Experts Say China's Next-Generation Carbon Satellite Can Distinguish Carbon Sinks from Carbon Emissions
The TanSat-2 carbon monitoring system enhances the ability to distinguish and account for carbon sinks and emissions, helping global carbon cycle research Hyperspectral observations combined with high-fidelity simulation testing improve the accuracy and application value of satellite carbon flux assessment
On September 11, the Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, introduced that its research team has proposed and developed a new carbon monitoring and accounting method and system for China’s nextgeneration carbon satellite, TanSat2, and achieved separate accounting of carbon sinks and anthropogenic carbon emissions in simulation observations.
The related research was jointly completed by teams from the Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Innovation Academy for Microsatellites of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the University of Edinburgh in the UK, and has recently been published in a professional academic journal. Researchers said that the new generation of carbon satellite will be equipped with a hyperspectral grating spectrometer, focusing on observing greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane, and will also conduct solarinduced chlorophyll fluorescence observations to improve the capability to monitor the global carbon cycle.
The research team also used a selfdeveloped orbit simulator to conduct highfidelity testing of the satellite’s observation process under complex atmospheric and surface conditions, and established a quantifiable evaluation framework to balance swath width, accuracy, bias, and retrieval performance. Researchers believe that monitoring global and regional carbon fluxes still requires joint support from satellite, groundbased, airborne, and in situ observations.