We show that the Landsat and Sentinel-2 satellites can detect NO 2 plumes from large point sources at 10 to 60 m pixel resolution in their blue and ultrablue bands. We use the resulting NO 2 plume imagery to quantify nitrogen oxides (NO x ) emission rates for several power plants in Saudi Arabia and the United States, including a 13-y analysis of 132 Landsat plumes from Riyadh power plant 9 from 2009 through 2021. NO 2 in the plumes initially increases with distance from the source, likely reflecting recovery from ozone titration. The fine pixel resolutions of Landsat and Sentinel-2 enable separation of individual point sources and stacks, including in urban background, and the long records enable examination of multidecadal emission trends. Our inferred NO x emission rates are consistent with previous estimates to within a precision of about 30%. Sources down to ~500 kg h −1 can be detected over bright, quasi-homogeneous surfaces. The 2009 to 2021 data for Riyadh power plant 9 show a strong summer peak in emissions, consistent with increased power demand for air conditioning, and a marginal slow decrease following the introduction of Saudi Arabia’s Ambient Air Standard 2012.

中文翻译：

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利用 Landsat 和 Sentinel-2 卫星对 NO 2 羽流的观测量化 NO x 点源


我们证明 Landsat 和 Sentinel-2 卫星可以检测 NO 2来自大型点源的羽流，其蓝色和超蓝色波段的像素分辨率为 10 至 60 m。我们使用得到的 NO 2用于量化氮氧化物 (NO x ）沙特阿拉伯和美国多个发电厂的排放率，包括 2009 年至 2021 年利雅得发电厂 9 的 132 个 Landsat 羽流的 13 年分析。 2羽流中的浓度最初随着距源的距离而增加，可能反映了臭氧滴定的恢复。 Landsat 和 Sentinel-2 的精细像素分辨率能够分离各个点源和堆栈，包括城市背景，而长期记录能够检查数十年的排放趋势。我们推断NO x排放率与之前的估计一致，精确度约为 30%。来源低至 ~500 kg h −1可以在明亮的、准均匀的表面上进行检测。利雅得发电厂 9 2009 年至 2021 年的数据显示，排放量在夏季出现强劲峰值，这与空调电力需求的增加一致，并且在沙特阿拉伯 2012 年环境空气标准推出后略有缓慢下降。