The Monitoring Nitrous Oxide Sources (MIN₂OS) satellite project aims at monitoring global-scale nitrous oxide (N₂O) sources by retrieving N₂O surface fluxes from the inversion of space-borne N₂O measurements that are sensitive to the lowermost atmospheric layers under favorable conditions. MIN₂OS will provide emission estimates of N₂O at a horizontal resolution of 1° × 1° on the global scale and 10 × 10 km² on the regional scale on a weekly to monthly basis depending on the application (e.g., agriculture, national inventories, policy, scientific research). Our novel approach is based on the development of: 1) a space-borne instrument operating in the Thermal InfraRed domain providing, in clear sky conditions, N₂O mixing ratio in the lowermost atmosphere (900 hPa) under favorable conditions (summer daytime) over land and under favorable and unfavorable (winter nighttime) conditions over the ocean and 2) an atmospheric inversion framework to estimate N₂O surface fluxes from the atmospheric satellite observations. After studying three N₂O spectral bands (B1 at 1240–1350 cm⁻¹, B2 at 2150–2260 cm⁻¹ and B3 at 2400–2600 cm⁻¹), a new TIR instrument will be developed, centered at 1250–1330 cm⁻¹, with a resolution of 0.125 cm⁻¹, a Full Width at Half Maximum of 0.25 cm⁻¹ and a swath of 300 km. To optimally constrain the retrieval of N₂O vertical profiles, the instrument will be on-board a platform at ~830 km altitude in a sun-synchronous orbit crossing the Equator in descending node at 09:30 local time in synergy with two other platforms (Metop-SG and Sentinel-2 NG) expected to fly in 2031–32 aiming at detecting surface properties, agricultural information on the field scale and vertical profiles of atmospheric constituents and temperature. The lifetime of the MIN₂OS project would be 4–5 years to study the interannual variability of N₂O surface fluxes. The spectral noise can be decreased by at least a factor of 5 compared to the lowest noise accessible to date with the Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer-New Generation (IASI-NG) mission. The N₂O total error is expected to be less than ~1% (~3 ppbv) along the vertical. The preliminary design of the MIN₂OS project results in a small instrument (payload of 90 kg, volume of 1200 × 600 × 300 mm³) with, in addition to the spectrometer, a wide field and 1-km resolution imager for cloud detection. The instruments could be hosted on a small platform, the whole satellite being largely compatible with a dual launch on VEGA-C. The MIN₂OS project has been submitted to the European Space Agency Earth Explorer 11 mission ideas.

监测一氧化二氮源(MIN ₂ OS) 卫星项目旨在监测全球尺度的一氧化二氮 (N ₂ O) 源，方法是从对最低层敏感的星载 N ₂ O 测量值的反演中检索 N ₂ O 表面通量有利条件下的大气层。MIN ₂ OS 将在全球范围内以 1° × 1° 的水平分辨率和 10 × 10 km ²提供 N ₂ O 的排放估计值根据应用（例如，农业、国家清单、政策、科学研究），每周到每月在区域范围内进行。我们的新方法基于以下开发：1) 一种在热红外领域运行的星载仪器，在晴朗的天空条件下，在有利条件（夏季白天）下提供最低大气层 (900 hPa) 中的N ₂ O 混合比陆地上和海洋上有利和不利（冬季夜间）条件下，以及 2) 大气反演框架，用于估计来自大气卫星观测的N ₂ O 表面通量。在研究了三个 N ₂ O 光谱带（B1 在 1240-1350 cm ^-1，B2 在 2150-2260 cm ^-1和 B3 在 2400-2600 cm ^-1），将开发一种新的 TIR 仪器，中心在 1250-1330 cm ^-1，分辨率为 0.125 cm ^-1，半高全宽为 0.25 cm ^-1和300 公里的地带。为了最佳地限制 N ₂ O 垂直剖面的检索，该仪器将与其他两个平台协同，在当地时间 09:30 在下降交点穿越赤道的太阳同步轨道上安装在约 830 公里高度的平台上（Metop-SG 和 Sentinel-2 NG）预计将在 2031-32 年飞行，旨在探测地表特性、田间尺度的农业信息以及大气成分和温度的垂直剖面。MIN ₂的使用寿命OS 项目将需要 4-5 年时间来研究 N ₂ O 表面通量的年际变化。与红外大气探测干涉仪-新一代 (IASI-NG) 任务迄今为止可获得的最低噪声相比，光谱噪声可降低至少 5 倍。沿垂直方向的 N ₂ O 总误差预计小于 ~1% (~3 ppbv)。MIN ₂ OS 项目的初步设计产生了一个小型仪器（有效载荷为 90 kg，体积为 1200 × 600 × 300 mm ³），除了光谱仪外，还有一个用于云检测的宽视场和 1 公里分辨率的成像仪. 这些仪器可以托管在一个小型平台上，整个卫星在很大程度上与 VEGA-C 上的双发射兼容。最小₂ OS 项目已提交给欧洲航天局地球探索者 11 号任务的想法。