introduction to the esa earth observation...

Copyright @ 2009 European Space Agency

Steffen Dransfeld

ESA Earth Observation

September 2009

Introduction to the ESA Earth Observation Programmes


The IPCC Report 2007

Arctic: ice-freePermafrost: up to 90% melting until 2100 Precipitation: decrease in arid regions and increase in wet areasStorms: significantly strongerGulf Stream: weakened Sea level rise: up to 48cm until 2100

Global temperature increase between + 2.4 and 6.4 degrees until 2100

A changing environment


ESA EO headlines

Global Sea Global Sea Surface Surface TemperatureTemperature


ESA EO headlines

Global Sea Global Sea Level RiseLevel Rise


Arctic 2007/2008

Lowest Arctic ice coverage in historyLowest Arctic ice coverage in history

Northwest Passage open (orange line)

and Northeast passage only

partially blocked (blue line).


Arctic 2009


we do not know what is going to happen to Sea Ice in the coming years...all models are underestimating the sea ice loss (measurements are what, on average, models predicted for 2030)

Extracted from : NILU, Arctic Summer School 2009 “Observing the Arctic: a window to climate change”http://school.nilu.no/


ESA EO headlines

Sea and Land Sea and Land Ice extentIce extent


Arctic Sea Ice Extent

Sep 3 2007

Sep 3 1979


Arctic Sea Ice Extent

See NASA animation


Accelerated break-up of the Wilkins Ice Shelf

1992 2008

Break-up event between 30/5 and 9/7 2008: ca. 1350km2 loss

Occurrence during Southern hemispheric winter!

Warm water beneath the halocline may be reaching the underside of the Wilkins Ice Shelf and thinning it rapidly

Antarctic


Earth Observation Activities of ESA

Earth Observation Envelope Programme

Earthnet / Third Party Missions

International cooperation

ERS & ENVISAT Missions

Charter on Space & Major Disasters

Meteorological missions

GMES

Climate Change Initiative


OceansCryosphere

Land SurfaceClimatology

+ Global Ozone+ Land Surface

+ Ocean Colour+ Atmospheric Constituents

ERS 1ERS 1 ERS 2ERS 2 ENVISATENVISAT1991 1995 2002

Europe’s expanding EO capability

Sentinels /GMESSentinels /GMES

Earth ExplorersEarth Explorers

From past to present

Since 1978MeteosatMeteosat

Geo-stationary meteorology

missions


EO missions and exploitation

Envisat 8th year in operation, ERS-2 14 years in spaceAbout 2600 scientific users / projects are served with Envisat and ERS-2 data30 Third Party Missions for the benefit of European users


Major scientific results of ENVISAT and ERS

ERS & ENVISAT

Climate change: Global sea level rise of ~3mm/year and sea surface temperature increase of ~0.1 deg. C since 1992 (Envisat + ERS).

Atmosphere: Worldwide monitoring of air pollution, evidence of fast growing air pollution in China since 1995 (Envisat + ERS).

Polar areas: Daily monitoring of sea ice motion and observation of Antarctica ice-shelves collapse.

Oceanography: Quantification of global chlorophyll concentration, an index of the oceanic phytoplankton biomass.

Tectonics: Identification of the blind tectonic fault at the origin of the Bam earthquake in December 2003.

Ozone hole

NO2 / SCIAMACHY (Jan. 2003 - June 2004)


The ENVISAT altimeter provides continuity to the measurements initiated in the early 1990

Courtesy of Remko Scharroo, NOAA,US

Sea level riseTrend: +3 mm/yr

Sea level riseTrend: +3 mm/yr

SEA LEVEL RISE


Measurement of Residual Trends in Global Sea Surface Temperature

AVHRR datatrend: 0.09°K / decade

Sea Surface Temperature (SST)

ERS / Envisat Trend: +0.13°K / decade

ERS / Envisat Trend: +0.13°K / decade


Oil Spill Monitoring

Oil slick of “Prestige” tanker accident viewed by Envisat


NO2 CONCENTRATION

Pollution detection: Nitrogenum Dioxide


NO2 measured by SCIAMACHY (Jan 2003 - Jun 2004)

1e15 molec/cm2

Concentration of NO2 increasing of 50%

Courtesy of John Burrows, Univ. Bremen, Germany

Courtesy of Steffen Beirle, Univ. Heidelberg, Germany

Ship tracks

44%44% 50%50%

51%51%

Courtesy di Steffen Beirle, Univ. Heidelberg, Germania

Ship tracks

NO2 CONCENTRATION


Envisat ASAR

5 images[2003-2004]

Barcelona

Subsidence Monitoring

Interferometry measurements by ERS SAR and Envisat ASAR


Land Cover

GlobCover: New portrait of Earth GlobCover: New portrait of Earth shows land cover as never beforeshows land cover as never before

GlobCover bimonthly global composite May-June 2005 based on MERIS Full Res at 300m res


Land Cover

GlobCover: New portrait of Earth GlobCover: New portrait of Earth shows land cover as never beforeshows land cover as never before


