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  • All Categories (24)
  • Data (9)
  • News (7)
  • Missions (1)
  • Events (2)
  • Tools (2)
  • Activities (2)
  • Documents (1)
  • 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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    Land Ice Thematic Data Product [ALT_TDP_LI]

    This is the Land Ice Thematic Data Product (TDP) V1 resulting from the ESA FDR4ALT project and containing estimates of ice sheet surface elevation and associated uncertainties. The collection covers data for three different missions: ERS-1, ERS-2 and Envisat, and based on Level 1 data coming from previous reprocessing (ERS REAPER and the Envisat V3.0) but taking into account the improvements made at Level 0/Level 1 in the frame of FDR4ALT (ALT FDR). The Land Ice TDP focuses specifically on the ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica, providing these data in different files. For many aspects, the Land Ice Level 2 and Level 2+ processing is very innovative: Improved relocation approach correcting for topographic effects within the beam footprint to identify the Point of Closest Approach Homogeneous timeseries of surface elevation measurements at regular along-track reference nodes. 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.

  • Data - EO Sign In Authentication (Open)

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    Inland Waters Thematic Data Product [ALT_TDP_IW]

    This is the Inland Waters Thematic Data Product (TDP) V1 resulting from the ESA FDR4ALT project and containing improved Water Surface Height (WSH) data record from the ERS-1, ERS-2 and Envisat missions estimated using the ICE1 retracking range for its better performance on the hydro targets. 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 - 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 - 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.

  • 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 - Training

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    2nd Advanced Training Course on Ocean Remote Sensing 2009

    This advanced training course focused on ocean remote sensing theory and applications.

  • 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 - Success Stories

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    ERS Heritage Data allow for 30 years of science

    At their time of launch thirty years ago, the two ERS satellites were the most sophisticated Earth observation spacecraft ever developed and launched by Europe.

  • 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 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)

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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 - EO Sign In Authentication (Open)

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    ERS-1/2 SAR IM Precision L1 [SAR_IMP_1P]

    The SAR Precision product is a multi-look (speckle-reduced), ground range image acquired in Image Mode. This product type is most applicable to users interested in remote sensing applications, but is also suitable for calibration purposes. The products are calibrated and corrected for the SAR antenna pattern and range-spreading loss. Radar backscatter can be derived from the products for geophysical modelling, but no correction is applied for terrain-induced radiometric effects. The images are not geocoded, and terrain distortion (foreshortening and layover) has not been removed. The numbering sequence relates to the satellite position and therefore differs between Ascending and Descending scenes. Product characteristics: Pixel size: 12.5 m (range - across track) x 12.5 m (azimuth - along track) Scene area: 100 km (range) x at least 102.5 km (azimuth) Scene size: 8000 pixels range x at least 8200 lines (azimuth) Pixel depth: 16 bits unsigned integer Total product volume: 125 MB Projection: Ground-range Number of looks: 3.

  • Data - EO Sign In Authentication (Open)

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    ERS-1/2 SAR IM Single Look Complex L1 [SAR_IMS_1P]

    The SAR SLC product is a single look complex acquired in Image Mode. It is a digital image, with slant range and phase preserved, generated from raw SAR data using up-to-date auxiliary parameters. The products are intended for use in SAR quality assessment, calibration and interferometric applications. A minimum number of corrections and interpolations are performed on the data. Absolute calibration parameters (when available) are provided in the product annotation. Product characteristics: Pixel size: 8 m (range - across track) x 4 m (azimuth - along track – varying slightly depending on acquisition Pulse Repetition Frequency) Scene area: 100 km (range) x at least 102.5 km (azimuth) Scene size: 5000 samples (range) x at least 30000 lines (azimuth) Pixel depth: 32 bits signed integer (16 bits I, 16 bits Q) Total product volume: 575 MB Projection: Slant range- Number of looks: 1.

  • Data - EO Sign In Authentication (Open)

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    ERS-1/2 SAR IM Medium Resolution L1 [SAR_IMM_1P]

    This ERS Medium Resolution stripline product is generated from the Image Mode Level 0 Product. Stripline image products contain image data for an entire segment, up to a maximum size of 10 minutes per product for IM mode. The processor concatenates together several sub-images called "slices" that were processed separately on a dataset-by-dataset basis in order to form the entire stripline image. The product is processed to an approximately 150 m x 150 m resolution and has a radiometric resolution that is good enough for ice applications. This product has a lower spatial resolution than the SAR_IMP_1P and SAR_IMS_1P products. Product Characteristics: Pixel size: 5 m (ground range – across track) x 75 m (azimuth – along track) Scene area: 100 km (range) x at least 102.5 km Scene Size: 1300 pixels (range) x at least 1350 lines (azimuth) Pixel depth: 16 bits unsigned integer- Total product volume: at least 3.5 MB Projection: Ground-range Number of looks: 8 (azimuth) x 7 (range).