Near-real-time estimation of fossil fuel CO2 emissions from China based on atmospheric observations on Hateruma and Yonaguni Islands, Japan

Yasunori Tohjima; Yosuke Niwa; Prabir K Patra; Hitoshi Mukai; Toshinobu Machida; Motoki Sasakawa; Kazuhiro Tsuboi; Kazuyuki Saito; Akihiko Ito

doi:10.1186/s40645-023-00542-6

Near-real-time estimation of fossil fuel CO₂ emissions from China based on atmospheric observations on Hateruma and Yonaguni Islands, Japan

Prog Earth Planet Sci. 2023;10(1):10. doi: 10.1186/s40645-023-00542-6. Epub 2023 Mar 2.

Authors

Yasunori Tohjima¹, Yosuke Niwa¹, Prabir K Patra², Hitoshi Mukai¹, Toshinobu Machida¹, Motoki Sasakawa¹, Kazuhiro Tsuboi³, Kazuyuki Saito⁴, Akihiko Ito¹

Affiliations

¹ National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES), 16-2 Onogawa, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8506 Japan.
² Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), 3173-25 Showa-Machi, Kanazawa-Ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa 236-0001 Japan.
³ Meteorological Research Institute (MRI), 1-1 Nagamine, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0052 Japan.
⁴ Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA), 3-6-9 Toranomon, Minato-Ku, Tokyo, 105-8431 Japan.

Abstract

We developed a near-real-time estimation method for temporal changes in fossil fuel CO₂ (FFCO₂) emissions from China for 3 months [January, February, March (JFM)] based on atmospheric CO₂ and CH₄ observations on Hateruma Island (HAT, 24.06° N, 123.81° E) and Yonaguni Island (YON, 24.47° N, 123.01° E), Japan. These two remote islands are in the downwind region of continental East Asia during winter because of the East Asian monsoon. Previous studies have revealed that monthly averages of synoptic-scale variability ratios of atmospheric CO₂ and CH₄ (ΔCO₂/ΔCH₄) observed at HAT and YON in JFM are sensitive to changes in continental emissions. From the analysis based on an atmospheric transport model with all components of CO₂ and CH₄ fluxes, we found that the ΔCO₂/ΔCH₄ ratio was linearly related to the FFCO₂/CH₄ emission ratio in China because calculating the variability ratio canceled out the transport influences. Using the simulated linear relationship, we converted the observed ΔCO₂/ΔCH₄ ratios into FFCO₂/CH₄ emission ratios in China. The change rates of the emission ratios for 2020-2022 were calculated relative to those for the preceding 9-year period (2011-2019), during which relatively stable ΔCO₂/ΔCH₄ ratios were observed. These changes in the emission ratios can be read as FFCO₂ emission changes under the assumption of no interannual variations in CH₄ emissions and biospheric CO₂ fluxes for JFM. The resulting average changes in the FFCO₂ emissions in January, February, and March 2020 were 17 ± 8%, - 36 ± 7%, and - 12 ± 8%, respectively, (- 10 ± 9% for JFM overall) relative to 2011-2019. These results were generally consistent with previous estimates. The emission changes for January, February, and March were 18 ± 8%, - 2 ± 10%, and 29 ± 12%, respectively, in 2021 (15 ± 10% for JFM overall) and 20 ± 9%, - 3 ± 10%, and - 10 ± 9%, respectively, in 2022 (2 ± 9% for JFM overall). These results suggest that the FFCO₂ emissions from China rebounded to the normal level or set a new high record in early 2021 after a reduction during the COVID-19 lockdown. In addition, the estimated reduction in March 2022 might be attributed to the influence of a new wave of COVID-19 infections in Shanghai.

Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s40645-023-00542-6.

Keywords: Atmospheric CH4; Atmospheric CO2; COVID-19 lockdown; East Asian Monsoon; Fossil fuel CO2 emissions; Synoptic-scale variations.