More Frequent Spaceborne Sampling of XCO2 Improves Detectability of
Carbon Cycle Seasonal Transitions in Arctic-Boreal Ecosystems
Abstract
Surface, aircraft, and satellite measurements indicate pervasive cold
season CO2 emissions across Arctic regions, consistent with a
hyperactive biosphere and increased metabolism in plants and soils. A
key remaining question is whether cold season sources will become large
enough to permanently shift the Arctic into a net carbon source. Polar
orbiting GHG satellites provide robust estimation of regional carbon
budgets but lack sufficient spatial coverage and repeat frequency to
track sink-to-source transitions in the early cold season. Mission
concepts such as the Arctic Observing Mission (AOM) advocate for flying
imaging spectrometers in highly elliptical orbits (HEO) over the Arctic
to address sampling limitations. We perform retrieval and flux inversion
simulation experiments using the AURORA mission concept, leveraging a
Panchromatic imaging Fourier Transform Spectrometer (PanFTS) in HEO.
AURORA simulations demonstrate the benefits of increased CO2 sampling
for detecting spatial gradients in cold season efflux and improved
monitoring of rapid Arctic change.