TROPOMI in-orbit Earth reflectance validation

TROPOMI (Tropospheric Monitoring Instrument) onboard ESA’s Sentinel-5 Precursor satellite has been collecting data for almost three years now. Daily maps of atmospheric composition with unprecedented detail have been produced. To achieve these results, the level-1 data quality has to get much attention. Detector output is monitored routinely and onboard calibration is applied to maximize the quality of the radiance and irradiance and to correct for instrument degradation.

Here we report the results of an independent study which was setup to estimate the quality of the Earth reflectance measurements. In this study, the Earth reflectances are compared to radiative transfer calculations for clear-sky scenes. This is a technique applied successfully before to other instruments [See Tilstra et al., 2005].