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SCIAMACHY Mission Objectives

  • Tropospheric chemistry
  • Oxidizing capacity of the troposphere
  • Tropospheric photochemical ozone production and destruction
  • Tropospheric pollution (biomass burning, industrial pollution, aircraft emissions)
  • Characterization of the active photochemical environment in the troposphere
  • SCIAMACHY measures tropospheric columns of O3, CO, CH4, N2O, NO2, SO2, HCHO, H2O and the backscattered radiation field from 240 nm to 2380 nm (down to cloud top).
  • Stratosphere-troposphere exchange
  • Downward transport of stratospheric ozone
  • Upward transport of the precursor molecules (e.g. H2O, N2O etc.) originating from the planetary boundary layer provides the feedstock for ozone-destroying HOx, NOx and ClOx radicals
  • SCIAMACHY measures height resolved profiles of the following tracers: O3, H2O, N2O and CH4.
  • Stratospheric chemistry and dynamics
  • Monitoring of stratospheric ozone depletion over Arctica and Antarctica
  • Monitoring of the stratospheric halogen amount: The maximum stratospheric halogen amount is expected around the turn of the century (WMO 95)
  • Global ozone Budget, especially at midlatitudes
  • Test of photochemical modelling and model prediction
  • SCIAMACHY measures stratospheric profiles of O3, H2O, CH4, N2O, BrO and temperature fields, and OClO under "ozone hole" conditions and the backscattered radiation field, aerosol and cloud information.
  • Mesospheric chemistry and dynamics
  • Distribution of H2O and O3 and global circulation
  • Ozone destruction due to mesospheric and stratospheric NO
  • SCIAMACHY measures profiles of O3, H2O, N2O, NO, O2 and O2(1Dg) in the mesosphere.
  • Climate
  • Monitoring of "greenhouse" gases (e.g. O3, H2O, CO2, CH4, N2O, CFC's.)
  • Monitoring of the radiation balance in the UV-NIR with high accuracy (incl. cloud and aerosol information)
  • SCIAMACHY measures the "greenhouse" gases O3, H2O, CH4, N2O, aerosol and cloud data, surface spectral reflectance (320 nm - 2380 nm), the incoming and outgoing SW flux, profiles of pressure and Temperature (via O2 and CO2).