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  • Data (22)
  • News (26)
  • Missions (3)
  • Events (27)
  • Tools (5)
  • Activities (8)
  • Campaigns (1)
  • Documents (10)
  • News - Infographics

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    Showcasing success stories from ESA's Heritage Missions

    Find out how ESA's Heritage Space Programme data continue to help, even decades after they finished operations, in our latest infographic.

  • Document - Newsletter

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    Earth Online Newsletter - 08 March 2024

    This issue of the Earth Online Newsletter covers a selection of the latest news and events from ESA.

  • News - Data Release news

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    FDR4ALT - ESA unveils new cutting-edge ERS/Envisat Altimeter and Microwave Radiometer Datasets

    The European Space Agency (ESA) has developed a comprehensive suite of innovative Earth system data records as part of the Fundamental Data Records for Altimetry project - FDR4ALT.

  • Data - EO Sign In Authentication (Open)

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    Sea Ice Thematic Data Product [ALT_TDP_SI]

    This is the Sea Ice Thematic Data Product (TDP) V1 resulting from the ESA FDR4ALT project and containing the sea ice related geophysical parameters, along with associated uncertainties: snow depth, radar and sea-ice freeboard, sea ice thickness and concentration. The collection covers data for the ERS-1, ERS-2 and Envisat missions, and bases on Level 1 data coming from previous reprocessing (ERS REAPER and the Envisat V3.0) but taking into account the improvements made at Level 0/Level 1 in the frame of FDR4ALT (ALT FDR). The Sea Ice TDP provides data from the northern or southern hemisphere in two files corresponding to the Arctic and Antarctic regions respectively for the winter periods only, i.e., October to June for the Arctic, and May to November for the Antarctic. For many aspects, the Sea Ice TDP is very innovative: First time series of sea-ice thickness estimates for ERS Homogeneous calibration, allowing the first Arctic radar freeboard time series from ERS-1 (1991) to CryoSat-2 (2021) Uncertainties estimated along-track with a bottom-up approach based on dominant sources ERS pulse blurring error corrected using literature procedure [Peacock, 2004] The FDR4ALT products are available in NetCDF format. Free standard tools for reading NetCDF data can be used. Information for expert altimetry users is also available in a dedicated NetCDF group within the products. Please consult the FDR4ALT Product User Guide before using the data. The FDR4ALT datasets represent the new reference data for the ERS/Envisat altimetry missions, superseding any previous mission data. Users are strongly encouraged to make use of these datasets for optimal results.

  • Data - EO Sign In Authentication (Open)

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    Ocean and Coastal Topography Thematic Data Product [ALT_TDP_OC]

    This is the Ocean and Coastal Topography Thematic Data Product (TDP) V1 resulting from the ESA FDR4ALT project and containing improved sea surface height anomaly data records both at 1 Hz and 20 Hz resolution to address climate and/or coastal areas studies. The collection covers data for the ERS-1, ERS-2 and Envisat missions. Note that a dedicated processing to coastal zones has been applied for coastal distances below 200 km. Compared to existing datasets, the Ocean and Coastal Topography TDP demonstrates notable improvements in several aspects: Up-to-date orbit and geophysical corrections applied Adaptive retracker for Envisat The FDR4ALT products are available in NetCDF format. Free standard tools for reading NetCDF data can be used. Information for expert altimetry users is also available in a dedicated NetCDF group within the products. Please consult the FDR4ALT Product User Guide before using the data. The FDR4ALT datasets represent the new reference data for the ERS/Envisat altimetry missions, superseding any previous mission data. Users are strongly encouraged to make use of these datasets for optimal results.

  • Data - EO Sign In Authentication (Open)

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    Ocean Waves Thematic Data Product [ALT_TDP_WA]

    This is the Ocean Waves Thematic Data Product (TDP) V1 resulting from the ESA FDR4ALT project and containing Significant Wave Height estimates for the ERS-1, ERS-2 and Envisat missions. Compared to existing datasets, the Ocean Waves TDP demonstrates notable improvements in several aspects: Great improvements for Envisat due to noise reduction from Adaptive retracker and High-Frequency Adjustment (HFA) All variables are given at 5 Hz The FDR4ALT products are available in NetCDF format. Free standard tools for reading NetCDF data can be used. Information for expert altimetry users is also available in a dedicated NetCDF group within the products. Please consult the FDR4ALT Product User Guide before using the data. The FDR4ALT datasets represent the new reference data for the ERS/Envisat altimetry missions, superseding any previous mission data. Users are strongly encouraged to make use of these datasets for optimal results.

