UV-Visible DOAS Research

The UV-Vis DOAS group

The DOAS group concentrates on atmospheric chemistry related research, based on observations performed using the so-called Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy (DOAS) technique. Retrieval algorithms applied to ground-based and satellite instruments are developed and used to monitor the atmospheric concentration of a number of important trace gases like O₃, NO₂, BrO, OClO, HCHO, SO₂, CHOCHO, etc. These activities are performed in the context of the BIRA-IASB contribution to international ground-based networks (e.g. the NDACC) and to European atmospheric chemistry satellite missions like ERS-2/GOME, SCIAMACHY and GOME-2.

The group is lead by Dr. Michel Van Roozendael. See the members of our group here

Recent highlight  (previous)

 Global nitrous acid emissions by wildfires revealed from space.

On Monday September 21, 2020, the prestigious Nature Geosciences journal published an article presenting the first satellite detection of nitrous acid (HONO) using the TROPOMI satellite instrument.
This publication (Theys et al., 2020) presents the first unambiguous detection of HONO from TROPOMI and reveals the existence of enhanced HONO over wildfires consistently for major ecosystems.

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