Daniel Jacob

About

Daniel Jacob is the Vasco McCoy Family Professor of Atmospheric Chemistry and Environmental Engineering at Harvard University. He serves as the Area Chair for Environmental Science & Engineering and is a Faculty Associate at the Harvard University Center for the Environment. His primary teaching area is Environmental Science & Engineering. Dr. Jacob is involved in atmospheric chemistry modeling and environmental research, with a focus on understanding and quantifying emissions related to climate change, such as methane emissions from landfills and urban areas. His work provides valuable insights for policymakers and contributes to the broader field of atmospheric chemistry and environmental engineering.

Research topics

• Chemistry
• Meteorology
• Environmental chemistry
• Inorganic chemistry
• Photochemistry
• Organic chemistry
• Chromatography
• Stereochemistry

Selected publications

• Improved Mechanistic Model of the Atmospheric Redox Chemistry of Mercury

  Environmental Science & Technology · 2021 · 176 citations

  in aerosols and clouds.

  DOI

• Air quality trends and regimes in South Korea inferred from 2015–2023 surface and satellite observations

  Atmospheric chemistry and physics · 2025-03-17 · 24 citations

  articleOpen access

  Abstract. Air pollutant emissions in South Korea have been changing rapidly over the past decade. Here we analyze the resulting 2015–2023 trends in air quality and regimes using surface (AirKorea), aircraft (KORUS-AQ), and satellite (low Earth orbit, geostationary) measurements. Surface concentrations of primary pollutants have decreased at rates (CO: −2.6 ± 0.7 % a−1, SO2: −6.4 ± 0.8 % a−1, NO2: −4.4 ± 0.8 % a−1) consistent with the national Clean Air Policy Support System (CAPSS) emissions inv…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• A continuous 2011–2022 record of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in East Asia at daily 2-km resolution from geostationary satellite observations: Population exposure and long-term trends

  Atmospheric Environment · 2025-01-23 · 9 citations

  articleOpen access

  We construct a continuous 24-h daily fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 ) record with 2 × 2 km 2 resolution over eastern China, South Korea, and Japan for 2011–2022 by applying a random forest (RF) algorithm to aerosol optical depth (AOD) observations from the Geostationary Ocean Color Imager (GOCI) I and II satellite instruments. This record uniquely covers a 12-year period of rapid change in air quality in East Asia. The RF uses PM 2.5 observations from the national surface networks as training d…

  PublisherDOI

• Relating Multi-Scale Plume Detection and Area Estimates of Methane Emissions: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis

  Environmental Science & Technology · 2025-04-16 · 8 citations

  articleOpen access

  Surface emissions of atmospheric trace gases like methane are typically inferred through two methodologies: plume detection and area-scale estimation. Integrating these methods can enhance emission monitoring but remains challenging due to irregular sampling, variable detection sensitivities, and differing spatial resolutions among plume-detecting instruments. In this study, we develop a theoretical framework to link plume-scale and area-scale emission estimates for regions with dense point-sour…

  PublisherDOI

• Trends and seasonality of 2019–2023 global methane emissions inferred from a localized ensemble transform Kalman filter (CHEEREIO v1.3.1) applied to TROPOMI satellite observations

  Atmospheric chemistry and physics · 2025-11-03 · 4 citations

  articleOpen access

  Abstract. We use 2019–2023 TROPOMI satellite observations of atmospheric methane to quantify global methane emissions at monthly 2° × 2.5° resolution with a localized ensemble transform Kalman filter (LETKF) inversion, deriving monthly posterior estimates of emissions and year-to-year evolution. We apply two alternative wetland inventories (WetCHARTs and LPJ-wsl) as prior estimates. Our best posterior estimate of global emissions shows a surge from 560 Tg a−1 in 2019 to 587–592 Tg a−1 in 2020–20…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• Collaborative Research: Type 1: LOI: L02170303: Arctic Climate Response to Decadal Changes in Radiative Forcing from Aerosols and Ozone

  NSF · $478k · 2011–2015

• Collaborative Research: Development and Applications of GEOS-Chem Atmospheric Chemistry in CESM and MUSICA

  NSF · $718k · 2022–2026

• A Comprehensive Coupled Model for Tropospheric Halogen Chemistry: Evaluation of Impacts on Tropospheric Ozone, Hydroxyl Radical (OH), and Mercury

  NSF · $585k · 2016–2020

Frequent coauthors

• Catherine Deborde

  Biopolymères Interactions Assemblages

  405 shared

• Annick Moing

  MetaboHUB

  386 shared

• Mickaël Maucourt

  Biologie du Fruit et Pathologie

  178 shared

• Yves Gibon

  MetaboHUB

  157 shared

• Stéphane Bernillon

  Biologie du Fruit et Pathologie

  150 shared

• James N. Galloway

  McCormick (United States)

  66 shared

• Sylvain Prigent

  66 shared

• W. C. Keene

  University of Virginia

  66 shared

Labs

• Atmospheric Chemistry Modeling GroupPI

Education

• National Higher School (ENSEA)

  ENSEA

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