BackForwardInstrument:  GOMOS 

Instrument details
Acronym GOMOS
Full name Global Ozone Monitoring by Occultation of Stars
Purpose Profiles of ozone and other species.  Tracked species: BrO, ClO, H2O, NO2, NO3, O3, OClO and aerosol [see detailed characteristics below]
Short description UV/VIS/NIR grating spectrometer, three bands, ~ 1000 channels, two broadband channels for scintillations
Background New development
Scanning Technique Limb sounding during occultation of 25-40 stars/orbit, i.e. average 500 occultations/day
Resolution Vertical: 1.7 km, in the altitude range 20-100 km.  Horizontal effective resolution: ~ 300 km (limb geometry)
Coverage / Cycle One global coverage/day with one measurement every 1000 x 1000 km2 cell in average
Mass 163 kg Power 146 W Data Rate 222 kbps

 

Providing Agency ESA
Instrument Maturity Flown on an R&D satellite
Utilization Period: 2002 to 2011
Last update: 2022-07-26
Detailed characteristics
Spectral range No. of channels Spectral resolution SNR @ specified input spectral radiance
248-693 nm ~ 500 0.89 nm ................. @ ......... W m-2 sr-1 μm-1
750-776 nm ~ 200 0.12 nm ................. @ ......... W m-2 sr-1 μm-1
915-956 nm ~ 300 0.12 nm ................. @ ......... W m-2 sr-1 μm-1
466-582 nm 1 116 nm ................. @ ......... W m-2 sr-1 μm-1
644-705 nm 1 61 nm ................. @ ......... W m-2 sr-1 μm-1
Satellites this instrument is flying on

Note: a red tag indicates satellites no longer operational, a green tag indicates operational satellites, a blue tag indicates future satellites

Instrument classification
  • Earth observation instrument
  • Limb sounders
  • Limb sounder
WIGOS Subcomponents
  • Subcomponent 2
  • UV/VIS/NIR/IR/MW limb sounders
  • UV/VIS/NIR/IR occultation limb sounder
Mission objectives
Primary mission objectives
  • BrO
  • ClO
  • H2O
  • HCHO
  • NO
  • NO2
  • O3
  • SO2
Evaluation of Measurements

The following list indicates which measurements can typically be retrieved from this category of instrument. To see a full Gap Analysis by Variable, click on the respective variable.

Note: table can be sorted by clicking on the column headers
Note: * Primary mission objective.
VariableRelevance for measuring this variableOperational limitationsExplanation
Aerosol mass mixing ratio5 - marginalLimited to high atmosphere.UV, VIS, NIR Limb sounding by star occultation: Self-calibrating
Atmospheric temperature5 - marginalLimited to high atmosphere.UV, VIS, NIR limb sounding by star occultation: Self-calibrating
BrO*4 - fairLimited to high atmosphere.UV spectrometry. BrO lines around 300 nm. Limb sounding by star occultation. Self-calibrating
HCHO*4 - fairLimited to high atmosphere.UV spectrometry. HCHO lines around 350 nm Limb sounding by star occultation. Self-calibrating
ClO*4 - fairLimited to high atmosphere.UV spectrometry. ClO lines around 300 nm. Limb sounding by star occultation. Self-calibrating
H2O*5 - marginalLimited to high atmosphere.Spectrometry in UV and VIS (several weak bands) and NIR (strong band around 940 nm). Limb sounding by star occultation. Self-calibrating
NO*5 - marginalLimited to high atmosphere.UV spectrometry. NO lines around 250 nm. Limb sounding by star occultation. Self-calibrating
NO2*5 - marginalLimited to high atmosphere.UV and VIS spectrometry. Several lines in the ranges around 220 nm and 400 nm. Limb sounding by star occultation. Self-calibrating
O3*5 - marginalLimited to high atmosphere.UV and VIS spectrometry. Ozone lines in the bands around 260 nm (Hartley) and/or 340 nm (Huggins) and 600 nm (Chappuis). Limb sounding by star occultation. Self-calibrating
PSC occurrence5 - marginalLimited to high atmosphere.UV and VIS spectrometry. Limb sounding by star occultations. Self-calibrating
SO2*5 - marginalLimited to high atmosphere.UV spectrometry. SO2 lines around 350 nm. Limb sounding by star occultation. Self-calibrating
Specific humidity5 - marginalLimited to high atmosphere.UV, VIS and NIR spectrometry with several water vapour bands (main: around 940 nm). Limb sounding by star occultation, Self-calibrating
Aerosol volcanic ash5 - marginalLimited to high atmosphere.UV, VIS and NIR spectrometry; limb sounding by star occultation. Self-calibrating