Articles | Volume 14, issue 3
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-2127-2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-2127-2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
18 Mar 2021
Research article |
| 18 Mar 2021
| 18 Mar 2021
The GHGSat-D imaging spectrometer
Dylan Jervis
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
GHGSat, Inc., Montréal, QC H2W 1Y5, Canada
Jason McKeever
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
GHGSat, Inc., Montréal, QC H2W 1Y5, Canada
Berke O. A. Durak
GHGSat, Inc., Montréal, QC H2W 1Y5, Canada
James J. Sloan
GHGSat, Inc., Montréal, QC H2W 1Y5, Canada
David Gains
GHGSat, Inc., Montréal, QC H2W 1Y5, Canada
Daniel J. Varon
GHGSat, Inc., Montréal, QC H2W 1Y5, Canada
School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
Antoine Ramier
GHGSat, Inc., Montréal, QC H2W 1Y5, Canada
Mathias Strupler
GHGSat, Inc., Montréal, QC H2W 1Y5, Canada
Ewan Tarrant
GHGSat, Inc., Montréal, QC H2W 1Y5, Canada
Related authors
No articles found.
John Worden, Sudhanshu Pandey, Hannah Nesser, Kevin Bowman, Colin Harkins, Congmeng Lyu, Joannes D. Maasakkers, Deborah Gordon, Daniel Jacob, Lucas Estrada, Daniel J. Varon, James D. East, Lauren Schmeisser, and Zhen Qu
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-313, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-313, 2026
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (ACP).
Short summary
Short summary
To support methane reduction, we compared three widely used maps of methane emissions in the United States with estimates derived from a methane-measuring satellite from 2012 to 2020. The satellite indicates higher emissions from oil and gas production and from livestock in several regions, while other sources were harder to pin down. Neither approach shows a clear change over time. The results point to where better measurements can most improve emissions reporting and guide mitigation.
Lucas A. Estrada, Daniel J. Jacob, Megan He, James D. East, Daniel J. Varon, Nicholas Balasus, Sarah E. Hancock, Melissa Sulprizio, Kevin W. Bowman, John R. Worden, Emily Reidy, and Benjamin R. K. Runkle
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-655, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-655, 2026
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (ACP).
Short summary
Short summary
We use satellite observations to track U.S. methane emissions from 2019–2024 at national, state, and oil and gas field scales. While total emissions remain stable, oil and gas emissions decline even as production rises, indicating progress in emissions management for the oil and gas sector.
Srijana Lama, Joannes D. Maasakkers, Xin Zhang, Marianne Girard, Swarna Dutt, Suyash Nandgaonkar, Daniel J. Varon, Melissa P. Sulprizio, Lucas A. Estrada, Nicholas Balasus, Robert J. Parker, Yukio Terao, and Ilse Aben
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-6528, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-6528, 2026
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (ACP).
Short summary
Short summary
Methane is the second most important anthropogenic greenhouse gas in terms of radiative forcing, with a global warming potential 27–30 times that of CO2 over a 100-year timescale. Effective mitigation requires a detailed understanding of the spatial distribution and magnitude of emissions. Here, we quantify India’s 2021 methane emissions at a resolution of up to 0.25° × 0.3125° using TROPOMI observations within the Bayesian Integrated Methane Inversion framework.
Sarah E. Hancock, Daniel J. Jacob, Rodrigo Jimenez, Andrés Ardila, Luis Morales-Rincon, Néstor Rojas, Lucas A. Estrada, Nicholas Balasus, James D. East, Melissa P. Sulprizio, Xiaolin Wang, James L. France, Lauren Potyk, Elise Penn, Zichong Chen, Daniel J. Varon, Christian Frankenberg, Marci Baranski, Andreea Calcan, and Robert J. Parker
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-5478, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-5478, 2026
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (ACP).
Short summary
Short summary
We combined satellite observations with detailed national data to improve estimates of Colombia’s methane emissions. Our results show that total methane emissions are higher than reported, with the biggest differences from fossil fuels. This approach demonstrates how satellite data can make national greenhouse gas reporting more accurate and transparent under the Paris Agreement.
Hannah Nesser, Kevin W. Bowman, Matthew D. Thill, Daniel J. Varon, Cynthia A. Randles, Ashutosh Tewari, Felipe J. Cardoso-Saldaña, Emily Reidy, Joannes D. Maasakkers, and Daniel J. Jacob
Geosci. Model Dev., 18, 9279–9291, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-9279-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-9279-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Regional analyses of atmospheric trace gases can improve knowledge of fluxes at high resolution but rely on specified boundary conditions (BCs) at the domain edges. Biases in the often-uncertain BCs propagate to the inferred fluxes. We develop a framework to explain how errors in the BCs influence the optimized fluxes, derive two metrics to estimate this influence, and compare two methods to correct for the biases. We demonstrate correcting BCs directly is more effective at reducing bias.
