The Atmospheric Imaging Mission for Northern Regions: AIM-North

• Published in: Canadian Journal of Remote Sensing
• Main Authors: Ray Nassar, Chris McLinden, Christopher E. Sioris, C. T. McElroy, Joseph Mendonca, Johanna Tamminen, Cameron G. MacDonald, Cristen Adams, Céline Boisvenue, Adam Bourassa, Ryan Cooney, Doug Degenstein, Guillaume Drolet, Louis Garand, Ralph Girard, Markey Johnson, Dylan B.A. Jones, Felicia Kolonjari, Bruce Kuwahara, Randall V. Martin, Charles E. Miller, Norman O’Neill, Aku Riihelä, Sébastien Roche, Stanley P. Sander, William R. Simpson, Gurpreet Singh, Kimberly Strong, Alexander P. Trishchenko, Helena van Mierlo, Zahra Vaziri Zanjani, Kaley A. Walker, Debra Wunch
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English; French
• Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2019
• Subjects: Environmental sciences; GE1-350; Technology; T; permafrost
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1080/07038992.2019.1643707; https://doaj.org/article/bea1eaa11e724d9f81977ffae07d9fbc

AIM-North is a proposed satellite mission that would provide observations of unprecedented frequency and density for monitoring northern greenhouse gases (GHGs), air quality (AQ) and vegetation. AIM-North would consist of two satellites in a highly elliptical orbit formation, observing over land from ∼40°N to 80°N multiple times per day. Each satellite would carry a near-infrared to shortwave infrared imaging spectrometer for CO2, CH4, and CO, and an ultraviolet-visible imaging spectrometer for air quality. Both instruments would measure solar-induced fluorescence from vegetation. A cloud imager would make near-real-time observations, which could inform the pointing of the other instruments to focus only on the clearest regions. Multiple geostationary (GEO) AQ and GHG satellites are planned for the 2020s, but they will lack coverage of northern regions like the Arctic. AIM-North would address this gap with quasi-geostationary observations of the North and overlap with GEO coverage to facilitate intercomparison and fusion of these datasets. The resulting data would improve our ability to forecast northern air quality and quantify fluxes of GHG and AQ species from forests, permafrost, biomass burning and anthropogenic activity, furthering our scientific understanding of these processes and supporting environmental policy.