EO·Atlas
Tropospheric column mapping (NO2/SO2)
Maps tropospheric NO2 and SO2 column density from UV-VIS backscatter; good for urban air quality, shipping emissions, and volcanic SO2 tracking.
DOAS retrieval over UV-VIS (~310-490 nm) exploiting differential absorption structures. TROPOMI/Sentinel-5P is the operational benchmark at 3.5 x 5.6 km nadir resolution. Wikipedia: Differential optical absorption spectroscopy
- TROPOMI (TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument)
via Sentinel-5P (Precursor)
TROPOMI products include tropospheric NO2 and SO2 column retrievals from nadir UV-VIS observations.
- Sentinel-5 UVNS sounder
via Metop-SG-A1
Sentinel-5 UVNS retrieves trace gas columns including NO2 and SO2.
- Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC)
via DSCOVR
EPIC UV channels support SO2 and ozone/aerosol products; no ozone-specific method exists.
- Environment Monitoring Instrument
via Gaofen-5 (GF-5)
EMI is a UV/VIS nadir imaging spectrometer with NO2 and SO2 column objectives.
- Geostationary Environment Monitoring Spectrometer (GEMS)
via GEO-KOMPSAT-2B
GEMS demonstrates geostationary tropospheric column mapping for air-quality species on GEO-KOMPSAT-2B.
- Geostationary Interferometric Infrared Sounder-2
via FY-4B
WMO lists SO2 and NO2-related column variables among GIIRS-2 MWIR/TIR trace-gas retrieval capabilities.
- Prototype Geostationary Interferometric Infrared Sounder
via FY-4A
WMO lists SO2 and NO2-related column variables among GIIRS MWIR/TIR trace-gas retrieval capabilities.
- Total Anthropogenic and Natural emissions mapping SpectrOmeter-3 (TANSO-3)
via GOSAT-GW (IBUKI GW)
TANSO-3 uses its 0.45 micrometre band for NO2 retrieval alongside O2 and CO2/CH4 bands.
- Sentinel-4 UVN sounder
via Meteosat Third Generation Sounder 1 (MTG-S1)
Sentinel-4 produced preliminary NO2, SO2 and ozone imagery from MTG-S1 in October 2025; images are illustrative and not operational-use products.
None on record.
Retrieves vertical profiles of atmospheric composition (O3, H2O, temperature) from limb or solar/stellar occultation geometry; high vertical resolution makes it suited for stratospheric and upper-tropospheric science.
- [1]Wikipedia: Differential optical absorption spectroscopycommunity2026-05-22
Edited from public sources. Last reviewed 2026-05-22 by SpectraWorks editorial. See the data dictionary for field definitions.
How to cite this page
Plain text
Tropospheric column mapping (NO2/SO2). EO-Atlas, SpectraWorks B.V., last reviewed 2026-05-22. https://eo-atlas.org/topics/methodologies/tropospheric-column-no2-so2 (CC BY 4.0)
BibTeX
@misc{eoatlas:topics:methodologies:tropospheric-column-no2-so2,
title = {Tropospheric column mapping (NO2/SO2)},
author = {{EO-Atlas}},
publisher = {SpectraWorks B.V.},
year = {2026},
note = {Last reviewed 2026-05-22. CC BY 4.0},
url = {https://eo-atlas.org/topics/methodologies/tropospheric-column-no2-so2}
}