Multi-Sensor Methane Mapping in a Unified Framework: Tanager-1 Integration and comparison to EnMAP and PRISMA

TL;DR

This paper integrates Tanager-1 satellite data into a multi-sensor methane detection framework, compares it with EnMAP and PRISMA, and evaluates the impact on methane plume detection and flux estimation.

Contribution

It introduces a method to incorporate Tanager-1 radiances into existing methane retrieval processes and assesses its performance relative to other sensors.

Findings

Tanager-1 data can be effectively integrated into methane detection workflows.

Column-wise background estimation reduces false positives from pushbroom artifacts.

Operational results demonstrate the method's potential for detecting methane super-emitters.

Abstract

Spaceborne imaging spectroscopy enables facility-scale methane (CH4) plume detection and quantification by exploiting absorption structure in the 1.65/2.3 um windows. However, performance ultimately depends on both radiometric sensitivity and the mitigation of pushbroom artifacts such as column-dependent variability and striping. This paper reports the integration of Planet/Carbon Mapper Tanager-1 Level-1 radiances into a mature multi-sensor methane processing chain previously applied to PRISMA and EnMAP and evaluates the implications of Tanager-1 radiometric regime for matched-filter retrieval, plume segmentation, and IME-based flux estimation. The retrieval is based on a Clutter Matched Filter (CMF) formulation that yields methane enhancements in concentration-path-length units (ppmm) and propagates uncertainty from radiance noise and background variability through enhancement maps, Integrated Mass Enhancement (IME), and emission rate via the IME method. Particular emphasis is placed on a column-wise CMF (CWCMF), in which background statistics are estimated per detector column to reduce structured false positives induced by pushbroom non-uniformities. A compact radiometric comparison between PRISMA, EnMAP and Tanager-1 is performed on homogeneous high-reflectance calibration scenes to derive reference SNR spectra and striping diagnostics for all these sensors . We then demonstrate CWCMF-only operational results on a landfill super-emitter in the Buenos Aires region, using paired Tanager-1 and EnMAP acquisitions over the same area of interest acquired on different dates. In the absence of near-simultaneous acquisitions and ground truth, results are interpreted in terms of background-limited sensitivity and uncertainty-stabilized IME/flux estimation rather than absolute accuracy.