ALBERT

Description: We describe progress toward developing a laser-based technique for the remote measurement of the tropospheric CO2 concentrations from orbit. Our goal is to demonstrate a lidar technique and instrument technology that will permit measurements of the CO2 column abundance in the lower troposphere from aircraft at the few ppm level, with a capability of scaling to permit global CO2 measurements from orbit. Accurate measurements of the tropospheric CO2 mixing ratio from space are challenging due to the many potential error sources. These include possible interference from other trace gas species, the effects of temperature, clouds, aerosols & turbulence in the path, changes in surface reflectivity, and variability in dry air density caused by changes in atmospheric pressure, water vapor and topographic height. Some potential instrumental errors include frequency drifts in the transmitter, small transmission and sensitivity drifts in the instrument. High signal-to-noise ratios and measurement stability are needed for mixing ratio estimates at the few ppm level. We have been developing a laser sounder approach as a candidate for a future space mission. It utilizes multiple different laser transmitters to permit simultaneous measurement of CO2 and O2 extinction, and aerosol backscatter in the same measurement path. It directs the narrow co-aligned laser beams from the instrument's fiber lasers toward nadir, and measures the energy of the strong laser echoes reflected from the Earth's land and water surfaces. During the measurement its narrow linewidth lasers are rapidly tuned on- and off- selected CO2 line near 1572 nm and an O2 absorption line near 770 nm. The receiver measures the energies of the laser echoes from the surface and any clouds and aerosols in the path with photon counting detectors. Ratioing the on- to off-line echo pulse energies for each gas permits the column extinction and column densities of CO2 and O2 to be estimated simultaneously via the differential absorption lidar technique. For the on-line wavelengths, the side of the selected absorption lines are used, which due to pressure broadening, weights the measurements to the lower troposphere, where CO2 variations caused by surface sources and sinks are largest. Simultaneous measurements of O2 column abundance are made using an identical approach using an O2 line. The laser backscatter profiles from clouds and aerosols are measured with other lidar channels, which permits identifying measurements influenced by clouds and/or aerosol scattering in the path. For space use, our lidar would continuously measure at nadir in near polar circular orbit. Using dawn and dusk measurements made over the same region will make it possible to sample the diurnal variations in CO2 mixing ratios. A 1-m diameter telescope is used for the receiver for all wavelengths. When averaging over 50 seconds, our calculations show a SNR of approximately 1500 is achievable for each gas at each on- and off-line measurement. Measurements from such a mission can be used to generate monthly global maps of the lower tropospheric CO2 column abundance. Our calculations show global coverage with an accuracy of a few ppm with a spatial resolution of approximately 50,000 sq. km are achievable each month. We have demonstrated some key elements of the laser, detector and receiver approaches in the laboratory and with measurements over a 206 m horizontal path. These include stable measurements of CO2 line shapes in an absorption cell using a fiber laser amplifier seeded by a tunable diode laser, measurement of small amplitude changes at low optical signal levels with the PMT receiver, and comparison of the horizontal path measurements of CO2 against those from an in-situ instrument.

Description: Trace gases and their isotopic ratios in planetary atmospheres offer important but subtle clues as to the origins of a planet's atmosphere, hydrology, geology, and potential for biology. Calculations show that an orbiting laser remote sensing instrument is capable of measuring trace gases on a global scale with unprecedented accuracy, and higher spatial resolution that can be obtained by passive instruments. Our proposed lidar uses Integrated Path Differential Absorption technique, Optical Parametric Amplifiers, and a receiver with high sensitivity detector at 1.65 μm to map methane concentrations, a strong greenhouse gas. For Mars we can use the same technique in the 3–4 μm spectral range to map various biogenic gas concentrations and search for the existence of life. Preliminary results demonstrating methane and water vapour detection using a laboratory prototype illustrate the viability of the technique.

