Welcome to the course on Earth Observation from Space: The Atmosphere. In this course we will introduce you to the role of satellite Earth observation (EO) technology in monitoring the Earth's Atmosphere and the data it produces. We will also look at the importance of in situ ground based observations and airborne observations, which complements as well as validates EO data.

The climate is changing faster than ever before due to the impact of humans releasing greenhouse gases and other pollutants into the atmosphere. This in-turn has an impact on our health and everyday lives. It is becoming more imperative than ever to monitor atmospheric chemistry and dynamics.

Earth observation satellites provide more resolution in space and time up to a capability of daily global coverage (e.g. Copernicus Sentinel-5P, OMI aboard AURA) opposed to pointly ground based measurements. Depending on the mission objective, space-borne instruments have different spectral ranges, for atmospheric composition applications typically from UV to IR. They reveal a plethora of information, otherwise difficult or impossible using only ground based instruments. This vantage point makes satellites very beneficial for monitoring the atmosphere. Space-based sensors aboard EO satellites help detect otherwise invisible changes in atmospheric chemical composition, peering either sideways or down through the atmosphere to build up three-dimensional views of its chemical composition, sensitive to a few parts per billion. These sensors can be used to gather a range of different gas constituents in the atmosphere and measure the long-term changes, such as greenhouse gases, aerosols, trace gases, and other meteorological variables, and also monitor the ozone layer. The main objective is to better understand, predict, and protect our atmosphere and environment.

There are a number of remote sensing instruments that are used for atmospheric monitoring, such as LiDAR, Radar and spectrometers. An early example is the European Remote Sensing Satellite - 2 (ERS-2), ESA’s second ever EO mission, which launched in 1995. This mission had the GOME spectrometer aboard, which monitored global ozone, nitrogen dioxide and related cloud information. The satellite was the first European instrument to operate in the ultraviolet (UV), visible (VIS), and near infrared (NIR) wavelength regions. As new satellites have been developed over the years, improvements have been made to the detectors so we have more sensitivity, and the possibility to look at even smaller concentrations of gases.

Over the 5 weeks of this course, you will be introduced to many more of these satellites and their instruments. This first week will introduce you to the Atmosphere and climate,  and the following 4 weeks will focus on atmospheric chemistry, green house gases (GHG) and ozone, air quality and health, atmospheric dynamics, and the effects of the Corona virus pandemic on the atmosphere.

This course is suitable for anyone interested in this subject, whether coming to it for the first time, or with some prior knowledge.

Throughout the course you can download the videos and transcripts using the links on the right. You can also find further reading links and view featured imagery and animations below every topic page, and there will also be quizzes to consolidate your learning for each topic which you can find in the 'Quiz' tabs under the videos.

Some of the content in this course was first produced in 2020, but the course has been further updated with additional topics and insights, including Week 5 which examines research conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic regarding the impact of lockdown measures on atmospheric composition.

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Who you will be learning with:

• Dr Claus Zehner, ESA
• Dr Anne Grete Straume, ESA
• Dr Andreas Richter, University of Bremen
• Prof.Dr Ilse Aben, SRON
• Dr Antonio Amoroso, ARPA-LAZIO
• Dr Maria Dolores Andrés Hernández, University of Bremen
• Dr Michael Buchwitz, University of Bremen
• Professor Martyn Chipperfield, University of Leeds
• Dr David Crisp, NASA
• Dr Cathy Clerbaux, Laboratoire Atmosphères, Milieux, Observations Spatiales (LATMOS)
• Dr Jieying Ding, Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI)
• Professor Oleg Dubovik, University of Lille
• Kezia Lange, University of Bremen
• Dr Christophe Lerot, Belgium Institute for Space Aeronomy
• Dr Pavel Litvinov, University of Lille
• Dr Diego Loyola, German Aerospace Center (DLR)
• Dr Andreas Meier, University of Bremen
• Dr Bas Mijling, KNMI
• Dr Hilke Oetjen, ESA
• Anu-Maija Sundström, Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI)
• Dr Pepijn Veefkind, KNMI
• Professor Martin Wooster, King's College London

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