ERS-2 / Envisat Tandem campaignto measure the velocity of arctic fast moving glaciers around 200m/yearto generate accurate low relief digital elevation models - of particular interest for many low elevation delta regions (e.g. New Orleans, Po-Delta with Venice, The Netherlands, Bangladesh, Mekong Delta, Netherlands, northern Siberia, etc)

to improve the general understanding of interferometry and coherenceto rise interest in mapping fast land surface movements

ERS-2 and Envisat


EOEP

Implementation:EARTH EXPLORER COMPONENTEARTH EXPLORER COMPONENT for science and technology

demonstration

DEVELOPMENT AND EXPLOITATION COMPONENTDEVELOPMENT AND EXPLOITATION COMPONENT for instrument predevelopment, long-term operational monitoring, mission exploitation and market development

Backbone for implementing the Living Planet Strategy

EOEP-2

2003-2007

EOEP-3

2008-2012

EOEP-1

1998-2002

ongoing

The Earth Observation Envelope Programme


METEOSAT Second GenerationMSG-1, -2, -3

METEOSATM-1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

METOP-1, -2, -3

Earth Watch

Earth Explorers

ERS-1, -2

1990 2000 2009 2010 2030

ENVISAT

GOCE

GMES in cooperation with EC

SMOS

(Gravity and Ocean Circulation Explorer)

Earthnet: European access to non-ESA missions: Landsat, SeaWifs, NOAA, JERS, MODIS, ALOS, Proba, Bird, Scisat...

European users

Since 1977

Sentinel 1Sentinel 2

to better understand the EarthSystem

in cooperationwith EUMETSAT

Meteo

ApplicationsServices

to initiate long term monitoring systems

and servicesSentinel 4/5

Science(Gravity and Ocean Circulation Explorer)

(Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity)

CryoSat2 (Polar IceMonitoring)

ADM/Aeolus (Atmospheric Dynamics Mission)

SWARM (Magnetic Mission)

EarthCare (Clouds, Aerosols & Radiation Mission)

Sentinel 3

EO missions handled by ESA


Science Strategy

The science strategy for the future direction of ESA’s Living Planet Programme:

Launch a steady flow of missionsaddressing key issues

Provide an infrastructure to allow quick and efficient satellite data exploitation

Contribute to global Earth Observation capabilities

Provide an efficient and cost-effective process for science priorities to be rapidly translated into space missions


ESA Earth Explorers

GOCE 17 March 09

ADMADMAEOLUSAEOLUS

EARTH EARTH CARECARE

SWARMSWARM

77thth EEEE

SMOS2 Nov 09

CryosatFeb. 2010


GOCE (Gravity field and steady state Ocean Circulation Explorer))

First ESA Earth Explorer dedicated to the exploration of the Earth gravity fieldSeveral satellite technology world premiers: most sensitive gradiometer ever flown, first drag-free flight with Ion thrusters, extremely low orbitLaunched 17 March 2009

.

ESA’s Gravity Mission


GOCE mission status)

.

ESA’s Gravity Mission

Systems and instruments nominalGOCE continues to decay to operational orbit which will be reached on 15 SeptemberAir drag still very low –stabilisation of orbit at 255kmMeasurement phase from 2nd

half of September until March 2010


Objectives:- to provide global maps of soil moisture and ocean salinity- to advance our understanding of the freshwater cycle - to improve climate, weather and extreme-event forecasting

ESA’s Water mission


To improve the understanding of:

- thickness and mass fluctuations of polar land and marine ice- rates of ice thinning / thickening due to climate variations

ESA’s Ice mission


Objectives:- to provide global observations of wind profiles- to improve the quality of weather forecasting- to enhance our understanding of atmospheric dynamics and climate processes

ESA’s Wind mission


Objectives:- to provide the best-

ever survey of the Earth’s geomagnetic field and its variation in time

- to gain new insight into the Earth’s interior and climate.

Courtesy EADS, Astrium

ESA’s Magnetic mission


EarthCARE is a joint European - Japanese mission Objectives:

- to improve process understanding of cloud-aerosol-radiation interactions- to measure parameters to be included in models- to improve climate and weather model predictions


BIOMASS: single satellite carrying a P-band SAR to provide continuous global interferometric and polarimetric radar observations of forested areas.

CoReH2O / Snow mission: single satellite with dual frequency (X, Ku), dual-polarisation SAR to observe snow / ice at high spatial resolution

PREMIER: 3D fields of atmospheric composition in upper troposphere and lower stratosphere. The instrumentation will consist of an infrared limb-imaging spectrometer and a mm-wave limb-sounder.


