How to Find and Visualize Nitrogen Dioxide Satellite Data

Find research-quality nitrogen dioxide data to assess regional air quality and potential trends in industrial activity. Emily Cassidy, NASA ESDS ... Learn Articles FeatureArticles HealthandAirQualityArticles HowtoFindandVisualizeNitrogenDioxideSatelliteData Data Disciplines: Atmosphere GESDISC Learn GettingStartedEarthScienceDisciplinesDataToolkitsWebinarsandTutorialsPathfindersArticlesCommunityForumsUserResourcesDataUserProfilesDataChats FeatureArticles HealthandAirQualityArticlesWildfireArticlesFreshwaterArticlesBiodiversityArticles HowtoFindandVisualizeNitrogenDioxideSatelliteData Findresearch-qualitynitrogendioxidedatatoassessregionalairqualityandpotentialtrendsinindustrialactivity. EmilyCassidy,NASAESDSScienceWriter Cars,trucks,powerplants,andotherindustrialfacilitiesemitnitrogendioxide(NO2)asaproductofburningfossilfuels.Onceintheair,nitrogendioxidecanaggravaterespiratoryconditions,especiallyinpeoplewithasthma,leadingtoanincreaseofsymptomsandhospitaladmissions.Long-termexposurecanleadtothedevelopmentofasthmaandpotentiallyincreasesusceptibilitytorespiratoryinfections. Nitrogendioxidecanquicklytransformintoground-levelozone,amajorrespiratorypollutantandoneofthemainingredientsofsummertimesmog. TROPOMIdatashowsnitrogendioxidedensityinChinainearly2020.ImagefromNASA'sEarthObservatory. Nitrogendioxidelevelsdecreasewhenbusinessesandfactoriesclose,orwhentherearefewervehiclesontheroad.PastobservationshaveshownthatairpollutionusuallydecreasesduringChina'sLunarNewYearcelebration,forexample,andthenincreasesoncethecelebrationisover.Butthisyearnitrogendioxidedidn'treboundasitusuallydoes. ApreliminaryanalysisbyNASAresearchers,discussedonNASA'sEarthObservatory,comparednitrogendioxidevaluesdetectedbytheOzoneMonitoringInstrument(OMI)onNASA'sAurasatellitein2020withtheaverageamountsdetectedatthistimeofyearfrom2005–2019.Inearly2020,nitrogendioxidevaluesineasternandcentralChinawere10to30percentlowerthanwhatisnormallyobservedforthistimeperiod.Thereiscorroboratingevidencethatthechangeisatleastpartlyrelatedtotheeconomicslowdownfollowingtheoutbreakofcoronavirus. InadditiontoOMI,theTroposphericMonitoringInstrument(TROPOMI)ontheEuropeanSpaceAgency'sSentinel-5satellitealsomeasuresnitrogendioxide.ThemapsproducedbyEarthObservatorycompareTROPOMImeasurementsofnitrogendioxidedensityacrossChinafromJanuary1–20,2020andFebruary10–25. AccessNO2DataYoucanaccessresearch-qualityNO2datatoassessregionalairqualityandpotentialtrendsinindustrialactivity.Thedataareavailableatadailytimestep(oneviewperday,whencloudsallow)fromTROPOMIandOMIusingEarthdataSearch.GiovanniandWorldviewcanbeusedtoexploreandvisualizethedata. EarthdataSearchprovidesOMINO2dataindailygridded(0.25degreelatitudex0.25degreelongitude)andnon-griddedproductsatthenativeresolution(minimumpixelsizeof13x24km2).DataareinHierarchicalDataFormatRelease5(HDF5)formatandcanbeopenedusingthefreelyavailableNASAtool,Panoply.Thedataaretypicallyprovidedwitha48-hourlag. A tutorialonusingOMINO2data,fromNASA'sHealthandAirQuality AppliedSciencesTeam(HAQAST),isavailableasaPDF.An Earthdatawebinar, SubsetNASAOzoneMonitoringInstrumentData,providesinformationonsubsettingOMIdata. TROPOMINO2datacanbeaccessedinEarthdataSearchandatNASA'sGoddardEarthSciencesDataandInformationServicesCenter(GESDISC)viacooperativeagreementwiththeEuropeanSpaceAgency(ESA).Thedataareataminimumof5.5x3.5km2pixelresolutioninNetworkCommonDataForm(NetCDF)thatcanalsobeopenedinPanoply.TheseTROPOMIdataaretypicallyavailable10daysaftermeasurementbytheinstrument.ESAprovidesadditionalinformationonthisdataproduct. AccessTROPOMINO2DatafromEarthdataSearchAccessTROPOMINO2DataatGESDISC VisualizeNO2DataTheGlobalNitrogenDioxideMonitoringHomePagevisualizesOMINO2dataformajorcitiesaroundtheworldforJanuarythroughApril2020,comparedtoa2015to2019baseline.Forexample,thesedatashowa30percentdropinNO2overtheNortheastUnitedStatesforMarch2020comparedtobaseline. March2020nitrogendioxidelevels.ImagescourtesyofNASA'sScienceVisualizationStudio. AveragelevelsofnitrogendioxideinMarchof2015-19intheNortheastU.S. YoucanexplorethelatestNO2dataavailablefromOMIonWorldview,aswellasthree-yearrunningaverageNO2densityfor1996–1998and2010–2012.ThesedatawerederivedfromGlobalOzoneMonitoringExperiment(GOME),ScanningImagingAbsorptionSpectrometerforAtmosphericChartography(SCIAMACHY)andGlobalOzoneMonitoringExperiment-2(GOME-2)satelliteretrievals.TheycanbeusedtocomparearunningaverageofgroundlevelNO2densityovertime. Worldviewhasdataonthree-yearrunningaveragenitrogendioxidedensityfor1996–1998and2010–2012. VisualizeOMINO2DatainWorldview VisualizeRunningAveragesofNO2inWorldview ExploreNO2DatainGiovanniOMINO2datacanbevisualizedwiththeinteractiveNASAtoolcalledGiovanni.Thedatacanbeviewedasatime-averagedmap,ananimation,seasonalmaps,scatterplots,oratimeseries.FollowthesestepstoplotdatainGiovanni: Selectamapplottype;formoreinformationonchoosingatypeofplot,seetheGiovanniUserManual.Thefigurebelowisa"TimeAveragedMap." Selectadaterangeandaregionofinterest.Dataareinmultipletemporalresolutions,sobesuretonotethestartandenddateofthedesireddataset.Inthe"SelectRegion"box,youcanchooseacountry,state,orprovinceofinterest,orleaveitblankforglobaldata. Checktheboxofthevariableintheleftcolumnthatyou'dliketoincludeandthenplotthedata.Itisalsopossibletofinddatawithkeywords,suchas"NO2"or"nitrogendioxide".YoucandownloadmapscreatedinGiovanniinGeoTIFF,KMZ(usefulinGoogleEarth),orPNGformats. ExamplemapcreatedinGiovanni,ofaveragenitrogendioxidedensitybetweenMarch11andMarch14,2020. ExploreOMINO2DatainGiovanni NASA'sAirQualitysiteprovidesmoreinformationonNO2,aswellastrendmapsandpre-madeimagesofNO2overcitiesandpowerplants.TheHealthandAirQualityDataPathfinderprovidesinstructionsonhowtoaccessdatarelatedtootherairpollutantssuchasparticulatematterandsulfurdioxide. PublishedMarch26,2020 PageLastUpdated:Apr16,2020at8:22AMEDT