Verification of energy consumption in China during 1996-2003 by using satellite observational data

There is substantial difference in the coal consumption data in China during 1996-2003 among the three official energy statistics; the province-by-province data in the China Energy Statistics Yearbook (PBP-CESY), the energy balance tables by International Energy Agency (IEA2004) [2004, Energy Statistics of Non-OECD Countries. IEA, Paris], and the country-total data in the China Energy Statistics Yearbook (CT-CESY). Verification of these data was made by GOME satellite observational data for tropospheric NO₂ column density in Northern China Plain reported by Irie et al. [2005, Evaluation of long-termtropospheric NO₂ data obtained by GOME over East Asia in 1996-2002. Geophysical Research Letter 32(11), L11810, doi: 10.1029/2005GL022770] and Richter et al. [2005, Increase in tropospheric nitrogen dioxide over China observed from space. Nature 437, 129-130]. The NO₂ column increase from 1996 to 2002 averaged for the two reports is about 50%, whereas the NO_x emission increases based on the PBP-CESY and IEA2004 are 25% and 15%, respectively, and that for CT-CESY is even lower. The discrepancy of the increasing trends between the satellite data and the PBP-CESY emission inventory could be within the uncertainty level with a reservation that the increase in total fuel consumption in PBP-CESY may still be underestimated particularly after the year of 1999. The increasing rates of NO_x emissions during 1996-2002 calculated by using the IEA2004 and CT-CESY statistics are apparently underestimated beyond the uncertainty level of the satellite observation, and they are recommended not to be used for emission inventory studies in China during the period.