Carbon-I will quantify greenhouse gas (GHG) fluxes from point to global scales and deliver actionable data on emission sources. We will address specific weaknesses of the current program of record.
Clouds pose a major problem for observing the tropics
Clouds in the humid tropics are the primary reason for low data yields in current GHG missions
With its fine spatial sampling, Carbon-I can peek through cloud gaps, dramatically increasing data availability in regions with the largest carbon fluxes, greatest uncertainties and climate feedback. Frequent shallow cumulus clouds in the tropics have cloud gaps that are smaler than 1km, dramatically reducing the data yield of current greenhouse gas missions. Read more about clouds in the tropics in our GRL paper.
Clouds in the humid tropics are the primary reason for low data yields in current GHG missions
With its fine spatial sampling, Carbon-I can peek through cloud gaps, dramatically increasing data availability in regions with the largest carbon fluxes, greatest uncertainties and climate feedback
The humid tropics are crucial for understanding global carbon cycles
CH4 emissions are heterogenous across the globe and highest in the tropics.
Bottom-up methane emissions distributions show key regions, which dominate global emissions (red colors=50%ile of total emissions). However, hypothesized sources in the inventory may be entirely wrong. Carbon-I will use the global and target modes in concert to identify and focus on local verified sources driving global fluxes.
High spatial resolution overcomes the data yield problem in the tropics and allows flux attribution
High spatial resolution enables plume mapping, allowing direct attribution
Carbon-I will investigate hotspots and flux heterogeneity globally and use the target mode as a magnifying glass. The detection of localized plumes across various source types (airborne on the left, EMIT on the right) enables applications and field campaigns (bottom left).