Heidelberg 2015 – scientific programme

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UP: Fachverband Umweltphysik

UP 2: Atmosphäre

UP 2.10: Talk

Wednesday, March 25, 2015, 12:00–12:15, G/gHS

Space-based observations of CO₂: From SCIAMACHY to CarbonSat — •M. Reuter, M. Buchwitz, M. Hilker, J. Heymann, O. Schneising, D. Pillai, H. Bovensmann, and J.P. Burrows — Institute of Environmental Physics, University of Bremen, Germany

CO₂ and CH₄ are the most important anthropogenic greenhouse gases. Their global increasing concentrations in the Earth’s atmosphere are the main driver for global warming. However, there are still large uncertainties on their sources and sinks. SCIAMACHY (2002-2012) was the first near infrared satellite instrument which allowed measurements of the dry-air column-average mole fraction of both gases (XCO₂, XCH₄). GOSAT was launched in 2009 and provides measurements of XCO₂ and XCH₄ since then. With their relatively large pixel size and sampling distance, these instruments primarily focus on natural fluxes. In this context, we will present recent findings on the European carbon sink. Analyzing five SCIAMACHY and GOSAT XCO₂ data sets, we find that the satellite-derived European sink is considerably larger (1.0±0.3GtC/a) than previously estimated (0.4±0.4GtC/a). Additionally, we will present results of a study related to anthropogenic emission trends derived from SCIAMACHY XCO₂ and NO₂ data. We find a positive trend of the CO₂-to-NO_x emission ratio in East Asia which confirms that the newly installed and renewed technology is cleaner in terms of NO_x emissions. In the future, CarbonSat (an ESA EE8 candidate mission) will allow flux estimates at higher spatial resolution because its imaging capabilities are optimized for hot spot monitoring.