SCIAMACHY’s View of the Polar Atmosphere

The instrument SCIAMACHY onboard the European ENVISAT mission provides unique capabilities for
deriving atmospheric geophysical parameters. Since its launch in early 2002 it has operated successfully in orbit. Due to
ENVISAT’s high inclination orbit the polar regions are monitored continuously. We report here results about the status
of the polar atmosphere in the past 5 years with special emphasis on the southern hemisphere. This part of the
atmosphere is considered to be highly sensitive to anthropogenic impacts on the Earth system and thus to climate
change. The acquired data permit retrieving information on the Earth’s atmosphere from troposphere up to the
mesosphere