Description: We have developed a pulsed lidar technique for measuring the tropospheric CO2 concentrations as a candidate for NASA's ASCENDS mission and have demonstrated the CO2 and O2 measurements from aircraft. Our technique uses two pulsed lasers allowing simultaneous measurement of a single CO2 absorption line near 1572 nm, O2 extinction in the Oxygen A-band, surface height and backscatter profile. The lasers are stepped in wavelength across the CO2 line and an O2 line doublet during the measurement. The column densities for the CO2 and O2 are estimated from the differential optical depths (DOD) of the scanned absorption lines via the IPDA technique. For the 2009 ASCENDS campaign we flew the CO2 lidar only on a Lear-25 aircraft, and measured the absorption line shapes of the CO2 line using 20 wavelength samples per scan. Measurements were made at stepped altitudes from 3 to 12.6 km over the Lamont OK, central Illinois, North Carolina, and over the Virginia Eastern Shore. Although the received signal energies were weaker than expected for ASCENDS, clear C02 line shapes were observed at all altitudes. Most flights had 5-6 altitude steps with 200-300 seconds of recorded measurements per step. We averaged every 10 seconds of measurements and used a cross-correlation approach to estimate the range to the scattering surface and the echo pulse energy at each wavelength. We then solved for the best-fit CO2 absorption line shape, and calculated the DOD of the fitted CO2 line, and computed its statistics at the various altitude steps. We compared them to CO2 optical depths calculated from spectroscopy based on HITRAN 2008 and the column number densities calculated from the airborne in-situ readings. The 2009 measurements have been analyzed in detail and they were similar on all flights. The results show clear CO2 line shape and absorption signals, which follow the expected changes with aircraft altitude from 3 to 13 km. They showed the expected nearly the linear dependence of DOD vs altitude. The measurements showed -1 ppm random errors for 8-10 km altitudes and -30 sec averaging times. For the 2010 ASCENDS campaigns we flew the CO2 lidar on the NASA DC-8 and added an O2 lidar channel. During July 2010 we made measurements of CO2 and O2 column absorption during longer flights over Railroad Valley NV, the Pacific Ocean and over Lamont OK. CO2 measurements were made with 30 steps/scan, 300 scans/sec and improved line resolution and receiver sensitivity. Analysis of the 2010 CO2 measurements shows the expected -linear change of DOD with altitude. For measurements at altitudes〉 6 km the random errors were 0.3 ppm for 80 sec averaging times. For the summer 2011 ASCENDS campaigns we made further improvements to the lidar's CO2 line scan and receiver sensitivity. The seven flights in the 2011 Ascends campaign were flown over a wide variety of surface and cloud conditions in the US, which produced a wide variety of lidar signal conditions. Details of the lidar measurements and their analysis will be described in the presentation.

Description: We have developed a pulsed lidar technique for measuring the tropospheric CO2 concentrations as a candidate for NASA's ASCENDS mission and have demonstrated the CO2 and O2 measurements from aircraft. Our technique uses two pulsed lasers allowing simultaneous measurement of a single CO2 absorption line near 1572 nm, O2 extinction in the Oxygen A-band, surface height and backscatter profile. The lasers are stepped in wavelength across the CO2 line and an O2 line doublet during the measurement. The column densities for the CO2 and O2 are estimated from the differential optical depths (DOD) of the scanned absorption lines via the IPDA technique. For the 2009 ASCENDS campaign we flew the CO2 lidar on a Lear-25 aircraft, and measured the absorption line shapes of the CO2 line using 20 wavelength samples per scan. Measurements were made at stepped altitudes from 3 to 12.6 km over the Lamont OK, central Illinois, North Carolina, and over the Virginia Eastern Shore. Although the received signal energies were weaker than expected for ASCENDS, clear CO2 line shapes were observed at all altitudes. Most flights had 5-6 altitude steps with 200-300 seconds of recorded measurements per step. We averaged every 10 seconds of measurements and used a cross-correlation approach to estimate the range to the scattering surface and the echo pulse energy at each wavelength. We then solved for the best-fit CO2 absorption line shape, and calculated the DOD of the fitted CO2 line, and computed its statistics at the various altitude steps. We compared them to CO2 optical depths calculated from spectroscopy based on HITRAN 2008 and the column number densities calculated from the airborne in-situ readings. The 2009 measurements have been analyzed and they were similar on all flights. The results show clear CO2 line shape and absorption signals, which follow the expected changes with aircraft altitude from 3 to 13 km. They showed the expected nearly the linear dependence of DOD vs altitude. The measurements showed ~ 1 ppm random errors for 8-10 km altitudes and ~30 sec averaging times. For the 2010 ASCENDS campaigns we flew the CO2lidar on the NASA DC-8 and added an 02lidar channel. During July 2010 we made measurements of CO2 and O2 column absorption during longer flights over Railroad Valley NV, the Pacific Ocean and over Lamont OK. CO2 measurements were made with 30 steps/scan, 300 scans/sec and improved line resolution and receiver sensitivity. Analysis of the 2010 CO2 measurements shows the expected ~linear change of DOD with altitude. For measurements at altitudes〉 6 km the random errors were 0.3 ppm for 80 sec averaging times. For the summer 2011 ASCENDS campaigns we made further improvements to the lidar's CO2 line scan and receiver sensitivity. We demonstrated measurements over the California Central Valley, to stratus cloud tops over the Pacific Ocean, over mountain regions with snow, and over several areas with broken clouds. Details of the lidar measurements and their analysis will be described in the presentation.

