References

AMTD

Atmospheric Measurement Techniques Discussions

AMTD

1867-8610

Copernicus GmbH

Göttingen, Germany

10.5194/amtd-5-3303-2012

Greenhouse gas measurements over a 144 km open path in the Canary Islands

Brooke

J. S. A.

¹ Bernath

P. F.

¹ ² Kirchengast

³ Thomas

C. B.

¹ Wang

J.-G.

¹ Tereszchuk

K. A.

¹ González Abad

¹ Hargreaves

R. J.

¹ Beale

C. A.

¹ Harrison

J. J.

¹ Schweitzer

³ Proschek

³ Martin

P. A.

⁴ Kasyutich

V. L.

⁴ Gerbig

⁵ Kolle

⁵ Loescher

⁶

Department of Chemistry, University of York, York, YO10 5DD, UK

Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA USA, 23529

Wegener Center for Climate and Global Change and IGAM/Inst. of Physics, University of Graz, Leechgasse 25, 8010 Graz, Austria

School of Chemical Engineering and Analytical Science, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PL, UK

Biogeochemical Systems Department, MPI for Biogeochemistry, Hans-Knöll-Str. 10, 07745 Jena, Germany

Earth Observation Future Mission (EOP-SFP), ESA/ESTEC, P.O. Box 299, 2200 AG Noordwijk, The Netherlands

04 05 2012

5 3 3303 3331

This is an open-access article ditributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

This article is available from http://www.atmos-meas-tech-discuss.net/5/3303/2012/amtd-5-3303-2012.html

The full text article is available as a PDF file from http://www.atmos-meas-tech-discuss.net/5/3303/2012/amtd-5-3303-2012.pdf

A new technique for the satellite remote sensing of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere via the absorption of short-wave infrared laser signals transmitted between counter-rotating satellites in low earth orbit has recently been proposed; this would enable the acquisition of a stable, global set of altitude-resolved concentration measurements. We present the first ground-based experimental demonstration of this new technique, in which the atmospheric absorption of CO2 near 2.1 μm was measured over a ~144 km path length between two peaks in the Canary Islands (at an altitude of ~2.4 km). The retrieved CO2 volume mixing ratio of 400.1 ppm (±14.7 ppm) is consistent within experimental uncertainty with simultaneously recorded in situ validation measurements. We conclude that the new method has a sound basis for monitoring CO2 and other greenhouse gases in the free atmosphere.

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