In this book, we will focus on estimating SO2 flux from data acquired by the TROPOMI sensor, onboard of Sentinel-5P.
How is TROPOMI/Sentinel-5P data acquired?¶
Sentinel-5P evolves on a polar orbit, around 824 km altitude. The main instrument carried by Sentinel-5P is TROPOMI, a UV-visible imaging spectrometer. The TROPOMI sensor captures solar radiation backscattered by Earth and atmosphere.
TROPOMI generates images of the vertically-integrated concentration of SO2 («Column amount»), every day, at global scale.
Key facts about SO data from TROPOMI:¶
measurements are expressed in Dobson Units
SO2 column amount is retrieved for a plume at altitude of 7 km (preferred retrieval ), or 1 km above the surface (anthropogenic emissions or emissions are low altitude), or at 15 km altitude (stratospheric eruptions)
spatial coverage : global, daily
pixel size: approximately 3 km 5 km
Learn more about SO products from Sentinel-5¶
Sentinel-5 Precursor mission concept : Ingmann et al. (2012)
Sentinel-5P SO2 product documentation
Description of the SO2 product retrieval algorithm: Theys et al. (2017), AMT and Theys et al. (2021), ACP
First detection of anthropogenic and volcanic SO2 emissions : Fioletov et al. (2020)
- Ingmann, P., Veihelmann, B., Langen, J., Lamarre, D., Stark, H., & Courrèges-Lacoste, G. B. (2012). Requirements for the GMES Atmosphere Service and ESA’s implementation concept: Sentinels-4/-5 and -5p. Remote Sensing of Environment, 120, 58–69. 10.1016/j.rse.2012.01.023
- Theys, N., De Smedt, I., Yu, H., Danckaert, T., van Gent, J., Hörmann, C., Wagner, T., Hedelt, P., Bauer, H., Romahn, F., Pedergnana, M., Loyola, D., & Van Roozendael, M. (2017). Sulfur dioxide retrievals from TROPOMI onboard Sentinel-5 Precursor: algorithm theoretical basis. Atmospheric Measurement Techniques, 10(1), 119–153. 10.5194/amt-10-119-2017
- Theys, N., Fioletov, V., Li, C., De Smedt, I., Lerot, C., McLinden, C., Krotkov, N., Griffin, D., Clarisse, L., Hedelt, P., Loyola, D., Wagner, T., Kumar, V., Innes, A., Ribas, R., Hendrick, F., Vlietinck, J., Brenot, H., & Van Roozendael, M. (2021). A sulfur dioxide Covariance-Based Retrieval Algorithm (COBRA): application to TROPOMI reveals new emission sources. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 21(22), 16727–16744. 10.5194/acp-21-16727-2021
- Fioletov, V., McLinden, C. A., Griffin, D., Theys, N., Loyola, D. G., Hedelt, P., Krotkov, N. A., & Li, C. (2020). Anthropogenic and volcanic point source SO2 emissions derived from TROPOMI on board Sentinel-5 Precursor: first results. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 20(9), 5591–5607. 10.5194/acp-20-5591-2020