Jack H. Bruno, Daniel J. Jacob, Xiaolin Wang, Melissa P. Sulprizio, Lucas A. Estrada, Daniel J. Varon, Steven C. Wofsy, Mark Omara, and Ritesh Gautam
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-4626, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-4626, 2025
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (ACP).
Short summary
Short summary
We use data from both aircraft (MethaneAIR) and satellite (TROPOMI) based measurements of methane in the atmosphere to better understand methane emissions from fossil fuel extraction. Data from these instruments are combined with a computer model of the atmosphere to improve estimates of methane emissions. We find that combining data from multiple sources provides more information than either source on its own. The tools and data we use are freely available.
Drew C. Pendergrass, Daniel J. Jacob, Nicholas Balasus, Lucas Estrada, Daniel J. Varon, James D. East, Megan He, Todd A. Mooring, Elise Penn, Hannah Nesser, and John R. Worden
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 14353–14369, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-14353-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-14353-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
We use satellite observations of atmospheric methane, a greenhouse gas, to calculate emissions from both human and natural sources. We find that methane emissions surged in 2020–2021 before declining in 2022–2023. We attribute the surge in large part to emissions from eastern Africa, which experienced large methane-generating floods. Wetland models underestimate emissions in that region, which has led some previous work to incorrectly attribute the African surge in methane emissions to livestock.
Lucas A. Estrada, Daniel J. Varon, Melissa Sulprizio, Hannah Nesser, Zichong Chen, Nicholas Balasus, Sarah E. Hancock, Megan He, James D. East, Todd A. Mooring, Alexander Oort Alonso, Joannes D. Maasakkers, Ilse Aben, Sabour Baray, Kevin W. Bowman, John R. Worden, Felipe J. Cardoso-Saldaña, Emily Reidy, and Daniel J. Jacob
Geosci. Model Dev., 18, 3311–3330, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-3311-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-3311-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Reducing emissions of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, is a top policy concern for mitigating anthropogenic climate change. The Integrated Methane Inversion (IMI) is an advanced, cloud-based software that translates satellite observations into actionable emissions data. Here we present IMI version 2.0 with vastly expanded capabilities. These updates enable a wider range of scientific and stakeholder applications from individual basin to global scales with continuous emissions monitoring.
Shutao Zhao, Yuzhong Zhang, Shuang Zhao, Xinlu Wang, and Daniel J. Varon
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 4035–4052, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-4035-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-4035-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
We target the challenge of detecting methane super-emitters in oil and gas fields, which is critical for mitigating climate change. Traditional satellite-based detectors struggle due to interference from complex surfaces. We developed a novel method using deep transfer learning that improves detection efficiency and accuracy by reducing artifacts and adapting methane knowledge to different regions. Application revealed significant methane emissions, demonstrating the potential of our method.
Sarah E. Hancock, Daniel J. Jacob, Zichong Chen, Hannah Nesser, Aaron Davitt, Daniel J. Varon, Melissa P. Sulprizio, Nicholas Balasus, Lucas A. Estrada, María Cazorla, Laura Dawidowski, Sebastián Diez, James D. East, Elise Penn, Cynthia A. Randles, John Worden, Ilse Aben, Robert J. Parker, and Joannes D. Maasakkers
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 797–817, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-797-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-797-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
We quantify 2021 methane emissions in South America at up to 25 km × 25 km resolution using satellite methane observations. We find a 55 % upward adjustment to anthropogenic emission inventories, including those reported to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change under the Paris Agreement. Our estimates match inventories for Brazil, Bolivia, and Paraguay but are much higher for other countries. Livestock emissions (65 % of anthropogenic emissions) show the largest discrepancies.
Brian Nathan, Joannes D. Maasakkers, Stijn Naus, Ritesh Gautam, Mark Omara, Daniel J. Varon, Melissa P. Sulprizio, Lucas A. Estrada, Alba Lorente, Tobias Borsdorff, Robert J. Parker, and Ilse Aben
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 6845–6863, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-6845-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-6845-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Venezuela's Lake Maracaibo region is notoriously hard to observe from space and features intensive oil exploitation, although production has strongly decreased in recent years. We estimate methane emissions using 2018–2020 TROPOMI satellite observations with national and regional transport models. Despite the production decrease, we find relatively constant emissions from Lake Maracaibo between 2018 and 2020, indicating that there could be large emissions from abandoned infrastructure.
