Learn more about the available Copernicus Sentinel-5P data products, and how to obtain them.
Products are freely available via the Copernicus Data Space Ecosystem.
Sentinel-5 Precursor Level 2 Methane
Sentinel-5 Precursor Level 2 Methane(L2__CH4___) |
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The TROPOMI instrument onboard the Copernicus Sentinel-5 Precursor is a nadir-viewing, imaging spectrometer covering wavelength bands between the ultraviolet and the shortwave infrared. The instrument uses passive remote sensing techniques to attain its objective by measuring, at the Top Of Atmosphere (TOA), the solar radiation reflected by and radiated from Earth.
Methane (CH4) is, after carbon dioxide (CO2), the most important contributor to the anthropogenically enhanced greenhouse effect. Roughly three-quarters of methane emissions are anthropogenic and as such it is important to continue the record of satellite-based measurements. TROPOMI aims at providing CH4 column concentrations with high sensitivity to the Earth's surface, good spatio/temporal coverage, and sufficient accuracy to facilitate inverse modelling of sources and sinks.
The output product consists of the retrieved methane column and a row vector referred to as the column averaging kernel A. The column averaging kernel describes how the retrieved column relates to the true profile and should be used in validation exercises (when possible) or use of the product in source/sink inverse modelling. The output product also contains altitude levels of the layer interfaces to which the column averaging kernel corresponds. Additional output for Level-2 data products: viewing geometry, precision of retrieved methane, residuals of the fit, quality flags (cloudiness, terrain roughness etc.) and retrieved albedo and aerosol properties. The latter properties are required for a posteriori filtering and for estimation of total retrieval error.
The Sentinel-5 Precursor mission flies in loose formation (about 3.5 – 5 minutes behind) with the S-NPP (SUOMI-National Polar-orbiting Partnership) mission to use VIIRS (Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite) cloud information to select cloud free TROPOMI pixels for high quality methane retrieval.
Data Set Specifications V2
| Temporal coverage: |
Since 01-Jul-2021 Reprocessed (RPRO) dataset: since 30-04-2018 to 25-07-2022 |
| Spatial coverage: | ~2600 km swath. Daily surface coverage of radiance and reflectance measurements over land and cloud free for latitudes > 7° and < -7°, and better than 95 % coverage for latitudes in the interval [-7°, 7°]. |
| Spatial resolution: | 7.0 x 7.0 Km (across x along track), at beginning of mission
7.0 x 5.5 Km (across x along track), since 6 August 2019
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| Processor Version: | 02.xx.xx, with x=any digit between 0 and 9 |
Data Set Specifications V1
| Temporal coverage: | Since 30-Apr-2018 to 01-Jul-2021 |
| Spatial coverage: | ~2600 km swath. Daily surface coverage of radiance and reflectance measurements over land and cloud free for latitudes > 7° and < -7°, and better than 95 % coverage for latitudes in the interval [-7°, 7°]. |
| Spatial resolution: | 7.0 x 7.0 Km (across x along track), at beginning of mission
7.0 x 5.5 Km (across x along track), since 6 August 2019
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| Processor Version: | 01.xx.xx, with x=any digit between 0 and 9 |
Processing Level
Level 2
How to access this data
Accessible via the Copernicus Data Space Ecosystem.
Resources
Technical Documentation on TROPOMI CH4 Product:
- PRF-CH4 (Product Readme File - description of changes between different product versions and overall quality information)
- PUM-CH4 Dataset Version 2 - (Product User Information - information on the technical characteristics of the TROPOMI CH4 products)
- PUM-CH4 Dataset Version 1 - (Product User Information - information on the technical characteristics of the TROPOMI CH4 products)
- ATBD-CH4 Dataset Version 2 - (Algorithm Theoretical Basis Document - detailed information on the retrieval algorithm of TROPOMI CH4 products)
- ATBD-CH4 Dataset Version 1 - (Algorithm Theoretical Basis Document - detailed information on the retrieval algorithm of TROPOMI CH4 products)
- IODD-NL Dataset Version 2 - (Input Output Data definition - description of the input and output data of the TROPOMI CH4 product processing).
- IODD-NL Dataset Version 1 - (Input Output Data definition - description of the input and output data of the TROPOMI CH4 product processing).
Technical Documentation on other TROPOMI Level 1B and L2 Products:
Other Copernicus Sentinel-5 Precursor/TROPOMI documents:
Related Datasets
The Products and Algorithms page contain links to other S5P/TROPOMI datasets (click on the corresponding product type).
Data Citation Guidelines V2
Users, who, in their research, use ESA Earth Observation data that have been assigned a DOI, are asked to use it when citing the data source in their publications:
Copernicus Sentinel-5P (processed by ESA), 2021, TROPOMI Level 2 Methane Total Column products. Version 02. European Space Agency. https://doi.org/10.5270/S5P-3lcdqiv
Data Citation Guidelines V1
Users, who, in their research, use ESA Earth Observation data that have been assigned a DOI, are asked to use it when citing the data source in their publications:
Copernicus Sentinel-5P (processed by ESA), 2019, TROPOMI Level 2 Methane Total Column products. Version 01. European Space Agency. https://doi.org/10.5270/S5P-3p6lnwd