WRF-Chem numerical analysis of YAK-AEROSIB aircraft data with BC emissions from Russian oil/gas flarings evaluated by satellite data

Tatsuo Onishi (1) , Kathy S. Law (1) , B. Belan (2) , J.-D. Paris (3) , Gérard Ancellet (1) , Jean-Christophe Raut (1) , C. P. Nédél , M. Panchenko (4) , D. Chernov (2) , M. Arshinov (2)

1 TROPO - LATMOS
2 IAO - V.E. Zuev Institute of Atmospheric Optics
3 LSCE - Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement [Gif-sur-Yvette]
4 IWF - Space Research Institute of Austrian Academy of Sciences

Arctic air pollution originates mainly from long-range transport of short-lived climate forcers (SLCFs), including black carbon (BC), ozone, and their precursors, from mid-latitudes and, also from important local anthropogenic emissions from activities such as resource extraction, shipping and domestic combustion. Russia’s location closer to the Arctic leads to more significant contributions from local anthropogenic emissions to levels of Arctic air pollution, especially BC from oil/gas extraction activities. However, large uncertainties exist about the magnitude and temporal/spatial variations of BC emissions and their contribution to Arctic BC loading. In this study, we focus on a better understanding of BC emissions from gas flaring hot spots in the Yamal- Nenets regions of northern Russia by using WRF-Chem simulations with improved BC emissions estimated from radiometer scanning night-light imaging from satellite data. For this study, we convert VIIRS (Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite) 12-hourly heat radiances (Elvidge et al. 2016) from Russian gas/oil flaring hot spots into daily BC emission, by using correlations with 0.025 degree annual BC emissions derived from Sea and Land Surface Temperature Radiometer (SLSTR) GFlaringS3 data (Caseiro et al. 2020). We analyze the origins of polluted air masses sampled during French (CNRS)-Russian YAK-AEROSIB flights over the Ob Valley, Yamal and Kara Sea regions during October 2014 using BC tracers run in WRF-Chem. Full chemistry-aerosol simulations of WRF-Chem, run with SAPRC-MOSAIC and ECLIPSE-v6b anthropogenic emissions, are used to examine the sensitivity of simulated BC to gas flaring emissions. BC emissions from the flaring sector are replaced with emissions derived from VIIRS data. Sensitivity runs with daily varying and annual average BC are also performed to examine the impacts of temporal variations in flaring activities on Arctic BC

Domaines: Sciences de l'environnement

Tatsuo Onishi, Kathy S. Law, B. Belan, J.-D. Paris, Gérard Ancellet, et al.. WRF-Chem numerical analysis of YAK-AEROSIB aircraft data with BC emissions from Russian oil/gas flarings evaluated by satellite data. International Global Atmospheric Chemistry conference (IGAC), Sep 2021, Online, Unknown Region. ⟨insu-03746642⟩