News - Success Stories

Decades of satellite data reveal the risks of climate tipping points

Decades-long time series that draw on ESA’s Earth observation archives are enabling scientists to uncover the threat of sudden and potentially irreversible changes to the icy parts of the planet.

News - Thematic area articles

Transforming space data into climate action

ESA’s Earth observation activities are playing a key role in the revitalised global drive to combat climate change.

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 iOS

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.

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.

Instrument - Radar Altimeters

RA (ERS)

The Radar Altimeter (RA) was a Ku-band (13.8 GHz) nadir-pointing active microwave sensor, on board ERS-1 and ERS-2 missions, designed to measure echoes from ocean and ice surfaces.

Data - Data Description

ERS-1/2 Radar Altimeter REAPER METEO Product - [ERS_ALT_2M]

This is a RA Meteo product containing only the 1 Hz parameters for altimeter (surface range, satellite altitude, wind speed and significant wave height at nadir) and ATSR/MWR data (brightness temperature at 23.8 GHz and 36.5 GHz, water vapour content, liquid water content) used to correct altimeter measurements. It also contains the full geophysical corrections. This product corresponds to a subset of the REAPER GDR product (ERS_ALT_2_). The REAPER (REprocessing of Altimeter Products for ERS) product is generated by applying a similar processing as for Envisat RA-2 on the Level 1b consolidated waveforms using 4 different re-trackers, RA calibration improvement, new precise orbit solution (POD), new ionospheric corrections (NICO09 until 1998 and GIM up to 2003), ECMWF ERA-interim model and updated SSB tables. This product contains only the low rate of 1Hz data. The REAPER Meteo (ERS_ALT_2M) is a global product including data over ocean, ice and land. It should be noted that this product differs from the Envisat RA2 in the following ways: The product format; which is NetCDF (more details can be found in the Product Handbook), and not PDS The product is delivered based on orbit acquisition and not per pass (pole-to-pole)This product is extended through Envisat RA-2 data.

Data - Data Description

ERS-1/2 Radar Altimeter REAPER Geophysical Data Record - GDR [ERS_ALT_2]

This is a RA Geophysical Data Record (GDR) product containing radar range, orbital altitude, wind speed, wave height and water vapour from the ATSR/MWR as well as geophysical corrections. The REAPER (REprocessing of Altimeter Products for ERS) product is generated by applying a similar processing as for Envisat RA-2 on the Level 1b consolidated waveforms using 4 different re-trackers, RA calibration improvement, new precise orbit solution (POD), new ionospheric corrections (NICO09 until 1998 and GIM up to 2003), ECMWF ERA-interim model and updated SSB tables. This product contains two data rates: a low rate of 1Hz and a high rate of 20Hz. Most 1Hz data is also represented at 20Hz, while microwave radiometer (ATSR/MWR) data and the atmospheric and geophysical corrections are only given at 1 Hz. The REAPER GDR (ERS_ALT_2_) is a global product including data over ocean, ice and land. It should be noted that this product differs from the Envisat RA2 in the following ways: The product format; which is NetCDF (more details can be found in the Product Handbook, and not PDS The product is delivered based on orbit acquisition and not per pass (pole-to-pole). This product is extended through Envisat RA-2 data.

Data - Data Description

ERS-1/2 Radar Altimeter REAPER Sensor Geophysical Data Record - SGDR [ERS_ALT_2S]

This is a RA Geophysical Data Record (GDR) product containing radar range, orbital altitude, wind speed, wave height and water vapour from the ATSR/MWR as well as geophysical corrections. The REAPER (REprocessing of Altimeter Products for ERS) product is generated by applying a similar processing as for Envisat RA-2 on the Level 1b consolidated waveforms using 4 different re-trackers, RA calibration improvement, new precise orbit solution (POD), new ionospheric corrections (NICO09 until 1998 and GIM up to 2003), ECMWF ERA-interim model and updated SSB tables. This product contains two data rates: a low rate of 1Hz and a high rate of 20Hz. Most 1Hz data is also represented at 20Hz, while microwave radiometer (ATSR/MWR) data and the atmospheric and geophysical corrections are only given at 1 Hz. The REAPER GDR (ERS_ALT_2_) is a global product including data over ocean, ice and land. It should be noted that this product differs from the Envisat RA2 in the following ways: The product format; which is NetCDF (more details can be found in the Product Handbook, and not PDS The product is delivered based on orbit acquisition and not per pass (pole-to-pole). This product is extended through Envisat RA-2 data.

Mission - Heritage Missions

ERS

The ERS programme was composed of two missions, ERS-1 and ERS-2, which together observed the Earth for 20 years, from 1991 to 2011.

Activity - Quality

SCIRoCCo

The SCIRoCCo project is an interdisciplinary cooperation of scatterometry experts aimed at promoting the continuing exploitation of ESA's unique 20 years' worth of ERS Scatterometer data.

Document - Proceedings

2004 Envisat and ERS Symposium

The 2004 Envisat and ERS Symposium was held in Salzburg - Austria from 6 to 10 September 2004. The 2004 Envisat and ERS Symposium provided a forum for investigators to present results of ongoing research project activities and assess the development of applications and services.

Document - Proceedings

ERS-Envisat Symposium

Event - Training

Advanced Training Course in Land Remote Sensing 2012

The 2012 advanced training course focused on land remote sensing theory and applications.

Event - Training

3rd Advanced Training Course on Land Remote Sensing 2011

This 2011 advanced ESA training course focused on land remote sensing theory and applications.

Event - Training

Advanced Training Course on Ocean Remote Sensing 2006

The objective of the course was to provide first-hand information on a broad range of ocean research topics including key principles of SAR, Radar Altimetry, Ocean Colour and Sea Surface Temperature measurements, processing algorithms, data products and their use in oceanographic applications.

Document - General Reference

Satellite-Data-in-Hydrology-Experience-with-ERS.pdf

This document is aimed at both current and potential users of ERS data in hydrology. It demonstrates the existing uses of ERS data in this field, considers the potential for further development and examines the issues effecting hydrological application of ERS data specifically.

Document - General Reference

Monitoring-River-and-Lake-Levels-from-Space.pdf

This article was published in the ESA Bulletin Nr. 117 and describes the new global river and lake monitoring products developed by ESA with the help of De Monfort University (UK).

Document - General Reference

Taking-the-Measure-of-Earth-Fifteen-Years-of-Progress-in-Radar-Altimetry.pdf

This article is extracted from ESA Bulletin Nr. 128.