Applications

The measurements obtained from SCIAMACHY yield information about both tropospheric and stratospheric constituents. They enable a wide range of phenomena, both natural and anthropogenic in origin, which influence atmospheric chemistry and, consequently, the climate to be investigated:

• In the troposhere
  Biomass burning, biogenic emissions, pollution episodes over populated regions, lightning production of oxides of nitrogen, Arctic haze, forest fires, dust storms, industrial plumes.
  
• In the stratosphere
  Ozone chemistry including a special emphasis on the "ozone hole," volcanic events, and solar protons events.

Primary mission objectives

The primary scientific objective is the global measurement of trace gases in the troposhere and the stratosphere. The following table identifies the list of molecules that can be measured by SCIAMACHY in the different spectral regions.
Currently, the defined NRT/OL products do not cover all the feasible products.

The aim is to obtain global coverage within 3 days at the equator and more rapidly at higher latitudes

Secondary mission objectives

• Aerosol measurements
  The large wavelength scale of SCIAMACHY makes it ideally suited to the determination of atmospheric aerosols. This analysis will be assisted by the polarization information that can be determined from the PMDs (polarization measurement devices).
  
• Cloud measurements
  In nadir viewing, O₂, O₄, and CO₂ absorptions will indicate the penetration depth of light in the atmosphere and therefore the cloud top height to be estimated.  The combined use of PMDs data will also yield cloud top height. Polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs) which play a very important role in the ozone depletion mechanism will be readily measured by SCIAMACHY.
  
• Pressure and temperature measurements
  Stratospheric density/pressure profiles can be determined from the limb and occultation profiles of the well-mixed gases O₂ and CO₂

• Land and ocean measurements
  SCIAMACHY will provide global information on the surface spectral reflectance in the range 0.33 µm to 2.5 µm for large scale processes.
  
• Earth radiation budget
  SCIAMACHY spectral observations, in conjunction with model calculations, should contribute significantly to radiation budget studies.

Keywords: ESA European Space Agency - Agence spatiale europeenne, observation de la terre, earth observation, satellite remote sensing, teledetection, geophysique, altimetrie, radar, chimique atmospherique, geophysics, altimetry, radar, atmospheric chemistry