News - Operational News

Transition from FTP to FTPS for SMOS, Aeolus and Campaign data dissemination systems

As of 15 April 2024 access to the SMOS, Aeolus and Campaign data will be changed from simple FTP to FTPS.

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.

News - Operational News

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 - Events and Proceedings

ESA invites scientists to submit abstracts for EGU 2023

ESA is calling for researchers to submit abstracts for sessions at the next General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union (EGU 2023).

News - Thematic area articles

How satellite data help to shape society

Data from ESA’s Earth observation archives are improving understanding of the interactions between human activities and the environment, helping to power green economic development and boosting prosperity in Europe and beyond.

News - Success Stories

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.

Event - Training

EO Summer School 4

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

Event - Training

EO Summer School 3

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

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 - Thematic area articles

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 - 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 - Data Release news

SMOS L2 Sea Surface Salinity products documentation updates

SMOS L2 Sea Surface Salinity product validation report is now available.

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.

Document - General Reference

Spacelab-in-context.pdf

This document provides an overview of Spacelab, a joint ESA-NASA laboratory that was carried aboard space shuttles from 1981 to 2000.

Document - General Reference

ARTEMIS-Paving-the-way-for-Europes-future-data-relay-land-mobile-and-Navigation-Services.pdf

This brochure provides an overview of Artemis, ESAs telecommunications satellite.

Document - General Reference

Understanding climate change from space

This document describes ESA's Climate Change Initiative, and how it is intended to contribute towards monitoring and understanding the Earth's climate.

Document - General Reference

Principles of radar imagery

Data - Fast Registration with immediate access (Open)

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.

Mission - Earth Explorers

SMOS

The Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) mission is dedicated to making global observations of soil moisture over land and salinity over oceans.

Activity - Instrument characterisation and algorithm studies

ESA satellites and instruments calibration landing page

ESA satellites and instruments calibration landing page.