Project info

The AC SAF, or Atmospheric Composition Satellite Application Facility, is a project under the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) Satellite Application Facility network. It focuses on processing, archiving, and disseminating satellite data related to the Earth's atmosphere, specifically its composition.

The primary goal of the AC SAF is to provide high-quality data products related to ozone, other trace gases, and ultraviolet and visible radiation. These data products are derived from measurements taken by instruments on EUMETSAT satellites, including the Metop and Meteosat series. The work for Metop-NG as well as for Meteosat third generation instruments is also ongoing and those will be the primary instruments in future.

What do we do?

AC SAF consortium members develop radiative transfer calculation methods and other algorithms for creating atmospheric remote sensing data from polar-orbiting satellites Metop-A, Metop-B and Metop-C. We also validate the data products and provide associated dissemination and user services. AC SAF produces near real-time and offline data products as well as data records including total ozone, trace gas total columns (CO, NO₂, SO₂, tropospheric NO₂, coarse and high-resolution ozone profiles, absorbing aerosol height and index and solar noon UV index. Offline data and data records are also archived for later access.