Ground-based remote sensing measurements of CO2 and CH4 using the moon as light source during the polar night

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Justus Notholt
• Subject Area: Atmospheric Science
• Term: from 2011 to 2015
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 196775932

• Final Report Year: 2016

Final Report Abstract

The goal of this project was to extend the existing time series of total column abundances of CO2 and CH4 to the polar night period at the research station Ny-Ålesund. These measurements are important in understanding the atmospheric carbon cycle at high latitudes. The analysis of the set of existing middle-infrared spectra shows that the retrieved total column abundances cannot be used to infer information about the carbon cycle. A future study, however, may develop a full profile retrieval scheme to get access to information of partial columns. During the polar nights from 2012 to 2016 lunar absorption measurements were performed with the newly installed thermoelectrically cooled InGaAs detector. The instrumental setup was continuously optimised throughout the project towards improved precision of the resulting retrieval of the target trace gas species. The intermediate results were presented to and discussed with the broader scientific community at several international conferences and meetings. As a result of this project the first complete record of total column abundances of CO2 and CH4 is accessible for further studies.

Publications

• ”Mid-IR retrieval of xCO2 from NDACC/TCCON station Ny Ålesund”; 2012-06; NDACC IRWG /TCCON meeting 2012, Wengen (CH)
  M.Buschmann, S.Dohe, E.Mahieu, N.Deutscher, T.Warneke, J.Notholt
  
• ”Comparison of middle and near infrared total column xCO2 retrieval”; 2013-02-26; DPG Frühjahrstagung 2013, Jena (D)
  M.Buschmann, N.Deutscher, S.Dohe, V.Sherlock, D.Griffith, and J.Notholt
  
• ”Comparison of MIR and NIR xCO2 Retrievals for Validation of Greenhouse Gas Satellite Measurements”; ESA Living Planet Symposium 2013, Edinburgh (UK)
  M.Buschmann, N.Deutscher, V.Sherlock, S.Dohe, J.Robinson, D.Smale, M.Schneider, F.Hase, N.Jones, D.Griffith, J.Notholt
  
• ”Extending Arctic CO2 column measurements to cover the complete seasonal cycle using lunar FTIR spectroscopy during Polar Night”; 2013-06-04; 9th International Carbon Dioxide Conference, Beijing (CN)
  M.Buschmann, N.Deutscher, M. Palm, T. Warneke, C.Weinzierl, J.Notholt
  
• The total carbon column seasonal cycle in high latitudes”; 2014-11-21;Earth System Science Research School Annual Retreal, Bremen (D)
  M.Buschmann, N.M.Deutscher, M.Palm, T.Warneke, C.Weinzierl, J.Notholt
  
• ”Towards a full seasonal cycle of total column CO2 and CH4 in the high Arctic”; 2014- 07-15; CANDAC Summerschool 2014, Toronto (CA)
  M.Buschmann, N.M.Deutscher, M.Palm, T.Warneke, C.Weinzierl, J.Notholt
  
• Near-Infrared Lunar Absorption Spectroscopy for the Retrieval of Column Averaged CO2 and CH4; in ’Towards an Interdisciplinary Approach in Earth System Science’; Springer International Publishing; 2015; Editoren: G.Lohmann, H.Meggers, V.Unnithan, D.Wolf-Gladrow, J.Notholt, A.Bracher; pg.85-90; ISBN:978-3-319-13864-0
  M.Buschmann, N.M.Deutscher, M.Palm, T.Warneke, C.Weinzierl, J.Notholt
  (See online at https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-13865-7_10)
• Retrieval of xCO2 from ground-based mid-infrared (NDACC) solar absorption spectra and comparison to TCCON; Atmospheric Measurement Techniques; 2016
  M.Buschmann, N.M.Deutscher, V.Sherlock, M.Palm, T.Warneke, J.Notholt
  (See online at https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-577-2016)