2026 Snellius Medal Awarded to Prof. Dr. Pieternel Levelt and TROPOMI Team
On March 13, 2026, Prof. Dr. Pieternel Levelt was awarded the prestigious Snellius Medal, a rare distinction granted only once per decade, in recognition of her groundbreaking contributions to atmospheric satellite observations. The award honors her leadership in the development of OMI and TROPOMI, instruments that have become essential for monitoring ozone, nitrogen oxides, aerosols, and methane to inform global climate and air quality policy.
The jury, chaired by Prof. Stan Bentvelsen, explicitly extended this recognition to the entire TROPOMI team, citing the collective excellence of researchers and engineers from KNMI, TNO, SRON, and Airbus Netherlands. This honor celebrates the team’s ability to advance fundamental imaging spectrometry and bridge the gap between complex optical engineering and high-impact societal solutions.
Image: © ESA / ESA
TROPOMI 5-Year Anniversary
To celebrate the 5-year anniversary of the successful launch of TROPOMI on 13 October 2017, a celebratory meeting was held in Taormina, Italy from 10-14 October 2022 to highlight the mission heritage and achievements. It was an excellent occasion to bring teams together from all stages of mission planning, instrument construction, testing, calibration, flight operations to algorithm development, deployment and validation.
You can revisit this meeting and view all the presentations via the S5P 5-years meeting website hosted by ESA.