaldehyde (HCHO) observations from two satellite sensors (OMI and GOME-2A) in terms of constraints on regional volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions. We find modeled biogenic VOC emissions to be overestimated by ~30-60% for most locations and seasons, and derive a best estimate biogenic flux of 16 Tg C/year subcontinent-wide for year 2009. Terrestrial vegetation provides approximately half the total VOC flux in our base-case inversions (full uncertainty range: 44-65%). This differs from prior understanding, in which biogenic emissions represent >70% of the to

SUBMITTER: Chaliyakunnel S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7894393 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature