News - Data Release news

Updated Precise Orbit data (POD) for the full ERS-1 and ERS-2 mission available

The Precise Orbit files (ERS.ORB.POD) for the entire ERS-1 and ERS-2 mission periods have been reprocessed with up-to-date standards.

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 - Success Stories

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.

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.

Document - General Reference

The-Changing-Earth-New-Scientific-Challenges-for-ESAs-Living-Planet-Programme.pdf

This article is extracted from ESA Bulletin Nr. 129.

Document - General Reference

The Science and Research Elements of ESA Living Planet Programme

This document presents the plans for the Earth Explorer element of the European Space Agency's 'Living Planet' Programme for Earth Observation.

Document - General Reference

The Nine Candidate Earth Explorer Missions - Topography Mission

This report for assessment addresses the Topography mission when it was selected with other nine Earth Explorer missions as a potential candidate for Phase A study.

Document - General Reference

The International Charter- Space and Major Disasters

The Charter is an important step forward in linking the needs of disaster and relief organisations with space technology solutions to help mitigate the effects of disaster on human life, property and the environment.

Data - EO Sign In Authentication (Open)

Sea Ice Thematic Data Product [ALT_TDP_SI]

This is the Sea Ice Thematic Data Product (TDP) V1 resulting from the ESA FDR4ALT project and containing the sea ice related geophysical parameters, along with associated uncertainties: snow depth, radar and sea-ice freeboard, sea ice thickness and concentration. The collection covers data for the ERS-1, ERS-2 and Envisat missions, and bases 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 Sea Ice TDP provides data from the northern or southern hemisphere in two files corresponding to the Arctic and Antarctic regions respectively for the winter periods only, i.e., October to June for the Arctic, and May to November for the Antarctic. For many aspects, the Sea Ice TDP is very innovative: First time series of sea-ice thickness estimates for ERS Homogeneous calibration, allowing the first Arctic radar freeboard time series from ERS-1 (1991) to CryoSat-2 (2021) Uncertainties estimated along-track with a bottom-up approach based on dominant sources ERS pulse blurring error corrected using literature procedure [Peacock, 2004] 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.

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.

News - Thematic area articles

Satellites reveal changes to Earth’s icy zones

ESA’s Earth observation activities are helping scientists investigate the influence of climate change on widespread ice-losses across the planet.

News - Thematic area articles

Satellites investigate Earth’s terrestrial hydrosphere

ESA’s Earth observation satellites are playing a leading role in furthering our understanding of how Earth’s water cycle is being influenced by humankind.

Document - General Reference

Satellite-radar-in-agriculture-Experience-with-ERS-1.pdf

This document has been prepared by an ESA Specialist Panel charged with the task of reviewing research work and progress so far, and making recommendations for future developments and integration of satellite radar data into operational crop monitoring systems.

News - Thematic area articles

Satellite data central to ocean monitoring

Over 95% of Earth’s water is found in our oceans, and yet sadly, oceans are under stress from climate change and pollution. Monitoring our oceans is vital for Earth’s survival and satellites are the primary means of long-term and independent observation of our vast ocean bodies and their associated coastal zones.

News - Thematic area articles

Satellite data boost global understanding of land surface

Understanding our changing land surface is essential in the study of climate change. Satellites are used to monitor changes to the material that covers Earth’s surface, so-called land cover, such as vegetation and water.

Document - General Reference

Remote-Sensing-and-Humanitarian-Aid-A-life-saving-combination.pdf

This article was published in the ESA Bulletin Nr. 122 and describes how Earth Observation activities may answer to the requirements of humanitarian and aid workers.

News - Thematic area articles

Remote sensing data map impacts of natural hazards

As climate change increases the frequency and severity of natural disasters, remote sensing data can warn about extreme events and help tackle emergency situations.

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.

Document - Proceedings

Microwave Remote Sensing Applied to Vegetation - EARSeL Workshop

Event - Conference

Living Planet Symposium 2022

Learn about the 2022 edition of ESA's Living Planet Symposium.