A new approach for monitoring methane emissions from space

In this project, we will design and construct a prototype of a scientific instrument, a payload, to be installed on the International Space Station (ISS) or fly on a micro satellite. The payload will be able to measure horizontally (over the land surface) and vertically (through the air column) resolved methane emissions from the Earth surface. Accurate measurements of anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane are likely going to be essential for fulfilling the Paris agreement. Such measurements would allow us to pinpoint the largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions and eventually add taxation on these emitters. Satellite Earth observations offer the possibility to do this in a transparent and objective way – i.e. what is needed for a taxation system. The missions that are in use today or planned for the future all consists of either an infrared spectrograph that allows you to measure the total column density of methane with some horizontal resolution (e.g. Sentinel-5P mission) or a LIDAR instrument that allows you to resolve the measurements as function of height in the atmosphere, thus providing some vertical resolution, but very little horizontal resolution (e.g. the proposed Merlin satellite, see Ehret et al. 2017, Remote Sensing, 9, 1052). In this project, we will study a novel idea, where images of the Earth’s surface at two narrow infrared spectral bands with two different inclinations (45 and 90 degrees) are used for measuring methane emissions with both horizontal and vertical resolution. A prototype will be constructed based on 4 HgCdTe infrared cameras capable of being installed on the ISS or fly on a micro satellite.