In this video Seppo Hassinen talks us through AC SAF (Atmospheric Composition Satellite Application Facility), which is part of the EUMETSAT Application Ground Segment. SAFs are dedicated centres of excellence for processing satellite data.

The AC SAF produces a number of near real-time products, including total ozone, tropospheric NO2, and absorbing aerosol index, which indicates the presence of elevated absorbing aerosols in the Earth’s atmosphere. Atmospheric aerosols are a suspension of particles in the atmosphere, which can be either be from man made or natural sources. The aerosol types that are mostly seen are desert dust and aerosols from biomass burning and volcanic eruption events.

Aerosols can have very negative impacts on society. Particles that are less than 2.5 millionths of a meter (PM2.5) pose a threat to public health, as they can work their way deep into the lungs
and aggravate or cause breathing problems, particularly for the elderly and the very young. Aerosols can also affect aviation, by reducing visibility and, in situations such as volcanic eruptions, particles can get into jet engines which can lead to total engine failure.

The Aerosol Robotic Network project – Aeronet, has provided long-term, continuous and readily accessible public domain database of aerosol properties for research and validation. The Aeronet collaboration provides globally distributed observations of spectral aerosol optical depth (AOD), inversion products, and precipitable water in diverse aerosol regimes.

Featured Educators

• Dr Seppo Hassinen

• Dr Bruno Piguet

Don’t forget you can download the video, transcript and take any quizzes available with the links on the right.