ACP Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics ACP 1680-7324 Copernicus GmbH Göttingen, Germany 10.5194/acp-3-1495-2003 Trace gas measurements from infrared satellite for chemistry and climate applications Clerbaux C. 1 Hadji-Lazaro J. 1 Turquety S. 1 Mégie G. 1 Coheur P.-F. 2 Service d’Aéronomie, Institut Pierre-Simon Laplace, Paris, France Laboratoire de Chimie Physique Moléculaire, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium 25 09 2003 3 5 1495 1508 This is an open-access article ditributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. This article is available from http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/3/1495/2003/acp-3-1495-2003.html The full text article is available as a PDF file from http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/3/1495/2003/acp-3-1495-2003.pdf

Space-borne thermal infrared instruments working in the nadir geometry are providing spectroscopic measurements of species that impact on the chemical composition of the atmosphere and on the climate forcing: H<sub>2</sub>O, CO<sub>2</sub>, N<sub>2</sub>O, CH<sub>4</sub>, CFCs, O<sub>3</sub>, and CO. The atmospheric abundances obtained from the analysis of IMG/ADEOS measurements are discussed in order to demonstrate the potential scientific return to be expected from future missions using advanced infrared nadir sounders. Some strengths and limitations of passive infrared remote sensing from space are illustrated.