Matthieu Dogniaux, Joannes D. Maasakkers, Daniel J. Varon, and Ilse Aben
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 2777–2787, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2777-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2777-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We analyze Landsat 8 (L8) and Sentinel-2B (S-2B) observations of the 2022 Nord Stream 2 methane leak and show how challenging this case is for usual data analysis methods. We provide customized calibrations for this Nord Stream 2 case and assess that no firm conclusion can be drawn from L8 or S-2B single overpasses. However, if we opportunistically assume that L8 and S-2B results are independent, we find an averaged L8 and S-2B combined methane leak rate of 502 ± 464 t h−1.
Jack H. Bruno, Dylan Jervis, Daniel J. Varon, and Daniel J. Jacob
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 2625–2636, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2625-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2625-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Methane is a potent greenhouse gas and a current high-priority target for short- to mid-term climate change mitigation. Detection of individual methane emitters from space has become possible in recent years, and the volume of data for this task has been rapidly growing, outpacing processing capabilities. We introduce an automated approach, U-Plume, which can detect and quantify emissions from individual methane sources in high-spatial-resolution satellite data.
Berend J. Schuit, Joannes D. Maasakkers, Pieter Bijl, Gourav Mahapatra, Anne-Wil van den Berg, Sudhanshu Pandey, Alba Lorente, Tobias Borsdorff, Sander Houweling, Daniel J. Varon, Jason McKeever, Dylan Jervis, Marianne Girard, Itziar Irakulis-Loitxate, Javier Gorroño, Luis Guanter, Daniel H. Cusworth, and Ilse Aben
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 9071–9098, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-9071-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-9071-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Using two machine learning models, which were trained on TROPOMI methane satellite data, we detect 2974 methane plumes, so-called super-emitters, in 2021. We detect methane emissions globally related to urban areas or landfills, coal mining, and oil and gas production. Using our monitoring system, we identify 94 regions with frequent emissions. For 12 locations, we target high-resolution satellite instruments to enlarge and identify the exact infrastructure responsible for the emissions.
Drew C. Pendergrass, Daniel J. Jacob, Hannah Nesser, Daniel J. Varon, Melissa Sulprizio, Kazuyuki Miyazaki, and Kevin W. Bowman
Geosci. Model Dev., 16, 4793–4810, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-4793-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-4793-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We have built a tool called CHEEREIO that allows scientists to use observations of pollutants or gases in the atmosphere, such as from satellites or surface stations, to update supercomputer models that simulate the Earth. CHEEREIO uses the difference between the model simulations of the atmosphere and real-world observations to come up with a good guess for the actual composition of our atmosphere, the true emissions of various pollutants, and whatever else they may want to study.
Nicholas Balasus, Daniel J. Jacob, Alba Lorente, Joannes D. Maasakkers, Robert J. Parker, Hartmut Boesch, Zichong Chen, Makoto M. Kelp, Hannah Nesser, and Daniel J. Varon
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 3787–3807, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3787-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3787-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We use machine learning to remove biases in TROPOMI satellite observations of atmospheric methane, with GOSAT observations serving as a reference. We find that the TROPOMI biases relative to GOSAT are related to the presence of aerosols and clouds, the surface brightness, and the specific detector that makes the observation aboard TROPOMI. The resulting blended TROPOMI+GOSAT product is more reliable for quantifying methane emissions.
Daniel J. Varon, Daniel J. Jacob, Benjamin Hmiel, Ritesh Gautam, David R. Lyon, Mark Omara, Melissa Sulprizio, Lu Shen, Drew Pendergrass, Hannah Nesser, Zhen Qu, Zachary R. Barkley, Natasha L. Miles, Scott J. Richardson, Kenneth J. Davis, Sudhanshu Pandey, Xiao Lu, Alba Lorente, Tobias Borsdorff, Joannes D. Maasakkers, and Ilse Aben
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 7503–7520, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-7503-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-7503-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We use TROPOMI satellite observations to quantify weekly methane emissions from the US Permian oil and gas basin from May 2018 to October 2020. We find that Permian emissions are highly variable, with diverse economic and activity drivers. The most important drivers during our study period were new well development and natural gas price. Permian methane intensity averaged 4.6 % and decreased by 1 % per year.
Zichong Chen, Daniel J. Jacob, Ritesh Gautam, Mark Omara, Robert N. Stavins, Robert C. Stowe, Hannah Nesser, Melissa P. Sulprizio, Alba Lorente, Daniel J. Varon, Xiao Lu, Lu Shen, Zhen Qu, Drew C. Pendergrass, and Sarah Hancock
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 5945–5967, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-5945-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-5945-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We quantify methane emissions from individual countries in the Middle East and North Africa by inverse analysis of 2019 TROPOMI satellite observations of atmospheric methane. We show that the ability to simply relate oil/gas emissions to activity metrics is compromised by stochastic nature of local infrastructure and management practices. We find that the industry target for oil/gas methane intensity is achievable through associated gas capture, modern infrastructure, and centralized operations.
