Methane Remote Sensing Lidar Mission Research Articles

Impact of Meteorological Uncertainties in the Methane Retrieval Ground Segment of the MERLIN Lidar Mission

MERLIN (MEthane Remote sensing LIdar missioN) is a Franco-German space mission designed to provide weighted columns of atmospheric methane through an inversion of the lidar signal using a priori information on the atmospheric state. Uncertainties about the meteorological parameters of the observed scene used in the ground segment contribute to the error budget on the retrieved methane column. With the LIDSIM (LIDar SIMulator) data simulator and the PROLID (PROcessor LIDar) inversion processor developed for MERLIN, we perform an impact experiment using ECMWF (European Centre for Medium Weather Range Forecast) ensemble forecast data. In addition, we estimate the standard deviation of the error in the methane column due to the meteorological uncertainties to be about 0.6 ppb. In addition, we innovate by discussing the impact of interpolations both in time and space, focusing on vertical extrapolations under the topography by using state-of-the-art methods to determine from the scatter between these methods the range in which the actual profile should be. We conclude that, in areas where the topography variations exceed 10 m over 10 km, an additional random error of 0.1 ppb is due to our lack of knowledge of the adjustment of atmospheric profiles to terrain. Finally, we point out that further work needs to be performed on temporal interpolation. Indeed, the 3 h time interpolation of atmospheric tides can create regional biases of up to 2 ppm (which is a major problem for models trying to identify methane sinks and sources).

Trends in Satellite Earth Observation for Permafrost Related Analyses—A Review

Climate change and associated Arctic amplification cause a degradation of permafrost which in turn has major implications for the environment. The potential turnover of frozen ground from a carbon sink to a carbon source, eroding coastlines, landslides, amplified surface deformation and endangerment of human infrastructure are some of the consequences connected with thawing permafrost. Satellite remote sensing is hereby a powerful tool to identify and monitor these features and processes on a spatially explicit, cheap, operational, long-term basis and up to circum-Arctic scale. By filtering after a selection of relevant keywords, a total of 325 articles from 30 international journals published during the last two decades were analyzed based on study location, spatio-temporal resolution of applied remote sensing data, platform, sensor combination and studied environmental focus for a comprehensive overview of past achievements, current efforts, together with future challenges and opportunities. The temporal development of publication frequency, utilized platforms/sensors and the addressed environmental topic is thereby highlighted. The total number of publications more than doubled since 2015. Distinct geographical study hot spots were revealed, while at the same time large portions of the continuous permafrost zone are still only sparsely covered by satellite remote sensing investigations. Moreover, studies related to Arctic greenhouse gas emissions in the context of permafrost degradation appear heavily underrepresented. New tools (e.g., Google Earth Engine (GEE)), methodologies (e.g., deep learning or data fusion etc.) and satellite data (e.g., the Methane Remote Sensing LiDAR Mission (Merlin) and the Sentinel-fleet) will thereby enable future studies to further investigate the distribution of permafrost, its thermal state and its implications on the environment such as thermokarst features and greenhouse gas emission rates on increasingly larger spatial and temporal scales.

MERLIN: design of an IPDA LIDAR instrument

The Methane Remote Sensing LIDAR Mission (MERLIN) is a joint French–German cooperation on the development, launch and operation of a climate monitoring satellite, executed by the French Space Agency CNES and the German DLR Space Administration. It is focused on global measurements of the spatial and temporal gradients of atmospheric methane (CH4) with a precision and accuracy sufficient to constrain methane fluxes significantly better than with the current observation network. Airbus Defence and Space GmbH was selected by the German DLR Space Administration as the industrial prime contractor for the mission phase C/D, to build the MERLIN Payload, which is the first realization of such an instrument for space. This presentation will concentrate on the architecture and the optical design of the MERLIN Payload, which ensures reliable, high-performance operation of the bi-static DIAL, consisting of separate transmitter (Tx) and receiver paths (Rx). The MERLIN satellite is a secondary passenger payload on the launcher. As such, the satellite places many constraints on the instrument, pertaining to the power, mass and volume allowable. The available resources force the MERLIN instrument to have passive thermal control while necessitating a very compact design due to the demanding envelope constraints. This creates a large operational temperature range with thermal gradients on the structure, requiring an extremely robust optical design in a compact envelope. The robust optical design, for the Rx and Tx paths, employs several passive measures and an active pointing control for Rx and Tx co-alignment. Further details of the instrument development status during the ongoing phase C will be shown by an overview of the current hardware and design status of the major subsystems.

