| 06 Oct 2026
Evaluating When and Where TROPOMI XCH4 Uncertainties Yield Consistent Flux Estimation over East, South, and Central Asia
Abstract. Satellite remote sensing of methane (CH4) offers the potential to monitor emissions across large scales, but skepticism remains among regulators, policymakers, and the scientific community of both the precision and accuracy of such estimations due to unquantified observational uncertainties. Using 500 perturbation experiments with four error distributions applied to TROPOMI XCH4 over East, South, and Central Asia, we systematically assess where and when divergence‑based emission estimates are reliable. We show that the shape of the uncertainty distribution – not just its magnitude – governs error propagation and thus effects the stability of derived fluxes. Furthermore we show that uncertainty propogates over both space and time, indicating that purely local accounting may lead to an underestimate of uncertainty. Coal‑dominated industrial grids retain trustworthy signals (30% retention of valid perturbations), whereas agricultural and mixed‑use grids retain only 16%, indicating that current filtering practices are insufficient for these land types. These results provide a practical, uncertainty‑aware filter for satellite‑derived methane emissions, directly supporting the Global Methane Pledge and national greenhouse gas inventories by identifying where satellite data can be trusted (coal‑dominated regions) and where additional caution or alternative approaches are needed. The process is data-neutral and can be extended to other satellite platforms and adopted by other regions around the globe.
Competing interests: At least one of the (co-)authors is a member of the editorial board of Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.
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