Activities
In addition to the routine Quality Control (QC) of operational ESA Earth Observation (EO) missions and of the ESA Third Party Missions (TPM), the Sensor Performance, Products, and Algorithm (SPPA) team is involved in numerous other EO activities, including:
ESA’s Earthnet Data Assessment Pilot: EDAP
The objective of ESA's Earthnet Data Assessment Pilot (EDAP) project is to perform early data quality assessments on existing and future Earth Observation missions from national or commercial providers. These New Space players are now playing an important role in the EO international strategy. As some of these new missions are potential candidates for Earthnet Third Party Missions (TPM), ESA has established the EDAP project to assess the quality of their data and establish dialogues with the various mission providers in order to improve the overall coherence of the EO system.
| ESA's Earthnet Data Assessment Pilot (EDAP) | Details |
The Quality Working Groups: QWG
The role of the Quality Working Group (QWG) is to advise the agency, through the SPPA team, on the operations performance of a mission's instruments and its products, as well as on the evolution of algorithms and processors. Each ESA EO mission is supported by one or more instrument specific QWG, which is composed by personnel from scientific and engineering organisations with proven expertise in the particular fields covered by the instrument.
| AATSR Quality Working Group Meetings | Details |
| MERIS Quality Working Group Meetings | Details |
| MIPAS Quality Working Group Meetings | Details |
| Proba-V Quality Working Group Meetings | Details |
| SCIAMACHY Quality Working Group Meetings | External link |
| SWARM 8th Data Quality Workshop | Details |
| SWARM 9th Data Quality Workshop | Details |
(Multi-)Sensor Timeseries
ESA has been collecting and processing EO data from ESA missions (for example ERS-1/2, Envisat), and ESA TPM (for example AVHRR, Landsat, ALOS) for nearly three decades. To facilitate the various end-user and science applications, there is a need for the agency to support and maintain the quality aspects across missions with similar sensors. The SPPA team multi-sensor activities focus primarily on the sensor Fundamental Data Records (FDR), i.e. the level-1 data, on the instrument's core products, as outlined in the Mission Requirements Documents (MRD) of each mission, and on some select additional geophysical parameters that facilitate the improvements of the sensor FDR.
| (A)ATSR MD | |
| LTDP ALTS: ATSR Long Term Stability | Details |
| LTDP EMiR: ERS/Envisat MWR Recalibration and Water Vapour Thematic Data Record Generation | External link |
| REAPER: Reprocessing of Altimeter Products for ERS | Details |
| SCIRoCCo: Scatterometer Instrument Competence Centre | Details |
| SEOM CAWA: Advanced Clouds, Aerosols and WAter vapour products for Sentinel-3/OLCI | Details |
| SLAP: Systematic Landsat Archive Processing | Details |
Instrument Characterisation and Algorithm Studies
Maintenance and improvements of instrument characterisation and algorithm definition are crucial activities to guarantee that the requirements formulated in the MRD (Mission Requirement Document) are effectively fulfilled and potentially enhanced. These activities are nominally managed within the QWG, though some complementary studies are funded by ESA for supporting ad-hoc recalibration and reprocessing campaigns as well as for developing advanced scientific processors and innovative geophysical products.
| ALGOM GOMOS Level2 Algorithm Evolution Studies | Details |
| ODIN-SMR Recalibration and harmonization | Details |
| PV-CDRR: Proba-V Cloud Detection Round Robin | Details |
| PV-LAC-ATMO: Proba-V Advanced Atmospheric Correction | Details |
| PV-LAC-COAST: Proba-V New Coastal Products | Details |
Quality Assurance framework for Earth Observation: QA4EO
The Quality Control framework for Earth Observation, which consists of a set of seven guidelines, is endorsed by the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites, and has been developed by the satellite calibration and validation (Cal/Val) communities to meet the needs of the Earth Observation communities. These QA4EO guidelines have been written with the aid of national metrology institutes of the United States and Europe and, where appropriate, are based on best practices of the wider EO and non-EO communities. Within this context, the SPPA team manages a series of projects addressing sensor calibration and traceability, as well as end-to end product traceability and uncertainty estimations.
| QA4EO-ATLAS: A pulsed Tuneable LAser system for the characterisation of Spectrometers | Details |
| QA4EO-DIMITRI: Database for Imaging Multi-spectral Instruments and Tools for Radiometric Intercomparison | External link |
| QA4EO-GeoAcca: Feasibility Study for Geo-location Assessment of Optical Sensors | External link |
| QA4EO-NATALI: Neural network Aerosol Typing Algorithm based on LIdar data | External link |
| QA4EO-RUT: Radiometric Uncertainty Tool | Details |
| QA4EO-SnowPEx: Satellite Snow Product Intercomparison and Evaluation Exercise | Details |
Fiducial Reference Measurements: FRM
Fiducial Reference Measurements (FRM) are a suite of independent, fully characterized, and traceable ground measurements that follow the guidelines outlined by the GEO/CEOS Quality Assurance framework for Earth Observation (QA4EO). These FRM provide the maximum Return On Investment (ROI) for a satellite mission by delivering, to users, the required confidence in data products, in the form of independent validation results and satellite measurement uncertainty estimation, over the entire end-to-end duration of a satellite mission. Within this context, the SPPA team manages a series of projects targeting the validation of ESA altimetry, atmosphere, land, and ocean products.
| FRM4VEG: Fiducial Reference Measurements for Vegetation | External link |
| FRM4SOC: Fiducial Reference Measurements for Satellite Ocean Colour | External link |
| FRM4ALT: Fiducial Reference Measurements for altimetry | External link |
| FRM-BOUSSOLE: Buoy for the acquisition of long-term optical time series | External link |
| FRM4DOAS: Fiducial Reference Measurements for Ground-Based DOAS Air-Quality Observations | External link |
| FRM4GHG: Reference Measurements for Ground-Based FTIR Greenhouse Gas Observations | External link |
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FRM4STS: Fiducial Reference Measurements for validation of Surface Temperatures from Satellites |
External link |
| Pandonia FRM: Fiducial Reference Measurements for Ground-Based Direct-Sun Air-Quality Observations | External link |
Cal/Val Activities and in-situ field campaigns
Collection of in-situ campaigns measurements is essential to support products quality assessment and uncertainty budget estimation. As a complement to the validation data acquired in the frame of the Fiducial Reference Measurements (FRM), additional Cal/Val activities are supported by ESA, to study specific climatological and geographical conditions or to design and test novel validation methodologies.
| MBASSS Bleue Arctic Surrogate Simulation Site | Details |
| S2L8VegStruc Retrieval of vegetation structural variables from Sentinel 2/Landsat 8 time series | Details |