Formaldehyde is an intermediate gas in almost all oxidation chains of Non-Methane Volatile Organic Compounds (NMVOC), leading eventually to CO2. NMVOCs are, together with NOx, CO and CH4, among the most important precursors of tropospheric O3. The major HCHO source in the remote atmosphere is CH4 oxidation. Over the continents, the oxidation of higher NMVOCs emitted from vegetation, fires, traffic, and industrial sources results in important and localised enhancements of the HCHO levels.

In addition to the main product results, such as HCHO slant column, vertical column and air mass factor, the level 2 data files contain several additional parameters and diagnostic information.

More information and examples

Dataset Specifications

Examples of filenames (a.k.a. granules):

S5P_OFFL_L2__HCHO___20260201T231910_20260202T010040_43039_03_020800_20260203T215212.nc S5P_NRTI_L2__HCHO___20260201T234313_20260201T234813_43039_03_020800_20260202T005323.nc S5P_RPRO_L2__HCHO___20220701T230527_20220702T004657_24439_03_020401_20230315T002352.nc

Elements in the filename separated by underscores after the initial "S5P":
* processing type: near-real time (NRTI), off-line (OFFL), reprocessing of off-line (RPRO)
* product identifier [10 char.]
* start date and time of granule
* end date and time of granule
* orbit number [5 char.]
* collection number [2 char.]
* version number [6 char.]
* production date and time
In case of OFFL and RPRO granules are full orbits, for NRTI granules are 5-minute chunks of orbits.

Dataset Specifications V2

Temporal Coverage

Since 12-Jul-2020

Reprocessed (RPRO) dataset: from 30-Apr-2018 to 03-Aug-2022

Spatial Coverage

~2600 km swath

Full daily surface coverage of radiance and reflectance measurements for latitudes > 7° and < -7°, and better than 95 % coverage for latitudes in the interval [-7°, 7°]

Spatial Resolution at Nadir

3.5 x 7.0 km (across x along track), at beginning of mission

3.5 x 5.5 km (across x along track), since 6 August 2019

Processor Version02.xx.xx, with x=any digit between 0 and 9

Dataset Specifications V1

Temporal Coverage

From 30-Apr-2018 to 12-Jul-2020

Spatial Coverage

~2600 km swath

Full daily surface coverage of radiance and reflectance measurements for latitudes > 7° and < -7°, and better than 95 % coverage for latitudes in the interval [-7°, 7°]

Spatial Resolution at Nadir

3.5 x 7.0 km (across x along track), at beginning of mission

3.5 x 5.5 km (across x along track), since 6 August 2019

Processor Version01.xx.xx, with x=any digit between 0 and 9

Processing Level

Level-2 processing of S5P/TROPOMI data.

How to Access the Data

The data related to this product and to the other S5P/TROPOMI products are accessible via the  Copernicus Data Space Ecosystem (CDSE).

Documentation & Related Datasets

Technical documentation on the S5P/TROPOMI Level-1B and Level-2 products can be found on the the  SentiWiki S5P Products page.

Dataset Citation Guidelines

Users, who, in their research, use ESA Earth Observation data that have been assigned a DOI, are asked to use it when citing the data source in their publications:

Dataset Citation Guidelines V2

Copernicus Sentinel-5P (processed by ESA), 2020, TROPOMI Level 2 Formaldehyde Total Column products. Version 02. European Space Agency. https://doi.org/10.5270/S5P-vg1i7t0

Dataset Citation Guidelines V1

Copernicus Sentinel-5P (processed by ESA), 2018, TROPOMI Level 2 Formaldehyde Total Column products. Version 01. European Space Agency. https://doi.org/10.5270/S5P-tjlxfd2