NASA Resources to Monitor Offshore and Coastal Air Quality

Branch: Executive

Category: Executive Agency Publications

SuDoc Class Number: I 72.

Government Author: Interior Department, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management

Personal Author: Duncan BN

Series Title: BOEM Environmental Studies

Publication Title: NASA Resources to Monitor Offshore and Coastal Air Quality

Date Issued: 2020

Subject: Meteorology and Atmospheric Conditions
Air Quality
Gulf of Mexico; satellite; monitoring; air quality

Obligation Number: M17PG00026

Geographic Scope: National

Report Number: BOEM 2020-046

CSE Reference: Duncan BN (National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Greenbelt, MD). 2020. NASA resources to monitor offshore and coastal air quality. Sterling (VA): US Department of the Interior, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. 2 p. Obligation No.: M17PG00026. Report No.: OCS Study BOEM 2020-046. URL: https://espis.boem.gov/Technical%20Summaries/BOEM_2020-046.pdf

Abstract: NASA’s Atmospheric Chemistry and Dynamics Laboratory at Goddard Space Flight Center assessed the utility of satellite data for air quality applications, specifically through estimating and monitoring of offshore ground level concentrations of criteria NAAQS, precursors, and visibility pollutants in the GOM, Pacific, Alaska, and Atlantic OCS Regions to support the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s (BOEM) requirements under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA) and National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), as well as assessing the use of satellite data to improve and validate BOEM’s existing emissions inventories and photochemical modeling. The exploration and development of oil and gas resources on the OCS in the GOM and Alaska, as well as potential renewable energy and alternate use projects, requires BOEM to validate information on the concentrations of air pollutants emitted offshore for a variety of NEPA-related decision documents and for maintaining compliance with OCSLA. This study improves BOEM’s ability to characterize the impacts of offshore pollutant dispersion. NASA examined the use of satellite data to estimate offshore ground level concentrations of criteria NAAQS, precursors, and visibility pollutants; estimate background concentration data in the Alaska and Atlantic OCS Regions before oil and gas or renewable development; and monitor long term trends of these concentrations. The study produced three case studies that demonstrate the current capabilities of these resources in the Gulf of Mexico region and discuss how they may be integrated into BOEM’s standard operating procedure (SOP) for assessing offshore air quality. NASA validated the satellite data with offshore monitoring in a field campaign through the use of air concentration sensors on wave gliders, sail drones, or drones, and possibly through air concentration monitors on vessels. NASA conducted three-year investigation on the feasibility of using satellite remote sensing to monitor emissions of oil and gas operations over the outer continental shelf (OCS) to determine if they have negative impacts on coastal air quality. Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) is the target pollutant for which BOEM conducts regular emissions surveys. Under cloud-free conditions, satellites detected elevated column NO2 amounts near isolated large platforms and from clusters of smaller operations. Satellite total column (TC) NO2 agreed well with TC NO2 from ground-based Pandora spectrometers, with the satellite biased low when pollution levels are higher. In general, NO2 is greater over coastal Louisiana than over the OCS. However, the extent to which Pandora or satellite measurements correlate with surface NO2 is highly variable.