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  • Data (8)
  • News (12)
  • Missions (4)
  • Events (5)
  • Tools (2)
  • Activities (3)
  • Documents (1140)
  • 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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    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.

  • News - Operational News

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    GOSAT – TANSO-FTS observations unavailability

    Due to an inclination control manoeuvre of the JAXA GOSAT-1 satellite, the TANSO-FTS sensor observations have been suspended.

  • News - Success Stories

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    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

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    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.

  • News - Events and Proceedings

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    Data preservation takes centre stage at Living Planet Symposium

    Against the backdrop of the famed Rhine River, world-class scientists and Earth observation data-users are gathered this week in the historical city of Bonn, at the Living Planet Symposium (LPS).

  • News - Thematic area articles

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    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

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    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.

  • News - Success Stories

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    How Envisat helped to shape global understanding of Earth’s systems

    Twenty years have passed since a ground-breaking European spacecraft designed to deliver unprecedented insight into the planet’s changing environment was lofted into orbit.

  • Activity - Projects

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    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.

  • Event - Workshop

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    Envisat Validation Workshop 2002

    The workshop covered various aspects of validation of the Envisat instruments.

  • News - Data Release news

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    New reprocessing of datasets celebrates 30 years of ERS

    The ERS programme celebrated its 30th anniversary on 17 July. Today, we are still exploiting ERS data and experts continue to work on improving the altimeter, radiometer and SAR data the programme acquired.

  • News - Infographics

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    ERS - ESA’s first Earth observation satellites

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

  • Tools - Apps

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    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

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    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.

  • Data - Fast Registration with immediate access (Open)

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    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)

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    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 immediate access (Open)

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    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 - Data Description

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    GOSAT TANSO FTS and CAI full archive and new products

    The TANSO-FTS instrument on-board GOSAT satellite features high optical throughput, fine spectral resolution, and a wide spectral coverage (from VIS to TIR in four bands). The reflective radiative energy is covered by the VIS and SWIR (Shortwave Infrared) ranges, while the emissive portion of radiation from Earth's surface and the atmosphere is covered by the MWIR (Midwave Infrared) and TIR (Thermal Infrared) ranges. These spectra include the absorption lines of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4). The TANSO-CAI instrument on-board GOSAT satellite is a radiometer in the spectral ranges of ultraviolet (UV), visible, and SWIR to correct cloud and aerosol interference. The imager has continuous spatial coverage, a wider field of view, and higher spatial resolution than the FTS in order to detect the aerosol spatial distribution and cloud coverage. Using the multispectral bands, the spectral characteristics of the aerosol scattering can be retrieved together with optical thickness. In addition, the UV-band range observations provide the aerosol data over land. With the FTS spectra, imager data, and the retrieval algorithm to remove cloud and aerosol contamination, the column density of the gases can be the column density of the gases can be retrieved with an accuracy of 1%. The full ESA archive and newly acquired/systematically processed GOSAT FTS and CAI products are available in the following processing levels: FTS Observation mode 1 L1B, day (FTS_OB1D_1) FTS Observation mode 1 L1B, night (FTS_OB1N_1) FTS Special Observation L1B, day (FTS_SPOD_1) FTS Special Observation L1B, night (FTS_SPON_1) FTS L2 CO2 profile, TIR (FTS_P01T_2) FTS L2 CH4 profile, TIR (FTS_P02T_2) FTS L2 CH4 column amount, SWIR (FTS_C02S_2) FTS L2 CO2 column amount, SWIR (FTS_C01S_2) FTS L2 H2O column amount, SWIR (FTS_C03S_2) FTS L3 global CO2 distribution, SWIR (FTS_C01S_3) FTS L3 global CH4 distribution, SWIR (FTS_C02S_3) FTS L4A global CO2 flux, annual in text format (FTS_F01M4A) FTS L4A global CO2 flux, annual in netCDF format (FTS_F03M4A) FTS L4A global CO2 distribution (FTS_P01M4B) FTS L4A global CH4 flux, annual in text format (FTS_F02M4A) FTS L4A global CH4 flux, annual in netCDF format (FTS_F04M4A) FTS L4A global CH4 distribution (FTS_P02M4B) CAI L1B data (CAI_TRB0_1) CAI L1B+ (CAI_TRBP_1) CAI L2 cloud flag (CAI_CLDM_2) CAI L3 global reflect. distrib. clear sky (CAI_TRCF_3) CAI L3 global radiance distrib. all pixels (CAI_TRCL_3) CAI L3 global NDVI (CAI_NDVI_3). All products are made available as soon as processed and received from JAXA. To satisfy NearRealTime requirements, ESA also provides access to the FTS L1X products, which are the NRT version of FTS L1B products. The main difference between L1X and L1B is that L1X does not include CAM data, best-estimate pointing-location, and target point classification, but most of all the L1X products are available on the ESA server between 2 and 5 hours after acquisition. The L1X products remains on the FTP server for 5 days, the time for the corresponding L1B to be available. A document describing the differences between L1X and L1B products is listed in the available resources. For more details on products, please refer to below product specifications.