{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,1]],"date-time":"2026-04-01T00:21:03Z","timestamp":1775002863447,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":23,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"13","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2019,7,6]],"date-time":"2019-07-06T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1562371200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Remote Sensing"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The observational requirements for space-based quantification of anthropogenic CO 2     emissions are of interest to space agencies and related organizations that may contribute to a possible satellite constellation to support emission monitoring in the future. We assess two key observing characteristics for space-based monitoring of CO2     emissions: pixel size and revisit rate, and we introduce a new method utilizing multiple images simultaneously to significantly improve emission estimates. The impact of pixel size ranging from 2\u201310 km for space-based imaging spectrometers is investigated using plume model simulations, accounting for biases in the observations. Performance of rectangular pixels is compared to square pixels of equal area. The findings confirm the advantage of the smallest pixels in this range and the advantage of square pixels over rectangular pixels. A method of averaging multiple images is introduced and demonstrated to be able to estimate emissions from small sources when the individual images are unable to distinguish the plume. Due to variability in power plant emissions, results from a single overpass cannot be directly extrapolated to annual emissions, the most desired timescale for regulatory purposes. We investigate the number of overpasses required to quantify annual emissions with a given accuracy, based on the mean variability from the 50 highest emitting US power plants. Although the results of this work alone are not sufficient to define the full architecture of a future CO   2     monitoring constellation, when considered along with other studies, they may assist in informing the design of a space-based system to support anthropogenic CO    2     emission monitoring.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/rs11131608","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2019,7,8]],"date-time":"2019-07-08T03:01:31Z","timestamp":1562554891000},"page":"1608","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":35,"title":["Pixel Size and Revisit Rate Requirements for Monitoring Power Plant CO2 Emissions from Space"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"11","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3538-7060","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Tim","family":"Hill","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Applied Math, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6282-1611","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ray","family":"Nassar","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Climate Research Division, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Toronto, ON M3H 5T4, Canada"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2019,7,6]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"IPCC (2006). 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories, Institute for Global Environmental Strategies."},{"key":"ref_2","unstructured":"Pinty, B., Janssens-Maenhout, G., Dowell, M., Zunker, H., Brunhes, T., Ciais, P., Dee, D., Denier van der Gon, H., Dolman, H., and Drinkwater, M. (2017). An Operational Anthropogenic CO2 Emissions Monitoring and Verification Support Capacity. Baseline Requirements, Model Components and Functional Architecture, Europoean Commission. Technical Report."},{"key":"ref_3","first-page":"38","article-title":"An integrated global greenhouse gas information system (IG3IS)","volume":"66","author":"DeCola","year":"2017","journal-title":"WMO Bull."},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"10045","DOI":"10.1002\/2017GL074702","article-title":"Quantifying CO2 emissions from individual power plants from space","volume":"44","author":"Nassar","year":"2017","journal-title":"Geophys. Res. Lett."},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"781","DOI":"10.5194\/amt-3-781-2010","article-title":"A remote sensing technique for global monitoring of power plant CO2 emissions from space and related applications","volume":"3","author":"Bovensmann","year":"2010","journal-title":"Atmos. Meas. Tech."},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"59","DOI":"10.5194\/amt-10-59-2017","article-title":"The on-orbit performance of the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) instrument and its radiometrically calibrated products","volume":"10","author":"Crisp","year":"2017","journal-title":"Atmos. Meas. Tech."},{"key":"ref_7","first-page":"33","article-title":"The estimation of the dispersion of windborne material","volume":"90","author":"Pasquill","year":"1961","journal-title":"Meteorol. Mag."