The European Space Agency (ESA) is organising a Φ-week event focusing on EO Open Science and FutureEO to review the latest developments in Open Science trends and kick-start innovative activities of the recently created Φ-department. This department and its associated Φ-lab is looking at FutureEO and aims to identify, support and scale bold EO ideas. This event will be hosted in ESA-ESRIN.

Extended Abstract submission deadline: 01 May 2018

Following on from the 15 Years and 20 Years of Progress in Radar Altimetry Symposia in 2006 and 2012, both deemed very successful landmarks by the participants and the readership of the Proceedings, we have now reached the 25-year anniversary of the first supply of ERS-1 and TOPEX/Poseidon data products to the Altimetry Community.

To mark the occasion, the European Space Agency (ESA) in collaboration with the French Space Agency (CNES) is organising an exceptional Symposium on "25 years of Progress in Radar Altimetry". The event will take place in Ponta Delgada, São Miguel Island, Azores Archipelago (Portugal) from 24 to 29 September 2018, and will be sponsored by other partner agencies and organisations supporting the development of altimetry.

Along with the symposium, related events will take place in the same week which includes the annual meeting of the Ocean Surface Topography Science Team (OSTST) and the International DORIS Service (IDS) Workshop.

Early Registration deadline: 25 May 2018

The European Space Agency (ESA) is organising an Advanced Training Course on Land Remote Sensing dedicated to training the next generation of Earth Observation (EO) scientists to exploit data from EO missions (e.g. the Copernicus Sentinels) for science and applications development.

Post graduate, PhD students, post-doctoral research scientists and users from European countries and Canada are invited to apply to the 5-day course which will be held at the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom during 10–14 September 2018. Research scientists and students from all other countries are also welcome to apply, subject to availability of spaces.

Application submission deadline: 08 June 2018

European Space Agency (ESA) organises a series of summer schools on Monitoring of the Earth System to promote the exploitation of Earth Observation (EO) data across disciplines, with a specific focus on their assimilation into Earth System models.

The two-week course, held in ESA/ESRIN(near Rome, Italy) from 30 July to 10 August 2018, aims to provide students with an integrated end-to-end perspective going from measurement techniques to end-user applications. Courses include lectures covering issues related to Remote Sensing, Earth System Modelling and Data Assimilation as well as hands-on computing exercises on the processing of EO data. Keynote lectures on global change issues are also given to discuss the current state of the science of global change and its relationship to society in order to help students appreciate how their specific field fits into a broader scientific and political context. For more information, please see previous programme, news or video.

Application submission deadline: 01 May 2018

The 42nd Scientific Assembly of the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) will be held in Pasadena, California, USA, from 14 to 22 July 2018.

See the list of scientific events (sessions) under the COSPAR Scientific Commission (Space Studies of the Earth's Surface, Meteorology and Climate).

Event A2.1 'Scientific Exploitation of Oceanographic Measurements From New Missions and Heritage Data Sets' is particularly noteworthy, as the aim of this session is to foster scientific applications of satellite measurements from past and current missions to study variability of the ocean and its relationships with changes in other elements of the Earth system, including atmosphere, cryosphere, and land.

We invite contributions to all aspects of satellite oceanography associated with the use of satellite observations and derived estimates of various oceanographic parameters, including sea surface temperature, height, and salinity, ocean surface wind and current, ocean colour, and sea ice. Potential topics include scientific analysis of these data and their assimilation into models. Synergistic use of satellite measurements of different oceanic parameters is particularly encouraged.

Early registration fee deadline: 27 April 2018

The European Space Agency is organising the 'EO4Alps' The Alps from Space Workshop, which will take place from 27 to 29 June 2018 at the Villa Blanka Conference Center, in Innsbruck, Austria.

The focus of this workshop is to assess the opportunities for EO research and development as well as downstream activities that may be the basis for future ESA investments to address some of the key information needs relevant to the Alpine Region. These opportunities will be framed with respect to emerging Earth science, development of novel applications, testing innovative information services and implementing required upgrades to capabilities to manage and manipulate large data volumes.

