Comparisons of satellite (GOSAT) and ground-based Fourier spectroscopic measurements of methane content near St. Petersburg

The column-average mole fraction of methane measured with hyperspectral methods of ground-based Fourier transform spectroscopy at the Physical Department of St. Petersburg State University (59.9° N, 29.8° E) in 2009–2012 is compared with similar data measured from the Japanese GOSAT satellite. The average mole fraction of methane from GOSAT data version V01.xx are lower by 17–21 ppb than the corresponding value obtained from ground-based measurements with a standard deviation of about 13 ppb. For the GOSAT data version V02.xx, this difference is about 2 ppb on average, with a standard deviation of about 18 ppb. This corresponds to differences between data on from the GOSAT satellite and from the TCCON and NDACC networks.