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<front>
<journal-meta>
<journal-id journal-id-type="publisher">ESSDD</journal-id>
<journal-title-group>
<journal-title>Earth System Science Data Discussions</journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="publisher">ESSDD</abbrev-journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="nlm-ta">Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss.</abbrev-journal-title>
</journal-title-group>
<issn pub-type="epub">1866-3591</issn>
<publisher><publisher-name></publisher-name>
<publisher-loc>Göttingen, Germany</publisher-loc>
</publisher>
</journal-meta>
<article-meta>
<article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.5194/essd-2026-171</article-id>
<title-group>
<article-title>Satellite-based inversion of global methane fluxes: Capabilities and implications of GOSAT-2 measurements</article-title>
</title-group>
<contrib-group><contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Saito</surname>
<given-names>Makoto</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0009-0009-6942-9802</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Niwa</surname>
<given-names>Yosuke</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7600-9816</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Yoshida</surname>
<given-names>Yukio</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3515-1488</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Suto</surname>
<given-names>Hiroshi</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Shiomi</surname>
<given-names>Kei</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1206-8614</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Kamei</surname>
<given-names>Akihide</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Kataoka</surname>
<given-names>Fumie</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff3">
<sup>3</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Morino</surname>
<given-names>Isamu</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2720-1569</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Noda</surname>
<given-names>Hibiki</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0467-0899</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Ohyama</surname>
<given-names>Hirofumi</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2109-9874</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Saeki</surname>
<given-names>Tazu</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1900-1786</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Someya</surname>
<given-names>Yu</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6176-3664</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Yashiro</surname>
<given-names>Hisashi</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2678-526X</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Matsunaga</surname>
<given-names>Tsuneo</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3380-5230</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
</contrib-group><aff id="aff1">
<label>1</label>
<addr-line>Earth System Division, National Institute for Environmental Studies, Tsukuba, 305-8506, Ibaraki, Japan</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff2">
<label>2</label>
<addr-line>Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Tsukuba, 305-8505, Ibaraki, Japan</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff3">
<label>3</label>
<addr-line>Remote Sensing Technology Center of Japan, Minato-ku, 105-0001, Tokyo, Japan</addr-line>
</aff>
<pub-date pub-type="epub">
<day>13</day>
<month>03</month>
<year>2026</year>
</pub-date>
<volume>2026</volume>
<fpage>1</fpage>
<lpage>31</lpage>
<permissions>
<copyright-statement>Copyright: &#x000a9; 2026 Makoto Saito et al.</copyright-statement>
<copyright-year>2026</copyright-year>
<license license-type="open-access">
<license-p>This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this licence, visit <ext-link ext-link-type="uri"  xlink:href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/</ext-link></license-p>
</license>
</permissions>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://essd.copernicus.org/preprints/essd-2026-171/">This article is available from https://essd.copernicus.org/preprints/essd-2026-171/</self-uri>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://essd.copernicus.org/preprints/essd-2026-171/essd-2026-171.pdf">The full text article is available as a PDF file from https://essd.copernicus.org/preprints/essd-2026-171/essd-2026-171.pdf</self-uri>
<abstract>
<p>Methane (CH&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt;) is a key greenhouse gas with a strong climate impact and a relatively short atmospheric lifetime, making accurate monitoring essential for mitigation strategies. Satellite observations provide global coverage and independent constraints on CH&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt; emission estimates, and GOSAT-2, launched in 2018 as the successor to GOSAT, was designed to improve retrieval accuracy and enhance flux estimation. This study presents an evaluation of the GOSAT-2 Level 4 (G2L4) CH&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt; flux product, supported by analysis of the underlying Level 2 (L2) XCH&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt; retrievals, and summarizes key findings on global and regional CH&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt; budgets. Using an atmospheric inversion framework, we generated G2L4 posterior CH&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt; fluxes and assessed their consistency by comparing them with inversions constrained by alternative observational datasets, including GOSAT L2 retrievals and ground-based and aircraft measurements. GOSAT-2 achieved substantial improvements in observational coverage and data density compared to its predecessor, particularly in tropical and high-latitude regions. Posterior flux estimates derived from G2L4 are broadly consistent with global CH&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt; budgets reported in synthesis studies, while prior-to-posterior differences reveal positive corrections in tropical regions and negative adjustments in several mid-latitude industrial areas. A preliminary sector-focused assessment further demonstrates the potential of GOSAT-2 to inform anthropogenic CH&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt; emission evaluations in regions where such sources dominate. These findings highlight the capability of GOSAT-2 to refine regional and global CH&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt; emission estimates and underscore priorities for future improvements in retrieval algorithms, observation strategies, and integration with complementary datasets.</p>
</abstract>
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