Javier Gorroño, Daniel J. Varon, Itziar Irakulis-Loitxate, and Luis Guanter
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 89–107, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-89-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-89-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We present a methane flux rate retrieval methodology using the Sentinel-2 mission, validating the algorithm for different scenes and plumes. The detection limit is 1000–2000 kg h−1 for homogeneous scenes and temporally invariant surfaces and above 5000 kg h−1 for heterogeneous ones. Dominant quantification errors are wind-related or plume mask-related. For heterogeneous scenes, the surface structure underlying the methane plume can become a dominant source of uncertainty.
Zhan Zhang, Evan D. Sherwin, Daniel J. Varon, and Adam R. Brandt
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 7155–7169, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-7155-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-7155-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
This work developed a multi-band–multi-pass–multi-comparison-date Sentinel-2 methane retrieval algorithm, and the method was calibrated by data from a controlled release test. To our knowledge, this is the first study that validates the performance of a Sentinel-2 methane detection algorithm by calibration with a ground-truth testing. It illustrates the potential for additional validation with systematic future experiments wherein algorithms can be tuned to meet different detection expectations.
Lu Shen, Ritesh Gautam, Mark Omara, Daniel Zavala-Araiza, Joannes D. Maasakkers, Tia R. Scarpelli, Alba Lorente, David Lyon, Jianxiong Sheng, Daniel J. Varon, Hannah Nesser, Zhen Qu, Xiao Lu, Melissa P. Sulprizio, Steven P. Hamburg, and Daniel J. Jacob
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 11203–11215, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-11203-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-11203-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
We use 22 months of TROPOMI satellite observations to quantity methane emissions from the oil (O) and natural gas (G) sector in the US and Canada at the scale of both individual basins as well as country-wide aggregates. We find that O/G-related methane emissions are underestimated in these inventories by 80 % for the US and 40 % for Canada, and 70 % of the underestimate in the US is from five O/G basins, including Permian, Haynesville, Anadarko, Eagle Ford, and Barnett.
Zichong Chen, Daniel J. Jacob, Hannah Nesser, Melissa P. Sulprizio, Alba Lorente, Daniel J. Varon, Xiao Lu, Lu Shen, Zhen Qu, Elise Penn, and Xueying Yu
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 10809–10826, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-10809-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-10809-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
We quantify methane emissions in China and contributions from different sectors by inverse analysis of 2019 TROPOMI satellite observations of atmospheric methane. We find that anthropogenic methane emissions for China are underestimated in the national inventory. Our estimate of emissions indicates a small life-cycle loss rate, implying net climate benefits from the current
coal-to-gasenergy transition in China. However, this small loss rate can be misleading given China's high gas imports.
Daniel J. Jacob, Daniel J. Varon, Daniel H. Cusworth, Philip E. Dennison, Christian Frankenberg, Ritesh Gautam, Luis Guanter, John Kelley, Jason McKeever, Lesley E. Ott, Benjamin Poulter, Zhen Qu, Andrew K. Thorpe, John R. Worden, and Riley M. Duren
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 9617–9646, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-9617-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-9617-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
We review the capability of satellite observations of atmospheric methane to quantify methane emissions on all scales. We cover retrieval methods, precision requirements, inverse methods for inferring emissions, source detection thresholds, and observations of system completeness. We show that current instruments already enable quantification of regional and national emissions including contributions from large point sources. Coverage and resolution will increase significantly in coming years.
Daniel J. Varon, Daniel J. Jacob, Melissa Sulprizio, Lucas A. Estrada, William B. Downs, Lu Shen, Sarah E. Hancock, Hannah Nesser, Zhen Qu, Elise Penn, Zichong Chen, Xiao Lu, Alba Lorente, Ashutosh Tewari, and Cynthia A. Randles
Geosci. Model Dev., 15, 5787–5805, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-5787-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-5787-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Reducing atmospheric methane emissions is critical to slow near-term climate change. Globally surveying satellite instruments like the TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) have unique capabilities for monitoring atmospheric methane around the world. Here we present a user-friendly cloud-computing tool that enables researchers and stakeholders to quantify methane emissions across user-selected regions of interest using TROPOMI satellite observations.
