EGU21-11151, updated on 29 Oct 2023
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu21-11151
EGU General Assembly 2021
© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

An integrated approach for the validation of Sentinel-5P with annual observation

Dragoș Ene1, Jeni Vasilescu2, Mihai Boldeanu2, Andreea Calcan3, Magdalena Ardelean3, Daniel Constantin4, Alexis Merlaud5, and Dirk Schüttemeyer6
Dragoș Ene et al.
  • 1National Institute of R&D for Optoelectronics INOE2000, Magurele, Romania (dragos.ene@inoe.ro)
  • 2National Institute of R&D for Optoelectronics INOE2000, Magurele, Romania
  • 3INCAS – National Institute for Aerospace Research "Elie Carafoli", Romania
  • 4"Dunarea de Jos" University of Galati UGAL, Romania
  • 5Royal Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy BIRA, Belgium
  • 6European Space Agency, ESA-ESTEC, The Netherlands

Validation campaign for satellite missions requires efforts in terms of planning, logistics and depends on the weather for its execution. Furthermore, passive instrumentation is more sensitive at the weather, since requires special atmospheric conditions (e.g., cloud-free sky) for optimum performance. In this paper are presented activities regarding the preparation of Sentinel 5P validation in Romania, activities funded by ESA that involve ground-based (fixed and mobile – by DOAS sensors), and airborne measurements.

Research aircraft is based on a Britten-Norman BN-2 Islander platform, custom modified to accommodate, within the cabin, instrumentation for in situ measurements of aerosols (e.g., an Aerosol Particle Sizer and a nephelometer), trace gases (e.g., Picarro, and NO2 CAPS), and NO2, SO2 and H2CO column measurements (e.g., custom made DOAS whiskbroom imager for high-resolution mapping). The aircraft modification, already certified by EASA, include also the installation of an air inlet for the in-situ measurements, a nadir window for the remote sensing, and a GPS antenna for the IMU.

Measurements are planned to start in the spring of 2021 and to last until the end of the year. Region of interest is Bucharest metropolitan area, a city affected by infringement from the EU regarding poor air quality. The strategy is to perform seasonal measurements for mapping the variability of all pollution sources, e.g.: higher production from the local power plants (providers for hot water and heating for the residential population) in winter, car traffic concentrated towards the north, east or west (depending by the season).

This variability is observed also from the TROPOMI measurements, more precisely in the NO2 column concentration. During the spring and summer, the maximum is concentrated within the city centre, while for the autumn and winter, the area is more extended. Maximum values are recorded during the winter, as are shown from the 2019 and 2020 data. Moreover, the amount of S5P measurements during the winter is fewer compared with the summer, due to the presence of clouds, thus planning and execution of a campaign during wintertime being more challenging.

How to cite: Ene, D., Vasilescu, J., Boldeanu, M., Calcan, A., Ardelean, M., Constantin, D., Merlaud, A., and Schüttemeyer, D.: An integrated approach for the validation of Sentinel-5P with annual observation, EGU General Assembly 2021, online, 19–30 Apr 2021, EGU21-11151, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu21-11151, 2021.

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