The Greenhouse gas Observations of Biospheric and Local Emissions from the Upper sky (GOBLEU): a mission overview, instrument description, and results from the first flight

Background

The Greenhouse gas Observations of Biospheric and Local Emissions from the Upper sky (GOBLEU) is a new joint project by Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and ANA HOLDING INC. (ANAHD), which operates ANA flights. GOBLEU aims to visualizes our climate mitigation effort progress in support of subnational climate mitigation by collecting greenhouse gas (GHG) data as well as relevant data for emissions (nitrous dioxide, NO₂) and removals (Solar-Induced Fluorescence, SIF) from regular passenger flights. We developed a luggage-sized instrument based on the space remote-sensing techniques that JAXA has developed for Japan’s Greenhouse gas Observing SATellite (GOSAT). The instrument can be conveniently installed on a coach-class passenger seat without modifying the seat or the aircraft.

Results

The first GOBLEU observation was made on the flight from the Tokyo Haneda Airport to the Fukuoka Airport, with only the NO₂ module activated. The collected high-spatial-resolution NO₂ data were compared to that from the TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) satellite and surface NO₂ data from ground-based air quality monitoring stations. While GOBLEU and TROPOMI data shared the major concentration patterns largely driven by cities and large point sources, regardless of different observation times, we found fine-scale concentration pattern differences, which might be an indication of potential room for GOBLEU to bring in new emission information and thus is worth further examination. We also characterized the levels of NO₂ spatial correlation that change over time. The quickly degrading correlation level of GOBLEU and TROPOMI suggests a potentially significant impact of the time difference between CO₂ and NO₂ as an emission marker and, thus, the significance of co-located observations planned by future space missions.

Conclusions

GOBLEU proposes aircraft-based, cost-effective, frequent monitoring of greenhouse emissions by GOBLEU instruments carried on regular passenger aircraft. Theoretically, the GOBLEU instrument can be installed and operated in most commercially used passenger aircraft without modifications. JAXA and ANAHD wish to promote the observation technique by expanding the observation coverage and partnership to other countries by enhancing international cooperation under the Paris Agreement.