About TROPOMI

TROPOMI (TROPospheric Monitoring Instrument) is a satellite instrument for remote sensing of the Earth's atmosphere. Its primary goal is to be sensitive in the troposphere down to the boundary layer/Earth's surface in order to quantify emissions and transport of anthropogenic and natural trace gases and aerosols, which impact air quality and climate.

TROPOMI will measure the main tropospheric pollutants (O3, NO2, CO, formaldehyde (HCHO) and SO2) and two major climate gases (tropospheric O3 and methane (CH4)). In addition, it will measure important parameters of aerosols (aerosol scattering, absorption and type identification), which play a key role in climate change as well as in tropospheric pollution. The main instrument requirements for the TROPOMI instrument have been derived to fulfil the user requirements for the above-mentioned species.

TROPOMI is a Dutch initiative building upon the successes of SCIAMACHY and OMI. This new instrument combines all good things of the previous instruments and improves on most specifications. The instrument is designed by TNO and Dutch Space in The Netherlands, who were also involved to great extent in TROPOMI's predecessors (OMI on NASA's EOS-Aura, launched in 2004; SCIAMACHY on ESA-ENVISAT, launched in 2002; GOME-1 on ESA-ERS-2, launched in 1995; and GOME-2 on EUMETSAT MetOp, launched in 2006).