Elena Sánchez-García, Javier Gorroño, Itziar Irakulis-Loitxate, Daniel J. Varon, and Luis Guanter
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 1657–1674, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-1657-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-1657-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
This study seeks to present the as-yet-unknown potential use of WorldView-3 for the mapping of methane point source emissions. The proposed retrieval methodology is based on the idea that the spectral channels not affected by methane can be used to predict the methane-affected band through regression analysis. The results show the precise location of 26 independent point emissions over different methane hotspot regions worldwide, which prove the game-changing potential that this mission entails.
David R. Lyon, Benjamin Hmiel, Ritesh Gautam, Mark Omara, Katherine A. Roberts, Zachary R. Barkley, Kenneth J. Davis, Natasha L. Miles, Vanessa C. Monteiro, Scott J. Richardson, Stephen Conley, Mackenzie L. Smith, Daniel J. Jacob, Lu Shen, Daniel J. Varon, Aijun Deng, Xander Rudelis, Nikhil Sharma, Kyle T. Story, Adam R. Brandt, Mary Kang, Eric A. Kort, Anthony J. Marchese, and Steven P. Hamburg
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 6605–6626, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-6605-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-6605-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
The Permian Basin (USA) is the world’s largest oil field. We use tower- and aircraft-based approaches to measure how methane emissions in the Permian Basin changed throughout 2020. In early 2020, 3.3 % of the region’s gas was emitted; then in spring 2020, the loss rate temporarily dropped to 1.9 % as oil price crashed. We find this short-term reduction to be a result of reduced well development, less gas flaring, and fewer abnormal events despite minimal reductions in oil and gas production.
Daniel J. Varon, Dylan Jervis, Jason McKeever, Ian Spence, David Gains, and Daniel J. Jacob
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 2771–2785, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-2771-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-2771-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Satellites can detect methane emissions by measuring sunlight reflected from the Earth's surface and atmosphere. Here we show that the European Space Agency's Sentinel-2 twin satellites can be used to monitor anomalously large methane point sources around the world, with global coverage every 2–5 days and 20 m spatial resolution. We demonstrate this previously unreported capability through high-frequency Sentinel-2 monitoring of two strong methane point sources in Algeria and Turkmenistan.
Cited articles
Aben, I., Hasekamp, O., and Hartmann, W.: Uncertainties in the space-based measurements of CO2 columns due to scattering in the Earth's atmosphere, J. Quant. Spectrosc. Ra., 104, 450–459, 2007.
Adler, F., Masłowski, P., Foltynowicz, A., Cossel, K. C., Briles, T. C., Hartl, I., and Ye, J.: Mid-infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy with a broadband frequency comb, Opt. Express, 18, 21861–21872, 2010.
Barros, N., Cole, J. J., Tranvik, L. J., Prairie, Y. T., Bastviken, D., Huszar, V. L. M., Del Giorgio, P., and Roland, F.: Carbon emission from hydroelectric reservoirs linked to reservoir age and latitude, Nat. Geosci., 4, 593–596, 2011.
Brandt, A. R., Heath, G. A., and Cooley, D.: Methane leaks from natural gas systems follow extreme distributions, Environ. Sci. Technol., 50, 12512–12520, 2016.
Burrows, J. P., Hölzle, E., Goede, A. P. H., Visser, H., and Fricke, W.: SCIAMACHY – Scanning imaging absorption spectrometer for atmospheric chartography, Acta Astronaut., 35, 445–451, 1995.
Butz, A., Hasekamp, O. P., Frankenberg, C., and Aben, I.: Retrievals of atmospheric CO 2 from simulated space-borne measurements of backscattered near-infrared sunlight: Accounting for aerosol effects, Appl. Optics, 48, 3322–3336, 2009.
Chahine, M. T., Pagano, T. S., Aumann, H. H., Atlas, R., Barnet, C., Blaisdell, J., Chen, L., Divakarla, M., Fetzer, E. J., Goldberg, M., Gautier, C., Granger, S., Hannon, S., Irion, F. W., Kakar, R., Kalnay, E., Lambrigtsen, B. H., Lee, S., Le Marshall, J., Mcmillan, W. W., Mcmillin, L., Olsen, E. T., Revercomb, H., Rosenkranz, P., Smith, W. L., Staelin, D., Strow, L. L., Susskind, J., Tobin, D., Wolf, W., and Zhou, L.: AIRS: Improving weather forecasting and providing new data on greenhouse gases, B. Am. Meteorol. Soc., 87, 911–926, 2006.
Chandrasekhar, S.: Radiative transfer, Dover, New York, 1950.
Chen, J., Viatte, C., Hedelius, J. K., Jones, T., Franklin, J. E., Parker, H., Gottlieb, E. W., Wennberg, P. O., Dubey, M. K., and Wofsy, S. C.: Differential column measurements using compact solar-tracking spectrometers, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 8479–8498, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-8479-2016, 2016.
