Lidar for monitoring methane emission in Siberian permafrost

Abstract

Identifying methane anomalies responsible for the temperature increase, by hiking trails in the Arctic requires great human labor .According to the tentative forecast by the year 2100 Arctic permafrost will greatly deteriorate, which will have numerous consequences. Indeed, release of less than 0.1% of the organic carbon stored in the upper 100-meter permafrost level (approximately 10000 ppm of carbon in the СН4 form) can double concentration of atmospheric methane, which is roughly 20 times more potent greenhouse gas than the CO2. Necessary to create a Raman lidar for monitoring of emissions of methane hydrate from the permafrost.