Arctic Space Centre and Sodankylä Space Campus, Greenhouse Gases and Remote Sensing of Atmosphere, News

ESA Copernicus/Sentinel CO2M mission team visit to Sodankylä

The image shows the ESA CO2M team together with SNOWITE researchers in the Sodankylä ICOS (Integrated Carbon Observation System) tower that is used for tower-based remote sensing reference measurements and ecosystem scale CO2 flux monitoring with the European ICOS network (Image courtesy of FMI).

ESA SNOWITE project final meeting and concurrent ESA Copernicus/Sentinel CO2M mission team visit took place in Sodankylä in the beginning of December 2022.

The Copernicus Carbon Dioxide Monitoring mission, CO2M, is a key mission for the global monitoring of anthropogenic CO2 emissions for the need of the European Union and the international community. It is one of Europe’s Copernicus Sentinel Expansion missions and will be the first to measure how much carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere specifically through human activity. The mission consists of three satellites: CO2M-A, CO2M-B and CO2M-C, the first of which is planned for launch in 2025.

SNOWITE project focused on investigating the feasibility of CO2M for the high latitudes of the Earth, concerning the regions of seasonal snow cover. Campaign activities carried out in Sodankylä played an important role in SNOWITE work.

Sodankylä supersite infrastructure including the monitoring of CO2 and CH4 fluxes and atmospheric concentrations, as well as accommodation of reference instruments of satellite sensors is a potential candidate for the calibration and validation of CO2M and related research activities to develop CO2M data interpretation.

More information

Dr. Hannakaisa Lindqvist, Head of Greenhouse Gases and Satellite Methods group, hannakaisa.lindqvist@fmi.fi

CO2M Mission: https://www.eoportal.org/satellite-missions/co2m#co2m-copernicus-carbon-dioxide-monitoring-mission

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