The atmospheric instruments and their applications: GOMOS, MIPAS and SCIAMACHY

Alarming reports on the impact of human activities on the stratospheric ozo ne layer, on the evolution of the global climate and on the increasing poll ution of the troposphere have, attracted considerable public interest durin g the past two decades. In an effort to try to understand the underlying ch emical and physical processes and the role of anthropogenic gas emissions, the scientific community expressed a clear need for a global atmospheric ob servation platform. In response, a suite of three instruments dedicated to the monitoring of the lower and middle atmosphere have been embarked on ESA 's polar-orbiting Envisat satellite. These three instruments-GOMOS, MIPAS and SCIAMACHY-not only represent a con tinuation of the atmospheric ozone-monitoring mission of ERS-2/GOME, but si gnificantly enrich the scope of the observational capabilities-mainly the n umber of detectable species and their vertical distribution-by making use o f a variety of novel measurement techniques and enhanced spectral coverage. Their geophysical products will comprise a large number of atmospheric-sta te parameters, primarily trace-gas abundances, and will establish a high de gree of complementarity in the information provided. Together, these data w ill give the user community unprecedented insight into the atmosphere's che mical and physical processes and facilitate major steps forward towards a b etter understanding of the future evolution of its chemical and climatologi cal balance.