Space data

POLDER/PARASOL

POLDER (POLarization and Directionality of the Earth’s Reflectances) instrument analyses the intensity and direction of light reflected by the Earth and its atmosphere, as well as its polarization, a physical characteristic describing how waves propagate. Such measurements reveal some interesting properties of clouds and aerosols, thereby telling us more about how they affect climate. Designed and developed by CNES, in close collaboration with the LOA atmospheric optics laboratory in Lille, the POLDER instrument is mainly dedicated to the study the of the clouds and aerosols properties, but it also provides valuable information on the directionality of terrestrial reflectances and on the ocean colour. It has been the first space instrument to provide global and systematic spectral, directional and polarization measurements of radiation reflected from the Earth and atmosphere.

Stratospheric sounders

Several satellites and space-based instruments were launched in the 1990s-2000 to observe the ozone layer in the stratosphere. More generally, the objective was to better understand the chemistry of the middle stratosphere (stratosphere, mesosphere) and to validate chemistry-transport models to reproduce and predict the ozone hole. These instruments are generally spectrometers covering various spectral ranges, from microwave to ultraviolet. They record atmospheric absorption or emission spectra (level 1) from which inverse models can be used to produce columns or vertical profiles of atmospheric constituent concentrations (level 2) with very high accuracy.

AERUS-GEO

Over past years CNRM has developed with support from AERIS/ICARE the AERUS-GEO suite of Aerosols and Surface properties products (https://www.icare.univ-lille.fr/projects/user-driven-projects/aerus-geo/). Initially aimed at providing a daily averaged Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) from SEVIRI sensors aboard the MSG satelliteseries, the project is now about to provide retrievals of aerosol properties at 15-min intervals thanks to the new i-AERUS-GEO algorithm (currently under validation).

Microcarb

The scientific objectives of the Microcarb mission are to provide the scientific community with the information (vertical CO2 concentration columns) to monitor the surface fluxes of CO2 between land, atmosphere, oceans and vegetation. These objectives are similar to those of the NASA-JPL OCO-2 mission. A particularity of Microcarb is to achieve this objective with a small instrument that can be embarked on a Myriad-type microsatellite platform. If the Microcarb experiment proves to be successful, this could lead to a long-term operational system for continuous monitoring of carbon flows. A constellation would make it possible to achieve higher spatial and temporal resolution for determining the fluxes, which remains a desirable objective.

CALIPSO/ CloudSat

The aim of the mission is to provide the global measurements of aerosols and clouds needed to achieve a better understanding of their role in climate, and to improve our ability to predict long-term climate change and seasonal or inter-annual variations. CALIPSO and CloudSat are highly complementary and together provide 3-D perspectives of how clouds and aerosols form, evolve, and affect weather and climate. They fly in formation with other satellites in the A-train constellation to enable an even greater understanding of our climate system from the broad array of sensors on these other spacecraft. CALIPSO and CloudSat are in orbit around the Earth at an altitude of 705 km, with a nominal inclination of approximately 98.2 degrees. They were launched together on April 2006 for an initial duration of 3 years. However, due to their good performance, their missions have been gradually extended until 2022.

IASI

Developed by CNES (Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales) in partnership with Eumetsat (EUropean organisation for the exploitation of METeorological SATellites), the IASI (Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer) instrument was designed for operational meteorology and for monitoring atmospheric chemistry and climate. IASI is a thermal infrared Fourier transform spectrometer that provides radiance spectra and derived atmospheric variables to feed operational weather forecasting centers, the Copernicus Services and the scientific community.

Megha-Tropiques

Megha-Tropiques is a space mission jointly managed by the space agencies CNES and ISRO. This mission is designed to study the convective systems of the atmosphere and more particularly the analysis of the water cycle through the transport and distribution of water vapor, the life cycle of convective systems and energy exchanges in the equatorial belt. The tropical zones are those where the most important energy exchanges occur: radiative exchanges, latent heat exchanges, transport of constituents and energy through dynamic processes. The challenge is therefore to increase knowledge of hydrological and energy processes in the tropics and their influence on the global circulation of the atmosphere, that the oceans, and climatic variations.