Monitoring of Volcanic and Anthropogenic SO2 Emissions using the GOME-2 Instruments Aboard METOP-A and B
Hedelt, Pascal¹; Valks, Pieter¹; Loyola, Diego¹; van Gent, Jeroen²; van Roozendael, Michel²; Theys, Nicolas²; Hao, Nan¹; Zimmer, Walter^1
1Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt, IMF, GERMANY; ²IASB-BIRA, BELGIUM

This contribution focusses on the GOME-2 SO2 column products from the GOME-2 instruments on the METOP-A and METOP-B satellites. Satellite-based remote sensing measurements of atmospheric SO2 provide valuable information on anthropogenic pollution and volcanic activity. SO2 columns are retrieved from GOME-2 solar backscattered measurements in the UV wavelength region around 320nm using the Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy (DOAS) method. The SO2 product is available in near-real-time, i.e. within two hours after sensing by the GOME-2 instrument.

We will present first results for volcanic events using the new GOME-2 instrument on METOP-B in comparison with GOME-2/METOP-A observations. Combining SO2 measurements of both GOME-2 instruments allows for a better monitoring of anthropogenic SO2 emissions and the volcanic plume after a volcanic event.
We will furthermore present SO2 time-series for highly polluted areas in South-East Asia to investigate possible trends in anthropogenic pollution for these areas, which frequently suffer severe episodes of photochemical smog.