UV-Visible DOAS Research

The UV-Vis DOAS group

The DOAS group concentrates on atmospheric chemistry related research, based on remote-sensing observations performed using the Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy (DOAS) technique. Retrieval algorithms applied to ground-based, airborne and satellite instruments are developed and used to quantify the abundance of atmospheric trace gases such as O3, NO2, SO2, HCHO, CHOCHO or HONO, which all play an important role for air quality and climate change related studies. These activities are performed in the context of international ground-based networks (e.g. NDACC and ACTRIS) and in support of various environmental research programmes such as the ESA Climate Change Initiative and the Copernicus programme of the European Union.

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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