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  • Documents (13)
  • News - Events and Proceedings

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    Featuring the power of Earth observation data at EGU

    The European Geosciences Union General Assembly 2024 brings together geoscientists from all over the world, aiming to provide a forum where scientists and early career researchers can present their work and discuss their ideas with experts, in all fields of geoscience.

  • News - Events and Proceedings

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    Celebrating ESA’s first small satellite with science success

    Scientists and data users gathered at a special workshop to celebrate the end of PROBA-1’s CHRIS sensor and discuss the results of this overachieving mission.

  • News - Events and Proceedings

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    EarthCARE pre-launch science workshop a success

    Held between 13 and 17 November 2023, in ESA’s Earth Observation facility in Frascati, Italy, the ESA-JAXA pre-launch EarthCARE science and validation workshop brought together nearly 250 participants, representing a vibrant worldwide scientific community that is eagerly awaiting the mission’s launch.

  • News - Infographics

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    Overview of Aeolus Level-2b scientific wind data

    Learn more about the Aeolus Level-2b scientific wind product in our latest infographic.

  • News - Spotlight on EO community

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    An overview of the EarthCARE mission

    In this video, meet Björn Frommknecht, Mission Manager of ESA's upcoming EarthCARE satellite.

  • News - Spotlight on EO community

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    Introducing the EarthCARE Mission Manager

    In this video, Björn Frommknecht describes his role as Mission Manager of EarthCARE, and what he enjoys most about his involvement with this upcoming Earth Explorer.

  • News - Success Stories

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    Rome supersite helps validate atmospheric space data

    In the sprawling, urban area of Rome, where atmospheric composition is impacted by complex coastal weather and pollution, ESA supports a powerful observatory spread across several locations.

  • News - Success Stories

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    Young scientists bid farewell to ESA's wind mission

    Students and early career researchers are saying an emotional goodbye to Aeolus ahead of its upcoming reentry.

  • News - Infographics

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    Focusing on Envisat MERIS Full Resolution Level-2 data

    ESA's Envisat mission continued and expanded upon the legacy of its predecessors, the ERS (European Remote Sensing) satellites. Operating between 2002 and 2012, the satellite's 10 instruments acquired a decade of data for many applications.

  • News - Events and Proceedings

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    Last call for EarthCARE workshop abstracts

    The abstract submission deadline for the EarthCARE Pre-Launch Science and Validation Workshop is just a week away. If you would like to present your work at the workshop, submit your abstract by 10 July.

  • News - Infographics

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    Overview of the Aeolus Level-1B wind product

    Learn about the Aeolus Level-1B wind product, which supports applications for the weather, atmospheric processes and climate research, in our latest infographic.

  • Data - Data Description

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    GOSAT-2 TANSO FTS-2 and CAI-2 ESA archive

