The TanSat mission: preliminary global observations

Area of Science:

• Earth Science
• Atmospheric Science
• Remote Sensing

Background:

• The Chinese global carbon dioxide monitoring satellite (TanSat) was launched in December 2016.
• TanSat is designed to measure atmospheric column-averaged dry air mole fractions of carbon dioxide (XCO₂) and derive CO₂ fluxes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review progress towards TanSat's objectives.
• To present the first scientific results from TanSat measurements.
• To validate TanSat's XCO₂ products.

Main Methods:

• On-orbit tests of the Atmospheric Carbon dioxide Grating Spectrometer.
• Retrieval of preliminary XCO₂ products using an algorithm.
• Comparison of TanSat XCO₂ data with NASA OCO-2 measurements.
• Validation of XCO₂ retrievals against ground-site data from the Total Carbon Column Observing Network.

Main Results:

• TanSat's Atmospheric Carbon dioxide Grating Spectrometer is operational and producing L1B products.
• Preliminary TanSat XCO₂ products show an average bias of 2.11 ppm when compared to ground-site data.
• TanSat has met its precision design requirement of 4 ppm at the regional scale.
• The first scientific observations present seasonal XCO₂ distributions over global land areas.

Conclusions:

• TanSat has successfully met its precision design requirements for XCO₂ measurement.
• The satellite is beginning to provide valuable data for global and regional CO₂ flux studies.
• TanSat's initial results demonstrate its capability for monitoring global carbon dioxide levels.