},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Fioletov, V., McLinden, C., Krotkov, N., Moran, M., and Yang, K. (2011). Estimation of SO2 emissions using OMI retrievals. Geophys. Res. Lett., 38.","DOI":"10.1029\/2011GL049402"},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2241","DOI":"10.5194\/amt-12-2241-2019","article-title":"How bias correction goes wrong: Measurement of XCO2 affected by erroneous surface pressure estimates","volume":"12","author":"Kiel","year":"2019","journal-title":"Atmos. Meas. Tech."},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"959","DOI":"10.5194\/amt-7-959-2014","article-title":"Performance of a geostationary mission, geoCARB, to measure CO2, CH4 and CO column-averaged concentrations","volume":"7","author":"Polonsky","year":"2014","journal-title":"Atmos. Meas. Tech."},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"917","DOI":"10.1029\/2012JD018196","article-title":"Improving the temporal and spatial distribution of CO2 emissions from global fossil fuel emission data sets","volume":"118","author":"Nassar","year":"2013","journal-title":"J. Geophys. Res. Atmos."},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"14145","DOI":"10.5194\/acp-17-14145-2017","article-title":"Spatiotemporal patterns of the fossil-fuel CO2 signal in central Europe: results from a high-resolution atmospheric transport model","volume":"17","author":"Liu","year":"2017","journal-title":"Atmos. Chem. Phys."},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2809","DOI":"10.5194\/amt-4-2809-2011","article-title":"Towards space based verification of CO2 emissions from strong localized sources: Fossil fuel power plant emissions as seen by a CarbonSat constellation","volume":"4","author":"Velazco","year":"2011","journal-title":"Atmos. Meas. Tech."},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"5673","DOI":"10.5194\/amt-11-5673-2018","article-title":"Quantifying methane point sources from fine-scale satellite observations of atmospheric methane plumes","volume":"11","author":"Varon","year":"2018","journal-title":"Atmos. Meas. Tech."},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"681","DOI":"10.5194\/amt-11-681-2018","article-title":"The potential of satellite spectro-imagery for monitoring CO2 emissions from large cities","volume":"11","author":"Broquet","year":"2018","journal-title":"Atmos. Meas. Tech."},{"key":"ref_16","unstructured":"ESA (2015). Report for Mission Selection: CarbonSat-An Earth Explorer to Observe Greenhouse Gases, European Space Agency."},{"key":"ref_17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Breon, F., O\u2019Brien, D., and Spinhirne, J. (2005). Scattering layer statistics from space borne GLAS observations. Geophys. Res. Lett., 32.","DOI":"10.1029\/2005GL023825"},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Miller, C., Crisp, D., DeCola, P., Olsen, S., Randerson, J.T., Michalak, A.M., Alkhaled, A., Rayner, P., Jacob, D.J., and Suntharalingam, P. (2007). Precision requirements for space-based data. J. Geophys. Res. Atmos., 112.","DOI":"10.1029\/2006JD007659"},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"4719","DOI":"10.5194\/amt-8-4719-2015","article-title":"Geostationary Emission Explorer for Europe (G3E): mission concept and initial performance assessment","volume":"8","author":"Butz","year":"2015","journal-title":"Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss."},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2654","DOI":"10.1002\/2013JD020337","article-title":"Satellite observations of CO2 from a highly elliptical orbit for studies of the Arctic and boreal carbon cycle","volume":"119","author":"Nassar","year":"2014","journal-title":"J. Geophys. Res. Atmos."},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Nassar, R., McLinden, C., Sioris, C., McElroy, C.T., Mendonca, J., Tamminen, J., MacDonald, C.G., Adams, C., Boisvenue, C., and Bourassa, A. (2019). The Atmospheric Imaging Mission for Northern Regions: AIM-North. Can. J. Remote Sens., accepted.","DOI":"10.1080\/07038992.2019.1643707"},{"key":"ref_22","unstructured":"Crisp, D. (2019, May 31). A Constellation Architecture for Monitoring Carbon Dioxide and Methane from Space. Prepared by the CEOS Atmospheric Constellation Greenhouse Gas Team, Version 1.0, 8 October 2018. Available online: http:\/\/ceos.org\/document_management\/Virtual_Constellations\/ACC\/Documents\/CEOS_AC-VC_GHG_White_Paper_Publication_Draft2_20181111.pdf."},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Peischl, J., Ryerson, T., Holloway, J., Parrish, D., Trainer, M., Frost, G., Aikin, K., Brown, S., Dub\u00e9, W., and Stark, H. (2010). A top-down analysis of emissions from selected Texas power plants during TexAQS 2000 and 2006. J. Geophys. Res. Atmos., 115.","DOI":"10.1029\/2009JD013527"}],"container-title":["Remote Sensing"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2072-4292\/11\/13\/1608\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,11]],"date-time":"2025-10-11T13:03:11Z","timestamp":1760187791000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2072-4292\/11\/13\/1608"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2019,7,6]]},"references-count":23,"journal-issue":{"issue":"13","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2019,7]]}},"alternative-id":["rs11131608"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/rs11131608","relation":{},"ISSN":["2072-4292"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2072-4292","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2019,7,6]]}}}