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- Data (2)
- News (6)
- Missions (1)
- Events (1)
- Tools (1)
- Activities (1)
- Documents (12)
News - Operational News
Change of access to FTP-S for ERS and Envisat atmospheric and low-rate data
As of 13 December 2023, access to a series of ERS and Envisat atmospheric and low rate data collections changed from simple FTP to FTP-S.
News - Infographics
Key facts about Canada's ozone-studying SCISAT mission
Learn about the SCISAT mission in our new infographic.
News - Success Stories
Satellites track the health of the ozone layer
ESA’s Earth observation activities are contributing to international efforts to monitor and preserve the layer of stratospheric ozone that blankets the planet.
News - Thematic area articles
Space data help to unravel the complexities of Earth’s atmosphere
As the impacts of the climate crisis intensify, scientists are using ESA’s Earth observation archives to investigate atmospheric processes and their influences on the planet’s changing environment.
News - Spotlight on EO community
Introducing Mirko Albani
In this short introduction, ESA's Heritage Missions Programme Manager describes what he likes most about ESA's long term archive of satellite mission data and his role in the programme.
Event - Conference
Atmospheric Science Conference 2006
The 2006 conference was dedicated the theme atmosphere to provide scientists and data users with the opportunity to present first-hand and up-to-date results from their ongoing research activities ESA Mission instruments.
Activity - Projects
Dragon 2 Cooperation Programme
The Dragon 2 Programme focussed on the exploitation of ESA, ESA's Third Party Missions and Chinese Earth observation data for science and applications development in land, ocean and atmospheric applications.
Tools - Apps
Heritage Missions app for Android
Download the Heritage Missions application to discover what the missions were about, how it worked and what the elements of the space and ground segment that make these missions unique.
Document - Publication - Paper
Atmospheric-Chemistry-Experiment-ACE-Mission-Overview.pdf
This paper was published in the GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, Vol.32 (L15S01, doi:10.1029/2005GL022386, 2005) and presents an overview of the Canadian mission SCISAT-1 (also known as the Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment ACE) and some of its first scientific results.
Data - External Data (Restrained)
SciSat-1: ACE-FTS and MAESTRO
SCISAT-1 data aim at monitoring and analysing the chemical processes that control the distribution of ozone in the upper troposphere and stratosphere. It provides acquisitions from the two instruments MAESTRO and ACE-FTS. MAESTRO: Measurement of Aerosol Extinction in the Stratosphere and Troposphere Retrieved by Occultation. Dual-channel optical spectrometer in the spectral region of 285-1030 nm. The objective is to measure ozone, nitrogen dioxide and aerosol/cloud extinction (solar occultation measurements of atmospheric attenuation during satellite sunrise and sunset with the primary objective of assessing the stratospheric ozone budget). Solar occultation spectra are being used for retrieving vertical profiles of temperature and pressure, aerosols, and trace gases (O3, NO2, H2O, OClO, and BrO) involved in middle atmosphere ozone distribution. The use of two overlapping spectrometers (280 - 550 nm, 500 - 1030 nm) improves the stray-light performance. The spectral resolution is about 1-2 nm. ACE-FTS: Fourier Transform Spectrometer. The objective is to measure the vertical distribution of atmospheric trace gases, in particular of the regional polar O3 budget, as well as pressure and temperature (derived from CO2 lines). The instrument is an adapted version of the classical sweeping Michelson interferometer, using an optimised optical layout. The ACE-FTS measurements are recorded every 2 s. This corresponds to a measurement spacing of 2-6 km which decreases at lower altitudes due to refraction. The typical altitude spacing changes with the orbital beta angle. For historical reasons, the retrieved results are interpolated onto a 1 km "grid" using a piecewise quadratic method. For ACE-FTS version 1.0, the results were reported only on the interpolated grid (every 1 km from 0.5 to 149.5 km). For versions 2.2, both the "retrieval" grid and the "1 km" grid profiles are available. SCISAT-1 collection provides ACE-FTS and MAESTRO Level 2 Data. As of today, ACE-FTS products are available in version 4.1, while MAESTRO products are available in version 3.13.
