earth online
  • All Categories (33)
  • Data (6)
  • News (8)
  • Missions (1)
  • Events (12)
  • Tools (2)
  • Activities (3)
  • Documents (1)
  • News - Success Stories

    prompt photo

    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.

  • Event - Workshop

    prompt photo

    SEASAR 2012

    The European Space Agency and the Norwegian Space Centre jointly organised the fourth SAR oceanography workshop, 'SEASAR 2012', entitled 'Advances in SAR Oceanography'.

  • News - General News

    prompt photo

    Satellite Radar Altimetry: past and future

    Satellite radar altimetry measurements yield a wealth of information that can be used for a wide range of applications.

  • News - Thematic area articles

    prompt photo

    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 - Spotlight on EO community

    prompt photo

    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.

  • Activity - General activities

    prompt photo

    International Charter Space and Major Disasters

    Learn about the International Charter Space and Major Disasters, which ESA participate in disaster monitoring.

  • Event - Conference

    prompt photo

    IGARSS 2019

    World-class scientists, engineers and educators in geoscience and remote sensing gathered in Yokohama, Japan, for the 39th annual IGARSS symposium.

  • News - Thematic area articles

    prompt photo

    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.

  • Tools - Apps

    prompt photo

    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.

  • Event - Workshop

    prompt photo

    Fringe 2003 Workshop

    The third ESA International Workshop on ERS SAR Interferometry and its first Workshop on ASAR interferometry: Advances in SAR interferometry from ERS and Envisat missions.

  • Tools - Other

    prompt photo

    Forestry TEP

    The Forestry Thematic Exploitation Platform (TEP) enables users in the forestry sector to access satellite data based processing services and tools for generating value-added forest information products.

  • News - Data Release news

    prompt photo

    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 - Fast Registration with immediate access (Open)

    prompt photo

    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 1 Hz and a high rate of 20 Hz. Most 1 Hz data is also represented at 20 Hz, 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 - Fast Registration with immediate access (Open)

    prompt photo

    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 1 Hz 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 - Fast Registration with immediate access (Open)

    prompt photo

    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 1 Hz and a high rate of 20 Hz. Most 1 Hz data is also represented at 20 Hz, 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 - Fast Registration with approval (Restrained)

    prompt photo

    ERS-1/2 ATSR Gridded Surface Temperature [AT1/AT2_NR__2P]

    The Gridded Surface Temperature (GST) Product is the Level 2 full resolution geophysical product. The product contains gridded sea-surface temperature images using both nadir and dual view retrieval algorithms. The product includes pixel latitude/longitude positions, X/Y offset and the results of the cloud-clearing/land-flagging. It contains a single measurement data set the content of which is switchable, that is to say, the content of each pixel field will depend on the surface type. Specifically, the contents of the data fields will depend on the setting of the forward and nadir cloud flags and the land flag. The 3rd reprocessing of ATSR data was performed in 2013; the processing updates that have been put in place and the scientific improvements are outlined in full in the User Summary Note for the Third ERS ATSR Reprocessing.

  • Data - Fast Registration with approval (Restrained)

    prompt photo

    ERS-1/2 ATSR Gridded Brightness Temperature/Reflectance [AT1/AT2_TOA_1P]

    The Gridded Brightness Temperature/Reflectance (GBTR) product contains top of atmosphere (TOA) brightness temperature (BT) values for the infra-red channels and reflectance values for the visible channels. Values for each channel and for the nadir and forward views occupy separate measurement data sets. Additional MDS contain cloud and land/sea flags and confidence flags for each image pixel. The 3rd reprocessing of ATSR data was performed in 2013; the processing updates that have been put in place and the scientific improvements are outlined in full in the User Summary Note for the Third ERS ATSR Reprocessing.

  • Data - Fast Registration with approval (Restrained)

    prompt photo

    ERS-1/2 ATSR Averaged Surface Temperature [AT1/AT2_AR__2P]

    The Averaged Surface Temperature Product (AST) contains averaged geophysical data at two different resolutions, and with respect to two different averaging schemes: measurement data sets at resolutions of 0.5 by 0.5 degrees and 10 by 10 arcmin with respect to a latitude/longitude grid; other data sets contain data averaged over equal area cells of 50 by 50 km and 17 by 17 km aligned with the satellite ground track. Both top-of-atmosphere and surface data sets are provided. The surface temperature data sets provide, for sea cells, nadir and dual view sea surface temperatures, and for land cells, land surface temperature (currently 11 micron BT) and NDVI. Cloud data is also included. No ADS are included in the AST product; auxiliary data is contained within the MDS. The data sets of the AST product are arranged by surface type and resolution. The 3rd reprocessing of ATSR data was performed in 2013; the processing updates that have been put in place and the scientific improvements are outlined in full in the User Summary Note for the Third ERS ATSR Reprocessing.

  • News - Infographics

    prompt photo

    ERS - ESA’s first Earth observation satellites

    To mark the 30th anniversary of ERS, we've released a new infographic summarising the mission.

  • Mission - Heritage Missions

    prompt photo

    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.