Clough, S. A., Shephard, M. W., Mlawer, E. J., Delamere, J. S., Iacono, M. J., Cady-Pereira, K., Boukabara, S., and Brown, P. D.: Atmospheric radiative transfer modeling: a summary of the AER codes, J. Quant. Spectrosc. Ra., 91, 233–244, 2005.
Conley, S., Franco, G., Faloona, I., Blake, D. R., Peischl, J., and Ryerson, T. B.: Methane emissions from the 2015 Aliso Canyon blowout in Los Angeles, CA, Science, 351, 1317–1320, 2016.
Duren, R. M., Thorpe, A. K., Foster, K. T., Rafiq, T., Hopkins, F. M., Yadav, V., Bue, B. D., Thompson, D. R., Conley, S., Colombi, N. K., Frankenberg, C., McCubbin, I. B., Eastwood, M. L., Falk, M., Herner, J. D., Croes, B. E., Green, R. O., and Miller, C. E.: California's methane super-emitters, Nature, 575, 180–184, 2019.
Farr, T. G., Rosen, P. A., Caro, E., Crippen, R., Duren, R., Hensley, S., Kobrick, M., Paller, M., Rodriguez, E., Roth, L., Seal, D., Shaffer, S., Shimada, J., Umland, J., Werner, M., Oskin, M., Burbank, D., and Alsdorf, D.: The shuttle radar topography mission, Rev. Geophys., 45, RG2004, https://doi.org/10.1029/2005RG000183, 2007.
Frankenberg, C., Thorpe, A. K., Thompson, D. R., Hulley, G., Kort, E. A., Vance, N., Borchardt, J., Krings, T., Gerilowski, K., Sweeney, C., Conley, S., Bue, B. D., Aubrey, A. D., Hook, S., and Green, R. O.: Airborne methane remote measurements reveal heavy-tail flux distribution in Four Corners region, P. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 113, 9734–9739, 2016.
Green, R. O., Mahowald, N. M., Clark, R. N., Ehlmann, B. L., Ginoux, P. A., Kalashnikova, O. V, Miller, R. L., Okin, G., Painter, T. H., Pérez García-Pando, C., Realmuto, V. J., Swayze, G. A., Thompson, D. R., Middleton, E., Guanter, L., Ben Dor, E., and Phillips, B. R.: NASA's Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation, in: AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts, Washington, DC, USA, 10–14 December 2018, A24D-01, 2018.
Guanter, L., Kaufmann, H., Segl, K., Foerster, S., Rogass, C., Chabrillat, S., Kuester, T., Hollstein, A., Rossner, G., Chlebek, C., Straif, C., Fischer, S., Schrader, S., Storch, T., Heiden, U., Mueller, A., Bachmann, M., Mühle, H., Müller, R., Habermeyer, M., Ohndorf, A., Hill, J., Buddenbaum, H., Hostert, P., van der Linden, S., Leitão, P. J., Rabe, A., Doerffer, R., Krasemann, H., Xi, H., Mauser, W., Hank, T., Locherer, M., Rast, M., Staenz, K., and Sang, B.: The EnMAP spaceborne imaging spectroscopy mission for earth observation, Remote Sens., 7, 8830–8857, 2015.
Hamazaki, T., Kaneko, Y., Kuze, A., and Kondo, K.: Fourier transform spectrometer for greenhouse gases observing satellite (GOSAT), in: Enabling sensor and platform technologies for spaceborne remote sensing, International Society for Optics and Photonics, 5659, 73–80, 2005.
Hartmann, D. L., Tank, A. M. G. K., Rusticucci, M., Alexander, L. V, Brönnimann, S., Charabi, Y. A. R., Dentener, F. J., Dlugokencky, E. J., Easterling, D. R., Kaplan, A., Soden, B. J., Thorne, P. W., Wild, M., and Zhai, P.: Observations: atmosphere and surface, in: Climate change 2013 the physical science basis: Working group I contribution to the fifth assessment report of the intergovernmental panel on climate change, 159–254, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, 2013.
Hill, T. and Nassar, R.: Pixel size and revisit rate requirements for monitoring power plant CO2 Emissions from space, Remote Sens., 11, 1608, https://doi.org/10.3390/rs11131608, 2019.
Houweling, S., Hartmann, W., Aben, I., Schrijver, H., Skidmore, J., Roelofs, G.-J., and Breon, F.-M.: Evidence of systematic errors in SCIAMACHY-observed CO2 due to aerosols, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 5, 3003–3013, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-5-3003-2005, 2005.
Hu, H., Landgraf, J., Detmers, R., Borsdorff, T., de Brugh, J., Aben, I., Butz, A., and Hasekamp, O.: Toward global mapping of methane with TROPOMI: First results and intersatellite comparison to GOSAT, Geophys. Res. Lett., 45, 3682–3689, 2018.
