The IRS sounder aboard the European MTG-S1 satellite, launched on 1 July 2025, released its first images on 27 January 2026, revealing an unprecedented view of Earth’s atmosphere. From its geostationary position at an altitude of approximately 36,000 km, IRS continuously observes the Europe–Africa disk at high spatial resolution, with a temporal sampling of 48 observations per day over Europe. This dynamic mapping makes it possible to track the evolution of atmospheric structures, detect signs of instability even before cloud formation, and monitor in detail pollutant transport and extreme events.
For ULB, IRS represents a transformative tool for monitoring atmospheric composition. It will enable the identification and quantification of super-emitters, the tracking of air quality variations throughout the day, and the more rapid generation of pollution alerts. It will also provide unique observations of extreme events such as wildfires and volcanic eruptions, while delivering essential data to improve our understanding of long-term atmospheric variability. IRS complements the existing atmospheric observing system based on polar-orbiting instruments (such as the IASI sounders) by providing continuous, higher-precision mapping with unprecedented temporal sampling. Its combination with Sentinel-4, hosted on the same satellite, will further strengthen the integrated and operational monitoring of air quality from space.
ULB contributed to making this instrument a reality through the commitment of the team at SQUARES (Spectroscopy, Quantum Chemistry and Atmospheric Remote Sensing – SQUARES, Faculty of Sciences)
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