Retrieval of methane source strengths in Europe using a simple modeling approach to assess the potential of space-borne lidar observations

Kurzfassung

We investigate the sensitivity of future space-borne lidar measurements to changes in surface methane emissions. We use surface methane observations from nine European ground stations, and a Lagrangian transport model to obtain surface methane emissions for 2010. Our inversion shows the strongest emissions from the Netherlands, the coalmines in Upper Silesia Poland, and wetlands in southern Finland. Our simulated methane surface concentration captures at least half of the daily variability in the observations, suggesting that the transport model is correctly simulating the regional transport pathways over Europe. With this tool we can perturb the surface fluxes and see the resulting changes in the simulated column methane measurements. For example, we show that future lidar instruments can detect a 50% reduction in methane emissions from the Netherlands and Germany, but only after averaging measurements on a monthly time scale.