    The TANSO-FTS-2 (Thermal And Near infrared Sensor for carbon Observation - Fourier Transform Spectrometer-2) instrument is an high-resolution 5-bands (NIR and TIR) spectrometer which allows the observation of reflective and emissive radiative energy from Earths surface and the atmosphere for the measurement of atmospheric chemistry and greenhouse gases. The TANSO-CAI-2 (Thermal And Near infrared Sensor for carbon Observation - Cloud and Aerosol Imager-2) instrument is a push-broom radiometer in the spectral ranges of ultraviolet (UV), visible (VIS), Near Infrared (NIR) and SWIR (5 bands observe in the forward direction and 5 in backwards direction, with LOS tilted by 20 degrees) for the observation of aerosols and cloud optical properties and for monitoring of air pollution. The GOSAT-2 available products are: FTS-2 Level 1A products contain interferogram data observed by FTS-2, together with geometric information of observation points and various telemetry. In addition, data from an optical camera (CAM) near the observation time are also stored. Two different products for day and night observations. Common data contain common information for SWIR/TIR including CAM data; SWIR data contain information from SWIR band; TIR data contain information from TIR band. FTS-2 level 1B products contain spectrum data, which are generated by Fourier transformation and other corrections to raw interferogram data in L1A. The sampled CAM data near the observation time are also stored. Two different products for day and night observations. Common data contain common information for SWIR/TIR including CAM data; SWIR products for SWIR spectrum data before and after sensitivity correction; TIR products for TIR spectrum data after sensitivity correction using blackbody and deep space calibration data and after correction of finite field of view. FTS-2 NearRealTime products: FTS-2 data are first processed with predicted orbit file and made immediately available: NRT product does not include monitor camera image, best-estimate pointing-location, and target point classification but is available on the ESA server 5 hours after sensing. After a few days (usually 3 days), data is reprocessed with definitive orbit file and sent as a consolidated product. FTS-2 Level 2 products: “Column-averaged Dry-air Mole Fraction” products store column-averaged dry-air mole fraction of atmospheric gases retrieved by using Band 1-3 spectral radiance data in TANSO-FTS-2 L1B; “Chlorophyll Fluorescence and Proxy Method (FTS-2_02_SWPR)” products store solar induced chlorophyll fluorescence data retrieved from Band 1 spectral radiance data in L1B Product as well as column-averaged dry-air mole fraction of atmospheric gases retrieved from Band 2 and 3 spectral radiance data in L1B Product. Both products are obtained by using the fill-physic maximum a posteriori (MAP) method and under the assumption of clear-sky condition. CAI-2 Level 1A products contain uncorrected image data of TANSO-CAI-2, which is stored as digital number together with telemetry of geometric information at observation point, orbit and attitude data, temperature, etc. One scene is defined as a satellite revolution data starting from ascending node to the next ascending node. Common data contain common information for both Forward looking and Backward looking; FWD products contain information for Forward looking bands, from 1 to 5; BWD products contain information for Backward looking bands, from 6 to 10. CAI-2 Level 1B products contain spectral radiance data per pixel converted from TANSO-CAI-2 L1A Products. Band-to-band registration of each forward- and backward- viewing band is applied; ortho-correction is performed to observation location data based on an earth ellipsoid model using digital elevation model data. CAI-2 Level 2 products: Cloud Discrimination Products stores clear-sky confidence levels per pixel, which are calculated by combining the results of threshold tests for multiple features such as reflectance ratio and Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), obtained from spectral radiance data in GOSAT-2 TANSO-CAI-2 L1B Product. This product also stores cloud status bit data, in which results of individual threshold tests and quality flags are summarised. The full ESA archive and newly acquired/systematically processed GOSAT-2 FTS-2 and CAI-2 products are (ESA collection name versus JAXA product name): FTS-2 L1A Common day (FTS-2_1A_COMMON_DAY) FTS-2 L1A Common night (FTS-2_1A_COMMON_NIGHT) FTS-2 L1A SWIR day (FTS-2_1A_SWIR_DAY) FTS-2 L1A TIR day (FTS-2_1A_TIR_DAY) FTS-2 L1A TIR night (FTS-2_1A_TIR_NIGHT) FTS-2 L1B Common day (FTS-2_1B_COMMON_DAY) FTS-2 L1B Common night (FTS-2_1B_COMMON_NIGHT) FTS-2 L1B SWIR day (FTS-2_1B_SWIR_DAY) FTS-2 L1B TIR day (FTS-2_1B_TIR_DAY) FTS-2 L1B TIR night (FTS-2_1B_TIR_NIGHT) FTS-2 L2 Column-averaged Dry-air Mole Fraction (FTS-2_0) FTS-2 L2 Chlorophyll Fluorescence and Proxy Method (FTS-2_02_SWPR) CAI-2 L1A Common (CAI-2_1A_COMMON) CAI-2 L1A Forward viewing (CAI-2_1A_FWD) CAI-2 L1A Backward viewing (CAI-2_1A_BWD) CAI-2 L1B (CAI-2_1B)

  • News - Events and Proceedings

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    Submit your abstracts for EarthCARE Pre-Launch Science and Validation Workshop

    Invitations are now open for the EarthCARE Pre-Launch Science and Validation Workshop, which will take place at ESRIN in Frascati, Italy, from 13 to 17 November.

  • News - Success Stories

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    Global remote sensing of greenhouse gases ramps up

    With growing pressure to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere, recent research studies using the carbon dioxide monitoring TanSat mission are timely.

  • Event - Workshop

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    EarthCARE pre-launch science and validation workshop

    The EarthCARE pre-launch Science and Validation Workshop will bring together the community to discuss the science of this upcoming cloud and aerosol mission, and offer the opportunity to discuss validation activities.

  • News - Operational News

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    The divine keeper of the winds retires

    ESA’s fifth Earth Explorer - Aeolus - is due to retire soon, but will provide fully nominal data up to the end of operations on 30 April.

  • News - Operational News

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    New Aeolus Processing Baseline 16 now activated

    The new Aeolus processing baseline 16 was activated on Tuesday 18 April 2023.

  • News - Spotlight on EO community

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    An overview of the Aeolus mission

    In this overview video, ESA's mission manager, Tommaso Parrinello, describes the successes and challenges of this amazing mission, whose impacts will live long beyond its lifetime in space.

  • News - Operational News

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    GOSAT – TANSO-FTS observations unavailability

    Due to an inclination control manoeuvre of the JAXA GOSAT-1 satellite, the TANSO-FTS sensor observations have been suspended.

  • News - Spotlight on EO community

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    Introducing the Aeolus and CryoSat missions

    In this video, Tommaso Parrinello - Mission Manager of Aeolus and CryoSat - describes what is involved in managing the missions and the unique challenges offered by such innovative satellites.