Atmospheric composition

The Sea and Land Surface Temperature Radiometer (SLSTR) is a dual-view sensor with several channels of interest for hotspot and aerosol observations.

Two SLSTR Level-2 atmospheric products are available: the Near Real Time (NRT) Fire Radiative Power (FRP) product and the NRT Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) product.

NRT FRP product

The SLSTR Near Real Time (NRT) Fire Radiative Power (FRP) product, implemented by EUMETSAT, identifies the location, and quantifies the radiative power, of any hotspot present on land and ocean Earth surfaces, that radiates a heating signal within a pixel size of 1km².

All threatening hotspots, i.e. agricultural burning, wildfires, deforestation, tropical peatland fires, industrial gas flares, and volcanoes, are identified and characterised in less than three hours since the SLSTR observation sensing time.

Full details on the SLSTR Near Real Time (NRT) Fire Radiative Power (FRP) product

NRT AOD product

The SLSTR Near Real Time (NRT) Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) product quantifies the abundance of aerosol particles, and monitors their global distribution and long-range transport, at the scale of 9.5 x 9.5km². All observations are made available in less than three hours from the SLSTR observation sensing time. It is only applicable during the day.

The current NRT AOD product is the first release as baseline collection 1.

NOTE: There are different maturity statuses between ocean and land surfaces where:

• AOD Ocean is pre-operational
• AOD Land is currently demonstrational

Further improvements to the NRT AOD product are planned, including the optimisation of the spectral constraints over land continents in case of unfavourable dual-view geometry, a comprehensive global validation, and additional updates following feedback from selected Sentinel-3 NRT atmosphere experts.

These data are very important to improving our knowledge on aerosol and gas emissions. It is planned that they will be used operationally by the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS), as well as by other entities involved in air quality and climate monitoring.

Both AOD and fires are essential climate variables. Improving aerosol knowledge is also essential for enhancing the quality of other satellite datasets focused on surface applications, such as ocean colour.

Full details on the SLSTR Near Real Time (NRT) Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) product

NRT FRP and AOD data and how to access it

Available SLSTR Level 1 data

Product notices

Users need to be registered to get access to these products. To do this you need to use our Earth Observation Portal (EOP). To access the Earth Observation Portal (EOP) for the first time, users need to create an account. Once the account has been created, you can log in to view and modify your profile, service subscriptions and licence arrangements.

Register with EOP

FRP and AOD products are available:

• via our broadcast delivery system EUMETCast;
• by ordering from the EUMETSAT data centre;

All Copernicus Sentinel data products are distributed using a Sentinel-specific variation of the Standard Archive Format for Europe (SAFE) format specification. The information is contained in a single package, with objects encoded in netCDF format.

Full details can be found on the Sentinel data formats page.

You can use the Monitoring and Evaluation of Thematic Information from Space (METIS) tool to monitor EUMETSAT operational remotely sensed products for stability, quality and performance on a global and regional basis in routine. A METIS module for the fire radiative power product is available.

Collecting your feedback — Additional available online and offline data

NRT FRP product

All public users can look at the daily monitoring of FRP hotspot situations from S3A and S3B via the EUMETSAT Monitoring & Evaluation of Thematic Information from Space (METIS) FRP page.

In addition, a series of S3 FRP dataset produced off-line from the same EUMETSAT processor v2.0 can be made available upon request via our User Service Helpdesk.

This includes the following:

• Complete worldwide reprocessing of past S3 FRP dataset up to 1 December 2019, based on the 'Full F1 Off' configuration, similar to the current reference NRT configuration disseminated operationally.
• Complete worldwide reprocessing of past (up to 1 December 2019) and present S3 FRP dataset, based on the 'Full F1 On' configuration. Users are advised this configuration is currently under evaluation, and not yet part of the reference NRT configuration. However, any user is welcome to evaluate it and give feedback.
• Specific regionally and/or temporally limited reprocessing may be addressed.
• Possible, other ancillary data and/or expert advice support.

NRT AOD product

A series of S3 NRT AOD datasets, produced off-line from SLSTR L1B NRT with the same EUMETSAT processor v2.0, can be made available upon request via our User Service Helpdesk. These include the following:

• Global reprocessing of a couple of months in 2019 and 2020.
• Specific regionally and/or temporally limited reprocessing may be addressed upon user request.
• Possible other ancillary data and/or expert advice support.

Overall, EUMETSAT welcomes feedback from users at any time via the User Service Helpdesk.