instrument

SCIAMACHY Satellite-borne Spectrometer

• General Information
• SCIAMACHY (Scanning Imaging Absorption Spectrometer for Atmospheric CHartographY) is a spectrometer designed to measure sunlight, transmitted, reflected and scattered by the earth´s atmosphere or surface in the ultraviolet, visible and near infrared wavelength region (240 nm - 2380 nm) at moderate spectral resolution (0,2 nm - 1,5 nm). The absorption, reflection and scattering characteristics of the atmosphere are determined by measuring the extraterrestrial solar irradiance and the upwelling radiance observed in different viewing geometries.
• The ratio of extraterrestrial irradiance and the upwelling radiance can be inverted to provide information about the amounts and vertical distribution of important atmospheric constituents, which absorb or scatter light, and the spectral reflectance (or albedo) of the earth's surface. SCIAMACHY was conceived to improve our global knowledge and understanding of a variety of issues of importance for the chemistry and physics of the earth´s atmosphere (troposphere, stratosphere and mesosphere) and potential changes resulting from either anthropogenic behavior or natural phenomena such as:
• Stratospheric ozone: the focus being the behavior of the "ozone hole" and mid-latitude ozone as the halogen loading of the stratosphere reaches its maximum
• Tropospheric pollution arising from industrial activity and biomass burning
• Troposphere - stratosphere exchange
• Special events such as volcanic eruptions, solar proton events, and related regional and global phenomena
• SCIAMACHY measurements yield the amounts and distribution of of O3, BrO, OClO, ClO, SO2, H2CO, NO2, CO, CO2, CH4, H2O, N2O, p, T, aerosol, radiation, cloud cover and cloud top height.
• A special feature of SCIAMACHY is the combined limb-nadir measurement mode, which enables the tropospheric column amounts of several trace gases to be determined.