Monday, July 16th, 2012
Some satellites carry instruments that provide measurements of the surface temperature of oceans and seas – like a thermometer in the sky. Scientists met recently to review data from new satellite missions and scientific progress in the field.
Friday, July 6th, 2012
Extreme weather such as hurricanes, floods and even excessive heat or cold claims lives every year. The European body that monitors weather and climate from space has now joined international partners to help prepare for disasters.
Tuesday, July 3rd, 2012
Over a dozen radio signals that have hindered data collection on ESA’s SMOS water mission have been switched off. The effort also benefits satellites such as NASA’s Aquarius mission, which measures ocean salinity at the same frequency.
Friday, June 29th, 2012
ESA and China have been cooperating through the Dragon Programme since 2004 to encourage the use of Earth observation in China. Building on the success of the past years, the programme is taking on more momentum as it enters its third phase.
Monday, June 25th, 2012
The role of Earth observation for sustainable development was analyzed during the Rio+20 Summit, a three-day conference held in Brazil. A blueprint to ensure environmental protection, reconsider economic growth and advance social equity was accepted in 1992 at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. Now, after 20 years, members from governments, non-governmental
Thursday, June 21st, 2012
Water held in soil plays an important role in the climate system. The dataset released by ESA is the first remote-sensing soil moisture data record spanning the period 1978 to 2010 – a predecessor of the data now being provided by ESA’s SMOS mission. The datasets are now available to the science community for
Friday, June 15th, 2012
Piracy may be a topic of schoolboy adventure stories, but it’s still a dangerous and costly problem for merchant shipping and tourism in some parts of the world. In the pirate-ridden waters of the Indian Ocean, satellites show that environmental conditions have limited recent pirate activity.
Thursday, May 31st, 2012
The GMES Masters competition was inaugurated in 2011 by the European Space Agency (ESA), the Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs, the German Aerospace Center (DLR), and T-Systems with the support of the European Commission. For this year’s iteration, two additional industry leaders – European Space Imaging GmbH and Astrium Services – have joined the competition
Tuesday, May 29th, 2012
CryoSat was launched in 2010 to measure sea-ice thickness in the Arctic, but data from the Earth-observing satellite have also been exploited for other studies. High-resolution mapping of the topography of the ocean floor is now being added to the ice mission’s repertoire.
Friday, May 25th, 2012
The ‘GMES in Action’ conference will be held in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 4–5 June, highlighting the usefulness of Europe’s space programme for the GMES Global Monitoring for Environment and Security initiative to decision-makers and European citizens alike.
