ESAESA‘‘ss EarthEarth ObservationObservation ActivitiesActivities –– CurrentCurrent ApplicationsApplications
Dr. Frank-Jürgen Diekmann Mission Operations Department ESA/ESOC, Darmstadt Important features of satellite measurements for Earth Observation Z Global Discrimination of regional patterns Overall system properties Z Repetitive and homogenous Discrimination of temporal patterns Long time series Z Near simultaneous Observations of different variables Diagnosis of the whole system state Z Near real-time Assimilation into forecasting models Crisis Management Services EO missions handled by ESA
1990 2000 2004 2010
METEOSAT METEOSAT Second Generation Meteo M-1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 MSG-1, -2, -3 in cooperation with EUMETSAT METOP-1, -2, -3
Cryosat 2 (Polar Ice Monitoring) Science (Gravity and Ocean GOCE Circulation Explorer) to better understand Earth SMOS (Soil moisture) the Earth Explorers ADM/Aeolus (global wind profiles) EarthCARE (clouds, aerosols) SWARM (Earth’s magnetic field) ERS-1, -2 ENVISAT Applications ESA Sentinels satellites Services + GMES to initiate long term National missions (Pleiades, monitoring systems TerraSAR, Cosmo-Skymed,..) and services
Third-Party Missions: European access to non-ESA missions European ALOS, SPOT-4, Landsat, MODIS, SeaWifs, Scisat ... users ENVISAT
Z The largest European satellite & largest worldwide EO satellite
Z It carries a unique combination of 10 instruments addressing land, ocean, ice and atmosphere studies
Z Mass : 8140 Kg Z Dimensions (in orbit) : 26m * 10m * 5m Envisat Mission Overview Artemis
Envisat
Svalbard
Kiruna ESOC
ESRIN User Daten Nutzer Some examples of Earth Observation satellite data applications
Z Typical satellite sensors : Optical instruments Radar instruments Altimeter Spectrometer
Z Earth Monitoring – some typical applications :
Atmosphere Ocean o Climate change and trace gases o Winds and waves o Ozone hole o Ocean colour and algae o Aerosols o Sea surface temperature o Air pollution o El Nino o Water vapour and clouds o Water pollution
Ice Land o Arctic and Antarctica o Agriculture o Glaciers o Flood monitoring o Fire mapping o Desertification o Deforestation o Volcanoes and Earth quakes IPCC, 2007
4th Assessment Report
Z Warming of the climate system is unequivocal On a global average, surface temperatures have increased by 0.74°C in the last 100 years 11 of the last 12 years rank among the 12 warmest years since 1850
Z Global atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide have increased markedly as a result of human activities since 1750 and now far exceed pre-industrial values over the last 650,000 years.
Z Global temperature increase between 2.4°C and 6.4°C until 2100 Sea surface level : rise beween 18 to 59 cm (up to 48 cm due to thermal expansion only) Arctic : ice-free as of 2nd half of the century Permafrost: up to 90% melting until 2100, freeing high amounts of Methane gas Precipitation: decrease in arid regions and increase in wet areas More frequent warm spells, heat waves and heavy rain falls (confidence level > 90%) Increase in droughts, tropical cyclones and extreme high tides The probability that this is caused by natural climatic processes alone is < 5%. Global climate change – evidence from satellite data
Increase of atmospheric temperature (J. Hanson, R. Ruedy, M. Sato, K. Lo, NASA Goddard)
Sea level rise from satellite data 1992 – 2006
Courtesy of Remko Scharroo, Altimetrics LLC, New Hampshire, USA, 2006 Atmosphere Three years of SCIAMACHY Data (2003-2005)
From : M. Buchwitz, O. Schneising, IUP, Universität Bremen
CO2 – Earth is “breathing”
CH4 (Methane) – the second most important greenhouse gas SCIAMACHY carbon dioxide (CO2) columns Ozone loss during 2006 over the South Pole
No decline of the ozone hole can be measured until now.
BrO is an important Ozone destroying trace gas - SCIA BrO product shows indications for decrease ! NO2 concentration 2006
Combined with ERS-2 GOME data
NO2 concentration increase by 50% over China (during last 8 years)
A. Richter, J. Burrows, Nature, Sept. 2005 Air pollution
ENVISAT optical view of China haze, 4 Oct 2004 Oceans Synergy between Envisat imaging instruments
Hurricane Katrina Phytoplancton bloom, water quality
6 June 2006 ENVISAT, MERIS Land Flood Monitoring
Elbe flood (Germany) 2002
19. August 2002 MERIS Desertification, coastal regions
Nile Delta, Sinai Peninsula
ENVISAT, MERIS, 14 Februar 2005 Glaciers, water supply
Tibetan Plateau Himalaya ENVISAT,MERIS 2005 Desertification
The “Aralkum Desert”
14 July 2006 ENVISAT, MERIS Fires, biomass burning
Portugal/Spain forest fires 9 August 2006
World Fire Map, 2005 Rain forest, urbanisation
Rio Xingu, Brasil 30 May 2006, MERIS Ice Antarctic ice shelf monitoring
Ice shelf lost during last 3.5 years
Larsen ice shelf 50 km LarsenLarsen ice ice shelf shelf 18 March 2002 2424 September September 2005 2005 Arctic sea ice extent End AugustEnd August 2006 2005 Sea Ice Extend : 2005: 5.3 Million km2
Lowest ever recorded Very large by satellites sea ice Greenland openings
From US National Snow and Ice Data Center based on satellite data Svalbard The next Earth Explorer Missions
CRYOSAT II Acquires accurate measurements of the thickness of floating sea-ice and will also survey the surface of continental ice sheets GOCE
Dedicated to measuring the Earth's gravity field and modelling the geoid with unprecedented accuracy and spatial resolution
SWARM A constellation of three satellites that will provide high- precision and high- resolution measurements of the The first space strength and mission to measure direction of the wind profiles on a ADM/AEOLUS Earth's global scale for numerical magnetic field. weather forecasting and to advance the understanding of atmospheric dynamics and processes GMES, Sentinels
GMES (Global Monitoring for Environment and Security) is a joint initiative of the European Commission and ESA to secure Europe with an autonomous and operational information production system in support to environment and security policies.
GMES consists of four main components : The space component o 5 Sentinel satellites The “in-situ“ component Data harmonisation and standardisation User oriented services o GMES Service Element (GSE) Ten service portfolios already started (e.g. Forest Monitoring, Flood and Fire Risk Management, Food Security, Humanitarian Aid,etc.) The GMES Sentinels
Sentinel 1 – SAR imaging All weather, day/night applications, interferometry
Sentinel 2 – Superspectral imaging Continuity of Envisat, SPOT etc.
Sentinel 3 – Ocean monitoring Wide-swath ocean color and surface temperature sensors, altimeter
Sentinel 4 – Geostationary atmospheric Atmospheric composition monitoring
Sentinel 5 – Low-orbit atmospheric Atmospheric composition monitoring Envisat MERIS data online http://miravi.eo.esa.int www.esa.int envisat.esa.int earth.esa.int
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