GOME-2 scanning principle

The GOME-2 instrument scans across the satellite track. Each scan back and forth takes just six seconds; therefore, with a scan-width of 1920-kilometres, global coverage can be achieved within one day. The data collected by GOME-2 provides vertical profiles or total column amounts for each of the gases (ozone, nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide, other trace gases) and ultraviolet radiation. These profiles are representative of the lowermost 50 kilometres of the Earth's atmosphere.

As with the data being received by GOME on ERS-2, these data are crucial for monitoring stratospheric ozone and atmospheric pollutants to keep a check on the health of the Earth's atmosphere. However, GOME-2 is more advanced than GOME as it observes four times smaller ground pixels (80 km x 40 km), it has better polarisation and the calibration processes have been improved.