Deborah C. Zweers | TU Delft Repository

Air quality in Africa from the telecoupled perspective

Exploring interdisciplinary and transboundary scientific collaboration between Africa and the Global North

Review (2025) - Marleen Dekker, Agnieszka H. Kazimierczuk, Rebecca M. Garland, Deborah Stein Zweers, Pieternel F. Levelt

Non-Technical Summary
This article explores air pollution as a globally connected issue using the telecoupling lens, which links distant regions through environmental and human systems. It shows how pollution connects Africa and the Global North, demonstrating that actions in one place affect people and air quality elsewhere. Drawing on 90 research sources, it looks at how satellite data helps monitor air quality and finds that most studies focus on natural sciences, with limited input from social sciences and less frequently from African researchers. The authors highlight the need to close data gaps and call for more inclusive, cross-disciplinary, and international cooperation in air quality research. Overall, the study pushes for fairer, more connected approaches to understanding and tackling air pollution worldwide.

Technical Summary
Air quality (AQ) is a transboundary phenomenon resulting from globalized interactions between coupled human and natural systems. Drawing on the telecoupling framework, this article argues that pollution flows, socioeconomic systems, and policy responses interconnect Africa with the Global North and identifies important data gaps for better understanding these interconnections. Through a meta-synthesis of 90 academic and gray literature sources, we analyze the use of satellite data for air quality monitoring, with a particular focus on interdisciplinary collaboration and African scientific participation. Our findings highlight a strong reliance on natural science approaches, limited integration of social science perspectives, and ongoing marginalization of African voices in shaping research agendas. We argue for a transformative research agenda rooted in interdisciplinary integration, inter-regional collaboration, and data justice. By adopting a telecoupled lens and prioritizing inclusive development, this study provides new pathways to understand, measure, and address air pollution as a global issue with deeply local consequences.

Social Media Summary
Air pollution links Africa & the Global North–study urges data justice & inclusive, global cooperation. ...

Non-Technical Summary
This article explores air pollution as a globally connected issue using the telecoupling lens, which links distant regions through environmental and human systems. It shows how pollution connects Africa and the Global North, demonstrating that actions in one place affect people and air quality elsewhere. Drawing on 90 research sources, it looks at how satellite data helps monitor air quality and finds that most studies focus on natural sciences, with limited input from social sciences and less frequently from African researchers. The authors highlight the need to close data gaps and call for more inclusive, cross-disciplinary, and international cooperation in air quality research. Overall, the study pushes for fairer, more connected approaches to understanding and tackling air pollution worldwide.

Technical Summary
Air quality (AQ) is a transboundary phenomenon resulting from globalized interactions between coupled human and natural systems. Drawing on the telecoupling framework, this article argues that pollution flows, socioeconomic systems, and policy responses interconnect Africa with the Global North and identifies important data gaps for better understanding these interconnections. Through a meta-synthesis of 90 academic and gray literature sources, we analyze the use of satellite data for air quality monitoring, with a particular focus on interdisciplinary collaboration and African scientific participation. Our findings highlight a strong reliance on natural science approaches, limited integration of social science perspectives, and ongoing marginalization of African voices in shaping research agendas. We argue for a transformative research agenda rooted in interdisciplinary integration, inter-regional collaboration, and data justice. By adopting a telecoupled lens and prioritizing inclusive development, this study provides new pathways to understand, measure, and address air pollution as a global issue with deeply local consequences.

Social Media Summary
Air pollution links Africa & the Global North–study urges data justice & inclusive, global cooperation.

Air quality impacts of COVID-19 lockdown measures detected from space using high spatial resolution observations of multiple trace gases from Sentinel-5P/TROPOMI

Journal article (2022) - Pieternel F. Levelt, Deborah C. Stein Zweers, Ilse Aben, Maite Bauwens, Tobias Borsdorff, Isabelle De Smedt, Henk J. Eskes, Christophe Lerot, J. Pepijn Veefkind, More authors...

The aim of this paper is to highlight how TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) trace gas data can best be used and interpreted to understand event-based impacts on air quality from regional to city scales around the globe. For this study, we present the observed changes in the atmospheric column amounts of five trace gases (NO2, SO2, CO, HCHO, and CHOCHO) detected by the Sentinel-5P TROPOMI instrument and driven by reductions in anthropogenic emissions due to COVID-19 lockdown measures in 2020. We report clear COVID-19-related decreases in TROPOMI NO2 column amounts on all continents. For megacities, reductions in column amounts of tropospheric NO2 range between 14g % and 63g %. For China and India, supported by NO2 observations, where the primary source of anthropogenic SO2 is coal-fired power generation, we were able to detect sector-specific emission changes using the SO2 data. For HCHO and CHOCHO, we consistently observe anthropogenic changes in 2-week-Averaged column amounts over China and India during the early phases of the lockdown periods. That these variations over such a short timescale are detectable from space is due to the high resolution and improved sensitivity of the TROPOMI instrument. For CO, we observe a small reduction over China, which is in concert with the other trace gas reductions observed during lockdown; however, large interannual differences prevent firm conclusions from being drawn. The joint analysis of COVID-19-lockdown-driven reductions in satellite-observed trace gas column amounts using the latest operational and scientific retrieval techniques for five species concomitantly is unprecedented. However, the meteorologically and seasonally driven variability of the five trace gases does not allow for drawing fully quantitative conclusions on the reduction in anthropogenic emissions based on TROPOMI observations alone. We anticipate that in future the combined use of inverse modeling techniques with the high spatial resolution data from S5P/TROPOMI for all observed trace gases presented here will yield a significantly improved sector-specific, space-based analysis of the impact of COVID-19 lockdown measures as compared to other existing satellite observations. Such analyses will further enhance the scientific impact and societal relevance of the TROPOMI mission. ...

