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Abstract:
On board the Copernicus Sentinel-5 Precur-
sor (S5P) platform, the TROPOspheric Monitoring Instru-
ment (TROPOMI) is a double-channel, nadir-viewing grat-
ing spectrometer measuring solar back-scattered earthshine
radiances in the ultraviolet, visible, near-infrared, and short-
wave infrared with global daily coverage. In the ultraviolet
range, its spectral resolution and radiometric performance are
equivalent to those of its predecessor OMI, but its horizontal
resolution at true nadir is improved by an order of magni-
tude. This paper introduces the formaldehyde (HCHO) tro-
pospheric vertical column retrieval algorithm implemented
in the S5P operational processor and comprehensively de-
scribes its various retrieval steps. Furthermore, algorithmic
improvements developed in the framework of the EU FP7-
project QA4ECV are described for future updates of the pro-
cessor. Detailed error estimates are discussed in the light of
Copernicus user requirements and needs for validation are
highlighted. Finally, verification results based on the appli-
cation of the algorithm to OMI measurements are presented,
demonstrating the performances expected for TROPOMI.