The absolute frequency reference unit for the spaceborne methane-sensing lidar mission MERLIN

Lidar systems have become an important technology in a variety of industrial and scientific applications. For terrestrial applications, such systems have been developed over the last decade and are commercially available. In space, this technology does not have a comparable maturity level and is still far from being a standard technology. In this paper, we present the operating principle, the design, and performance of the spaceborne absolute frequency reference used in the instrument of the French–German methane remote-sensing lidar mission, MERLIN. The MERLIN instrument operates on a methane absorption feature at 1645.55 nm. To achieve the accuracy goal for the column-integrated methane concentration of 3 ppb, absolute frequency accuracy levels in the low MHz range are required. The absolute frequency reference unit provides the stabilized seed lasers for the high-power laser sources at the required wavelengths and measures the absolute frequency of the outgoing laser pulses by means of a wavemeter. The focus of this paper is on the implementation of the absolute frequency referencing and the obtained frequency stability and accuracy.

CH4 IPDA Lidar mission data simulator and processor for MERLIN: prototype development at LMD/CNRS/Ecole Polytechnique

The MEthane Remote sensing Lidar missioN (MERLIN), currently in phase C, is a joint cooperation between France and Germany on the development of a spatial Integrated Path Differential Absorption (IPDA) LIDAR (LIght Detecting And Ranging) to conduct global observations of atmospheric methane. This presentation will focus on the status of a LIDAR mission data simulator and processor developed at LMD (Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique), Ecole Polytechnique, France, for MERLIN to assess the performances in realistic observational situations.

MERLIN: A French-German Space Lidar Mission Dedicated to Atmospheric Methane

The MEthane Remote sensing Lidar missioN (MERLIN) aims at demonstrating the spaceborne active measurement of atmospheric methane, a potent greenhouse gas, based on an Integrated Path Differential Absorption (IPDA) nadir-viewing LIght Detecting and Ranging (Lidar) instrument. MERLIN is a joint French and German space mission, with a launch currently scheduled for the timeframe 2021/22. The German Space Agency (DLR) is responsible for the payload, while the platform (MYRIADE Evolutions product line) is developed by the French Space Agency (CNES). The main scientific objective of MERLIN is the delivery of weighted atmospheric columns of methane dry-air mole fractions for all latitudes throughout the year with systematic errors small enough (<3.7 ppb) to significantly improve our knowledge of methane sources from global to regional scales, with emphasis on poorly accessible regions in the tropics and at high latitudes. This paper presents the MERLIN objectives, describes the methodology and the main characteristics of the payload and of the platform, and proposes a first assessment of the error budget and its translation into expected uncertainty reduction of methane surface emissions.

Demonstration of a 100-mJ OPO/OPA for future lidar applications and laser-induced damage threshold testing of optical components for MERLIN

In the field of atmospheric research, lidar is a powerful technology that can measure gas or aerosol concentrations, wind speed, or temperature profiles remotely. To conduct such measurements globally, spaceborne systems are advantageous. Pulse energies in the 100-mJ range are required to achieve highly accurate, longitudinal resolved measurements. Measuring concentrations of specific gases, such as CH4 or CO2, requires output wavelengths in the IR-B, which can be addressed by optical-parametric frequency conversion. An OPO/OPA frequency conversion setup was designed and built as a demonstration module to address the 1.6-μm range. The pump laser is an Nd:YAG-MOPA system, consisting of a stable oscillator and two subsequent Innoslab-based amplifier stages that deliver up to 500 mJ of output pulse energy at 100 Hz repetition frequency. The OPO is inherited from the OPO design for the CH4 lidar instrument on the French–German climate satellite methane remote-sensing lidar mission (MERLIN). To address the 100-mJ regime, the OPO output beam is amplified in a subsequent multistage OPA. With potassium titanyl phosphate as nonlinear medium, the OPO/OPA delivered more than 100 mJ of output energy at 1645 nm from 450 mJ of the pump energy and a pump pulse duration of 30 ns. This corresponds to a quantum conversion efficiency of about 25%. In addition to demonstrating optical performance for future lidar systems, this laser will be part of a laser-induced damage thresholds test facility, which will be used to qualify optical components especially for the MERLIN.

MERLIN (Methane Remote Sensing Lidar Mission): an Overview

The Methane Remote Sensing Lidar Mission (MERLIN), currently in phase B, is a joint cooperation between France and Germany on the development, launch and operation of a methane (CH4) monitoring satellite. MERLIN is focused on global measurements of the spatial and temporal gradients of atmospheric CH4, the second most anthropogenic gas, with a precision and accuracy sufficient to constrain Methane fluxes significantly better than with the current observation network.For the first time, measurements of atmospheric composition will be performed from space thanks to an IPDA (Integrated Path Differential Absorption) LIDAR (Light Detecting And Ranging). This payload is under the responsibility of the German space agency (DLR), while the platform (MYRIADE Evolutions product line) is developed by the French space agency (CNES). The IPDA technique relies on DIAL (Differential Absorption LIDAR) measurements using a pulsed laser emitting at two wavelengths, one wavelength accurately locked on a spectral feature of the methane absorption line, and the other wavelength free from absorption to be used as reference. This technique enables measurements in all seasons, at all latitudes. It also guarantees almost no contamination by aerosols or water vapour cross-sensitivity, and thus has the advantage of an extremely low level of systematic error on the dry-air column mixing ratio of CH4.