Description: We have developed a lidar technique for measuring the tropospheric C02 concentrations as a candidate for NASA's planned ASCENDS mission. Our technique uses two pulsed laser transmitters allowing simultaneous measurement of a C02 absorption line in the 1570 nm band, 02 extinction in the Oxygen A-band and surface height and backscatter. The lidar measures the energy and time of flight of the laser echoes reflected from the atmosphere and surface. The lasers are stepped in wavelength across the C02 line and an 02 line region during the measurement. The receiver uses a telescope and photon counting detectors, and measures the background light and energies of the laser echoes from the surface along with scattering from any aerosols in the path. The gas extinction and column densities for the C02 and 02 gases are estimated from the ratio of the on- and off- line signals via the DIAL technique. Pulsed laser signals and a time gated receiver are used to isolate the laser echo signals from the surface, to reject laser photons scattered in the atmosphere, and measure the surface height and scattering profile in the path. We have recently completed a second design study for the space instrument. For the study, we selected a nominal sun-synchronous orbit with an altitude of 400 km and equator crossing time of 1:30 pm, and a receiver telescope with 1.5 m diameter.

Description: The global and regional quantification of methane fluxes and identification of its sources and sinks has been highlighted as one of the goals of the NASA 2017 Earth Science Decadal Survey. Detecting methane from space and airborne platforms with an active (laser) remote sensing instrument presents several unique technology and measurement challenges. The instrument must have a single frequency, narrow-linewidth light source, and photon-sensitive detector at the right spectral region to make continuous measurements from orbit, day and night, all seasons and at all latitudes. It must have a high signal to noise ratio and must be relatively immune to biases from aerosol/cloud scattering, spectroscopic and meteorological data uncertainties, and instrument systematic errors. At Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), in collaboration with industry, we have developed an airborne instrument to measure methane. Our instrument is a nadir-viewing lidar that uses Integrated Path Differential Absorption (IPDA), to measure methane near 1.65 m. We sample the absorption line using multiple wavelengths from a narrow linewidth laser source and a sensitive photodetector. This measurement approach provides maximum information content about the CH4 column, and minimizes biases in the XCH4 retrieval. In this paper, we will review our progress to date and discuss the technology challenges, options and tradeoffs to measure methane from space and airborne platforms.

Description: The next generation of space-based, active remote sensing instruments for measurement of tropospheric CO2 promises a capability to quantify global carbon sources and sinks at regional scales. Active (laser) methods will extend CO2 measurement coverage in time, space, and perhaps precision such that the underlying mechanisms for carbon exchange at the surface can be understood with .sufficient detail to confidently project the future of carbon-climate interaction and the influence of remediative policy actions. The recent Decadal Survey for Earth Science by the US National Research Council has recommended such a mission called the Active Sensing of CO2 Emissions over Nights, Days, and Seasons (ASCENDS) for launch in 2013-2016. We have been developing a laser technique for measurement of tropospheric CO2 for a number of years. Our immediate goal is to develop and demonstrate the method and instrument technology that will permit measurements of the CO2 column abundance over a horizontal path and from aircraft at the few-ppmv level. Our longer-term goal is to demonstrate the required capabilities of the technique, develop a space mission approach, and design the instrument for an ASCENDS-type mission. Our approach is to use a dual channel laser absorption spectrometer (i.e., differential absorption in altimeter mode), which continuously measures from a near-polar circular orbit. We use several co-aligned tunable fiber laser transmitters allowing simultaneous measurement of the absorption from a CO2 line in the 1570 nm band, O2 extinction in the oxygen A-band (near 765 nm), and aerosol backscatter in the same measurement path. We measure the energy of the laser echoes at nadir reflected from land and water surfaces, day and night. The lasers have spectral widths much narrower than the gas absorption lines and are turned on and off the selected CO2 and O2 lines at kHz rates. The gas extinction and column densities for the CO2 and O2 gases are estimated from the ratio of the on and off-line singnals via the DIAL technique. We used pulsed laser signals, photon counting detectors, and time gating to isolate the laser returns from the surface, and to reject photons scattered from thin clouds and aerosols. High signal-to-noise ratios are required and the CO2 estimates can be sensitive to small drifts or other errors in the instrument, so the absorption estimates need to be quite stable for hours. We have constructed a breadboard version of the CO2 sensor that uses a low power fiber laser and a 20 cm diameter telescope. We have used it to make measurements of CO2 absorption in the laboratory and over 200-m to 2-km long open horizontal paths. These have been done in several sessions extending over multiple days, which allows us to assess the measurement stability and to compare absorption variations to readings from an external in situ CO2 sensor. We have also calculated characteristics of the technique for space including its expected measurement performance for different modulation types, and have performed an initial space mission accommodation study. We sill describe these results in the presentation.