Monitoring of methane emissions in the Arctic by laser sensing to assess climate change

Abstract

Over the past 100 years, the rate of the temperature change in the Arctic increased almost twice compared to the average rate of warming on the Earth. (IPCC, 2007). It is necessary to use lidar methods for search and identification of methane from permafrost. We are developing Raman lidar for monitoring of methane hydrate emissions from the permafrost. Raman lidar with hyperspectral resolution would resolve the isotope shifts in the Stokes spectra, thereby to determine the isotopic composition of methane ratio C14/C12 CH4 carbon emissions and identify the source for study (permafrost or oil deposits).