The specific objectives of the EQUATOR project are:
- To properly account for land cover changes (deforestation, forest degradation, afforestation) in BVOC emission estimates over the last two decades based on satellite imagery data from MODIS and Landsat’s instruments
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- To use multi-species chemical observations from currently operating satellites (TROPOMI, IASI, OMI, and CrIS) as space-based constraints using the adjoint of the MAGRITTEv1.1 regional chemistry-transport model, after characterization of the biases of the satellite data using independent ground-based and airborne observations
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- To quantify the magnitude of lightning and soil NOx emissions in the Tropics through inversion of OMI/TROPOMI NO2 observations. These two sources are recognized to bear large uncertainties, which can strongly affect the HCHO model abundances.
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- To determine the contribution of methanol (CH3OH) oxidation to the HCHO budget from inverse modelling of IASI CH3OH data, as CH3OH is an important biogenic precursor of HCHO.
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- To develop novel methodologies for quantifying the BVOC emissions based on the simultaneous inversion of TROPOMI/OMI HCHO and CrIS isoprene column data.
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