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PROJECTS/PROGRAMS

GReenhouse Gas And Air Pollutants Emissions System (GRA2PES)

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Summary

NOAA's Chemical Science Laboratory and NIST's Greenhouse Gas Measurement Program are working collaboratively to develop and maintain the Department of Commerce's capability to measure and model U.S. emissions of greenhouse gases and hazardous air pollutants. A central focus of this joint research effort for NIST is the evaluation of associated uncertainties. Together the NOAA and NIST teams are helping to  better qualify the underlying data products of interest to researchers and stakeholders in both the traditional air quality (AQ) and greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation communities.

Description

Round circles like red and green grapes on the left have one with the globe. Grapes has the A squared.

The GReenhouse gas And Air Pollutants Emissions System (GRA2PES) uses publicly accessible GHG emissions activity data across multiple economic sectors, including energy production, manufacturing, transportation,  agriculture, and land use, among others. The initiative involves the development of "bottom-up" emission data and uncertainty evaluation at spatial and temporal resolutions relevant to both improving air quality and mitigating GHG emissions including at city, state, and regional levels. In the future, GRA2PES will also combine atmospheric air pollutant and GHG observations from various atmospheric measurement platforms along with meteorological observations and models to evaluate and refine emission information and uncertainties.

The GRA2PES initiative aims to identify areas where improving data and models would most help us understand GHG emissions. By combining different types of emissions information and using statistical techniques, we assess the accuracy of the estimates. Collaborating with other organizations working on similar projects, such as the UK's National Physical Laboratory and the EU's Environment Agency, is mutually beneficial.

Currently, GRA2PES provides emissions for the year 2021 at 4 km x 4 km spatial resolution with year, month, day-of-week, and diurnal temporal information. Specifically, GRA2PES utilizes datasets from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and leverages a few well evaluated inventories for specific sectors, including the Fuel-based Oil and Gas (FOG) inventory, the Fuel-based Inventory of Vehicle Emissions (FIVE), and the Volatile Chemical Products (VCP) inventory. Additional years will be added in the future.

The live data will be available for the public as of Sept. 19. For a technical explanation of the data see this ReadMe document.

Map of the United States showing a red dot for every city and larger red dots in the major cities indicating more than 10E4 metric tons of Nitric oxide ⁠(NO) and Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) (NOX) per year with the mid- to eastern shore showing the most. The background indicates that for these tailgate emissions there is very few in areas where there are no major roadways.
NOx: GRA2PES V1.0 2021 annual total nitrogen oxides (NOx) for the continental U.S. Unit: metric tons NOx/year
Credit: Congmeng Lyu NOAA / CIRES
Map of the United States showing a lot's of red dots in California indicating more than 10E7 metric tons of fossil fuel CO2 per year and spreading across the United States from city to city in a series of connecting dots with major cities in the mid- to eastern shore showing the most. The background indicates that most areas outside of cities are showing 10E3 metric tons per year of fossil fuel CO2 and only in the dessert areas (much of Nevada) and in forested or lake regions are emissions are near zero.
ffCO2: GRA2PES V1.0 2021 annual total fossil fuel carbon dioxide (ffCO2) for the continental U.S. Unit: metric tons ffCO2/year.  
Credit: Congmeng Lyu NOAA / CIRES

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Other recommended reading:

Gorchov Negron, A., et al. (2018). "Development of a fuel-based oil and gas inventory of nitrogen oxides emissions." Environmental Science & Technology.

Francoeur, C. B., et al. (2021). "Quantifying Methane and Ozone Precursor Emissions from Oil and Gas Production Regions across the Contiguous US." Environmental Science & Technology.

McDonald, B. C., et al. (2014). "High-resolution mapping of motor vehicle carbon dioxide emissions." Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres 119: 5283-5298.

Harkins, C., et al. (2021). "A fuel-based method for updating mobile source emissions during the COVID-19 pandemic." Environmental Research Letters 16.

McDonald, B. C., et al. (2018). "Volatile chemical products emerging as largest petrochemical source of urban organic emissions." Science 359(6377): 760-764.

Environment and Greenhouse gas measurements
Created March 22, 2023, Updated September 19, 2024