Launched in May 2024, ESA’s EarthCARE satellite has been making waves, with the first images from three of its scientific instruments already delivered. Now, the spotlight is firmly on the atmospheric lidar, the most advanced of the satellite’s four instruments. This cutting-edge sensor has captured detailed 20 km-high vertical profiles of atmospheric aerosols – tiny particles and droplets from natural sources like wildfires, dust, and sea spray, and from human activities like industrial emissions or burning of wood – and clouds across various regions of the globe.
This profile, captured on 3 August 2024 by the atmospheric lidar over the mid-Atlantic, is particularly rich in information. High-altitude cirrus clouds, deep convection clouds and low, thin clouds all feature in this profile. There are also two different types of aerosol: marine aerosols that include salt spray from the ocean, and a thick layer of dust blowing off the African Sahara desert. Understanding the complex relationship of these clouds and aerosols in the Tropics is fundamental to understanding Earth’s climate and how it will change.
Read full story: EarthCARE profiles atmospheric particles in detail