The aim of this paper is to highlight how TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) trace gas data can best be used and interpreted to understand event-based impacts on air quality from regional to city scales around the globe. For this study, we present the observed changes in the atmospheric column amounts of five trace gases (NO2, SO2, CO, HCHO, and CHOCHO) detected by the Sentinel-5P TROPOMI instrument and driven by reductions in anthropogenic emissions due to COVID-19 lockdown measures in 2020. We report clear COVID-19-related decreases in TROPOMI NO2 column amounts on all continents. For megacities, reductions in column amounts of tropospheric NO2 range between 14g % and 63g %. For China and India, supported by NO2 observations, where the primary source of anthropogenic SO2 is coal-fired power generation, we were able to detect sector-specific emission changes using the SO2 data. For HCHO and CHOCHO, we consistently observe anthropogenic changes in 2-week-Averaged column amounts over China and India during the early phases of the lockdown periods. That these variations over such a short timescale are detectable from space is due to the high resolution and improved sensitivity of the TROPOMI instrument. For CO, we observe a small reduction over China, which is in concert with the other trace gas reductions observed during lockdown; however, large interannual differences prevent firm conclusions from being drawn. The joint analysis of COVID-19-lockdown-driven reductions in satellite-observed trace gas column amounts using the latest operational and scientific retrieval techniques for five species concomitantly is unprecedented. However, the meteorologically and seasonally driven variability of the five trace gases does not allow for drawing fully quantitative conclusions on the reduction in anthropogenic emissions based on TROPOMI observations alone. We anticipate that in future the combined use of inverse modeling techniques with the high spatial resolution data from S5P/TROPOMI for all observed trace gases presented here will yield a significantly improved sector-specific, space-based analysis of the impact of COVID-19 lockdown measures as compared to other existing satellite observations. Such analyses will further enhance the scientific impact and societal relevance of the TROPOMI mission.

Effects of clouds on the UV Absorbing Aerosol Index from TROPOMI

Journal article (2020) - Maurits L. Kooreman, Piet Stammes, Victor Trees, Maarten Sneep, L. Gijsbert Tilstra, Martin De Graaf, Deborah C. Stein Zweers, Ping Wang, Olaf N. E. Tuinder, J. Pepijn Veefkind

The ultraviolet (UV) Absorbing Aerosol Index (AAI) is widely used as an indicator for the presence of absorbing aerosols in the atmosphere. Here we consider the TROPOMI AAI based on the 340 nm/380 nm wavelength pair. We investigate the effects of clouds on the AAI observed at small and large scales. The large-scale effects are studied using an aggregate of TROPOMI measurements over an area mostly devoid of absorbing aerosols (Pacific Ocean). The study reveals that several structural features can be distinguished in the AAI, such as the cloud bow, viewing zenith angle dependence, sunglint, and a previously unexplained increase in AAI values at extreme viewing and solar geometries. We explain these features in terms of the bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) of the scene in combination with the different ratios of diffuse and direct illumination of the surface at 340 and 380 nm. To reduce the dependency on the BRDF and homogenize the AAI distribution across the orbit, we present three different AAI retrieval models: the traditional Lambertian scene model (LSM), a Lambertian cloud model (LCM), and a scattering cloud model (SCM). We perform a model study to assess the propagation of errors in auxiliary databases used in the cloud models. The three models are then applied to the same low-aerosol region. Results show that using the LCM and SCM gives on average a higher AAI than the LSM. Additionally, a more homogeneous distribution is retrieved across the orbit. At the small scale, related to the high spatial resolution of TROPOMI, strong local increases and decreases in AAI are observed in the presence of clouds. The BRDF effect presented here is a first step – more research is needed to explain the small-scale cloud effects on the AAI. ...

The Ozone Monitoring Instrument

Overview of 14 years in space

Review (2018) - Pieternel F. Levelt, Joanna Joiner, Chris McLinden, Vitali Fioletov, Simon Carn, Jos De Laat, Matthew Deland, Sergey Marchenko, Richard McPeters, Jerald Ziemke, Dejian Fu, Xiong Liu, Johanna Tamminen, Kenneth Pickering, Arnoud Apituley, Gonzalo González Abad, Antti Arola, Folkert Boersma, Christopher Chan Miller, Kelly Chance, Martin De Graaf, Janne Hakkarainen, Seppo Hassinen, J. Pepijn Veefkind, Iolanda Ialongo, Quintus Kleipool, Nickolay Krotkov, Can Li, Lok Lamsal, Paul Newman, Caroline Nowlan, Raid Suleiman, Lieuwe Gijsbert Tilstra, Omar Torres, Pawan K. Bhartia, Huiqun Wang, Krzysztof Wargan, Deborah C.Stein Zweers, Bryan N. Duncan, David G. Streets, Henk Eskes, Ronald A. Van Der

This overview paper highlights the successes of the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) on board the Aura satellite spanning a period of nearly 14 years. Data from OMI has been used in a wide range of applications and research resulting in many new findings. Due to its unprecedented spatial resolution, in combination with daily global coverage, OMI plays a unique role in measuring trace gases important for the ozone layer, air quality, and climate change. With the operational very fast delivery (VFD; direct readout) and near real-time (NRT) availability of the data, OMI also plays an important role in the development of operational services in the atmospheric chemistry domain. ...