Autori: Lara Noppen, Lieven Clarisse, Marie-Thérèse El Kattar, Frederik Tack, Mary Langsdale, Martin Van Damme, Lorenzo Genesio, Franco Miglietta, Valerio Capecchi, Martin Wooster, Simon Hook, Michel Van Roozendael, Dirk Schuettemeyer, Pierre Coheur 

Rivista: Atmospheric Environment: X, Volume 29, 2026, 100395, ISSN 2590-1621 

DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aeaoa.2025.100395

Abstract: 

Livestock farming is the dominant source of atmospheric ammonia (NH3) in large parts of the world. However, its emissions remain difficult to quantify because of the complex and diverse nature of farms, and the technical and practical challenges involved in measuring NH3. Emission estimates from individual farms are traditionally obtained from in situ measurements, while regional to global distributions are provided by infrared satellite sounders. Airborne hyperspectral infrared imaging can be used to map NH3 over large areas (more than 10km2)
) and at high spatial resolution (less than 5 meters), therefore providing measurements at a scale between in situ and satellite data. During a joint ESA-NASA funded campaign in the summer of 2023 near Grosseto, Italy, a cattle farm and its surroundings were overflown by a research aircraft 69 times in five days. Airborne hyperspectral longwave infrared imagery was collected using the NASA-JPL Hyperspectral Thermal Emission Spectrometer (HyTES). We developed an efficient lookup table approach to derive NH3 abundances and associated uncertainties from the HyTES radiance data. The resulting distributions reveal a diversity of small and large NH3 plumes emanating from the farm. Lagoons and barns were identified as the main emission hotspots. From these distributions and with the help of a box model, total farm fluxes were estimated for each overflight. (...)