Pollution in the troposphere is a problem for the environment and human health alike. Measurements of pollution can be performed from many platforms and using a multitude of different techniques, but only satellite observations provide the global view. Among the species observable with satellite instruments such as GOME, SCIAMACHY, OMI and GOME-2 which operate in the UV/visible part of the spectrum, nitrogen dioxide (NO2) is the most prominent.

In the industrialised parts of the world, anthropogenic emissions are the main source of nitrogen oxides in the troposphere. However, biomass burning including wild fires and the use of biofuels can be a large source locally, in particular in Africa, Asia, and South America. While anthropogenic nitrogen oxides emissions have been the focus of many studies using satellite NO2 observations, biomass burning has received much less attention as the measurements are complicated by the presence of smoke and aerosols.

In this project, satellite observations of NO2 will be analysed for biomass burning situations and compared to model simulations and other measurements. The work will start from existing retrieval tools, improve them for the specific conditions of biomass burning, evaluate the existing long-term satellite data set and link it to other data on fire counts, transport and chemical modelling in order to improve our understanding of the atmospheric consequences of fires.

Start of doctoral thesis: 04th October, 2011

Defence of doctoral thesis: 11th December, 2014 (view thesis)

Supervisor: Prof. Dr. J. P. Burrows (Uni-HB/IUP)
Co-Supervisor: Dr. A. Richter (Uni-HB/IUP),
Further Member:Dr. Johannes Kaiser (ECMWF, Reading), Dr. Klaus Grosfeld (AWI)

• Schreier, S. F., Richter, A., Wittrock, F., and Burrows, J. P.: Estimates of free-tropospheric NO2 and HCHO mixing ratios derived from high-altitude mountain MAX-DOAS observations at midlatitudes and in the tropics, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 2803-2817, doi:10.5194/acp-16-2803-2016, 2016.
  
  
• Alvarado, L. M. A, Richter, A., Vrekoussis, M., Wittrock, F., Hilboll, A., Schreier, S. F., Burrows, J. P.: Investigating the Link Between Glyoxal and Biogenic Activities. In: Lohmann, G., Meggers, H., Unnithan, V., Wolf-Gladrow, D., Notholt, J., Bracher, A.: Towards an interdisciplinary approach in earth system science: Advances of a Helmholtz graduate research school, 59-65, Springer, 2015.
  
  
• Schreier, S. F., Richter, A., Burrows, J. P.: Estimates of NOx emission factors from GOME-2 measurements for the major types of open biomass burning. In: Lohmann, G., Meggers, H., Unnithan, V., Wolf-Gladrow, D., Notholt, J., Bracher, A.: Towards an interdisciplinary approach in earth system science: Advances of a Helmholtz graduate research school, 67-75, Springer, 2015.
  
  
• Schreier, S. F., Peters, E., Richter, A., Lampel, J., Wittrock, F. and Burrows, J. P.: Ship-based MAX-DOAS measurements of tropospheric NO2 and SO2 in the South China and Sulu Sea, Atmos. Environ., 102, 331–343, doi:10.1016/j.atmosenv.2014.12.015, 2015.
  
  
• Schreier, S.F., Richter, A., Schepaschenko, D., Shvidenko, A., Hilboll, A., Burrows, J.P., Differences in satellite-derived NOx emission factors between Eurasian and North American boreal forest fires, Atmospheric Environment, 10.1016/j.atmosenv.2014.08.071, 2014.
  
  
• Schreier, S. F., Richter, A., Kaiser, J. W., and Burrows, J. P.: The empirical relationship between satellite-derived tropospheric NO2 and fire radiative power and possible implications for fire emission rates of NOx, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 2447-2466, doi:10.5194/acp-14-2447-2014, 2014.
  
  
• Alvarado, L.M.A., Richter, A., Vrekoussis, M., Wittrock, F., Hilboll, A., Schreier, S.F., and Burrows, J.P.: An improved glyoxal retrieval from OMI measurements, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 7, 4133-4150, doi:10.5194/amt-7-4133-2014, 2014 (http://www.atmos-meas-tech.net/7/4133/2014/amt-7-4133-2014.pdf)
  
  
• Schreier, S.F., Suomi, I., Bröde, P., Formayer, H., Rieder, H.E., Nadeem, I., Jendritzky, G., Batcharova, E. and Weihs, P.: The uncertainty of UTCI due to uncertainties in the determination of radiation fluxes derived from numerical weather prediction and regional climate model simulations. Int. J. Biometeorol., Special Issue (UTCI), doi: 10.1007/s00484-012-0525-y, 2013
  
