AAAR 32nd Annual Conference
September 30 - October 4, 2013
Oregon Convention Center
Portland, Oregon, USA
Abstract View
A Self-Consistent Global Emissions Inventory Spanning 1850-2050 – Why We Need One
KRISTINA WAGSTROM, Sherri Hunt, University of Connecticut
Abstract Number: 438 Working Group: Remote and Regional Atmospheric Aerosols
Abstract While emissions inventory development has advanced significantly in recent years, the scientific community still lacks a global inventory utilizing consistent estimation approaches spanning multiple centuries. In this analysis, we investigate the strengths and weaknesses of current approaches to effectively address inventory development over not just a global spatial scale but also a timescale spanning two centuries – from early industrialization into the near future. We discuss the need within the scientific community for a dataset such as this and the landscape of questions it would allow the scientific community to address. In particular, we focus on questions that the scientific community cannot adequately address using the currently available techniques and information.
We primarily focus on the difficulties and potential obstacles associated with developing an inventory of this scope and magnitude. We discuss many of the hurdles that the field has already overcome and also highlight the challenges that researchers in the field still face. We detail the complexities related to the extent of spatial and temporal scales required for an undertaking of this magnitude. In addition, we point to areas where the community currently lacks the necessary data to move forward. Our analysis focuses on one direction in which the development of global emissions inventories is heading rather than an in-depth analysis of the path of emissions inventory development thus far. We intend for this analysis to provide an overview to aide researchers currently working on inventory development as the science continues to advance.