Retrieval of atmospheric methane from high spectral resolution satellite measurements: a correction for cirrus cloud effects.

We assessed the accuracy of methane (CH(4)) retrievals from synthetic radiance spectra particular to Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite observations. We focused on estimating the CH(4) vertical column amount from an atmosphere that includes thin cirrus clouds, taking into account uncertain meteorological conditions. A photon path-length probability density function (PPDF)-based method was adapted to correct for atmospheric scattering effects in CH(4) retrievals. This method was shown to provide similar retrieval accuracy as compared to a carbon dioxide (CO(2))-proxy-based correction approach. It infers some advantages of PPDF-based method for methane retrievals under high variability of CO(2) abundance.