Public lecture "Air quality from space: indicator of human activity"

During the lecture, an outline was given of the major research questions in the atmospheric climate domain, and their importance for air quality and climate policy. Further, the satellite measurement technique was explained, and what these measurements can bring for as well research as climate policy, now and in the future. Examples of COVID-19 lockdown reduction of air pollution, methane emission from the oil and gas industry, as well as the potential of satellite measurements for the nitrogen deposition policy, were shown. The use of satellite observations for countries and continents from the global south, like Africa, was addressed as well.

 
About the speaker
Prof. dr. Pieternel F. Levelt is director of NCAR-ACOM in Boulder, Colorado since June 2021. Before that she was for more than a decade department head of the R&D department on Satellite Observations at KNMI (Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute). She still is affiliated to KNMI, and also to University of Technology Delft, where she is professor in Remote Sensing of the Earth Atmosphere. She is further Principal Investigator of the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) and scientific founder of the Tropospheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI).