Constraining industrial ammonia emissions using hyperspectral infrared imaging

Atmospheric emissions of reactive nitrogen in the form of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and ammonia (NH3) worsen air quality and upon deposition, dramatically affect the environment. Recent infrared satellite measurements have revealed that NH3 emitted by industries are an important and underestimated emission source. Yet, to assess these emissions, current satellite sounders are severely limited by their spatial resolution. In this paper, we analyse measurement data recorded in a series of imaging surveys that were conducted over industries in the Greater Berlin area (Germany). On board the aircraft were the Telops Hyper-Cam LW, targeting NH3 measurements in the longwave infrared at a resolution of 4 m and the SWING+ spectrometer targeting NO2 measurements in the UV–Vis at a resolution of 180 m.