Section: 3. Discover the data: CAMS atmospheric composition and fire emissions | User workshop and training online workshop on existing and new generation earth observation based products for wildfire monitoring and forecast (2021) | EUMETSAT

Main course page

3. Discover the data: CAMS atmospheric composition and fire emissions

  • 3. Discover the data: CAMS atmospheric composition and fire emissions

    The Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) provides consistent and quality-controlled information related to air pollution and health, solar energy, greenhouse gases and climate forcing, everywhere in the world. It is implemented by ECMWF on behalf the European Commissions and is one of six Copernicus data services. The principal CAMS datsets are global forecasts and analyses of reactive gases (O3, CO, NO2, SO2, HCHO), greenhouse gases (CO2, CH4) and aerosol optical depth. In addition to the atmospheric composition products, CAMS also provides near-real-time daily and hourly data on global fire emissions and inventories of anthropogenic and biogenic emissions. In this section you will find out how to access and download CAMS data. 


    Examples of CAMS charts, for an aerosol forecast and fire activity analysis, are shown below and the latest charts can be viewed at https://atmosphere.copernicus.eu/charts/cams/.

    Example forecast chart of CAMS total aerosol optical depth

    Example chart of CAMS GFAS data

    CAMS analyses assimilate a wide range of satellite observations of meteorology and atmospheric composition (including from the Atmospheric Composition SAF and TROPOMI/Sentinel-5p), and initial conditions for the forecasts are taken from the analyses. Fire emissions are estimated currently based on active fire observations (fire radiative power) from the NASA MODIS instruments on the Terra and Aqua satellites. A full list of the satellite observations can be found at https://atmosphere.copernicus.eu/satellite-observations. In situ observations made at the ground and from aircraft and balloons are also vital to CAMS and are used to regularly evaluate and validate the datasets. Validation reports for the CAMS data can be found at https://atmosphere.copernicus.eu/node/325.

    More information on the CAMS Global Fire Assimilation System (GFAS) and fire emissions can be found at https://confluence.ecmwf.int/display/CKB/CAMS%3A+Global+Fire+Assimilation+System+%28GFAS%29+data+documentation.


    In this section you will learn how to register as a user and download CAMS data from ECMWF and the CAMS Atmosphere Data Store (ADS). Registration is required to access CAMS datasets.

    In this section you will learn how to download CAMS data and which settings to use.


    Use this section to find help and support for accessing CAMS data.