Extracted from Chimot, J., Global mapping of atmospheric composition from space – Retrieving aerosol height and tropospheric NO2 from OMI, PhD book, Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), The Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI), July 2018.
The light – Energy source – in remote sensing
“Maps of trace gases or aerosols are derived from measurements of electromagnetic radiation acquired by satellite instruments at the top of the atmosphere. This radiation travelled through the atmosphere and interacted with atmospheric constituents. It contains all the information about…” More here
Solar light interaction with the atmosphere
“The sunlight can be modeled as an ensemble of electromagnetic radiation (i.e. group of photons) covering a specific spectral wavelength λ / frequency range. The Sun approximately radiates as a black body at a temperature of 5700 K. According to the Plank’s law, solar radiation peaks in the visible spectral range from…” More here
Trace gas absorption spectroscopy
“The interaction of solar radiation with matter provides a powerful way to investigate the chemical composition of the complex atmospheric mixture. In particular, absorption spectroscopy allows to focus on the spectral regions of interest for tropospheric trace gas analysis (Burrows et al., 2011). For instance, since UV radiation is absorbed at different altitudes by ozone, exploitation of …” More here
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