Contact LISA : Juan Cuesta

PI : Juan Cuesta

The objective of SYNAEROZON is the development of the first multispectral approach for jointly observing from space the spatial distribution of tropospheric ozone and aerosols (fine and coarse fractions). The simultaneous observation of these two major pollutants aims at characterizing the air quality degradation jointly produced by them and analysing of their physical/chemical interactions. The multispectral synergism of IR and UV observations proposed by SYNAEROZON provides i) the joint observation of fine and coarse particles (e.g. respectively urban aerosols and desert dust) and ii) the enhancement of sensitivity to ozone at the atmospheric boundary layer, with respect to standard methods (i.e. using a single spectral band). Moreover, the joint retrieval of ozone and aerosols is meant for avoiding potential biases in ozone concentrations retrieved without explicitly modelling the radiative effects of aerosols (in the IR and UV bands).

The new approach will use UV spectra observed by the instrument GOME-2 and IR spectra measured by IASI. Both instruments are on-board the suite of 3 MetOp satellites. The first (MetOp-A) is in orbit since 2006 and the last (MetOp-C) is programed until 2022, providing more than 15 years of continuous observations. IASI and GOME-2 offer excellent spatial-temporal coverage, with daily measurements at the global scale and a relatively fine spatial resolution (pixels of 80x40 km² for GOME-2 and spaced by 25 km with 12 km diameters at nadir for IASI). Moreover, SYNAEROZON will be implemented with observations of the future European satellite mission EPS-SG (EUMETSAT Polar System-Second Generation, programmed for 2020), with new generation instruments (IASI-NG for the IR and UVNS for the UV), with finer spectral resolution and lower radiometric noise than for MetOp.

For quality assurance, SYNAEROZON outputs will be systematically and thoroughly validated. A first analysis at the local scale will focus on comparisons with observations of aerosol and ozone profiles performed by ground-based stations (e.g. QUALAIR at Paris). Then, SYNAEROZON outputs will be evaluated at the regional scale against other validated satellite observations and chemistry-transport models (e.g. CHIMERE).

Laboratories involved: LISA and LATMOS

This work is supported by the Programme National de Télédétection Spatiale (PNTS, http://www.insu.cnrs.fr/actions-sur-projets/pnts-programme-national-de-teledetection-spatiale), grant n° PNTS-2013-05. The research activities of SYNAEROZON project also benefit from the financial support of the programs IASI-Chimie/IASI-Aérosols and GeoQAIR/SurveyOzon of the commitee « Terre, Océan, Surfaces continentales, Atmosphère » (TOSCA), founded by the Centre National des Etudes Spatiales (CNES), and by a Chaire d’Excellence of the University of Paris Est Créteil Val de Marne (UPEC) and CNES.