TY - JOUR
T1 - MERLIN
T2 - A French-German space lidar mission dedicated to atmospheric methane
AU - Ehret, Gerhard
AU - Bousquet, Philippe
AU - Pierangelo, Clémence
AU - Alpers, Matthias
AU - Millet, Bruno
AU - Abshire, James B.
AU - Bovensmann, Heinrich
AU - Burrows, John P.
AU - Chevallier, Frédéric
AU - Ciais, Philippe
AU - Crevoisier, Cyril
AU - Fix, Andreas
AU - Flamant, Pierre
AU - Frankenberg, Christian
AU - Gibert, Fabien
AU - Heim, Birgit
AU - Heimann, Martin
AU - Houweling, Sander
AU - Hubberten, Hans W.
AU - Jöckel, Patrick
AU - Law, Kathy
AU - Löw, Alexander
AU - Marshall, Julia
AU - Agusti-Panareda, Anna
AU - Payan, Sebastien
AU - Prigent, Catherine
AU - Rairoux, Patrick
AU - Sachs, Torsten
AU - Scholze, Marko
AU - Wirth, Martin
PY - 2017/10/1
Y1 - 2017/10/1
N2 - 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.
AB - 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.
KW - Atmospheric methane
KW - CH emissions
KW - Global methane budget
KW - IPDA Lidar
KW - MERLIN
KW - Space mission
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U2 - 10.3390/rs9101052
DO - 10.3390/rs9101052
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:85032860774
VL - 9
JO - Remote Sensing
JF - Remote Sensing
SN - 2072-4292
IS - 10
M1 - 1052
ER -