Huang, Y., Natraj, V., Zeng, Z.-C., Kopparla, P., and Yung, Y. L.: Quantifying the impact of aerosol scattering on the retrieval of methane from airborne remote sensing measurements, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 6755–6769, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-6755-2020, 2020.
IEA: World Energy Outlook 2018, IEA, Paris https://www.iea.org/reports/world-energy-outlook-2018 (last access: December 2019), 2018.
Jacob, D. J., Turner, A. J., Maasakkers, J. D., Sheng, J., Sun, K., Liu, X., Chance, K., Aben, I., McKeever, J., and Frankenberg, C.: Satellite observations of atmospheric methane and their value for quantifying methane emissions, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 14371–14396, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-14371-2016, 2016.
Jongaramrungruang, S., Frankenberg, C., Matheou, G., Thorpe, A. K., Thompson, D. R., Kuai, L., and Duren, R. M.: Towards accurate methane point-source quantification from high-resolution 2-D plume imagery, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 6667–6681, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-6667-2019, 2019.
Kobler, B., Berbert, J., Caulk, P., and Hariharan, P. C.: Architecture and design of storage and data management for the NASA Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS), in: Proceedings of IEEE 14th Symposium on Mass Storage Systems, Monterey, CA, USA, 11–14 September 1995, https://doi.org/10.1109/MASS.1995.528217, 65–76, 1995.
Kochanov, R. V, Gordon, I. E., Rothman, L. S., Wcisło, P., Hill, C., and Wilzewski, J. S.: HITRAN Application Programming Interface (HAPI): A comprehensive approach to working with spectroscopic data, J. Quant. Spectrosc. Ra., 177, 15–30, 2016.
Loizzo, R., Guarini, R., Longo, F., Scopa, T., Formaro, R., Facchinetti, C., and Varacalli, G.: PRISMA: The Italian hyperspectral mission, in: IGARSS 2018 – 2018 IEEE International Geosci. Remote Sens. Symposium, Valencia, Spain, 22–27 July 2018, https://doi.org/10.1109/IGARSS.2018.8518512, 175–178., 2018.
Molod, A., Takacs, L., Suarez, M., Bacmeister, J., Song, I.-S., and Eichmann, A.: The GEOS-5 atmospheric general circulation model: Mean climate and development from MERRA to Fortuna, NASA Technical Report Series on Global Moedling and Data Assimilation, Vol. 27, 2012.
Myhre, G., Shindell, D. and Pongratz, J.: Anthropogenic and natural radiative forcing, Clim. Change, 423, 658–740, 2013.
Nassar, R., Hill, T. G., McLinden, C. A., Wunch, D., Jones, D. B. A., and Crisp, D.: Quantifying CO2 emissions from individual power plants from space, Geophys. Res. Lett., 44, 10–45, 2017.
Ong, C., Day, S., Halliburton, B., Marvig, P., and White, S.: Regional methane emissions in NSW CSG basins, CSIRO, ISBN: 978-1-4863-0922-1, 2017.
Pandey, S., Gautam, R., Houweling, S., van der Gon, H. D., Sadavarte, P., Borsdorff, T., Hasekamp, O., Landgraf, J., Tol, P., van Kempen, T.,
Hoogeveen, R., van Hees, R., Hamburg, S. P., Maasakkers, J. D., and Ilse Aben, I.: Satellite observations reveal extreme methane leakage from a natural gas well blowout, P. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 116, 26376–26381, 2019.
Platt, U. and Stutz, J.: Differential absorption spectroscopy, in: Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy, Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, 135–174, 2008.
Reay, N. K., Ring, J., and Scaddan, R. J.: A tunable Fabry–Perot filter for the visible, J. Phys. E., 7, 673, https://doi.org/10.1088/0022-3735/7/8/025, 1974.
Robinson, R., Gardiner, T., Innocenti, F., Woods, P., and Coleman, M.: Infrared differential absorption Lidar (DIAL) measurements of hydrocarbon emissions, J. Environ. Monit., 13, 2213–2220, 2011.
Rodgers, C. D.: Inverse methods for atmospheric sounding: theory and practice, 1st edn., World Scientific, Singapore, 2000.
Rosa, L. P., Dos Santos, M. A., Matvienko, B., Dos Santos, E. O., and Sikar, E.: Greenhouse gas emissions from hydroelectric reservoirs in tropical regions, Clim. Change, 66, 9–21, 2004.