Data - Fast Registration with immediate access (Open)
ERS PRARE Precise Orbit Product (ERS.ORB.POD/ERS.ORB/PRC)
The precise orbit results from a data reduction process in which all available tracking data (Single-Lens Reflex, radar altimeter crossovers, PRARE range and Doppler data) and most accurate correction, transformation and dynamical models are taken into account and in which high level numerical procedures are applied. These orbits are "optimal" achievable representations of the real orbital motion under the circumstances of tracking situation and the "state of the art" model situation. The precise orbit product for the ERS satellites are the satellite ephemeris (position and velocity vector) including time tag, given in a well-defined reference frame, together with the nominal satellite attitude information and a radial orbit correction. Several orbit solutions are currently distributed: A new set of ORB POD (Precise Orbit Determination - REAPER v2) computed with the most updated model standards for the complete ERS-1 and ERS-2 mission. A previous set of ORB POD (REAPER v1) data already available on the ESA dissemination site since 2014, covering the ERS-1 full mission and the ERS-2 mission up to July 2003. ORB PRC which is the original Precise Orbit dataset computed during the ERS mission operations for ERS-1 and ERS-2. In the new POD dataset (REAPER v2) for the ERS-1 and ERS-2 missions, two different orbit solutions are provided together with the combined solution to be used for processing of the radar altimeter measurements and the determination of geodetic/geophysical products: those computed by DEOS (Delft Institute of Earth Observation and Space Systems), and those generated by ESOC (European Space Operations Centre) using different software (GEODYN and NAPEOS respectively). Careful evaluation of the various solutions of REAPER v2 has shown that the DEOS solution for both ERS-1 and ERS-2 has the best performance and is recommended to be used as reference. See the ERS Orbit Validation Report. For the previous version of the POD data set (REAPER v1), with ERS-2 mission data only up to 2003, three different orbit solutions together with the combined solution are available. These precise orbits for ERS-1 and ERS-2 have been computed at DEOS, ESOC, and GFZ (Deutschen GeoForschungsZentrums) using different software and different altimeter databases. Combined solutions have been created using three individual solutions for each satellite. All orbits were derived using consistent models in the same LPOD2005 terrestrial reference frame. These new orbit solutions show notable improvement with respect to DGME04 orbits (Scharroo and Visser, 1998). Thus, RMS crossover differences of new orbits improved by 4-9 mm. Careful evaluation of the various solutions has shown that the combined solution for both ERS-1 and ERS-2 has the best performance. All POD orbit files (REAPER v1/v2) are available in SP3c format.
News - Data Release news
Updated Precise Orbit data (POD) for the full ERS-1 and ERS-2 mission available
The Precise Orbit files (ERS.ORB.POD) for the entire ERS-1 and ERS-2 mission periods have been reprocessed with up-to-date standards.
Document - Product Specifications
ACE-FTS Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment - File format description for ACE-Imager level 2 data ---
Document - Product Specifications
ACE-FTS Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment- File format description for ACE-FTS level 2 data ---
Mission - Third Party Missions
SCISAT-1
SCISAT-1 is designed to make observations of Earth's atmosphere and its main instruments are an optical Fourier transform infrared spectrometer and an ultraviolet spectrophotometer.
Document - General Reference
BIOMASS-Report-for-Mission-Selection-An-Earth-Explorer-to-observe-forest-biomass.pdf
The objective of the BIOMASS Mission is to determine the global distribution of forest biomass by reducing the uncertainty in the calculation of carbon stock and fluxes associated with the terrestrial biosphere.
Document - Product Handbook
ERS-Altimeter-and-Orbit-Global-Products-Manual.pdf
This manual covers ERS Altimeter and Orbit products.
Document - General Reference
CoReH2O-Report-for-Mission-Selection-An-Earth-Explorer-to-observe-snow-and-ice.pdf
This report describes the CoReH2O (Cold Regions Hydrology high-resolution Observatory) mission, which was selected for feasibility study in the third cycle of Earth Explorers.
Document - Product Readme Note
Retrievals-for-the-Atmospheric-Chemistry-Experiment-Fourier-Transform-Spectrometer.pdf
This paper describes the approach developed for the retrieval of atmospheric temperature and pressure from the troposphere to the lower thermosphere as well as the strategy for retrievals of volume-mixing ratio profiles of atmospheric species.