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The Sentinel-5 mission provides observations of key air pollutants, essential climate variables, and stratospheric ozone – the protective layer shielding life on Earth from harmful ultraviolet radiation.
From an altitude of 832 km in a polar sun-synchronous orbit, Sentinel-5 captures comprehensive data across the entire globe each day. It complements the Sentinel-4 mission, which observes Europe and North Africa hourly from geostationary orbit.
The Sentinel-5 mission’s high-resolution imaging spectrometer operates across seven spectral bands, spanning the ultraviolet, visible, near-infrared and shortwave infrared ranges to measure a host of trace gases, including ozone, nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide, formaldehyde, glyoxal, carbon monoxide, and methane, as well as aerosols and UV index.
Sentinel-5A is still in its commissioning phase, but this selection of first images, nonetheless, offers a tantalising glimpse of what’s to come.
Heinrich Bovensmann, from the University of Bremen, noted, "It is exciting to see that an idea we have been working for more than a decade has come to life.”