Emission inventory

Methanol (Global)

Satellite-derived methanol emission estimates based on IASIv4 CH3OH columns (2008-2019)

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Top-down global methanol (CH3OH) distribution in 2019 (in 1010 molecules cm-2 s-1) with total emissions in Tg CH3OH from (i) biogenic and (ii) pyrogenic sources. The dry deposition sink is also shown.

Methanol TDinventory website

 

About the data

Top-down emissions are estimated using an inverse modelling framework based on the chemistry–transport model MAGRITTE v1.2 and its adjoint (Müller et al., 2019; Bauwens et al., 2016; Müller and Stavrakou, 2005), constrained by methanol (CH₃OH) column observations from the Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI) (Franco et al., 2018; Clarisse et al., 2023). We use the latest version of the space-borne methanol retrievals (IASIv4) to derive global terrestrial methanol emissions for the period 2008–2019. The IASIv4 dataset is bias-corrected using airborne observations.

More details can be found in the companion paper of Müller et al. (submitted to ACP).

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Global monthly top-down data (in 1010 molecules cm-2 s-1) are available in NetCDF format at a resolution of 2°x2.5° from 2008 to 2019.

  •  Biogenic source:
2008
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2018
2019

 

  • Pyrogenic source:
2008
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2019

 

  • Dry deposition sink:
2008
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2012
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2019

 

Cite this as (APA format)

Müller, J.-F. & Stavrakou, T. (2026). Global top-down methanol emissions based on IASI data (2008-2019) (Version 1) [Data set]. Royal Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy. https://doi.org/10.18758/5fmk39fw.

Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the GLANCE project (http://glance.aeronomie.be/) funded by the European Space Agency (ESA) under the “eo science for society" programme and by the CONCERTO project (https://www.projectconcerto.eu/) funded by the European Commission under the Horizon Europe programme (grant agreement no. 101185000).

References

  • Bauwens, M., Stavrakou, T., Müller, J.-F., De Smedt, I., Van Roozendael, M., van der Werf, G. R., Wiedinmyer, C., Kaiser, J., Sindelarova, K., and Guenther, A.: Nine years of global hydrocarbon emissions based on source inversion of OMI formaldehyde observations, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 10133-10158, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-10133-2016, 2016.

  • Clarisse, L., Franco, B., Van Damme, M., Di Gioacchino, T., Hadji-Lazaro, J., Whitburn, S., Noppen, L., Hurtmans, D., Clerbaux, C.,and Coheur, P.: The IASI NH3 version 4 product: averaging kernels and improved consistency, Atmos. Meas. Tech. , 16, 5009–5028, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5009-2023, 2023.

  • Franco, B., Clarisse, L., Stavrakou, T., Müller, J. -F, Van Damme, M., Whitburn, S., Hadji-Lazaro, J., Hurtmans, D., Taraborrelli, D., Clerbaux, C., and Coheur, P. -F: A general framework for global retrievals of trace gases from IASI: Application to methanol, formic acid, and PAN, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 123, 13,963–13,984, https://doi.org/10.1029/2018JD029633, 2018.

  • Müller, J.-F., T. Stavrakou, Franco, B., Clarisse,L. , Van Damme, M., Amelynck, C., Schoon, N., Verreyken, B., Opacka, B., Vigouroux, C., Mahieu, E., Makarova, M., and Strong, K.: Global atmospheric methanol emissions inferred from satellite IASI measurements and aircraft data, in preparation.

  • Müller, J.-F., T. Stavrakou, and J. Peeters: Chemistry and deposition in the Model of Atmospheric composition at Global and Regional scales using Inversion Techniques for Trace Gas Emissions (MAGRITTE v1.1). Part A. Chemical mechanism, Geosci. Model Dev., 12, 2307-2356, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-12-2307-2019, 2019.

  • Müller, J.-F., and T. Stavrakou: Inversion of CO and NOx emissions using the adjoint of the IMAGES model, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 5, 1157-1186, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-5-1157-2005, 2005.