Observing and understanding aerosol properties is fundamental for the remote sensing community, yet things get more complicated in cloudy environments. Pixels located in the transition zone between pure cloud and pure aerosol are often discarded by both aerosol and cloud algorithms, despite being essential for studying aerosol–cloud interactions, which still represent the largest source of …
A high level of innovation in algorithm development and methodological approach is the key feature of the activities performed during the ESA S5P+Innovation AOD/BRDF project. Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) is the single most comprehensive variable for the remote assessment of the aerosol load in the atmosphere. Atmospheric aerosols, such as aerosols from the burning of …
Pollutant and greenhouse gas emission inventories provide essential information for policy makers, governments and subsidiary bodies to evaluate progress towards emission abatement measures, and decide on future strategies. Inventories use different methodologies between countries, and have large uncertainties related to both activity data and emission factors. The use of satellite data, notably the imagery of …
The educational materials (slides and recordings of the sessions) from the 3rd EUMETSAT/ESA/ECMWF joint training in atmospheric composition held online from 6 to 17 December 2021 can be accessed from the link on the left menu.
LuftBlick Earth Observation Technologies (LuftBlick) and the Royal Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy (BIRA) propose to develop a novel algorithm to derive ozone profiles from measurements of ground-based passive remote sensing instruments. These are the highlights of our proposed activity: The novel algorithm distinguishes itself in several ways from existing approaches: It uses MAX-DOAS sky …
The European Space Agency (ESA), the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT), the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) with the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) organised the third joint training course on Atmospheric Composition from 6 to 17 December 2021. The training presented the state-of-the-art in atmospheric monitoring and modelling. …
The thin ozone layer positioned in stratosphere is crucial for the survival of life on Earth. This stratospheric ozone layer shields the Earth from most of the Sun’s harmful ultraviolet radiation. In the late 1970s, scientists found out that humanity was creating a hole in this protective ozone shield. In 1985, the Vienna Convention for …
Researchers at the Finnish Meteorological Institute developed a new methodology to derive source-specific NOₓ-to-CO₂ emission ratios using satellite observations. The method was applied to Matimba power station in South-Africa. The results can be used to estimate carbon dioxide emissions. Missions to observe CO2 plumes Since the Paris agreement was adopted in 2015, the role of …
Stratospheric aerosols play an important role in the Earth system and in the climate. Through the scattering of solar radiation back to space and by heating the stratosphere through the absorption of thermal infrared radiation upwelling from the troposphere, stratospheric aerosols impact the radiative forcing and thus the energy balance of the Earth’s atmosphere. By …
The capability of Sentinel-5P for aerosol monitoring is currently not used to its full potential. However, satellite observations in the spectral range of approximately 340 – 400 nm are known to have unique sensitivity to elevation and absorption of tropospheric aerosols. Traditionally, this sensitivity is used in many ozone monitoring instruments such as TOMS, GOME-1, …
