Scientists Monitor Air Quality Of Europe From 36,000km Above Earth, Share First Images

The European Space Agency (ESA) shared images that show air pollution from 36,000 km above Earth, with the European Union's Copernicus Sentinel-4 mission achieving a milestone in monitoring air pollution across Europe. 

The mission, on board the Meteosat Third Generation Sounder 1 (MTG-S1) satellite, delivered its first preliminary images, showing concentrations of nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide and ozone in the atmosphere.

"The Sentinel-4 spectrometer is still undergoing commissioning for its operational life – so these first images, featured below, are merely an early glimpse of what's to come," ESA said. 

Sentinel-4 scans the same region every hour as it is positioned in a geostationary orbit, which is approximately 36,000 kilometres above Earth. The fixed position in orbit allows it to continuously observe the same region, including Europe and northern Africa. 

The mission provides hourly updates on air quality, so that the respective authorities can track rapid changes in pollution levels and issue timely warnings to protect public health.

Sentinel-4 can detect various pollutants, including nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide, and ozone, which are major contributors to respiratory and cardiovascular diseases.

"Sentinel-4 is the first European mission that will deliver hourly air-quality observations. By capturing fast changes in air pollution, Sentinel-4 is a game-changer for monitoring and forecasting air quality over Europe,' Ben Veihelmann, ESA's Sentinel-4 Mission Scientist, said in a statement. 

The first images from Sentinel-4 have revealed nitrogen dioxide hotspots over Italy's Po Valley, elevated ozone levels across the Balkans, Bulgaria, and Greece. It also revealed sulphur dioxide plumes from natural human-caused sources, including the Mount Etna volcano.

"We are extremely happy to see these first preliminary results, and my thanks go to everyone involved in the mission," Didier Martin, ESA's Sentinel-4 Project Manager, said.  

"Firstly, and arguably most importantly, they confirm that Sentinel-4 is healthy, and that the calibration and the data processing chains are on track. This essentially means that it is well on the road to becoming Europe's first mission dedicated to delivering hourly measurements of air pollutants across the continent."