The airborne greenhouse gas observation systems MAMAP2D-Light and MAMAP2D – Characterization and performance assessment

Remote sensing measurements of greenhouse gases from aircraft to detect and quantify greenhouse gas emissions began about 15 years ago. These measurements have been exploited to detect and quantify predominantly anthropogenic emissions. However, with new satellite systems targeting especially methane (CH₄) emissions on different scales, high-precision airborne measurements are needed to validate these satellite systems and detect and quantify emissions too small to be detected from space-based sensors.

For this, the MAMAP2D family of airborne passive imaging remote sensing instruments has been and is being built at the Institute of Environmental Physics of the University of Bremen. MAMAP2D-Light, the first of this family, is a lightweight, compact spectrometer measuring carbon dioxide (CO₂) and CH₄ enhancements in a short-wave infrared band around 1.6 µm with a spectral resolution of ~1.1 nm. It was flown successfully on a Diamond HK36 TTC-ECO motor glider aircraft of the Jade University of Applied Sciences in Wilhelmshaven and the High Altitude Long Range operations (HALO) aircraft of DLR during the COMET 2.0 Arctic campaign in Canada. The MAMAP2D instrument, the next biggest in the MAMAP2D family, covers the SWIR band with a higher spectral resolution and additionally contains a near-infrared channel covering O₂ absorption around 760 µm for path-length correction and is currently assembled in the laboratory.

In this poster, we will present the spectral characterization of the MAMAP2D-Light instrument as flown during the COMET 2.0 Arctic campaign and assess its performance for detecting local CH₄ and CO₂ gradients. Additionally, initial laboratory characterizations of the MAMAP2D breadboarding activity will be presented.