{"id":286,"date":"2018-05-22T11:10:05","date_gmt":"2018-05-22T11:10:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/horizon.peachpuff-wolverine-566518.hostingersite.com\/?p=286"},"modified":"2018-05-29T23:41:14","modified_gmt":"2018-05-29T23:41:14","slug":"cleaned-up-data-shows-bigger-than-thought-reduction-in-europes-no2-pollution-dr-folkert-boersma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/286\/cleaned-up-data-shows-bigger-than-thought-reduction-in-europes-no2-pollution-dr-folkert-boersma\/","title":{"rendered":"Cleaned-up data shows bigger-than-thought reduction in Europe\u2019s NO2 pollution \u2013 Dr Folkert Boersma"},"content":{"rendered":"
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An analysis of a newly cleaned-up dataset tracking Europe\u2019s air pollution has revealed that nitrogen dioxide levels are on a steeper downward trend than previously thought, according to Dr Folkert Boersma from the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute, who says that ensuring the quality of Earth observation data can reveal new insights into climate change.<\/strong><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/form>\n<\/div>\n
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He has been working on a project to help ensure that climate data is of sufficient quality to draw reliable conclusions and shape decisions.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

We are measuring our planet like never before, which gives us a huge opportunity to track the changes in our climate. What are some of the challenges of analysing satellite data?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2018One of the main concerns we had was that people might come to the wrong conclusions on how the Earth system is changing if the data are not of good enough quality, or if the data do not come with sufficiently clear disclaimers.<\/p>\n

\u2018With historical data, an important issue is the quality of the raw data. Space agencies regularly update these records as their insight progresses into the behaviour of the instrument. The challenge lies in cross-calibration of the records from the different sensors.<\/p>\n

\u2018Other difficulties are the intrinsic differences between satellite sensors \u2013 sensors observe the Earth at different times, and with different spatial and spectral resolution. It is no easy task to stitch a coherent data set together from sensors with such different specifications. \u2019<\/p>\n

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‘It is no easy task to stitch a coherent data set together from sensors with such different specifications.’<\/p>\n

Dr Folkert Boersma, Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

Sounds difficult \u2013 do any other problems plague sensor data?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2018It is important to understand what\u2019s going on in the atmosphere and on the ground that could distort our detection of trace gases. We need very good knowledge on the presence of clouds, the reflecting properties of the Earth\u2019s surface and so on \u2013 so we can correct for their perturbations in order to provide realistic measurements of atmospheric concentrations. But how reliable is that additional information?\u2019<\/p>\n

You have been running a project called QA4ECV that aims to ensure the quality of climate data, and you\u2019ve looked in particular at six variables \u2013 is that right?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2018There are 50 essential climate variables and QA4ECV has indeed been working on six of them. My colleague Professor Jan-Peter\u00a0Muller, from University College London (UK), has been coordinating three variables: albedo (how reflective the Earth\u2019s surface is), leaf area and FAPAR (which can provide an estimate of how much carbon dioxide is being assimilated by vegetation). And I am coordinating work on three gases: nitrogen dioxide, which is both a pollutant and a precursor of ozone, formaldehyde, which contributes to both carbon dioxide and ozone formation, and carbon monoxide, a toxic gas. The data do not come from uniform databanks but from a wide variety of satellite sensors.\u2019<\/p>\n

Nitrogen dioxide pollution is a hot topic in Europe. What did you find?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2018We\u2019re currently doing a trend analysis for air pollution over the last 14 years in Europe to see how nitrogen dioxide levels are evolving. Now that we have this improved data set we can see clear reductions in the NO2 levels in the European air. The levels are substantially lower in 2017 than they were in 2005 when the monitoring instrument was just launched.\u2019<\/p>\n

What new information did your new data set provide?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2018It suggests a stronger downward trend in (nitrogen dioxide) pollution than was thought based on previous versions of the data set. It is still quite preliminary, but that\u2019s an example of how improvements in our algorithm can change the perspective on how air pollution has been changing.\u2019<\/p>\n

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\"The
The European maps of NO2 pollution show that nitrogen dioxide levels have decreased significantly from 2005 (left) to 2017 (right). Image credit – Dr Folkert Boersma<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

