Abstract

At present various instruments that will be able to detect trace gases in the stratosphere and troposphere from satellites in space are being developed. We refer, in particular, to the Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment (GOME) of the European Space Agency to be launched on the ERS-2 satellite in 1994/1995 and its successor SCIAMACHY. This report investigates the sensitivity of the GOME spectrometer to detecting changes in the tropospheric column density of ozone (O3), nitrogen dioxide (NO2) sulphur dioxide (SO2) and formaldehyde (HCHO). The results of these GOME sensitivity calculations for measurements of tropospheric O3, NO2, SO2 and HCHO as a function of latitude and season are discussed.