GOME Diffuser and Dark Signal Trends

Abstract

The Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment (GOME) was launched on ERS-2 in April 1995 and has been functioning continuously since then. GOME is a scanning nadir-viewing spectrometer, with its primary scientific objective being to retrieve total column ozone globally. To achieve this it uses four Reticon array detectors to measure the back-scattered radiance from the Earth's atmosphere and surface, and the solar irradiance which is viewed via a diffuser plate to provide a reference spectrum of similar intensity. An analysis of the long term behaviour of the diffuser plate reflectivity and detector array dark signals since the geophysical validation phase commenced in July 1995 is presented here.

Keywords: GOME, diffuser, dark signal, trend.

Keywords: ESA European Space Agency - Agence spatiale europeenne, observation de la terre, earth observation, satellite remote sensing, teledetection, geophysique, altimetrie, radar, chimique atmospherique, geophysics, altimetry, radar, atmospheric chemistry