The muon and anti-muon neutrino energy spectrum is determined from 2000-2003 AMANDA telescope data using regularised unfolding. This is the first 3 measurement of atmospheric neutrinos in the energy range 2 -200 TeV. The result is compared to different atmospheric neutrino models and it is compatible with the atmospheric neutrinos from pion and kaon decays. No significant contribution from charm hadron decays or extraterrestrial neutrinos is detected. The capabilities to improve the measurement of the neutrino spectrum with the successor experiment IceCube are discussed.

Methane (CH 4 ) impacts climate as the second strongest anthropogenic greenhouse gas and air quality by influencing tropospheric ozone levels. Space-based observations have identified the Four Corners region in the Southwest United States as an area of large CH 4 enhancements. We conducted an airborne campaign in Four Corners during April 2015 with the next-generation Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (near-infrared) and Hyperspectral Thermal Emission Spectrometer (thermal infrared) imaging spectrometers to better understand the source of methane by measuring methane plumes at 1-to 3-m spatial resolution. Our analysis detected more than 250 individual methane plumes from fossil fuel harvesting, processing, and distributing infrastructures, spanning an emission range from the detection limit ∼ 2 kg/h to 5 kg/h through ∼ 5,000 kg/h. Observed sources include gas processing facilities, storage tanks, pipeline leaks, and well pads, as well as a coal mine venting shaft. Overall, plume enhancements and inferred fluxes follow a lognormal distribution, with the top 10% emitters contributing 49 to 66% to the inferred total point source flux of 0.23 Tg/y to 0.39 Tg/y. With the observed confirmation of a lognormal emission distribution, this airborne observing strategy and its ability to locate previously unknown point sources in real time provides an efficient and effective method to identify and mitigate major emissions contributors over a wide geographic area. With improved instrumentation, this capability scales to spaceborne applications [Thompson DR, et al. (2016)

Abstract. Carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) is the most important anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) causing global warming. The atmospheric CO 2 concentration increased by more than 30% since pre-industrial times -primarily due to burning of fossil fuels -and still continues to increase. Reporting of CO 2 emissions is required by the Kyoto protocol. Independent verification of reported emissions, which are typially not directly measured, by methods such as inverse modeling of measured atmospheric CO 2 concentrations is currently not possible globally due to lack of appropriate observations. Existing satellite instruments such as SCIAMACHY/ENVISAT and TANSO/GOSAT focus on advancing our understanding of natural CO 2 sources and sinks. The obvious next step for future generation satellites is to also constrain anthropogenic CO 2 emissions. Here we present a promising satellite remote sensing concept based on spectroscopic measurements of reflected solar radiation and show, using power plants as an example, that strong localized CO 2 point sources can be detected and their emissions quantified. This requires mapping the atmospheric CO 2 column distribution at a spatial resolution of 2×2 km 2 with a precision of 0.5% (2 ppm) or better. We indicate that this can be achieved with existing technology. For a single satellite in sun-synchronous orbit with a swath width of 500 km, each power plant (PP) is overflown every 6 days or more frequent. Based on the MODIS cloud mask data product we conservatively estimate that typically 20 sufficiently cloud free overpasses per PP can be achieved every year. We found that for typical wind speeds in the range of 2-6 m/s the statistical uncertainty of the retrieved Correspondence to: M. Buchwitz (michael.buchwitz@iup.physik.unibremen.de) PP CO 2 emission due to instrument noise is in the range 1.6-4.8 MtCO 2 /yr for single overpasses. This corresponds to 12-36% of the emission of a mid-size PP (13 MtCO 2 /yr). We have also determined the sensitivity to parameters which may result in systematic errors such as atmospheric transport and aerosol related parameters. We found that the emission error depends linearly on wind speed, i.e., a 10% wind speed error results in a 10% emission error, and that neglecting enhanced aerosol concentrations in the PP plume may result in errors in the range 0.2-2.5 MtCO 2 /yr, depending on PP aerosol emission. The discussed concept has the potential to contribute to an independent verification of reported anthropogenic CO 2 emissions and therefore could be an important component of a future global anthropogenic GHG emission monitoring system. This is of relevance in the context of Kyoto protocol follow-on agreements but also allows detection and monitoring of a variety of other strong natural and anthropogenic CO 2 and CH 4 emitters. The investigated instrument is not limited to these applications as it has been specified to also deliver the data needed for global regionalscale CO 2 and CH 4 surface flux inverse modeling.

We present the results of time-integrated searches for astrophysical neutrino sources in both the northern and southern skies. Data were collected using the partially completed IceCube detector in the 40-string configuration recorded between 2008 April 5 and 2009 May 20, totaling 375.5 days livetime. An unbinned maximum likelihood ratio method is used to search for astrophysical signals. The data sample contains 36,900 events: 14,121 from the northern sky, mostly muons induced by atmospheric neutrinos, and 22,779 from the southern sky, mostly high-energy atmospheric muons. The analysis includes searches for individual point sources and stacked searches for sources in a common class, sometimes including a spatial extent. While this analysis is sensitive to TeV-PeV energy neutrinos in the northern sky, it is primarily sensitive to neutrinos with energy greater than about 1 PeV in the southern sky. No evidence for a signal is found in any of the searches. Limits are set for neutrino fluxes from astrophysical sources over the entire sky and compared to predictions. The sensitivity is at least a factor of two better than previous searches (depending on declination), with 90% confidence level muon neutrino flux upper limits being between E 2 dΦ/dE ∼ 2-200 × 10 −12 TeV cm −2 s −1 in the northern sky and between 3-700 × 10 −12 TeV cm −2 s −1 in the southern sky. The stacked source searches provide the best limits to specific source classes. The full IceCube detector is expected to improve the sensitivity to dΦ/dE ∝ E −2 sources by another factor of two in the first year of operation.

Over 5000 PMTs are being deployed at the South Pole to compose the IceCube neutrino observatory. Many are placed deep in the ice to detect Cherenkov light emitted by the products of high-energy neutrino interactions, and others are frozen into tanks on the surface to detect particles from atmospheric cosmic ray showers. IceCube is using the 10-in. diameter R7081-02 made by Hamamatsu Photonics. This paper describes the laboratory characterization and calibration of these PMTs before deployment. PMTs were illuminated with pulses ranging from single photons to saturation level. Parameterizations are given for the single photoelectron charge spectrum and the saturation behavior. Time resolution, late pulses and afterpulses are characterized. Because the PMTs are relatively large, the cathode sensitivity uniformity was measured. The absolute photon detection efficiency was calibrated using Rayleigh-scattered photons from a nitrogen laser. Measured characteristics are discussed in the context of their relevance to IceCube event reconstruction and simulation efforts