First results on GOMOS/ENVISAT Original Research Article

Global ozone monitoring by occultation of stars (GOMOS) on ENVISAT is the first space instrument dedicated to the study of the atmosphere of the Earth by the technique of stellar occultations (global ozone monitoring by occultation of stars). From a polar orbit, it allows to have a good latitude coverage. Because it is self-calibrated, it is particularly well adapted to the long time trend monitoring of stratospheric species. With four spectrometers the wavelength coverage of 245–942 nm allows to monitor ozone, H2O, NO2, NO3, air, aerosols, O2 and the temperature profiles. Two additional fast photometers (1 kHz sampling rate) allow for the correction of scintillations, as well as a study of the turbulence regime. A high vertical resolution profile of the temperature may also be obtained from the time shift between the red and the blue photometer. The first results of GOMOS are presented and ozone measurements compared to other sources.