Sentinel-5P: for the air we breathe

Global air quality monitoring

Human activity on Earth is affecting our essential resources, including the air we breathe. According
to the European Environment Agency (EEA), almost 500,000 premature deaths in Europe every year
can be attributed to air pollution. Knowing a problem is a step towards solving it. But being able to
measure the magnitude of the problem is a giant leap towards a solution, and this is where
Copernicus comes in.

Meet our latest Sentinel family member – Copernicus Sentinel-5P, that has successfully reached its
orbit today, October 13th.
copyright: Copernicus Sentinel 5P - ESA

Copernicus Sentinel-5P fact

box (P stands for Precursor):

It is an element of the
Copernicus Space
Component. It will provide
reliable and timely
information about the
Earth's atmospheric
composition
Launch date: October
13th, 2017
It will measure globally
the levels of the following
key trace gases - Ozone
(O3), Sulfur Dioxide
(SO2), Nitrogen Dioxide
(NO2), Carbon Monoxide
(CO), Methane (CH4) and
Formaldehyde (HCHO) –
as well as aerosols in the
Earth’s atmosphere
It carries the TROPOMI
spectrometer, developed
 in the Netherlands, while
the satellite was built in
the UK
Copernicus Sentinel-5
Precursor is a gap filler
mission aiming to provide
data continuity until the
launch of Sentinel-5, the
dedicated atmospheric
Copernicus mission,
scheduled for launch in
2021

How does Copernicus Sentinel-5P data benefit us?

Copernicus Sentinel-5P data will affect many areas, including the economy, quality of atmospheric
services, environmental policymaking, health and safety of EU citizens, and even aviation security
(for example, by monitoring emissions from volcanic eruptions and provision of SO2 and volcanic ash
aerosol information).

Like all Copernicus data, Sentinel-5P data will be full, free and open to everyone. It will open new
opportunities for entrepreneurs, start-ups and SMEs. For example, the data will allow the
development of air quality and atmosphere-related applications, such as timely air quality information
updates or in cases of poor air quality accurate high UV radiation notifications and alerts for tourists
via mobile apps, text messages or email.

The European atmospheric data user community, including the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring
Service (CAMS), the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), and other institutions and
companies, are eagerly waiting for the S-5P operations to integrate the high precision atmospheric
data into their data models. As Dr. Vincent-Henri Peuch, Head of the CAMS service, indicated in a
recent interview :

“…Copernicus Sentinel-5P is pivotal for the resilience of our systems and the quality of our products.
We currently use several data streams from international satellite instruments that are beyond their
nominal lifetime and, in the event of a loss and if we did not have Sentinel-5P, the quality of some
products would be adversely affected. In some way, Sentinel-5P is a ‘lifeline’ for CAMS’s data
provision, guaranteeing a high quality of service for the benefit of our users”.
We also talked to another atmospheric data user – SpaceLayer Technologies (a Portuguese start-up
and currently a mentee in the Copernicus Accelerator Programme) that is developing multiplatform
solutions to deliver air quality alerts. The founder, Pedro Jorge Caridade, had this to say:

"Copernicus Sentinel-5P will improve the data quality of air pollutant measurements and will be
included in the SpaceLayer Technologies forecast and downscaling algorithms to tackle
environmental health risks, reducing unnecessary hospitalisations and health care costs. The global
scale of the Sentinel-5P service also allows the internationalisation of our product beyond Europe."

Taking informed decisions on environmental policies is crucial for the future of our planet. For the
decision-makers, Copernicus Sentinel-5P will be a source of accurate information about the status of
our atmosphere. For example, data provided by this new satellite will help to determine the sources
and sinks of atmospheric pollutants, thanks to global and regional high spatial resolution observations
– a vital source of information for verification and monitoring of the Kyoto protocol.

TROPOMI spectrometer fact

box:

The TROPOspheric
Monitoring Instrument
(TROPOMI) has been
jointly developed by
Dutch research
institutions and Airbus
Defense & Space
It is capable to detect
trace gases and aerosols
in spatial resolutions far
better than
instrumentation currently
available on NASA’s
Aura satellite which
already exceeded its
nominal lifetime, and can
no longer provide Europe
a secure access to high
precision atmospheric
data
It measures Earth’s
radiance and solar
 irradiance in eight defined
spectral bands, ranging
from ultraviolet (240-400
nm), over visible (400-700
nm) and near-infrared to
shortwave infrared
radiation (700-2500 nm)
It uses technology that
breaks the sunlight
coming back from Earth
into 1000s of different
colours and then allows to
see the gas absorption
lines of the different trace
gases.

