In 2017 the European Space Agency (ESA) successfully launched the Sentinel-5 Precursor satellite, carrying the instrument Tropospheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) as its only payload.
TROPOMI is developed by a Dutch consortium including SRON. One of its primary products is the measurement of atmospheric carbon monoxide (CO) using SRON’s operational software. It offers daily global coverage with a spatial resolution of 7×5.5 km2. SRON will also be involved in the operational processing of CO data from the upcoming Sentinel-5 mission. In the decade before, from 2003 to 2012, it was the SCIAMACHY instrument that first measured atmospheric CO concentrations. SCIAMACHY was developed by a German/Dutch/Belgian consortium including SRON, and was one of ten instruments onboard ESA’s Environmental Satellite (ENVISAT). With a 2.3 mu spectral range it was sensitive to CO in the atmosphere near the Earth’s surface.
