Overview and Status of ESA Earth Observation Programmes

Transcription

1 Overview and Status of ESA Earth Observation Programmes Maurice Borgeaud, ESA Head of the Science, Applications and Future Technologies Department Directorate of Earth Observation Programmes ADM-Aeolus Science and CAL/VAL Workshop 10 February 2015

2 EO Mission Nomenclature

3 Split of costs in EOP for 2014 Total = 920 M planned for 2014 Ref: Cost status EOP 2014, plan for end of the year made in Sep 2014

4 R&D Missions: Scientific Earth Explorers

5 GOCE: Gravity and Ocean Circulation First gravity gradiometer in space Active air drag control (ion propulsion) Lower orbits feature better signal to noise ratio & improved accuracy/spatial resolution of models Last operational orbit of GOCE at 225 km equatorial altitude Non-negligible atmospheric drag Xenon expired 21 Oct, 2013 De-orbited 11 Nov, 2013 Significant data legacy for science Study of next generation gravity mission concepts in partnership with NASA Geoid Ice Mass Balance Gravity Anomalies Mean Ocean Circulation Oil and Gas Exploration Topography Altimetry Post Glacial Rebound Positioning Unified Height Systems GOCE Applications

6 GOCE: Ocean Currents Copyright: ESA/CNES/CLS

7 SMOS Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity Routine data delivery since February 2010 Complete Earth coverage within three days Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) mitigation continues Outstanding international cooperation 2013 in-orbit review confirms mission health Array of new scientific applications in development, beyond primary mission objectives Mission extension until 2017 Courtesy DWD SMOS soil moisture for 29 May to 2 June 2013; The blue areas indicate wetter soils and the yellow and orange colours indicate drier soils; CESBIO

8 SMOS Seasonal Soil Moisture

9 CryoSat: ESA s Ice Mission First interferometric altimeter in space Global sea ice thickness measurements over 4 consecutive growth cycles Data used for ice research, but increasingly also for oceanography Important input to climate research Mission extension until 2017

10 CryoSat: Gravity reveals sea floor First interferometric altimeter in space Global sea ice thickness measurements Data used for ice research, but increasingly also for oceanography Mission extension until 2017

11 Swarm: ESA s Magnetic Field Mission Launched 22 November th Earth Explorer launched Swarm provides the bestever survey of the Earth s geomagnetic field and its variation in time Swarm is also providing new insights into the Earth s interior and near-earth electromagnetic environment

12 Earth s Magnetic Field from Swarm Data Initial Results of Swarm have been voted Best Science Result 2014 by the Ingeniøren Magazine of Danish Engineers Association

13 ADM-Aeolus ESA s Wind Mission Next Earth Explorer to be launched Providing global wind profile observations for analysis and prediction of atmospheric dynamics Improved weather forecasts and climate models Demonstrate the capabilities of space-based Doppler Wind LIDARs for global wind profiling and its potential for operational use

14 Aeolus technology and products Doppler Wind Lidar Dawn-dusk orbit (6 am, 6 pm) Powerful 355 nm lidar observing wind profiles in clear air, in and below optically thin cloud/aerosol layers and on top of optically thick clouds Optical properties profiles for cloud and aerosol research Vertical observation range: surface to 30 km Vertical resolution: 250 m - 2 km Horizontal resolution: 3 km to 87 km NRT delivery of L1b data & L2b processor serves numerical weather prediction (NWP) Potential for serving aerosol assimilation in forecast and climate models

15 EarthCARE ESA s Aerosol Mission Global observations of clouds, aerosols and radiation Scientific instruments: First UV cloud and aerosol Lidar First Doppler Cloud Profiling Radar (JAXA contribution) Multispectral Imager Broadband Radiometer Clouds-aerosols-radiation closure Critical Design Reviews of instruments completed except for ATLID (on-going) Flight acceptance review in 2017 (for Soyuz launch)

16 Future Earth Explorer Missions Biomass is selected as the 7 th Earth Explorer mission Selected in May 2013 by ESA s Earth Observation Programme Board Essential to understand the Earth s carbon cycle Biomass estimates based on global interferometric and polarimetric P-Band SAR observations Flight acceptance review in 2020 Candidate missions for 8 th Earth Explorer: FLEX and CarbonSat Call for future Earth Explorer mission anticipated end 2015

