earth online
  • All Categories (18)
  • Data (4)
  • News (6)
  • Missions (2)
  • Events (3)
  • Campaigns (3)
  • News - Thematic area articles

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    Tracking the world’s forests from space

    As human activities continue to threaten the planet’s forests, data delivered by satellites are boosting global efforts to conserve these crucial natural resources.

  • News - Spotlight on EO community

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    An overview of the Biomass mission

    In this video, Klaus Scipal - Biomass and SMOS Mission Manager - talks about ESA's upcoming Biomass mission.

  • News - Success Stories

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    PROBA-V data improve surface albedo products in Africa

    As ESA’s PROBA-V satellite marks its 10-year launch milestone, data tasked during the mission’s lifetime are still being used to assess changes in land cover.

  • News - Data Release news

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    PROBA-V ‘Collection 2’ - Reprocessed Dataset available

    The improved PROBA-V data (Collection 2) has been released. Data is available via the PROBA-V MEP and Terrascope platforms so users can freely exploit the data using Virtual machines, Jupyter Notebooks, and the new viewing application.

  • News - Success Stories

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    ESA's open source computing project for the Biomass mission goes live

    The Biomass Product Algorithm Laboratory (BioPAL) is an open-source scientific computing project, which supports the development of ESA’s Biomass mission algorithms coded in Python.

  • News - Success Stories

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    Drone-based Laser Scanning of Tropical Forests for Biomass Cal/Val

    ESA’s upcoming mission Biomass will deliver valuable P-band SAR data aimed at forest aboveground biomass (AGB) estimation across the humid tropics.

  • Event - Training

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    10th Advanced Training Course on Land Remote Sensing EO and AI for Forestry

    This ESA course was dedicated to training the next generation of EO scientists and experts working in forestry domain to exploit data from EO missions and use AI for science and applications development.

  • Data - External Data (Restrained)

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    PROBA-V 1 km, 333 m, and 100 m products

    The PROBA-V VEGETATION Raw products and Synthesis products provided coverage of all significant landmasses worldwide with, in the case of a 10-day synthesis product, a minimum effect of cloud cover, resulting from selection of cloud-free acquisitions during the 10-day period. It provided a daily coverage between Latitudes 35°N and 75°N, and between 35°S and 56°S, and a full coverage every two days at the equator. The VEGETATION instrument was pre-programmed with an indefinite repeated sequence of acquisitions. This nominal acquisition scenario allowed a continuous series of identical products to be generated, with the goal to map land cover and vegetation growth across the entire planet every two days. Level Synthesis Resolution resolution (m) Reflectance Level-1C n/a TOA Level-2A n/a 100 m TOA 333 m TOA 1 km TOA Level-3 S1 100 m TOA TOC TOC NDVI 333 m TOA TOC 1 km TOA TOC S5 100 m TOA TOC TOC NDVI S10 333 m TOC TOC NDVI 1 km TOC TOC NDVI Raw Products Overview Product Description Level-1C Level-1C segments (P – product): Radiometrically corrected Level-1B data, in raw sensor geometry (unprojected) Contains: - Top Of Atmosphere reflectance in the four spectral bands - Longitude/latitude information for every pixel - Geometric viewing conditions - Information on the status map (indicating missing and interpolated measurements). Format: HDF5 & GeoTiFF Level-2A Level-2A segment: projected Level-1C (P–product) data, radiometrically and geometrically corrected. Contains: - TOA reflectance values in the four spectral bands without atmospheric correction being performed - Information on the status map (containing identification of radiometric quality, snow, ice, shadow, clouds, land/sea for every pixel) - Geometric viewing conditions Plate carrée projection (EPSG:4326) with spatial resolution of 100 m, 333 m and 1 km Format: HDF5 & GeoTiFF Synthesis Products Overview Level-3 S1 = daily, S5 = 5 days, S10 = decade Different spatial resolution: 100 m, 333 m and 1 km Divided into so called granules, each measuring 10 degrees x 10 degrees, each granule being delivered as a single file Plate carrée projection (EPSG:4326) Format: HDF5 & GeoTiFF Products Content TOA - Top Of Atmosphere reflectance in the four spectral bands (no atmospheric correction applied) - Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) -Information on the composite status map (containing identification of snow, ice, shadow, clouds, land/sea for every pixel) - Geometric viewing conditions & date and time of selected measurement TOC Level-2A segment: projected Level-1C (P–product) data, radiometrically and geometrically corrected. Contains: - Top Of Canopy (ground surface) reflectance in the four spectral bands, the atmospheric correction being performed using the SMAC (Simplified Method for Atmospheric Corrections) algorithm - Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) - Information on the composite status map (containing identification of snow, ice, shadow, clouds, land/sea for every pixel) Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) from Top Of Canopy product (SMAC algorithm for atmospheric corrections applied) - Geometric viewing conditions & date and time of selected measurement TOC NDVI Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) from Top Of Canopy product (SMAC algorithm for atmospheric corrections applied)

  • Mission - Earth Watch

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    PROBA-V

    The PROBA-V mission provides multispectral images to study the evolution of the vegetation cover on a daily and global basis.

  • Mission - Earth Explorers

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    Biomass

    The objective of the Biomass mission is to determine the global distribution of forest biomass.

  • Data - Campaigns (Open)

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    AfriSAR 2016

    In order to further support the BIOMASS mission development, especially concerning the mission concept verification and the development of geophysical algorithms, ESA funded the AfriSAR campaign.

  • Data - Campaigns (Open)

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    BioSAR 2008

    The main objective of BioSAR-2 (BioSAR 2008) campaign was to record SAR data over boreal forests with topographic effects to investigate the effect on biomass retrieval.

  • Data - Campaigns (Open)

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    BioSAR 2007

    The BioSAR campaign aimed to support geophysical algorithm development, calibration/validation and the simulation of future spaceborne Earth Observation missions.

  • Campaign

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    BioSAR 2008

    The main objective of BioSAR-2 (BioSAR 2008) campaign was to record SAR data over boreal forests with topographic effects to investigate the effect on biomass retrieval.

  • Campaign

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    BioSAR 2010

    The BioSAR-3 (BioSAR 2010) campaign was specifically planned and implemented to investigate possibilities for a future spaceborne P-band polarimetric and interferometric SAR with a life-time of multiple years.

  • Campaign

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    BioSAR 2007

    The BioSAR campaign aimed to support geophysical algorithm development, calibration/validation and the simulation of future spaceborne Earth Observation missions.

  • Event - Workshop

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    BRIX-I: Workshop of First Biomass Retrieval Algorithm Inter-comparison Exercise

    BRIX-I: Workshop of First Biomass Retrieval Algorithm Inter-comparison Exercise

  • Event - Workshop

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    POLinSAR 2007

    The POLinSAR 2007 workshop was open to ESA Principal Investigators and co-investigators, scientists and students working in the field of SAR Polarimetry and Polarimetric Interferometry, and to representatives from national, European and international space agencies and value adding industry.