The objective of the CarbonSat mission is to improve our knowledge on natural and anthropogenic sources and sinks of CO_2 and CH_4. CarbonSat was one of the two candidate missions selected for definition studies for becoming Earth Explorer 8 (EE8). The CarbonSat End-to-End Simulator (CSE2ES) simulates the full data flow of the mission with a set of modules embedded in ESA’s generic simulation framework OpenSF. A Geometry Module (GM) defines the orbital geometry and related parameters. A Scene Generation Module (SGM) provides simulated radiances and irradiances for the selected scenes. The Level 1 Module (L1M) compromises the instrument simulator and the Level 1b processor, and provide as main output calibrated spectra. The L1M is implemented in two versions, reflecting the instrument concepts from the two competing industrial system studies. The Level 2 Retrieval Module (L2M) performs the retrieval from the input level 1b spectra to the atmospheric parameters (CO_2 and CH_4). In this paper, we show sensitivity studies with respect to atmospheric parameters, simulations along the orbit and a case study for the detection of a point source emitting carbon dioxide. In summary, the end-to-end simulation with CSE2ES proves the capability of the CarbonSat concept to reach its requirements.
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