In general, how do you know when you\u2019ve got good or bad data?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2018Users of satellite data check whether it has been put to good use before, whether it has been validated, and whether their uncertainties have been characterised. One of the goals in our project was to generate a coherent and consistent framework for quality assurance of satellite data.\u2019<\/p>\n

How do you go about giving this treasure trove of information the seal of quality?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2018In multiple ways. One of the reasons why we think we\u2019re doing a better job now is that we have revised the retrieval algorithms. On top of that, we have put the\u00a0quality assurance system\u00a0<\/a>to work, which tells people how uncertain the data are, flags when to use or not to use the data, and gives best practices for use.\u2019<\/p>\n

Retrieval algorithms?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2018These are the steps we take to retrieve the physical measurements from the satellites and take account of all the other (necessary) factors \u2026 such as noise and that external information on clouds, surfaces, etc. We\u2019ve gone through all the sub-steps that we need to take and put them to the test by doing comparisons with other groups. Sometimes we find a bug in the retrieval code. Sometimes we note that: \u201cHey \u2013 this group from Germany has a better best practice \u2013 let\u2019s take it over\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u2018We have a lot better understanding now of where the uncertainties are in the various retrieval steps. And we\u2019ve reduced the uncertainty in many of the sub-steps.\u2019<\/p>\n

So you\u2019ve produced a type of refinery, where you can pour raw data in at one end and end up with a long record going back several decades of clean, consistent climate data?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2018Yes, and this is getting increasingly important. For example, Europe now has the big Earth observation programme Copernicus (the Copernicus Climate Change Service), the ambitious idea to be this huge source of climate data. For this programme to be successful, the data it provides needs to be quality-assured.\u2019<\/p>\n

Do you have any tips for people who produce these datasets?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2018More than that. Data needs to be reliable, traceable and understandable. We\u2019ve developed a system everyone can use when putting out data to ensure this. It\u2019s a list of requirements that good data should fulfil. It helps the people who produce the data and those who use it to find out where the data comes from and how uncertain it is (for example, there may be flags showing that you should be aware that the data may be affected by something like sun-glint).<\/p>\n

\u2018So there are two outcomes of our project: we have developed a generic quality assurance system, and we have generated 30-year data records of atmospheric and land parameters relevant to air pollution and climate change.\u2019<\/p>\n

What\u2019s next for this work?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2018Copernicus wants to take records for its climate data store, as well as using the quality information data. But it\u2019s not a good permanent situation. One of the concerns we have is that there are currently no follow-up projects to keep on working on this data provenance and on improving the data.<\/p>\n

\u2018This is a strong concern because there are new, extremely high-resolution sensors (such as those on the Sentinel satellites) that require new approaches, and consistency checks to ensure that their data is of sufficient quality to live up to the big promises made when millions of euros were poured into the design, assembly, calibration, and launch of these top-edge European instruments. The data quality should follow suit and remain to be of similar top-edge quality, and for this the European Union, ESA, and national science foundations should define more research calls for this type of work.\u2019<\/p>\n

Originally published on Horizon<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An analysis of a newly cleaned-up dataset tracking Europe\u2019s air pollution has revealed that nitrogen dioxide levels are on a steeper downward trend than previously thought, according to Dr Folkert Boersma from the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute, who says that ensuring the quality of Earth observation data can reveal new insights into climate change. He … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":316,"featured_media":287,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"generate_page_header":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,112],"tags":[127,4,125,79,24],"class_list":["post-286","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-earth-energy-environment","category-ict","tag-big-data","tag-environment","tag-pollution","tag-research","tag-science"],"yoast_head":"\nCleaned-up data shows bigger-than-thought reduction in Europe\u2019s NO2 pollution \u2013 Dr Folkert Boersma - Horizon Magazine Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/286\/cleaned-up-data-shows-bigger-than-thought-reduction-in-europes-no2-pollution-dr-folkert-boersma\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cleaned-up data shows bigger-than-thought reduction in Europe\u2019s NO2 pollution \u2013 Dr Folkert Boersma\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"An analysis of a newly cleaned-up dataset tracking Europe\u2019s air pollution has revealed that nitrogen dioxide levels are on a steeper downward trend than previously thought, according to Dr Folkert Boersma from the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute, who says that ensuring the quality of Earth observation data can reveal new insights into climate change. 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