Envisat SCIAMACHY Archive

Introduction

The Scanning Imaging Absorption Spectrometer for Atmospheric Chartography (SCIAMACHY) is one of the ten instruments onboard the Envisat satellite launched from Kourou (French Guyana) on the 28th of February 2002 and operated by the European Space Agency (ESA). SCIAMACHY measures transmitted, backscattered and reflected radiances from the atmosphere at high resolution (240 to 1700 nm, 2 microns and 2.4 microns). The instrument makes limb and nadir observations that can be combined. Its main objective is to provide global measurements of trace gases in the troposphere and the stratosphere.

The data issued by ESA include Level 1B (radiances) and Level 2 (derived quantities) products. They come in a number of versions: a near real time (nrt) version, a consolidated version, result of a first processing by ESA to eliminate bad data and perform a few basic checks, and fully reprocessed versions.

Data availability

Please note that NEODC has stopped acquiring SCIAMACHY data from 6th May 2010. If you require more recent data, please contact the ESA Helpdesk

The data archived at the NEODC currently includes

• NRT Level 1B data (radiances) - starting in February 2004
• Reprocessed Level 2 data (vertical columns of trace gases) - starting in July 2002
• Samples of NRT and consolidated L2 data.

In accordance with an agreement between the European Space Agency and NERC, the NEODC is allowed to distribute data from the SCIAMACHY instrument to

• UK investigators of an ESA Category-1 (*) project entitling them to use the SCIAMACHY data;
• investigators of current or past UTLS Ozone projects, for the purpose of their research in the context of their UTLS Ozone project or as a natural continuation of it, under Category-1 (*) project conditions (the NEODC being the Cat-1 Project Leader, and UTLS Ozone participants its co-investigators). For information, the ESA Terms and Conditions of this contract (PDF document) are available from the ESA Earth Observation Principal Investigator Portal.

(*) Scientists wishing to use ESA EO data are normally required to submit a 'Category-1' (Scientific) proposal. If you only require data which is sytematically available via the internet, you can use Fast Registration for Category-1 data via the ESA EOPI portal. If you are unsure whether the data you need fall into this category, you can check the list of products (on the fast registration page) or contact the ESA ESRIN Help and Order Desk. For further information visit the ESA EOPI website.

Access to data and software

If you belong to one of the above two categories of users and would like to access the SCIAMACHY data held at NEODC, please

1. Register as a NEODC user. If you already are a NEODC registered user, skip this step. If you have forgotten your NEODC user ID and/or password, please contact the NEODC helpdesk at neodc@rl.ac.uk.
2. Apply for access to the SCIAMACHY data. Application involves the agreement with the SCIAMACHY Conditions of Use, which refer to the ESA Data Policy.

Data can be viewed and downloaded from the SCIAMACHY archive. The ESA website provides tools (EOLI online and off-line catalogues) to help you select the data files you need as a function of the desired time and geographical spans (please see Links below).

Software is available, free of charge, which may assist you in viewing data from the SCIAMACHY instrument:

Documentation

• NEODC Conditions of Use of SCIAMACHY data.
• The Terms and Conditions applying to Category-1 data use can be found on the website of the ESA Earth Observation Principal Investigator Portal.
• ESA Data Policy.

Links

• The European Space Agency (ESA) website.
• The Envisat satellite website at ESA.
• The SCIAMACHY website at ESA.
• The EnviView download portal at ESA.
• The BEAT download portal.
• The ESA Earth Observation Principal Investigator Portal.
• The ESA Envisat data catalogues allow users to search the datasets.