Why is Copernicus Sentinel-5P important?

It is essential for atmospheric scientists to know how much of the trace gases accumulate in the
different layers of Earth’s atmosphere, as this affects plants, animals and human health. But not
only for scientists: Copernicus Sentinel-5P has been built to map a multitude of trace gases such as
nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide, carbon monoxide and methane that affect air quality. Copernicus
Sentinel-5P’s Tropomi instrument will also map global ozone on a daily base. Data from this
additional satellite will be not only downloaded and directly used by users, but will also be used
extensively by the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS), operated by ECMWF. Most
CAMS users will be mainly European-level decision makers and governments that need data and
products to adopt appropriate strategies to support public policies related to ozone monitoring and
public health as well as to fight climate change. Copernicus Sentinel 5P and CAMS products will be
used by Value-Added Service companies for developing applications for municipalities and local
authorities to monitor air quality on their territory and implement the appropriate policies regarding
traffic regulation and industries, to warn of high levels of UV radiation which can cause skin cancer as
well as to monitor volcanic ash emissions for aviation safety. More and more players such as
insurance companies (as input data for risk models) are expected to buy Air Quality forecasts in the
coming years.

For example, ozone: stratospheric ozone high up in Earth’s atmosphere protects us from hazardous
ultraviolet radiation coming from the sun, while ozone close to Earth’s surface can cause respiratory
problems in humans and can damage vegetation.
Other gases such as NO2, SO2, and CO are produced by burning fossil fuels, e.g. in vehicles or
heaters. If inhaled by humans, they can severely impact the amount of oxygen that can be
transported in the bloodstream.

Methane is a gas produced by the burning of fossil fuels and the decomposition of organic materials
in landfills. It also originates from the digestion of livestock such as cattle. Besides causing
respiratory problems, it is also a potent greenhouse gas with strong climate forcing capabilities.

Besides trace gases, Copernicus Sentinel-5P will monitor aerosol particles that are produced by
combustion of fuels, forest fires, desert dust or volcanic eruptions. These particles impact air quality
and affect the climate locally and globally.

As mentioned, aerosols and hazardous gases in the air contribute to almost 500,000 premature
deaths in Europe annually. Toxic nitrogen dioxide alone, which is released by vehicles and central
heating boilers, is causing 71,000 premature deaths per year, according to the EEA.

Copernicus Sentinel-5P’s accurate measurements will improve European Union’s capacity to timely
inform citizens in case of air pollution. In a nutshell, Copernicus Sentinel-5P has an important role to
play for a better and healthier future of Europe!
Infographic from ESA

What are the next steps?

The planned Commissioning Phase (E1) of the Copernicus Sentinel-5 Precursor will start right after
the launch. It should have a duration of 6 months and will be finalised by the In-Orbit Commissioning
Review (IOCR) meeting. No Copernicus Sentinel-5 Precursor products will be made available to the
public during the Commissioning Phase; test users will get to assess the quality of the data.

An exploitation phase (E2) will then begin, covering the remaining duration of the mission. Services
will gradually be improved in the so-called Payload Data Ground Segment ramp-up phase to reach
Full Operations Capacity within 14 months of the launch. The ramp-up phase will end with the
Routine Operation Readiness Review meeting, after which routine operations will start.

Copernicus Sentinel-5 Precursor Data Provision Plan to the public during the ramp-up phase is as
follows:

Launch +7 months - Level-1 B products

Launch +10 months - Level-2 products that can be retrieved in the ultra violet-visible-near-
infrared wavelength range
Launch +14 months - All Level-2 products (including products retrieved in the shortwave-
infrared wavelength range)
 How to get involved?

With the start of the exploitation phase, data from Copernicus Sentinel-5P will become accessible via
the EUMETSAT access points (such as EUMETCast, EUMETSAT’s CODA Data Hub or the
EUMETSAT Data Centre), and will be integrated in the products and the workflow for both
observation and forecast of Copernicus services such as the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring
Service (CAMS) and the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S). In particular these two
Copernicus services in will assimilate the satellite remote sensing measurements of Ozone, Methane,
Sulfur Dioxide and other trace gases, to prepare operational information services for European
citizens and decision makers and to provide a precise atmospheric monitoring of greenhouse gases,
aerosols and its trackers globally.

The Copernicus community is therefore eager to reap the full benefits from its sixth satellite!

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