MERLIN (MEthane Remote LIdar missioN) is a space mission developed by France and Germany to monitor the atmospheric methane using an IPDA (Integrated Path Differential Absorption) lidar. The mission is scheduled for launch at the end of the decade. Currently, the LMD (Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique) is working on improving spectroscopy data, end-to-end modelling of the instrument to study the sensitivity of measurements to different sources of uncertainty, developing an inversion system to study the impact of certain data processing parameters, setting up measurement campaigns to better understand methane variability and fluxes, as well as developing a ground-based differential absorption lidar for CH4 profiling.
Gibert et al. (2026) studied this question.