The Atmospheric Imaging Mission for Northern Regions: AIM-North

Abstract

AIM-North is a proposed satellite mission that would provide observations of unprecedented frequency and density for monitoring northern greenhouse gases (GHGs), air quality (AQ) and vegetation. AIM-North would consist of two satellites in a highly elliptical orbit formation, observing over land from $40 N to 80 N multiple times per day. Each satellite would carry a near-infrared to shortwave infrared imaging spectrometer for CO 2 , CH 4 , and CO, and an ultraviolet-visible imaging spectrometer for air quality. Both instruments would measure solar-induced fluorescence from vegetation. A cloud imager would make near-real-time observations, which could inform the pointing of the other instruments to focus only on the clearest regions. Multiple geostationary (GEO) AQ and GHG satellites are planned for the 2020s, but they will lack coverage of northern regions like the Arctic. AIM-North would address this gap with quasi-geostationary observations of the North and overlap with GEO coverage to facilitate intercomparison and fusion of these datasets. The resulting data would improve our ability to forecast northern air quality and quantify fluxes of GHG and AQ species from forests, permafrost, biomass burning and anthropogenic activity, furthering our scientific understanding of these processes and supporting environmental policy. R ESUM E AIM-North est une proposition de mission satellitaire visant a acqu erir des observations de l'h emisph ere nord a une fr equence et une densit e sans pr ec edent pour le suivi des gaz a effets de serre (GES), de la qualit e de l'air (QA) et de la v eg etation. AIM-North serait constitu ee de deux satellites plac es dans une orbite hautement elliptique permettant d'observer les surfaces situ ees entre 40 N et 80 N a plusieurs reprises au cours d'une journ ee. Chaque satellite transporterait un spectrom etre imageur op erant dans le proche infrarouge et l'infrarouge de courte longueur d'onde pour la mesure du CO 2 , CH 4 et CO, ainsi qu'un spectrom etre imageur op erant dans l'ultraviolet et le visible pour mesurer la qualit e de l'air. Ces deux instruments mesureraient aussi la fluorescence de la v eg etation induite par le soleil. La d etection des nuages en temps quasi-r eel permettrait de pointer les satellites sur les r egions ARTICLE HISTORYles moins ennuag ees. De multiples satellites g eostationnaires (GEO) pour la mesure de la QA et des GES sont pr evus pour la d ecennie 2020 mais ils ne couvriront pas les r egions les plus nordiques. AIM-North pallierait a ce manque et chevaucherait la couverture des satellites GEO, facilitant ainsi l'inter-comparaison de divers jeux de donn ees. Ces donn ees am elioreraient notre capacit e a pr evoir la QA des r egions nordiques et a quantifier les flux de GES et de QA provenant des milieux naturels et des activit es anthropiques, approfondissant notre compr ehension de ces processus et appuyant les politiques environnementales.

Pixel Size and Revisit Rate Requirements for Monitoring Power Plant CO2 Emissions from Space

“…A constellation of multiple wide-swath LEO missions is of course one way to obtain the required revisit rate, however geostationary (GEO) observations are another approach, with the potential for sub-daily revisit rates over land from ∼50 • N-50 • S [10,19] and limited glint observations. Quasi-geostationary observations of high latitude regions can be obtained using from a highly elliptical orbit (HEO) [20,21]. Including GEO and HEO in the constellation, along with LEO is the longterm vision for CO 2 monitoring for Europe [2] and suggested for the global architecture by CEOS [22].…”

“…Including GEO and HEO in the constellation, along with LEO is the longterm vision for CO 2 monitoring for Europe [2] and suggested for the global architecture by CEOS [22]. Including GEO and HEO would likely lower the total number of satellites required since these vantage points better facilitate frequent revisits for key regions and flexible, cloud-informed pointing strategies can improve efficiency by timing observations for cloud avoidance [21]. Regardless of orbit, passive measurements using reflected sunlight would still lack night time data.…”

Observing Polar Regions from Space: Comparison between Highly Elliptical Orbit and Medium Earth Orbit Constellations

“…There are plans for several other GEO sounding missions, such as Geostationary Coastal and Air Pollution Events (GEO-CAPE) planned by NASA, Geostationary Environmental Monitoring Spectrometer (GEMS) considered by the Korea Meteorological Administration, and Infrared Fourier-Transform Spectrometer-Geostationary (IRFS-GS) under development by the Russian Federal Space Agency and the Federal Service for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring. In principle, these instruments with some adjustments can be utilized for measurements from HEO and MEO platforms, as discussed by Nassar et al (2019). The typical refresh rate of sounding instruments to achieve the full disk (or extended spatial area) coverage is around 60 min; that is, it is significantly longer than the refresh cycle of the imagers.…”

“…Some additional optimization of orbital parameters to further reduce the total ionizing dose for the 14-, 15-, and 16-h HEO systems has been discussed in Trishchenko et al (2019). A two-satellite HEO constellation named Atmospheric Imaging Mission for Northern Regions (AIM-North) has been proposed for air quality and green gas monitoring (Nassar et al 2019). It is understood from these previous studies that several variants of two-satellite HEO systems launched at the critical inclination 63.4358 can achieve continuous coverage of the polar latitude zone starting from about 588 to 608 at the VZA limit of 708.…”

Space‐Based Observations for Understanding Changes in the Arctic‐Boreal Zone

“…The Atmospheric Imaging Mission for Northern regions (AIM‐North, www.aim‐north.ca) is a new HEO concept currently undergoing Phase 0 studies for the CSA (Nassar et al, ). AIM‐North would measure CO 2 , CH 4 , CO, SIF, NO 2 , O 3 , BrO, HCHO, SO 2 , aerosols, clouds, and other species.…”