Project Details
Projekt
A mid-infrared Laser Spectrometer for the Measurement of Methane Isotopologues and Ethane onboard the Research Aircraft HALO (MIRACLE)
Applicant
Dr. Anke Roiger
Subject Area
Atmospheric Science
Term
since 2022
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 461451965
To this date, 189 Parties have ratified the Paris Agreement and thus agreed to rapidly reduce greenhouse gas emissions in order to achieve the challenging aim of limiting the global average temperature increase to 2° or even 1.5°C. The comparatively short lifetime of the second most important greenhouse gas methane (CH4) of only ~10 years makes it an especially attractive target for greenhouse gas reductions with effect on short time-scales. However, the development of effective mitigation strategies requires detailed knowledge of CH4 emissions from the different sources, including appropriate quantification and process understanding. This currently is hampered by a poor level of understanding of the global CH4 budget. Furthermore, a strong increase of atmospheric methane is observed since 2007, which may challenge the efforts to limit the global mean temperature increase, as envisaged in the Paris Agreement. Since the drivers responsible for the increase of atmospheric CH4 are not well understood, our ability to evaluate if the CH4 reductions foreseen in the Paris Agreement actually will occur or not, is threatened. The central objective of this proposal therefore is to enhance the measurement capability of the research aircraft HALO by integrating a mid-infrared laser absorption spectrometer for fast and high-quality measurements of two tracers typically used to study the drivers behind the atmospheric CH4 growth rate: C2H6 (ethane) and d13C(CH4). The largest uncertainty in the global CH4 budget arises from the uncertainty of CH4 emissions from natural wetlands, sources which will be specifically targeted during the CoMet 2.0 mission, envisaged to take place in summer 2022. Wetland emissions typically are related to large uncertainties regarding magnitude, spatial distribution, and seasonality of CH4 emissions and in addition may spatially overlap with other potential CH4 sources. This poses a challenge to large-scale airborne studies like the CoMet 2.0 missions, if detected CH4 enhancements shall be attributed to specific sources. However, different source types inhibit different "chemical" fingerprints, therefore the simultaneous measurement of the two tracers will allow for unprecedented detailed studies of CH4 emissions and significantly contribute to the scientific output of CoMet 2.0.While most of the experimental work will be achieved ahead of the campaign, the current proposal aims at the final optimization of the MIRACLE instrument, the deployment during the CoMet 2.0 mission, the technical data analysis and most imortantly, the scientific exploitation of the results.
DFG Programme
Infrastructure Priority Programmes