  • Data - EO Sign In Authentication (Open)

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    Atmospheric Thematic Data Product [MWR_TDPATM]

    This is the Atmospheric Thematic Data Product (TDP) V1 resulting from the ESA FDR4ALT project and containing Total Column Water Vapour (TCWV), Cloud Liquid Water Path (LWP), Atmospheric Attenuation of the altimeter backscattering coefficient at Ku-band (AttKu), and Wet Tropospheric Correction (WTC), retrieved from observations of the Microwave Radiometer (MWR) instruments flown on-board the ERS-1, and ERS-2, and Envisat satellites. Compared to existing datasets, the Atmospheric TDP demonstrates notable improvements in several aspects: Improved temporal coverage, especially for ERS-2 Improved L0 -> 1 processing Two different corrections are provided based on a neural network retrieval or on a 1D-VAR approach The FDR4ALT products are available in NetCDF format. Free standard tools for reading NetCDF data can be used. Information for expert altimetry users is also available in a dedicated NetCDF group within the products. Please consult the FDR4ALT Product User Guide before using the data. The FDR4ALT datasets represent the new reference data for the ERS/Envisat altimetry missions, superseding any previous mission data. Users are strongly encouraged to make use of these datasets for optimal results.

  • Document - Product Handbook

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    SAR Tropical Oceanic Phenomena Handbook

    ERS SAR Tropical Oceanic Phenomena Handbook.

  • News - Success Stories

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    Trailblazing ERS-2 mission enables climate change applications

    As ESA’s ERS-2 satellite approaches Earth’s atmosphere for reentry, it’s time to reflect on the mission’s great achievements in powering climate-related applications.

  • Document - Product Handbook

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    SAR Tropical Atmospheric Phenomena Handbook

    ERS SAR Tropical Atmospheric Phenomena Handbook.

  • News - Thematic area articles

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    How to use space data to probe humankind’s ancient past

    Data disseminated by ESA’s Third Party Missions (TPM) programme are enabling archaeological investigations that could help to unravel the mysteries of past societies and cultures.

  • News - Thematic area articles

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    Monitoring water on Earth's surface

    ESA's Earth observation satellites are playing a leading role in furthering our understanding of how Earth's terrestrial hydrosphere is being influenced by humankind.

  • News - Success Stories

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    New worldwide dataset captures the planet in fine detail

    Scientists have developed an open source planetwide dataset of high-resolution Earth observation imagery, thanks to commercial data delivered by ESA’s Third Party Missions (TPM) programme.

  • News - Thematic area articles

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    Satellites investigate Earth’s terrestrial hydrosphere

    ESA’s Earth observation satellites are playing a leading role in furthering our understanding of how Earth’s water cycle is being influenced by humankind.

  • Activity - General activities

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    EO Summer Schools

    ESA's series of summer schools, on Monitoring of the Earth System, aims to promote the exploitation of Earth observation (EO) data.

  • News - Thematic area articles

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    How satellite data help to shape society

    Data from ESA’s Earth observation archives are improving understanding of the interactions between human activities and the environment, helping to power green economic development and boosting prosperity in Europe and beyond.

  • News - Success Stories

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    Heritage data trains neural networks to detect urban sprawl

    Using data from non-operational ESA remote sensing missions, researchers have trained a network of artificial neurons to recognise how cities change over decades. They hope this will help city planners reduce the impact that urbanisation has on the environment.

  • Event - Training

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    EO Summer School 8

    ESA's series of summer schools, on Monitoring of the Earth System, aims to promote the exploitation of Earth observation data.

  • Event - Training

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    EO Summer School 7

    ESA's series of summer schools, on Monitoring of the Earth System, aims to promote the exploitation of Earth observation data.

  • Event - Training

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    EO Summer School 6

    ESA's series of summer schools, on Monitoring of the Earth System, aims to promote the exploitation of Earth observation data.