Understanding greenhouse gases: Insights from the CoMet airborne missions using lidar complemented by passive-remote-sensing, and in-situ instruments

Andreas Fix; Mathieu Quatrevalet; Christian Fruck; Martin Wirth; Sebastian Wolff; Gerhard Ehret; Christoph Kiemle; Heinrich Bovensmann; Sven Krautwurst; Christoph Gerbig; Michał Gałkowski; Patrick Jöckel; Julia Marshall; Anke Roiger; Klaus Pfeilsticker; Bernhard Mayer

doi:10.1051/epjconf/202636210004

Open Access

Issue		EPJ Web Conf. Volume 362, 2026 31^st International Laser Radar Conference (ILRC 31) Held Together with the 22^nd Coherent Laser Radar Conference (CLRC 22)


Article Number		10004
Number of page(s)		4
Section		Airborne Lidar Investigations, Large Scale Field Experiments, and Synergistic Use of Lidar and Other Instruments
DOI		https://doi.org/10.1051/epjconf/202636210004
Published online		09 April 2026

EPJ Web of Conferences 362, 10004 (2026)
https://doi.org/10.1051/epjconf/202636210004

Understanding greenhouse gases: Insights from the CoMet airborne missions using lidar complemented by passive-remote-sensing, and in-situ instruments

Andreas Fix^(a), Mathieu Quatrevalet^(a), Christian Fruck^(a), Martin Wirth^(a), Sebastian Wolff^(a), Gerhard Ehret^(a), Christoph Kiemle^(a), Heinrich Bovensmann^(b), Sven Krautwurst^(b), Christoph Gerbig^(c), Michał Gałkowski^(c), Patrick Jöckel^(a), Julia Marshall^(a), Anke Roiger^(a), Klaus Pfeilsticker^(d), Bernhard Mayer^(e) and the CoMet team^(a)^,(b)^,(c)^,(d)^,(e)

^(a) German Aerospace Center (DLR), Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany
^(b) University of Bremen, Institute of Environmental Physics, Bremen, Germany
^(c) Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Jena, Germany
^(d) University of Heidelberg, Institute of Environmental Physics, Heidelberg, Germany
^(e) Meteorological Institute, Ludwig-Maximilian University, Munich, Germany Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Published online: 9 April 2026

Abstract

In 2018, the CoMet series of airborne missions was launched under the auspices of the German Aerospace Center (DLR). From this point onward, large-scale field campaigns are organized regularly every few years, in collaboration with partner institutions, to understand the anthropogenic and natural fluxes of the greenhouse gases CO2 and CH4, using the German research aircraft HALO. In addition to scientific objectives, the CoMet field campaigns aim to promote technological developments necessary for new and future Earth observation satellites, validate current greenhouse gas satellite measurements, and prepare new satellite missions, in particular the upcoming German-French methane lidar mission MERLIN. One of the core instruments of CoMet is the IPDA lidar CHARM-F, which was developed at DLR as an airborne demonstrator, testbed, and validation tool for MERLIN.

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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