The Outer Continental Shelf of the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) is populated with numerous oil and natural gas (ONG) platforms which produce NO_x (NO_x = NO + NO₂), a major component of air pollution. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is mandated to ensure that the air quality of coastal states is not degraded by these emissions. As part of a NASA-BOEM collaboration, we conducted a satellite data-based analysis of nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) patterns and trends in the GOM. Data from the OMI and TROPOMI sensors were used to obtain 18+ year records of tropospheric column (TrC) NO₂ in three GOM regions: (a) Houston urban area, (b) near shore area off the Louisiana coast, and a (c) deepwater area off the Louisiana coast. The 2004–2022 time series show a decreasing trend for the urban (−0.027 DU/decade) and near shore (−0.0022 DU/decade) areas, and an increasing trend (0.0019 DU/decade) for the deepwater area. MERRA-2 wind and TROPOMI NO₂ data were used to reveal several NO₂ hotspots (up to 25% above background values) under calm wind conditions near individual platforms. The NO₂ signals from these deepwater platforms and the high density of shallow water platforms closer to shore were confirmed by TrC NO₂ anomalies of up to 10%, taking into account the monthly TrC NO₂ climatology over the GOM. The results presented in this study establish a baseline for future estimates of emissions from the ONG hotspots and provide a methodology for analyzing NO₂ measurements from the new geostationary TEMPO instrument.

中文翻译：

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墨西哥湾海上石油和天然气作业的卫星二氧化氮趋势和热点

墨西哥湾外大陆架 (GOM) 分布着众多石油和天然气 (ONG) 平台，这些平台会产生 NO _x (NO _x  = NO + NO ₂ )，这是空气污染的主要成分。海洋能源管理局（BOEM）的任务是确保沿海国家的空气质量不会因这些排放而恶化。作为 NASA-BOEM 合作的一部分，我们对GOM 中的二氧化氮 (NO _{2 ) 模式和趋势进行了基于卫星数据的分析。}来自 OMI 和 TROPOMI 传感器的数据用于获取三个 GOM 区域 18 年以上的对流层柱 (TrC) NO ₂记录：(a) 休斯顿市区，(b) 路易斯安那州海岸附近的海岸地区，以及 (c) ）路易斯安那州海岸附近的深水区域。2004-2022年时间序列显示，城市（-0.027 DU/十年）和近岸（-0.0022 DU/十年）区域呈下降趋势，深水区域呈上升趋势（0.0019 DU/十年）。MERRA-2 风和 TROPOMI NO ₂数据用于揭示各个平台附近静风条件下的几个 NO ₂热点（比背景值高出 25%）。考虑到GOM 每月的 TrC NO 2 气候_学，高达 10% 的 TrC NO 2 异常_证实了来自这些深水平台和靠近海岸的高密度浅水平台的NO _2信号。本研究中提出的结果为未来 ONG 热点排放估算建立了基线，并提供了分析新地球静止 TEMPO 仪器NO _{2测量值的方法。}