Air quality

Air pollution has a severe impact on health and environment.

Air quality instruments such as TROPOMI onboard Sentinel-5P, enable more detailed than ever detection of:

  • pollution emitters at city level
  • small-scale atmospheric effects on regional climate change
  • aviation hazards due to volcanic eruptions

In order to ensure that products delivered by satellite sensors meet user requirements in terms of accuracy, precision and fitness for purpose, BIRA-IASB developed a robust validation strategy relying on well-established and traceable reference measurements.

TROPOMI satellite in space
Satellite evidence for a large source of formic acid from boreal and tropical forests
Formic acid contributes significantly to acid rain in remote environments. Direct sources of formic acid include human activities, biomass burning and plant leaves.