The objectives of the workshop are:

1. To assess the status and priority interests in the European Alpine Region for Earth Science, geo-information and operational monitoring
2. Review the main activities, projects and initiatives taking place in the different Alpine application areas, where Earth observation from space can contribute
3. Evaluate the potential of the increasing observation capacity by satellites to address needs for science, applications and information services in the European Alpine region
4. Characterise and address data collection and analysis gaps and define high-level requirements for supporting ICT solutions to advance EO data infrastructure capabilities in the Alpine region

Abstract submission deadline: 30 April 2018

The 2nd International Surface Working Group (ISWG) event will be held jointly with the 8th Land Surface Analysis Satellite Application Facility (LSA-SAF) Workshop in Lisbon, Portugal from 26 to 28 June 2018, at Instituto Português do Mar e da Atmosfera (IPMA).

The meeting will focus on:

• Assimilation of surface observations derived from: IR/MW, active/passive remote sensing data relevant to terrestrial surfaces, land-atmosphere interactions, and related applications;
• Land surface assimilation schemes: state of the operational land surface modelling systems and recent developments; sensitivity studies of surface model parameters to remotely sensed data; outcomes of assimilating SMOS, GPM, SMAP observations; calibration issues, variable transforms or PDF matching techniques;
• Radiative transfer and emissivity/reflectivity model development: VIS/IR/MW, all surface types, review of current parameterization for forward modelling surface boundary; description of available land emissivity databases/atlases (MW and IR); intercomparison/validation of physical models and retrieved emissivity (MW and IR, including land, ocean, and ice surfaces);
• Retrievals of surface parameters: product characteristics and performances and expected evolutions including land surface temperature, albedo, vegetation state, soil moisture, snow water equivalent, water-body extent, sea surface wind, salinity, canopy parameters, vegetation water content, sea-ice concentration, etc. and the resulting surface emissivity/reflectance spectra
• Other relevant topics: model-data comparison efforts involving EO dataset and shared experiences from ongoing surface monitoring systems, use of multi-sensor/ multi-platform, multi-temporal approaches to maximize information over heterogeneous or rapidly changing surface types.

Oral and poster presentations are accepted; registration and submission of abstracts will close on 16 April 2018

ISWG contributors and all those interested in these topics are also invited to contribute to a special issue in the Remote Sensing journal titled Advancing Earth Surface Representation via Enhanced Use of Earth Observations in Monitoring and Forecasting Applications

As part of the Earth Observation (EO) Science for Society – Scientific Exploitation element of EOEP-5 program, the European Space Agency (ESA) is organising an advanced training course on remote sensing of the Cryosphere, devoted to train the next generation of scientists and specialists to exploit EO data for science and applications.

Postgraduate-level, PhD students, post-doctoral research scientists and users from Europe and Canada interested in applications of remote sensing of the Cryosphere are welcome to apply to the 6-day course, held at University Centre in Svalbard (UNIS) in Longyearbyen, Svalbard, from 11 to 16 June 2018.

The Coastal Altimetry Community invites you to the European Space Agency establishment in Frascati (Italy), ESRIN, for the 11th Edition of the Coastal Altimetry Workshop on 12-15 June 2018, which includes a Coastal Altimetry Training for Early Career Scientists.

The symposium will promote the scientific and operational exploitation of Proba-V data and is open to Proba-V users, scientists, students, representatives from national, European and international agencies, operational end-users and value adding industries.

Registration deadline: 15 May 2018

The international science community is invited to participate in the EarthCARE Science and Validation Workshop, which is jointly organised by the German Aerospace Center (DLR), the German EarthCARE Project Office at the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology (MPI-M) and the European Space Agency (ESA), in cooperation with our partners, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and the National Institute of Information and Communication Technology (NICT).

The workshop - which will take place in Bonn, Germany, from 11 to 15 June 2018 - will provide the forum for the discussion of the preparation of the EarthCARE mission exploitation and its product validation.

It combines the Seventh International EarthCARE Science Workshop and the First ESA EarthCARE Validation Workshop, following ESA's Announcement of Opportunity for submitting proposals for the calibration and validation of EarthCARE, to organise the activities of the Principal Investigators. The workshops will be arranged side-by-side in respective morning and evening sessions during the week.