The International Charter on Space and Major Disasters

Charter

Unified system of space data acquisition & delivery in case of natural or human-made disasters

Data delivery to civil protection agencies, emergency & rescue services

Bam Earthquake 2003Bam Earthquake 2003

Darfur Crisis 2004Darfur Crisis 2004

Tsunami Catastrophe Tsunami Catastrophe 2004/20052004/2005

Hurricane Katrina 2005Hurricane Katrina 2005

Sichuan earthquake / Sichuan earthquake / China, 12 May 2008China, 12 May 2008

Cyclone Cyclone NargisNargis, , Hurricanes Gustav, Ike 2008Hurricanes Gustav, Ike 2008

Examples of activations:Examples of activations:


Charter

Hurricane / Flooding, New Orleans, Louisiana, 2005

New Orleans New Orleans FloodFlood ExtentExtent MapMap


Example of a Charter Activation

Hurricane Ike Hurricane Ike seen by Envisatseen by Envisat

This unique view of Hurricane Ike is an

example of combined optical MERIS and

radar ASAR images, acquired on 9

September 2008 and showing the swirling cloud-tops and the shape of the wind-

driven sea surface.


Earth Observation: 3 elements have been endorsed:

METEOSAT Third METEOSAT Third GenerationGeneration

GMES Space GMES Space Segment 2Segment 2

Climate Change Climate Change InitiativeInitiative

ESA Ministerial Council Nov 2008

C-MIN 2008


MTGMSG1977 20152002

5 observation missions:- HRFI: 5 channels- FDHSI: 22 channels- Lightning Imager- Infra-Red Sounder3-axis stabilised satellite

1 observation mission:-MVIRI: 3 channels-Spinning satellite

2 observation missions:- SEVIRI: 12 channels- GERB- Spinning satellite

MOP

Meteorological Programmes

• Development of the meteorological programmes:

• The MeteoSat Third Generation baseline is a two-platform system (6 spacecraft)


MTG

MTG status

• The first two major milestones of completing the Phase A Extension activities and releasing the B2,C/D ITT has been completed in July, on schedule.

• The next key date is the receipt of industrial offers on 2nd October and conclusion of contractor selection by the end of this year.


The EPS (Eumetsat Polar System) is Europe’s first polar orbiting operational meteorological satellite system. Flying at a much lower altitude (~800 km) than the geostationary Meteosats, the MetOp satellites, developed by ESA on behalf of EUMETSAT, provide more precise details about atmospheric temperature and moisture profiles

EPS / METOP

MetOp

Launch of MetOp-A in 2006


The Earthnet Programme

Third Party Missions

Serving European users with nonnon--ESA ESA / non/ non--European dataEuropean data

Fostering European user communities and science competence (incl. EO Education)

Synergistic use and joint exploitation of ESA and Third Party data

Established 30 years ago

ALOS, one of ESA’s Third Party Missions


Global Monitoring for Environment and Security

GMES

European independence in data sources for environment and security

monitoringand

The European contribution to the Global Earth Observation System of

Systems (GEOSS)


GSC

Development, launch and IOV (in-orbit validation) of the Sentinels

S1: SAR imagingS2: Superspectral imagingS3: Ocean monitoringS4 (on MTG) atmosphere (GEO)

S5 (on Post-EPS) atmosphere (LEO), preceded by a S5 pre-cursor

Ground Segment & CoordinationAccess to data from ESA, EUMETSAT,

Member States’ missions

Development of Sentinel GS

The GMES Space Component Programme


GMES dedicated missions: Sentinels

2012 A / 2015 B

Sentinel 1 – SAR imagingAll weather, day/night applications, interferometry

2013 A/ 2016 B

Sentinel 2 – Multi-spectral imagingLand applications: urban, forest, agriculture,..Continuity of Landsat, SPOT

2013 A/ 2017 B

Sentinel 3 – Ocean and global land monitoringWide-swath ocean color, vegetation, sea/land surface temperature, altimetry

2017+

Sentinel 4 – Geostationary atmosphericAtmospheric composition monitoring, trans-boundary pollution

2019+

Sentinel 5 – Low-orbit atmosphericAtmospheric composition monitoring(S5 Precursor launch in 2014)


Sentinel-1

• polar-orbiting satellite system for the continuation of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) operational applications

• C-band imaging radar mission consisting of a pair of satellites aimed at providing an all-weather day-and-night observations


Sentinel-2 and -3

Sentinel-2

Sentinel-3


National, Eumetsat and Third Party Missions for GMES (excerpt)

GMES: Joint Infrastructure

TopSat

CosmoSkymedSPOT

Rapideye UK-DMC

Pleiades Jason-2

METOP

Radarsat

Terrasar-X


Fast Track Services

Services: From ESA to EC

Emergency Respond Core Service respond to crises and emergencies

Land Monitoring Core Service regular independent satellite coverage of Europe

Marine Core Service ocean forecasting, monitoring & reporting and applications on environment & safety

GMES Service Element

100 M100 M€€ by ESA MSby ESA MS

Period 2003Period 2003--2008 (2009)2008 (2009)

330+ user organisations330+ user organisations

EC has invested another EC has invested another 100 M100 M€€

Availability – Reliability - Affordability


ESA Initiative on Climate Change

The rationale of the initiative :

to systematically generate and distribute long-term series of “Essential Climate Variables” (ECV) to meet needs of UNFCCC and IPCC, based on ESA archived EO data

ECV Records: Quantifying the state of the Climate system to (a) advance our knowledge, and (b) support work of UNFCCC and IPCC for climate change mitigation and adaptation

Output :


Launch schedule of ESA EO missions

introduction to the esa earth observation...

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