Satellite-borne remote sensing of trace gases (SAT)
We investigate the complex interaction of chemical and dynamical processes in the Earth's atmosphere on basis of distributions of trace gases, aerosols, clouds and temperature which we derive from spectral measurements of satellite remote sensing instruments. Our work field covers processing of satellite data and their validation, the research on physical and chemical processes in the atmosphere on the basis of the retrieved distributions of temperature, particles and trace gases, and the development and implementation of related satellite data analysis algorithms. The current focus of our work is the MIPAS-Envisat mission. The MIPAS satellite data derived by our group can be accessed here. Besides our work with MIPAS we are involved in the preparation of future space missions. On this website you find information about our publications, MIPAS-Envisat data, our radiative transfer model KOPRA, the team and our projects.
CFC-11, CFC-12, and HCFC-22 from 2002-2012: The MIPAS V8 data set
CFC-11, CFC-12, and HCFC-22 contribute to the depletion of ozone and are potent greenhouse gases. They have been banned by the Montreal protocol. With MIPAS on Envisat the atmospheric composition could be observed between 2002 and 2012. Latitude-time cross-sections of version V8 data of CFC-12 (a, b), CFC-11 (c, d), and HCFC-22 (e, f) at 10 km (a, c, and e), and 14 km (b, d, and f) altitude are shown. White vertical bars mean no measurements, and other white areas denote regions with no information due to clouds in the line of sight, retrieval insensitivity, or discarded negative mean values in the plots. A paper on the retrieval of the V8 data set and its characterisation has been published by Stiller et a., 2024.