An understanding of the composition of Earth’s atmosphere is crucial for the interpretation of the physiochemical processes surrounding us. Air pollution has become a serious health issue, threatening the life quality at many regions. A long-term monitoring of the atmospheric composition, or of its key constituents, is the baseline for many climatological applications. Furthermore, information about the distribution and temporal behavior of aerosol and cloud properties provides knowledge about Earth’s radiation budget which again is relevant for climate research.
Measurements of the trace- and greenhouse gas properties as well as aerosol and cloud information are provided by passive sensors operating in the UV‑VIS‑NIR spectral region on dedicated missions which were pioneered by GOME/ERS‑2, SCIAMACHY/Envisat and GOME‑2/MetOp‑ABC. In recent and future years, the polar orbiting Copernicus Sentinel missions Sentinel‑5P and Sentinel‑5 are a game-changer in terms of spatial resolution with global coverage. With the anticipated launch of the geostationary Sentinel‑4 mission, also an increased temporal resolution (therefore with limited geographical coverage over Europe) will provide valuable insights into the diurnal variations of atmospheric key components.
Based on data from the Copernicus Sentinel missions, work package 2000 of the INPULS project is developing innovative Level‑2 products, e.g. SO\(_2\) layer height, water vapor and surface properties. From operational Level‑2 products, it creates Level‑3 data for all major trace- and greenhouse gases: O\(_3\), SO\(_2\), HCHO, NO\(_2\), CO, CH\(_4\) and also for aerosol and cloud parameters.
Figure 1: Ozone Level‑3 product for 10 October 2023 based on
operational TROPOMI/Sentinel‑5P Level‑2 data.
Apart from the operational daily data and images (see Figure 1 for an example), special localized events (e.g. the ozone hole, volcanic eruptions, large hurricanes, forest fires) will be presented in dedicated web articles.
Contact
Víctor Molina García, DLR IMF‑ATP
Ronny Lutz, DLR IMF‑ATP
Fabian Romahn, DLR IMF‑ATP