Spectral Energy Model-Driven Inversion of XCO2 in IPDA Lidar Remote Sensing

Carbon observation satellites based on passive theory (e.g., OCO-2/3, GOSAT-1/2, and TanSat) have relatively high carbon dioxide column concentration (XCO2) accuracy when the observation conditions are met. Passive satellites have data bias and coverage deficiencies due to cloud cover, low albedo, low-light conditions, and aerosol scattering, resulting in carbon observation satellites based on passive theory that cannot meet the demand for high-precision, all-day, all-weather XCO2 monitoring. Active detection satellites are urgently needed to support global carbon sources, sinks, and carbon neutrality. China intends to launch a sensor satellite with active detection of XCO2 in the coming years. In this work, based on the satellite’s scaled-down airborne experiments, a spectral energy model was developed to optimize the conventional inversion algorithm and achieve a more accurate XCO2 inversion. The 1.572-
$\mu \text{m}$
integrated path differential absorption (IPDA) lidar column length is used indirectly to evaluate the accuracy of the spectral energy model for signal extraction. Also, the experimental results show that the accuracy of the signal extracted by the 1.572-
$\mu \text{m}$
IPDA lidar column length is 0.74 and 6.20 m at sea and on land based on the indirect evaluation of the length of the 1.572-
$\mu \text{m}$
IPDA lidar column length. The optimized XCO2 was evaluated (standard deviation as an evaluation metric) and its XCO2 standard deviation reduced by 31%, 63%, and 66% in the ocean, plains, and mountains, respectively. Our algorithm can obtain the XCO2 with a consistent trend by using XCO2 from the OCO-2 satellite as a reference. The calculated XCO2 is more accurate in areas dominated by anthropogenic factors (plains), due to the accuracy of the IPDA detection mechanism. This algorithm improves the accuracy and robustness of XCO2 inversion and has important reference significance for the IPDA lidar carried by China’s satellites to be launched in this year.