Abstract
The Earth’s atmosphere is part of a complex system comprising the Sun and the Earth. Throughout the Earth’s history this system responded to natural and anthropogenic phenomena. To assess the significance of changes induced by natural and anthropogenic activities, a detailed understanding of the physical and chemical processes controlling the composition of the global atmosphere is required. Space-based remote sensing instruments can contribute many of the required geophysical parameters on various spatial and temporal scales. The scientific goals of the imaging absorption spectrometer SCIAMACHY, flying on the European ENVISAT platform, are wide ranging and encompassing the need to improve our understanding of biogeochemical cycling and assess the impact of man on the Earth system. SCIAMACHY is an absorption spectrometer sensing simultaneously electromagnetic radiation in the range from the UV to SWIR. It observes the scattered and reflected spectral radiance in nadir and limb geometry, the spectral radiance transmitted through the atmosphere in solar and lunar occultation geometry and both the extraterrestrial solar irradiance and lunar radiance. Research using SCIAMACHY data includes the following topics: tropospheric ozone, air quality, the transport and transformation of pollution, global climate change, the exchange between the stratosphere and troposphere, stratospheric chemistry and dynamics, mesopheric and thermospheric composition, and solar variability. SCIAMACHY was proposed in the 1980s and is now part of the current fleet of atmospheric remote sensing missions. Due to its success, several missions with SCIAMACHY heritage will extend the important data sets far into the twenty-first century.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Arrhenius S (1896) On the influence of carbonic acid in the air upon the temperature of the ground. Philos Mag J Sci 41:237
Bovensmann H, Burrows JP, Buchwitz M, Frerick J, Noël S, Rozanov VV, Chance KV, Goede APH (1999) SCIAMACHY: mission objectives and measurement modes. J Atmos Sci 56:127–150
Bovensmann H, Buchwitz M, Burrows JP, Reuter M, Krings T, Gerilowski K, Schneising O, Heymann J, Tretner A, Erzinger J (2010) A remote sensing technique for global monitoring of power plant CO2 emissions from space and related applications. Atmos Meas Tech 3:781–811
Burrows JP, Chance KV, Crutzen PJ, van Dop H, Geary JC, Johnson TJ, Harris GW, Isaksen ISA, Moortgat GK, Muller C, Perner D, Platt U, Pommereau J-P, Rodhe H, Roeckner E, Schneider W, Simon P, Sundqvist H, Vercheval J (1988a) SCIAMACHY – a European proposal for atmospheric remote sensing from the ESA Polar Platform. Technical Document, Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, Mainz, Germany
Burrows JP, Crutzen PJ, Chance KV, Geary JC, Goutail F, Harris GW, Moortgat GK, Muller C, Perner D, Platt U, Pommereau J-P, Schneider W, Simon P (1988b). SCIAmini. Technical Document, Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, Mainz, Germany
Burrows JP, Weber M, Buchwitz M, Rozanov VV, Ladstädter-Weissenmayer A, Richter A, de Beek R, Hoogen R, Bramstedt K, Eichmann K-U, Eisinger M, Perner D (1999) The Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment (GOME): mission concept and first scientific results. J Atmos Sci 56:151–175
Burrows JP, Platt U, Borrell P (eds.) (2011) The remote sensing of Tropospheric Composition from Space. Springer Heidelberg Dordrecht London New York, ISBN 978-3-642-14790-6, DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-14791-3
Chandra S, Jackman CH, Fleming EL, Russell JM III (1997) The seasonal and long-term changes in mesospheric water vapor. Geophys Res Lett 24:639–642
Crutzen PJ, Grooß J-U, Brühl C, Müller R, Russell JM III (1995) A reevaluation of the ozone budget with HALOE UARS data: No evidence for the ozone deficit. Science 268:705
Crutzen PJ, Stoermer EF (2000) The anthropocene. IGBP Newsl 41:17–18
Holloway AM, Wayne R (2010) Atmospheric chemistry. Royal Society of Chemistry Publishing, Cambridge, UK. ISBN 978-1-84755-807-7
Holton JR, Haynes PH, McIntyre ME, Douglass AR, Hood RB, Pfister L (1995) Stratosphere–troposphere exchange. Rev Geophys 33:403–439
IGACO (2004) An Integrated Global Atmospheric Chemistry Observations Theme for the IGOS Partnership, IGOS Atmospheric Chemistry Theme Report. ESA-SP1282, WMO GAW Report No. 159, WMO TD No. 1235
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (2007) Climate change 2007 – the physical science basis. In: Solomon S, Qin D, Manning M, Chen Z, Marquis M, Averyt KB, Tignor M, Miller HL (eds) Contribution of working group I to the fourth assessment report of the intergovernmental panel on climate change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK and New York, USA. Available at http://www.ipcc.ch
Lovelock JE (1979) Gaia: a new look at life on earth. Oxford University Press, Oxford
Munro R, Siddans R, Reburn WJ, Kerridge BJ (1998) Direct measurement of tropospheric ozone distributions from space. Nature 392:168–171
Reber CA, Trevathan CE, McNeal RJ, Luther MR (1993) The Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) mission. J Geophys Res 98(D6):10643–10647, DOI:10.1029/92JD02828.
Shindell DT, Rind D, Logan P (1998) Increased polar stratospheric ozone losses and delayed eventual recovery owing to increasing greenhouse-gas concentrations. Nature 392:589–592
Summers ME, Conway RR, Siskind DE, Stevens MH, Offermann D, Riese M, Preusse P, Strobel DF, Russell JM III (1997) Implications of satellite OH observations for middle atmospheric H2O and ozone. Science 277:1967–1970
United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (2007) Hemispheric transport of air pollution 2007. Air Pollution Studies, 16. United Nations, New York and Geneva, ISBN 978-92-1-116984-3
Wayne RP (1992) Chemistry of atmospheres. Oxford University Press, Clarendon Press, Oxford
Wild M, Gilgen H, Roesch A, Ohmura A, Long CN, Dutton EG, Forgan B, Kallis A, Russak V, Tsvetkov A (2005) From dimming to brightening: Decadal changes in solar radiation at earth’s surface. Science 308:847–850
World Meteorological Organization (WMO) (1995) Scientific assessment of ozone depletion 1994. Global Ozone Research and Monitoring Project Report, 37, Geneva
World Meteorological Organization (WMO) (2003) Scientific assessment of ozone depletion 2002. Global Ozone Research and Monitoring Project Report, 47, Geneva
World meteorological organization (WMO) (2007) Scientific assessment of ozone depletion 2006. Global Ozone Research and Monitoring Project Report, 50, Geneva
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2011 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Burrows, J.P., Goede, A.P.H., Muller, C., Bovensmann, H. (2011). SCIAMACHY – The Need for Atmospheric Research from Space. In: Gottwald, M., Bovensmann, H. (eds) SCIAMACHY - Exploring the Changing Earth’s Atmosphere. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-9896-2_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-9896-2_1
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-90-481-9895-5
Online ISBN: 978-90-481-9896-2
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)