Aerosol Layer Height Measurements Made by Earth Observation Satellites

CEOS EO HANDBOOK – MEASUREMENT INSTRUMENTS

Measurements > Atmosphere >
Aerosols >
Aerosol Layer Height

Measurement Definition*: Height of vertically localized aerosol layers in the free troposphere, such as desert dust, biomass burning aerosol or volcanic ash plumes. Measuring Units km, Uncertainty Units km

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ECV Aerosols properties

Instrument	Status/ Accuracy	Instrument Description	Measurement Technology	Timeline
AMI Advanced Meteorological Imager	Operational	Continuous monitoring capability for the near real-time generation of high-resolution meteorological products and long-term change analysis of land/sea surface temperature and cloud coverage.	n/a
GEOXO Atmospheric Composition GEO Extended Operations Atmospheric Composition	Being developed		n/a
SPEXone Spectro-Polarimeter for Exploration	Being developed	Polarimeter for measuring aerosol optical properties, clouds and aerosol types. Multi-angle spectro-polarimetry by spectral modulation technology. Distribution and detailed micro-phyiscal properties of atmospheric aerosol. Direct and indirect aerosol radiative forcing and their impact on climate.	n/a
UVNS (Sentinel-5) Ultra-violet Visible Near-infrared Shortwave-infrared spectrometer	Being developed	Supporting atmospheric composition and air quality monitoring services. Measurements of atmospheric trace gases, primarily O3, NO2, SO2, HCHO, CH4 and CO.	n/a

* Description adapted from WMO.