Concept Studies for a Methane Emission Imager


Lead Organisation: University of Leicester

The project defines a novel concept for measuring atmospheric concentrations of the important greenhouse gas methane (CH4) based on the use of discrete shortwave infrared spectral bands. The CH4 proxy retrieval method will be utilised to infer atmospheric concentrations, which has proven heritage with SCIAMACHY and most recently successfully employed by Leicester University for GOSAT. Such an instrument concept offers significant advantages over existing systems in terms of size and superior spatial resolution, providing a realistic option for a small satellite payload and a possible greenhouse gas demonstration on the SSTL TechDemoSat platform.