- 1b.geos, Research and Development, Korneuburg, Austria (annett.bartsch@bgeos.com)
- 2NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, USA
- 3European Space Agency
- 4Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Potsdam, Germany
- 5German Aerospace Center (DLR), Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany
- 6Finish Meteorological Institute, Finland
- 7Institute of Environmental Physics, University of Bremen, Germany
- 8National Centre for Earth Observation, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK
Permafrost degradation in the Arctic is accelerating and expected to enhance greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The Arctic Methane and Permafrost Challenge (AMPAC) was initialized by NASA and ESA as a transatlantic networking action striving to promote scientific research and improve observational capabilities. Earth Observation technology must be harnessed, expanded and synergies exploited to accurately quantify and better understand the state of the permafrost and coincident methane emissions. AMPAC aims at improving the observation capacity over polar regions by evaluating dedicated campaign activities, by analyzing satellite data, and by identifying satellite retrieval improvements. AMPAC provides suggestions for the enhanced exploitation of the increasing Earth observation (EO) capacities of land surface, cryosphere, biosphere and atmosphere missions to enhance the scientific understanding of changes in Arctic permafrost regions and methane emissions and to bridge the gap between top-down (T-D) and bottom-up (B-U) estimates of methane fluxes in the changing Arctic.
In particular, monitoring of methane concentrations as well as landcover properties related to wetland and freeze/thaw dynamics is needed. Upcoming synthetic aperture radar missions and constellations of multiple multispectral sensors are expected to advance relevant monitoring capabilities significantly. This will allow better representation of seasonality and advance methane source attribution in general. In addition, continuity of current missions providing greenhouse gas observations, including methane, is crucial. Active optical instruments (lidar) developed for concentration retrieval are expected to substantially enhance detection capabilities across the Arctic.
We provide an overview of relevant current and approved atmosphere and land-focused satellite missions of NASA, NOAA, ESA and DLR/CNES with emphasis on advancements and remaining gaps in the context of AMPAC.
How to cite: Bartsch, A., Gay, B. A., Schüttemeyer, D., Malina, E., Miner, K., Grosse, G., Fix, A., Tamminen, J., Bösch, H., Parker, R. J., Rautiainen, K., Hashemi, J., and Miller, C. E.: The Potential for Future Satellite Missions to Advance the Arctic Methane Permafrost Challenge (AMPAC), EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-15004, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-15004, 2025.
