The SCOAPE (Satellite Coastal and Oceanic Atmospheric Pollution Experiment) Cruise, May 2019: Gulf of Mexico Air Quality near Oil and Natural Gas Operations 

This seminar was recorded and can be seen HERE

Dr. Anne M. Thompson
Senior Scientist,
Earth Sciences Division, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771

[email protected]; also [email protected] 

NASA/Goddard has an Interagency Agreement with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM, Dept. of Interior) to assess the feasibility of using satellite data to measure Air Quality (AQ) over the US continental shelf and adjacent coast. In May 2019 we conducted an oceanographic cruise on the Research Vessel Point Sur to collect trace gas measurements (O₃, NO₂, CH₄, CO₂, VOC, CO) and to validate satellite column NO₂ over the Gulf of Mexico (GOM). I present an overview of SCOAPE, including evaluations of TROPOMI NO₂ data with ground- and ship-based Pandora spectrometers. Preliminary findings are: (1) general AQ over the area of deepwater operations, which were influenced by tropical air masses early in the cruise (10-14 May 2019), was better than near shore which was influenced by flow from urban areas (15-17 May). (2) Regions of smaller and typically older operations displayed high CH₄ and hydrocarbon readings, presumably from leakage; (3) Satellite NO₂ data with ground- and ship-based Pandora columns are in good agreement with one another. There has been an absence of regular AQ measurements over the GOM, so SCOAPE data constitute a baseline against which future observations can be compared. Continuous monitoring of NO₂ and O₃ from space and with coastal instruments and in the GOM will benefit BOEM’s ongoing mission.

This talk is presented as a Zoom Webinar. For anyone outside the department; If you would like to attend, email [email protected]