- All Categories (296)
- Data (8)
- News (6)
- Missions (1)
- Events (3)
- Tools (2)
- Activities (2)
- Documents (274)
News - General News
ESA's improved Earth system data records: what is in store for the future?
Fundamental Data Records (FDRs) are instrumental in advancing our understanding of Earth systems and for addressing societal challenges effectively. These long-term records contain uncertainty-quantified, calibrated and geo-located multi-instrument/multi-platform satellite sensor data spanning several decades to support climate-related applications.
Data - Announcement of Opportunity (Restrained)
Announcement of Opportunity for S3VT (Sentinel-3 Validation Team)
In the framework of a Copernicus collaborative agreement ESA and EUMETSAT invite interested groups and individuals to support the Sentinel-3 Validation Team (S3VT).
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.
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.
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.
News - Data Release news
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
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
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.
Document - General Reference
GOCE-Facts-and-Figures.pdf
This fact sheet gives a quick and complete overview of the GOCEmission.
Document - Technical Note
ESRIN-ERS-Central-Facility-GAP-Files-Interface-Specification.pdf
This document specifies the interface through which files of data related to the Global Activity Plan (GAP), stored in the ESRIN ERS Central Facility (EECF), are transmitted to the external entities. The EECF systems involved in this data exchange are the Interface Subset (ISS), responsible for telecommunication aspects and preprocessing, and the Central User Service (CUS), where the GAP resides.
Document - Technical Note
ERS-National-and-Foreign-Stations-Operators-Working-Group.pdf
This document presents material from the ERS National and Foreign Ground Station Operators Working Group Meeting, which took place in Toulouse, France, from 14 to 15 December 1995.
Document - Proceedings
3rd-ERS-Symposium-Space-at-the-Service-of-our-Environment.pdf
Proceedings of the 3rd ERS Symposium 'Space at the Service of our Environment', held on 14-21 March 1997 in Florence, Italy. 3 Volumes.
Document - Proceedings
2nd-International-GOCE-User-Workshop.pdf
This document describes the proceedings of the 2nd International GOCE User workshop held at the ESA-ESRIN Site, Frascati, Italy, 8-10 March 2004.
Document - Proceedings
2nd-Conference-on-Academic-and-Industrial-Cooperation-in-Space-Research.pdf
This document describes the proceedings of the second conference on academic and industrial cooperation in space research, held in Graz, Austria, 15-17 November 2000.
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.
Data - Fast Registration with approval (Restrained)
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.
Data - External Data (Restrained)
ERS-1/2 ATSR ARC Level 3 products [AT1/AT2_AVG_3PAARC]
The recommended ATSR Level 3 products for Sea Surface Temperature (SST) applications are the ARC (ATSR Re-processing for Climate) Level 3 products. ARC reprocesses the ATSR multi-mission archive using new cloud detection and SST retrievals to produce a homogenous record of sea surface temperature. The main ARC objective is to reduce regional biases in retrieved SST to less than 0.1 K for all global oceans while creating a very homogenous record with a stability (lack of drift in the observing system and analysis) of 0.05 K per decade. ARC products are available for ATSR-1, ATSR-2 and AATSR. ARC products are provided in netCDF format and contain data for both the skin SST and the SST estimated for depths of 0.2 and 1.0 m (corresponding approximately to drifter and moored buoy depths). The AATSR estimated depth SSTs are adjusted to a local equatorial crossing time of 10:30 (approximately half an hour after observation), to provide continuity with ATSR-1 and ATSR-2 data. The ARC project was led by Chris Merchant (University of Reading, formerly of the University of Edinburgh) and funded by NERC and the UK Government.
