News - Thematic area articles

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 - Thematic area articles

Space data support Earth’s ecosystems

ESA’s Earth observation (EO) missions are making a critical contribution to monitoring transformations in our planet’s ecosystems, helping track changes in the vegetation, soil, and ocean that affect these systems.

Activity - Quality

SCIRoCCo

The SCIRoCCo project is an interdisciplinary cooperation of scatterometry experts aimed at promoting the continuing exploitation of ESA's unique 20 years' worth of ERS Scatterometer data.

Document - General Reference

Mapping-Forest-Fire-Damage-with-Envisat.pdf

This article was published in the ESA Bulletin Nr. 120 and describes how remote sensing from space (and ESA's ENVISAT environment satellite, launched in March 2002, in particular) is suitable for forest-fire-related studies.

News - Infographics

Learn more about Envisat MERIS Full Resolution Level-1 data

Learn more about the Envisat MERIS Level 1 products in our latest infographic.

Data - EO Sign In Authentication (Open)

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.

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.

Data - EO Sign In Authentication (Open)

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 - Success Stories

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.

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.

News - Thematic area articles

Global understanding of Earth's land surfaces greatly boosted by satellite data

ESA perform land surface monitoring with a range of instruments onboard satellites acquiring optical and radar data. Collections of data from these missions are freely available for research purposes.

News - Infographics

Focusing on Envisat MERIS Full Resolution Level-2 data

ESA's Envisat mission continued and expanded upon the legacy of its predecessors, the ERS (European Remote Sensing) satellites. Operating between 2002 and 2012, the satellite's 10 instruments acquired a decade of data for many applications.

News - Data Release news

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.

Event - Workshop

ESA/MERIS Workshop 2008

The ESA/MERIS Workshop 2008 covered the use of Envisat/MERIS data and the wider ESA-NASA-NOAA plans and collaboration.

Document - Proceedings

ERS-Envisat Symposium

News - Success Stories

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

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

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.

Event - Training

EO Summer School 5

ESA's series of summer schools, on Monitoring of the Earth System, aims to promote the exploitation of Earth observation data.