Greenhouse and Trace Gases
Chair: Gerhard Ehret (German Aerospace Center (DLR), Germany) - Co-Chair: Robert T. Menzies (NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, USA)
There exists strong consensus that the rapid increase in atmospheric greenhouse gas abundance over the last 250 years is the most important driver for the observed global warming of about 0.8ºC over this period. Any significant improvement in predicting future climate and planning of mitigation scenarios require accurate measurements of greenhouse gas abundances and trends in the atmosphere on local, regional and global scales. Active remote sensing using the conventional Differential Absorption Lidar (DIAL) technique provides a new and sensitive means for the measurement of the climate related atmospheric trace gases with high accuracy from space. Due to the fact that Lidar instruments carry their own light source global observation from space-borne platforms will enable measurements at all latitudes around the globe and during all seasons. From Lidar measurements, complementary information to the current observational system will give new insights into climate feedback from changing wetlands/biomasses and thawing permafrost in the Arctic. In our session papers are solicited reporting on the status, development and application of new lidar technology and observational methods suited for measurements of the climate related trace gases such as CO2, CH4, N2O, H2O and O3 from space-borne platforms. Also papers on the development, application, and validation of ground-based and airborne greenhouse gas measuring systems serving as so-called pre-cursor experiments or those discussing future combined greenhouse gas observation scenarios with active and passive instruments are involved are also very beneficial for the topic of this session.
