KIP-Veröffentlichungen

Jahr 2026
Autor(en) Tobias D. Schmitt, Romain Dubroeucq, Moritz Sindram, André Butz, Thomas Pfeifer and Markus K. Oberthaler
Titel Long-term open-path dual-comb spectroscopy for urban CO2 monitoring
KIP-Nummer HD-KIP 26-62
KIP-Gruppe(n) F17,F35
Dokumentart Paper
Quelle Atmos. Meas. Tech., Vol. 19, 5717–5728
doi https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-19-5717-2026
Abstract (en)

Accurate quantification of urban greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions can benefit from path-averaged, high-precision, high-temporal-resolution measurements that complement point sensors and passive remote sensing. Among open-path techniques, dual-comb spectroscopy (DCS) stands out as a particularly capable candidate, offering simultaneous broadband coverage, an absolute SI-traceable frequency axis, and sufficient spectral radiance for multi-kilometer paths. Here we present an open-path dual-comb spectrometer using two commercial, self-referenced, turn-key frequency combs operated continuously in Heidelberg, Germany, over an urban landscape. The instrument allows to infer column-averaged dry-air mole fractions of CO2 along a 3.1 km absorption path. Within the evaluation period from September 2025 to February 2026 the system achieved a data coverage of 76 %, with losses primarily attributable to visibility-limiting weather conditions such as fog and heavy rain. The instrument precision, characterized by the overlapping Allan deviation under stable atmospheric conditions, reaches 6.13 ppm  for CO2, equivalent to 0.35 ppm at 5 min averaging time. These values are on par with or better than previous open-path DCS experiments and represent roughly one order of magnitude improvement over a co-deployed open-path Fourier transform spectrometer operating on the same path. The two instruments differ by a small bias of 0.50 ppm for CO2. These results demonstrate that commercial frequency-comb technology has matured enough to turn open-path DCS into an accessible tool for the broader atmospheric science community, without sacrificing performance: built exclusively from commercially available components, our instrument remains fully competitive with custom-built dual-comb spectrometers. This establishes a foundation for distributed path-averaged observations, from urban emission monitoring and network-scale deployments to the validation of spectroscopic databases.