The IDEAS+ (Instrument Data quality Evaluation and Analysis Service) consortium is responsible, on behalf of ESA SPPA section, for ensuring the best data quality of ESA operational EO missions, this includes a wide range of activities, spanning from the Routine Quality Control to the Algorithm Development and Cal/Val (Calibration/Validation). In the frame of the IDEAS+ consortium, the Task 3-Cal/Val team is where innovative ideas are promoted and incubated with the goal of further improving algorithm specifications, calibration and validation protocols, data quality assessment procedures. Regular Workshops are held every 9-12 months with the whole IDEAS+ Task3-Cal/Val team in order to review the status of current activities, foster synergies among the various groups and agree on the planning for the future.

The fourth IDEAS+ Cal/Val Workshop was hosted in Lille, in the Laboratoire d'Optique Atmosphérique (LOA), from 6 to 7 April 2017.

About 50 engineers and scientists from various countries from Europe and Canada attended the Lille Workshop. The Workshop's agenda included 26 presentations covering the full range of Earth Observation's disciplines: Calibration and Characterization, Land and Cryosphere, Oceans and Coastal Zones, Atmosphere. A discussion session was held at the end of the Workshop in order to collect recommendations and ideas for improvements.

Objectives

The main objectives of the workshop were:

• To report and discuss results of on-going Cal/Val projects within IDEAS+;
• To look for synergies across different Cal/Val activities;
• To foster new ideas and explore potential evolutions;
• To formulate recommendations for improvements on Cal/Val protocols/methodologies, validation data analysis and associated algorithm baseline evolution;

The Proceeding Highlights and Recommendations from the Workshop can be accessed here

Venue

The Workshop was hosted in Lille in the Laboratoire d'Optique Atmosphérique (LOA).

Organisation

European Space Agency (ESA)	Laboratoire d'Optique Atmosphérique (LOA)	Serco

Contact Information

Dr. Fabrizio Niro (e-mail: Fabrizio.Niro@esa.int) or Dr. Gareth Davies (e-mail: Gareth.Davies2@serco.com)