Preprints
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2622
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2622
04 Jul 2025
 | 04 Jul 2025

Can we obtain consistent estimates of the emissions in Europe from three different CH4 TROPOMI products?

Aurélien Sicsik-Paré, Audrey Fortems-Cheiney, Isabelle Pison, Grégoire Broquet, Alvin Opler, Elise Potier, Adrien Martinez, Oliver Schneising, Michael Buchwitz, Joannes D. Maasakkers, Tobias Borsdorff, and Antoine Berchet

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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Aurélien Sicsik-Paré, Audrey Fortems-Cheiney, Isabelle Pison, Grégoire Broquet, Alvin Opler, Elise Potier, Adrien Martinez, Oliver Schneising, Michael Buchwitz, Joannes D. Maasakkers, Tobias Borsdorff, and Antoine Berchet

Status: final response (author comments only)

Comment types: AC – author | RC – referee | CC – community | EC – editor | CEC – chief editor | : Report abuse
  • RC1: 'Comment on egusphere-2025-2622', Anonymous Referee #1, 29 Jul 2025
  • RC2: 'Comment on egusphere-2025-2622', Anonymous Referee #2, 05 Aug 2025
  • RC3: 'Comment on egusphere-2025-2622', Anonymous Referee #3, 05 Aug 2025
Aurélien Sicsik-Paré, Audrey Fortems-Cheiney, Isabelle Pison, Grégoire Broquet, Alvin Opler, Elise Potier, Adrien Martinez, Oliver Schneising, Michael Buchwitz, Joannes D. Maasakkers, Tobias Borsdorff, and Antoine Berchet
Aurélien Sicsik-Paré, Audrey Fortems-Cheiney, Isabelle Pison, Grégoire Broquet, Alvin Opler, Elise Potier, Adrien Martinez, Oliver Schneising, Michael Buchwitz, Joannes D. Maasakkers, Tobias Borsdorff, and Antoine Berchet

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Short summary
Assimilating satellite observations from TROPOMI provides top-down quantification of regional methane emissions. This study compares European emissions in 2019 estimated from the inversion of three TROPOMI datasets. We find inconsistencies in national budgets and spatial patterns, with no product clearly superior. We disentangle drivers of the differences, highlighting the impact of differences in coverage, observations and associated errors on the consistency of methane emission estimates.
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