Roy, D. P., Wulder, M. A., Loveland, T. R., Woodcock, C. E., Allen, R. G., Anderson, M. C., Helder, D., Irons, J. R., Johnson, D. M., Kennedy, R.,
Scambos, T. A., Schaaf, C. B., Schott, J. R., Sheng, Y., Vermote, E.F., Belward, A. S., Bindschadler, R., Cohen, W. B., Gao, F., Hipple, J. D., Hostert, P., Huntington, J., Justice, C. O., Kilic, A., Kovalskyy, V., Lee, Z. P., Lymburner, L., Masek, J. G., McCorkel, J., Shuai, Y., Trezza, R., Vogelmann, J., Wynnea, R. H., and Zhud, Z.: Landsat-8: Science and product vision for terrestrial global change research, Remote Sens. Environ., 145, 154–172, 2014.
Sherwin, E. D., Chen, Y., Ravikumar, A., and Brandt, A. R.: Single-blind test of airplane-based hyperspectral methane detection via controlled releases, EarthArXiv, under review, https://doi.org/10.31223/osf.io/bqktv, 2020.
Sloan, J. J., Durak, B., Gains, D., Ricci, F., McKeever, J., Lamorie, J.,
Sdao, M., Latendresse, V., Lavoie, J., and Kruzelecky, R.: Fabry–Perot interferometer based satellite detection of atmospheric trace gases, U.S. Patent No. 9,228,897, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Washington, DC,
issued: 5 January 2016.
Thompson, D. R., Thorpe, A. K., Frankenberg, C., Green, R. O., Duren, R., Guanter, L., Hollstein, A., Middleton, E., Ong, L., and Ungar, S.: Space-based remote imaging spectroscopy of the Aliso Canyon CH4 superemitter, Geophys. Res. Lett., 43, 6571–6578, 2016.
Thorpe, A. K., Frankenberg, C., and Roberts, D. A.: Retrieval techniques for airborne imaging of methane concentrations using high spatial and moderate spectral resolution: application to AVIRIS, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 7, 491–506, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-491-2014, 2014.
U.S. COESA (Committee on Extension to the Standard Atmosphere): Standard atmosphere, United States, National Oceanic, Atmospheric Administration, and United States, Air Force, US standard atmosphere, 76, no. 1562, 1976.
Varon, D. J., Jacob, D. J., McKeever, J., Jervis, D., Durak, B. O. A., Xia, Y., and Huang, Y.: Quantifying methane point sources from fine-scale satellite observations of atmospheric methane plumes, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 5673–5686, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-5673-2018, 2018.
Varon, D. J., McKeever, J., Jervis, D., Maasakkers, J. D., Pandey, S., Houweling, S., Aben, I., Scarpelli, T., and Jacob, D. J.: Satellite discovery of anomalously large methane point sources from oil/gas production, Geophys. Res. Lett., 46, 13507–13516, 2019.
Varon, D. J., Jacob, D. J., Jervis, D., and McKeever, J.: Quantifying time-averaged methane emissions from individual coal mine vents with GHGSat-D satellite observations, Environ. Sci. Technol., 54, 10246–10253, 2020.
Veefkind, J. P., Aben, I., McMullan, K., Förster, H., De Vries, J., Otter, G., Claas, J., Eskes, H. J., De Haan, J. F., Kleipool, Q.,
van Weele, M., Hasekamp, O., Hoogeveen, R., Landgraf, J., Snel, R., Tol, P., Ingmann, P., Voors, R., Kruizinga, B., Vink, R., Visser, H., and Levelt, P. F.: TROPOMI on the ESA Sentinel-5 Precursor: A GMES mission for global observations of the atmospheric composition for climate, air quality and ozone layer applications, Remote Sens. Environ., 120, 70–83, 2012.
Wolff, S., Ehret, G., Kiemle, C., Amediek, A., Quatrevalet, M., Wirth, M., and Fix, A.: Determination of the Emission Rates of CO2 Point Sources with Airborne Lidar, Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss. [preprint], https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2020-390, in review, 2020.
Yacovitch, T. I., Herndon, S. C., Peìtron, G., Kofler, J., Lyon, D., Zahniser, M. S., and Kolb, C. E.: Mobile laboratory observations of methane emissions in the Barnett Shale region, Environ. Sci. Technol., 49, 7889–7895, 2015.
Short summary
We describe how the GHGSat-D demonstration satellite is designed and operated in order to measure greenhouse gas emissions from different types of industrial facilities. The distinguishing features of GHGSat-D, or
Claire, are its compact size (< 15 kg) and high spatial resolution (< 50 m). We give a mathematical model of the instrument and describe the techniques used to infer a methane concentration from a measurement of the sunlight that has reflected off the Earth's surface.
We describe how the GHGSat-D demonstration satellite is designed and operated in order to...
