Assessment of the differences in European CH 4 emission estimates from three TROPOMI products
9 affiliations
- 1Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (Paris, France)
- 2Institut Pierre-Simon Laplace (Paris, France)
- 3Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement (Gif-sur-Yvette, France)
- 4Université Paris-Saclay (Gif-sur-Yvette, France)
- 5Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (Versailles, France)
- 6Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement, LSCE/IPSL, CEA-CNRS-UVSQ, Université Paris-Saclay, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France
- 7now at: Science Partners, Quai de Jemmapes, 75010 Paris, France
- 8Institute of Environmental Physics (IUP), University of Bremen FB1, Bremen, Germany
- 9SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research, 2333 CA Leiden, the Netherlands
Abstract
Satellite observations from the Sentinel-5P TROPOMI instrument, combined with inverse modeling, provide a valuable resource for quantifying regional methane (CH4) emissions. This study compares the emissions estimated from variational inversions in 2019 over Europe (0.5° resolution) assimilating three TROPOMI products of dry-column methane mole fractions (XCH4). The SRON (v2.4, operational product), BLENDED (v1.0), and WFMD (v1.8) products are retrieved from distinct algorithms. They differ in coverage, error characterization, and XCH4 spatial distribution. Results indicate that the largest contributions to XCH4 differences may be attributed to aerosol scattering and sensitivity to albedo. The derived 2019 European CH4 emission budgets show a relative increase of +2 % for SRON, and a decrease of -1 %, -33 % and -9 %, respectively, for BLENDED, WFMD and surface-based inversions. Seasonal emissions are highly correlated across the inversions. Spatial emission patterns and optimized boundary conditions are similar for the non-independent SRON and BLENDED but differ substantially from WFMD. Evaluation with independent surface stations shows error reduction for about half of the sites, with BLENDED performing best. However, no product is systematically closer to the emissions estimated when assimilating surface observations. Observing System Simulation Experiments (OSSEs) are used to disentangle the drivers of differences between the posterior emissions. They reveal that observation density and errors, but also averaging kernels and prior profiles play a key role in the inversion's capacity to constrain the emissions. Using consistent error definition and quality filters increases the consistency of the OSSEs, paving the way for more consistent emission estimates.
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BibTeX
@article{sicsikpare2026assessment,
title = {{Assessment of the differences in European CH 4 emission estimates from three TROPOMI products}},
author = {Aurélien Sicsik-Paré and Audrey Fortems‐Cheiney and Isabelle Pison and Grégoire Broquet and Alvin Opler and Elise Potier and Adrien Martinez and Oliver Schneising and Michael Buchwitz and Joannes D. Maasakkers and Tobias Borsdorff and Antoine Berchet},
journal = {Atmospheric chemistry and physics},
year = {2026},
month = jul,
doi = {10.5194/acp-26-10423-2026},
url = {https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-10423-2026},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Assessment of the differences in European CH 4 emission estimates from three TROPOMI products
AU - Aurélien Sicsik-Paré
AU - Audrey Fortems‐Cheiney
AU - Isabelle Pison
AU - Grégoire Broquet
AU - Alvin Opler
AU - Elise Potier
AU - Adrien Martinez
AU - Oliver Schneising
AU - Michael Buchwitz
AU - Joannes D. Maasakkers
AU - Tobias Borsdorff
AU - Antoine Berchet
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/07/24
JO - Atmospheric chemistry and physics
DO - 10.5194/acp-26-10423-2026
UR - https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-10423-2026
AB - Satellite observations from the Sentinel-5P TROPOMI instrument, combined with inverse modeling, provide a valuable resource for quantifying regional methane (CH4) emissions. This study compares the emissions estimated from variational inversions in 2019 over Europe (0.5° resolution) assimilating three TROPOMI products of dry-column methane mole fractions (XCH4). The SRON (v2.4, operational product), BLENDED (v1.0), and WFMD (v1.8) products are retrieved from distinct algorithms. They differ in coverage, error characterization, and XCH4 spatial distribution. Results indicate that the largest contributions to XCH4 differences may be attributed to aerosol scattering and sensitivity to albedo. The derived 2019 European CH4 emission budgets show a relative increase of +2 % for SRON, and a decrease of -1 %, -33 % and -9 %, respectively, for BLENDED, WFMD and surface-based inversions. Seasonal emissions are highly correlated across the inversions. Spatial emission patterns and optimized boundary conditions are similar for the non-independent SRON and BLENDED but differ substantially from WFMD. Evaluation with independent surface stations shows error reduction for about half of the sites, with BLENDED performing best. However, no product is systematically closer to the emissions estimated when assimilating surface observations. Observing System Simulation Experiments (OSSEs) are used to disentangle the drivers of differences between the posterior emissions. They reveal that observation density and errors, but also averaging kernels and prior profiles play a key role in the inversion's capacity to constrain the emissions. Using consistent error definition and quality filters increases the consistency of the OSSEs, paving the way for more consistent emission estimates.
SN - 1680-7316
SN - 1680-7324
ER -