Formaldehyde (HCHO) is one important indicator of tropospheric hydrocarbon
emissions and photochemical activity. It is also directly emitted into the
atmosphere through the combustion of fossil fuels, biomass burning, and
industrial processes. Global HCHO observations for 1995 to 2004 from the
GOME instrument on-board the ERS-2 satellite and the SCIAMACHY instrument
onboard ENVISAT are presented. Selected data sets are compared to
ground-based observations from the Bremian DOAS network for atmospheric
measurements (BREDOM). Correlation studies with data from other space-borne
instruments (AVHRR and ATSR) emphasise recent studies, that biogenic
emissions are the largest source for HCHO on a global scale. The results
demonstrate the ability to measure HCHO from space, and imply that
space-based measurements of HCHO provide valuable information on trends on
emission fluxes of reactive hydrocarbons.