Tropospheric HCHO columns are derived at BIRA-IASB from the GOME, SCIAMACHY, GOME-2, OMI and TROPOMI measurements using a DOAS technique combined with radiative transfer calculations (De Smedt et al., 2018).
We distribute L3 data products (L2 orbital data averaged on a regular grid, monthly for all instruments, and daily for OMI and TROPOMI) in two versions:
- V1 is based on:
- the operational TROPOMI L2 HCHO product, and on
- the QA4ECV L2 HCHO products of OMI, GOME2A, SCIAMACHY and GOME.
- V2 is based on newly developed L2 products for the CCI ozone and aerosol precursors project.
For those products, the CAMS reanalysis model has been used for the a priori profiles.
The L2 files are available only on request and for limited periods. The TEMIS products are outdated and not supported anymore. This site replaces the previous TEMIS and QA4ECV formaldehyde pages. The aim is to direct the users to the most up to date HCHO product versions.

Papers about the satellite HCHO products
- De Smedt, I., Pinardi, G., Vigouroux, C., Compernolle, S., Bais, A., Benavent, N., Boersma, F., Chan, K.-L., Donner, S., Eichmann, K.-U., Hedelt, P., Hendrick, F., Irie, H., Kumar, V., Lambert, J.-C., Langerock, B., Lerot, C., Liu, C., Loyola, D., Piters, A., Richter, A., Rivera Cárdenas, C., Romahn, F., Ryan, R. G., Sinha, V., Theys, N., Vlietinck, J., Wagner, T., Wang, T., Yu, H., and Van Roozendael, M.: Comparative assessment of TROPOMI and OMI formaldehyde observations and validation against MAX-DOAS network column measurements, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 12561–12593, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-12561-2021, 2021.
- De Smedt, I., Theys, N., Yu, H., Danckaert, T., Lerot, C., Compernolle, S., Van Roozendael, M., Richter, A., Hilboll, A., Peters, E., Pedergnana, M., Loyola, D., Beirle, S., Wagner, T., Eskes, H., van Geffen, J., Boersma, K. F., and Veefkind, P.: Algorithm theoretical baseline for formaldehyde retrievals from S5P TROPOMI and from the QA4ECV project, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 2395–2426, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-2395-2018, 2018.
- De Smedt, I., Stavrakou, T., Hendrick, F., Danckaert, T., Vlemmix, T., Pinardi, G., Theys, N., Lerot, C., Gielen, C., Vigouroux, C., Hermans, C., Fayt, C., Veefkind, P., Müller, J.-F., and Van Roozendael, M.: Diurnal, seasonal and long-term variations of global formaldehyde columns inferred from combined OMI and GOME-2 observations, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 12519–12545, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-12519-2015, 2015.
- De Smedt, I., Van Roozendael, M., Stavrakou, T., Müller, J.-F., Lerot, C., Theys, N., Valks, P., Hao, N., and van der A, R.: Improved retrieval of global tropospheric formaldehyde columns from GOME-2/MetOp-A addressing noise reduction and instrumental degradation issues, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 5, 2933–2949, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-5-2933-2012, 2012.
- , , , , and (2010), Trend detection in satellite observations of formaldehyde tropospheric columns, Geophys. Res. Lett., 37, L18808, doi:10.1029/2010GL044245.
- De Smedt, I., Müller, J.-F., Stavrakou, T., van der A, R., Eskes, H., and Van Roozendael, M.: Twelve years of global observations of formaldehyde in the troposphere using GOME and SCIAMACHY sensors, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 8, 4947–4963, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-8-4947-2008, 2008.