Sentinel-4: Revolutionary Air Quality Monitoring from Geostationary Orbit
The Copernicus Sentinel-4 mission is a major step forward in air quality monitoring, providing hourly data on pollution levels over Europe and Northern Africa. This mission uses a geostationary orbit for a continuous view and near real-time data distribution.
Sentinel-4 uses a UVN imaging spectrometer on the Meteosat Third Generation Sounder (MTG-S) satellite, which is in geostationary orbit. This allows Sentinel-4 to constantly monitor Europe and Northern Africa, scanning the area hourly and distributing data within an hour of collection.
This setup allows for the capture of rapid changes in pollution, crucial for forecasting. The hourly updates will significantly improve the ability to predict pollution events and understand air quality trends, offering a much more dynamic and detailed understanding of air quality than ever before.