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.