The challenges of measuring methane from space with a LIDAR

Remote sensing of methane fluxes has been highlighted as one of the measurement goals of the NASA 2017 Earth Science Decadal Survey. Measuring methane from space and airborne platforms with an active (laser) remote sensing instrument presents several technology and measurement challenges that need to be met in order to provide accurate and precise data. The instrument must be able to make continuous measurements day and night, over all seasons and at all latitudes. It must have a high signal-to-noise ratio and must be relatively immune to biases from aerosol/cloud scattering, spectroscopic and meteorological data uncertainties, and other systematic errors. In this paper, we will discuss the technology challenges, options and tradeoffs to measure methane from space and airborne platforms.