17 Earth Explorer 8 Candidate Missions Status: Phase A/B1 studies ongoing for two competing mission candidates FLEX: to provide global maps of vegetation fluorescence, which can be converted into an indicator of photosynthetic activity to improve our understanding of how much carbon is stored in plants and their role in the carbon and water cycles CarbonSat: to quantify and monitor the distribution of carbon dioxide and methane for a better understanding of the sources and sinks of these two gases and how they are linked to climate change. UCM in Krakow, Poland, Sept 2015

18 EO Mission Nomenclature

19 Copernicus: A New Generation of Data Sources Sent-1A/B Sent-2A/B Sent-3A/B Sent-4A/B Sent-5/5P Sent-6A/B Copernicus is a European space flagship programme led by the European Union ESA coordinates the space component Copernicus provides the necessary data for operational monitoring of the environment and for civil security Free and open data policy

20 Copernicus Current Status Operations secured until 2021 Infrastructure secured until Fully geared towards contributing to GEOSS EU-ESA Agreement signed 28 October 2014 Sentinel-1 A launch on 3 April 2014 IOCR concluded 23 September 2014 Data freely available since 3 October 2014

21 Sentinel-1A Interferogram Napa Valley Earthquake, California processed by: Yngvar Larsen, Northern Research Institute, Norway and Petar Marinkovic, PPO.labs, Netherlands cooperating through COMET

22 Sentinel-1A Interferogram Ground Deformation Mexico City combination of five Sentinel-1A Radar scans between 3 October and 2 December 2014

23 Copernicus dedicated missions Sentinel-1 (A/B) SAR imaging All weather, day/night applications, interferometry Sentinel-2 (A/B) Multi-spectral imaging Land applications: urban, forest, agriculture, Continuity of Landsat, SPOT Sentinel-3 (A/B) Ocean and global land monitoring Wide-swath ocean color, vegetation, sea/land surface temperature, altimetry Sentinel-4 (A/B) VIS and NIR spectrometer, Geostationary Atmospheric composition monitoring, transboundary pollution Sentinel-5 precursor/ Sentinel-5 (A/B) VIS, NIR and SWIR spectrometer, Low-orbit Atmospheric composition monitoring Jason-CS (A/B) Low inclination Altimetry Sea-level, wave height and marine wind speed

24 Tentative Sentinel Schedule Etna slopes

25 Copernicus Services Component and how Sentinels contribute Marine Climate Change Land Services Component Security Atmosphere Services Component Emergency Management

26 New EO Science Strategy for ESA Discussed at ESAC and PB-EO Workshop 22/23 Sept Endorsed by PB-EO Nov To become part of overall EO strategy Scientific basis for next EE Call Flyer and printed edition expected for end Feb. 2015

27 ESA s EO Science Strategy at a glance Ground-breaking exploratory missions integrated into flexible observing systems for Earth system science Sustained observations to understand and attribute trends beyond the expected variability International co-operation to provide an integrated, optimised Earth observing system, which can grow in capability in a cost-effective manner Translational science to synthesize and adapt the data streams from individual instruments and satellites into knowledge Wider Communication and dialogue with people beyond the scientific sector to help explain the value, opportunities and inspiration provided by EO from space

28 Objectives of the ADM/Aeolus Workshop Bring ESA, industry, scientists and Cal/Val Principle Investigators (PI) together to present and discuss the Aeolus mission, its products, science applications and calibration and validation aspects Allow the scientific community to present their plans for the use of the ADM/Aeolus data Allow Cal/Val PIs to familiarize with the mission and meet and coordinate their efforts in contributing to the mission validation Contribute to the detailing of the Cal/Val Implementation Plan

29 Conclusions and Outlook ESA has a vibrant set of Earth Observation Programs which deliver R&D Earth Explorer missions and an Earth Watch line comprising the Meteorology missions and Copernicus Sentinels Together these missions will provide an array of data to stimulate the wind and aerosol community The challenge to this community is to validate and exploit data from the novel technology on-board ESA s Earth Explorer ADM-Aeolus mission, to improve our understanding and modelling of atmospheric dynamics and climate change I wish you a successful meeting here at ESA ESRIN!