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DES Centennial Celebration

Environmental Sciences Seminar

DATE/TIME: Friday, October 17, 2025, 2:30 pm
PLACE: ENR building, room 223 or this Remote Live option. 

Deepangsu Chatterjee
Rutgers University


Interpreting Satellite, Airborne, and Surface Observations to Assess Air Quality Across Multiple Scales


Air pollution—particularly from fine particulate matter (PM₂.₅) and nitrogen oxides (NOₓ)—remains a major global challenge for both public health and climate. This seminar presents three studies that advance our ability to characterize and interpret air quality across spatial and temporal scales.

First, by integrating high-resolution GEOS-Chem simulations (GCHP) with satellite observations, we identify residential combustion and biofuel use as major contributors to PM₂.₅-related mortality in South Asia.

Second, we improve the accuracy of NO₂ retrievals from Pandora sun-photometers by accounting for temperature and solar-time dependencies, leading to better agreement with satellite measurements and enhancing the utility of ground-based networks.

Third, we use TROPOMI satellite observations in conjunction with inverse modeling to refine global NOₓ emission estimates. Our resolution-optimized approach aligns well with bottom-up inventories while revealing persistent regional discrepancies.

Together, these studies improve source attribution of air pollutants, enhance the accuracy of multi-platform observations, and provide more robust emissions estimates—critical steps for advancing air quality research and informing effective policy interventions.


Seminar Host:
Ben Lintner
Department of Environmental Sciences, SEBS, Rutgers University