The LMD is organizing and participating in the AB2CD campaign (AirBorne Campaign for Carbon Dioxide and Data Intercomparison), funded by the European Space Agency (ESA). This campaign, taking place from October 6 to 18, aims to improve our understanding of greenhouse gas emissions around several major European industrial areas and to test three innovative remote sensing instruments based on lidar technology. Operations focus on four high-emission sites: Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao, and Fos-sur-Mer. Three research aircraft fly over these regions to observe pollution plumes and assess CO₂ and CH₄ emissions.

These coordinated observations will both evaluate anthropogenic emissions from the major industrial sites, compare measurements from various instruments and platforms, and validate satellite observations acquired simultaneously over the study areas. Thanks to this multi-instrument and multi-scale approach, the AB2CD campaign will help improve the accuracy of atmospheric greenhouse gas monitoring — essential for climate observation and the assessment of emission-reduction policies.

Images:

• (top) The AB2CD science team operating at SAFIRE in Toulouse-Francazal in front of the ATR-42 aircraft, which carries two lidars for pollution trace measurements. Credit: J.-C. Canonici.

• (bottom) The SAFIRE, DLR, ONERA, and LMD scientific teams operating the instruments onboard the ATR-42 during a flight. Credit: S. Wolff.

• (right) The industrial site of the Bilbao harbor seen from the ATR-42 — one of the flight targets. Credit: S. Wolff.

Link to the campaign website:
https://observations.ipsl.fr/aeris/ab2cd/README.html