In the context of the ongoing global warming it is fundamental to understand the surface-atmosphere exchanges of atmospheric CO2 (IPCC 2014). The study of the spatial and temporal heterogeneity of these exchanges is necessary to go from the small scale (in situ observation) to the medium scale (mesh of a surface / atmosphere model) and to have a better precision on the climatic forecasts. In situ observation of CO2 exchanges in a complex environment (zone with strong orography, urban area, partially flooded zone, volcanic zone) is complicated or impossible and requires a remote observation capability.
In addition, following COP21 and the Paris agreements, each country is asked to quantify its own anthropogenic CO2 emissions. With this demand arises the question of the reliability of emission inventories. Uncertainty increases with time-space resolution and can be significant for developing countries.
The LIDAR makes it possible to map the CO2 density over key areas and thus to answer the above problems. Quantification of CO2 sources and sinks requires exceptional precision and accuracy for a remote sensing instrument (<1%). However, thanks to technological developments (laser source and detector), this type of measurement will be accessible in the coming years with a high spatio-temporal resolution (100 m – 1 s) and over a long distance (1-10 km).
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