Atmospheric Observation-based Evaluation of Fossil Fuel CO2 Emissions in London

基于大气观测的伦敦化石燃料二氧化碳排放评估

• 批准号: NE/X011410/1
• 负责人: Heather Graven
• 金额: $ 10.28万
• 依托单位: Imperial College London
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2022 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=NE%2FX011410%2F1
• 关键词: Atmospheric; Observation; based; Evaluation; Fossil

Governments, companies and private citizens are taking actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and climate change. In the UK, official policies are being developed following the 2008 Climate Change Act and the 2021 Net Zero Strategy. The largest contributor to climate change by far is the burning of fossil fuels, which emits carbon dioxide (CO2) to the atmosphere. The way that fossil fuel CO2 emissions are quantified is by counting up the activities that emit CO2 and multiplying that by how much CO2 each activity produces. However, these emissions inventories can include errors that are difficult to know about without a way of checking them independently.By measuring CO2 in the atmosphere in this project, we will deploy new techniques to check the emissions calculated by the inventory in London. Actually it is not enough to measure the concentration of CO2 because CO2 is also affected by photosynthesis and respiration, so we need to make other measurements that tell us what the effect of fossil fuels is. We measure the amount of radiocarbon (14C) because fossil fuels are so old they have lost all their 14C to radioactive decay. Therefore, by measuring decreases in the fraction of carbon that is 14C, we can quantify the fossil fuel CO2 that has been added in a region. To compare with the emissions inventory, we use a model of the winds in the atmosphere to simulate the expected amount of fossil fuel CO2 and see if that matches our observations.In 2020, we made some preliminary measurements of 14C in CO2 in London and we were surprised to find there was much more fossil fuel CO2 than expected based on the inventories and model simulations. Since there were only a few measurements made then, we need to make more measurements around London and see if the same discrepancy is found. If so, it suggests that regularly measuring 14C in CO2 in London would allow us to estimate fossil fuel CO2 emissions independently, and to improve the calculations in the inventory.Another thing we observed with our preliminary data was that the effect of vegetation and soils was to take up more CO2 than expected, based on a model of photosynthesis and respiration in the UK. This model uses observations of plant activity from satellites with very high resolution that can see plants in cities. If this observation also holds when more data is collected in this project, it could suggest that London is doing more to absorb extra CO2 than we thought.This project will use state-of-the-art techniques for atmospheric measurement and modelling to evaluate fossil fuel CO2 emissions in London. The outcomes will provide a critical new understanding of how we are contributing to climate change and help us to make better plans to reduce these contributions. We will share the project outcomes with government and the public by working with the media and through outreach activities.

政府，公司和私人公民正在采取行动减少温室气体排放和气候变化。在英国，根据2008年《气候变化法》和2021年净零战略，正在制定官方政策。到目前为止，气候变化的最大贡献是燃烧化石燃料，它将二氧化碳（CO2）排放到大气中。化石燃料二氧化碳排放量的量化方式是通过计算排放二氧化碳的活性并将其乘以每个活动产生多少二氧化碳。但是，这些排放清单可能包括难以知道的错误，而无需单独检查它们。通过测量该项目的大气中的二氧化碳，我们将部署新技术来检查伦敦库存计算的排放。实际上，这还不足以测量CO2的浓度，因为CO2也受光合作用和呼吸的影响，因此我们需要进行其他测量来告诉我们化石燃料的影响。我们测量了放射性碳（14C）的量，因为化石燃料是如此旧，以至于将所有14C损失到放射性衰减。因此，通过测量14C碳的比例减少，我们可以量化在区域中添加的化石燃料CO2。为了与排放量进行比较，我们使用大气中的风模型来模拟化石燃料CO2的预期量，并查看与我们的观察相匹配。在2020年，我们在伦敦的CO2中对14C进行了一些初步测量，我们感到惊讶的是，基于库存和模型模型，我们惊讶地发现了比预期的更多的化石燃料CO2。由于那时只进行了少量测量，因此我们需要在伦敦周围进行更多测量，看看是否发现了相同的差异。如果是这样，这表明在伦敦的CO2中定期测量14C，这将使我们能够独立估计化石燃料CO2的排放，并改善库存中的计算。另一个通过初步数据观察到的是，植被和土壤的效果是基于Photosynthisosis和UK的模型，植被和土壤的效果比预期的是二氧化碳的效果更多。该模型使用具有很高分辨率的卫星的植物活动观察，可以看到城市中的植物。如果在该项目中收集更多数据时，该观察结果也可以提出，这可能表明伦敦正在采取更多的二氧化碳来吸收额外的二氧化碳。该项目将使用最先进的技术进行大气测量和建模来评估伦敦的化石燃料二氧化碳的排放。结果将为我们如何为气候变化做出贡献，并帮助我们制定更好的计划来减少这些贡献。我们将通过与媒体合作和外展活动与政府和公众分享项目成果。