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Instruments - GOME-2 About GOME-2
Different gases in the atmosphere absorb different wavelengths of light. The GOME-2 scanning spectrometer is designed to exploit this fact by capturing light reflected from the Earth's surface and atmosphere and splitting it into different wavelengths to reveal absorption lines, which correspond to certain gases present in the observed sample. GOME-2 will map concentrations of atmospheric ozone as well as nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide, other trace gases and ultraviolet radiation. These profiles are representative of the lowermost 50 km of the Earth's atmosphere. These data are crucial for monitoring stratospheric ozone and atmospheric pollutants to keep a check on the health of the Earth's atmosphere.
Each scan back and forth across the satellite track takes just six seconds and with a scan-width of 1920 km, global coverage can be achieved within one day. The advanced GOME-2 observes four times smaller ground pixels (80 km x 40 km) than GOME on ERS-2 and has better polarisation and the calibration processes have been improved.
The Prime Contractor for GOME-2 is Galileo Avionica, Italy. Last update: 28 June 2006
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