A Review on the Chinese Fengyun Series Meteorological Satellites for Atmospheric Composition Monitoring

Année de publication

2026

Air pollution and climate change are two significant concerns threatening sustainable human development. Tracking and mapping atmospheric pollutants and greenhouse gases are essential to managing these issues. Due to its extensive spatiotemporal coverage, satellite remote sensing is indispensable in Earth observation systems to provide measurements of atmospheric chemical species. Since 2008, China has been gathering global atmospheric chemical composition data from space on a daily basis, and the Fengyun satellite series provides the nation's longest record of ozone and aerosol monitoring. The Medium Resolution Spectral Imager (MERSI) onboard the Fengyun-3 (FY-3) series and the Advanced Geostationary Radiation Imager (AGRI) aboard the Fengyun-4 (FY-4) series satellites monitor aerosols in sun-synchronous and geosynchronous orbits, respectively. The Total Ozone Unit (TOU) and the Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet Sounder (SBUS) are China's first instruments to measure global total ozone columns and vertical profiles. The Ozone Monitoring Suite-Nadir (OMS-N) is the successor to the TOU, monitoring ozone and trace gases like nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and sulfur dioxide (SO2) in the ultraviolet (UV)-visible spectrum. The OMS-Limb (OMS-L) provides the capability to obtain stratospheric profiles of ozone and other species. In the infrared wavelength range, the Hyperspectral Infrared Atmospheric Sounder (HIRAS) retrieves vertical information for ozone as well as other trace gases, including carbon monoxide (CO) and ammonia (NH3). For NH3 and CO, HIRAS in low-Earth orbit maps their global distribution, and the Geostationary Interferometric Infrared Sounder (GIIRS) in geostationary orbit tracks their temporal variation over East Asia. The Greenhouse-Gases Absorption Spectrometer (GAS) onboard FY-3D and FY-3H is designed to detect the greenhouse gases carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4). Significance Statement Since 2008, Fengyun (FY) satellites have monitored atmospheric aerosols, ozone, pollutant gases, and greenhouse gases to support efforts against air pollution and climate change. Currently, there are 10 orbiting satellites within the FY-3 and FY-4 series for monitoring the total columns and vertical profiles of atmospheric chemical species. This article is the first systematic and complete documentation of the information and performance of all sensors related to atmospheric composition aboard these series satellites. It provides a guide and reference for users interested in retrieving and applying remote sensing data for atmospheric composition from the Fengyun satellites.</div>

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