  
• Weihs, P., Wagner, J.E., Schreier, S.F., Rieder, H.E., Angelini, F., Blumthaler, M., Fitzka, M., Gobbi, G.P., Kift, R., Kreuter, A., Simic, S., and Webb, A.R.: The influence of the spatial resolution of topographic input data on the accuracy of 3-D UV actinic flux and irradiance calculations. Atmos. Chem. Phys., 12, 2297-2312, doi:10.5194/acp-12-2297-2012, 2012

• Schreier, S.F.: Analysis of tropospheric NO2 from satellite and ship-based DOAS-type measurements. Seminar on Physics and Chemistry of the Atmosphere, Institute of Environmental Physics, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany, June 2014
  
  
• Schreier, S.F.: Estimation of NOx emissions from vegetation fires based on the empirical relationship between tropospheric NO2 and fire radiative power. AGU fall meeting 2013, San Francisco, USA, December 2013
  
  
• Schreier, S.F.: Vegetation fire emission coefficients derived from MODIS fire radiative power and GOME‐2 tropospheric NO2, measurements. Helmholtz Research School on Earth System Science, Annual Retreat 2012, “Deutsches Auswandererhaus“, Germany, November 2012
  
  
• Schreier, S.F.: Estimates of forest fire NOx emissions in Russia between 1998 and 2010. Young Scientists Summer Program Workshop, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Laxenburg, Austria, August 2012
  
  
• Schreier, S.F.: The influence of the spatial resolution of topographic input data on the accuracy of 3-D UV actinic flux and irradiance calculations. Seminar Ocean, Ice, and Atmosphere, Institute of Environmental Physics, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany, January 2012

• Schreier, S.F., Richter, A., Schönhardt, A., Burrows J.P.: Relationship between satellite-observed active fires and tropospheric NO2. EGU general assembly 2012, Vienna, Austria, April 2012

• Schreier, S.F., Richter, A., Kaiser, J.W., Burrows J.P.: Biome-specific fire emission rates of NOx from MODIS fire radiative power and GOME-2/OMI tropospheric NO2 satellite-derived data sets. EGU general assembly 2013,Vienna, Austria, April 2013

• Schreier, S.F., Richter, A., Kaiser, J.W., Burrows J.P.: Using satellite measurements of tropospheric NO2 and fire radiative power to derive biome-specific fire emission rates of NOx. Davos Atmosphere and Cryosphere Assembly 2013, Davos, Switzerland, July 2013

• Schreier, S. F., Richter, A., Schepaschenko, D., Shvidenko, A., Hilboll, A., Burrows, J. P.: Spatial differences in NOx emission factors between Eurasian and North American boreal forest fires. Helmholtz Research School on Earth System Science, Annual Retreat 2013, “Botanika Bremen“, Germany, November 2013
  
  
• Schreier, S.F., Peters, E., Richter, A., Wittrock, F., Burrows, J.P.: Ship-based MAX-DOAS measurements of nitrogen dioxide in the South China and Sulu Sea. EGU general assembly 2014, Vienna, Austria, April 2014.
   
• Schreier, S.F., Richter, A., Kaiser, J.W., Schepaschenko, D., Shvidenko, A., Hilboll, A., Burrows, J.P.: NOx emission factors from GOME-2 measurements for the major types of open biomass burning. EGU general assembly 2014, Vienna, Austria, April 2014.

• Schreier, S.F., Richter, A., Burrows, J.P., Two-parameter approach for estimating biomass burning emissions of NOx for the African continent, 13th IGAC conference, Natal, Brazil, September 2014.

• Schreier, S.F., Richter, A., Wittrock, F., Burrows, J.P., MAX-DOAS measurements of nitrogen dioxide at the high altitude sites Zugspitze (2964 m) and Pico Espejo (4765 m), EGU General Assembly, Vienna, Austria, April 2015.

• Schreier, S.F., Alvarado, L.M.A., Richter, A., Burrows, J.P., Satellite observations of changes in tropospheric NO2 and CHOCHO amounts during the 2010-2012 La Niña events across Australia, IUGG General Assembly, Prague, Czech Republic, June 2015.

• Schreier, S.F., Richter, A., Li, Z., Burrows, J.P., Horizontal and temporal evolution of tropospheric NO2 in Vienna as inferred from car DOAS measurements, EGU General Assembly, Vienna, Austria, April 2016.

• Teaching assistant, Exercises in climate geography, Lecturer: Ao.Univ.Prof. Philpp Weihs, March-July 2011, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria

• Young Scientists Summer Program (YSSP), June-August 2012, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Laxenburg, Austria

• Ecosystems Services and Management (ESM) Program, June-August 2013, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Laxenburg, Austria

Peccei Award 2012, Young Scientists Summer Program, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Laxenburg, Austria