Andrew Yee[_1_]
February 23rd 07, 04:01 AM
ESA News
http://www.esa.int
22 February 2007
Scientists gear up for ESA's 2007 Envisat Symposium
More than 800 scientists from around the world will gather in Montreux,
Switzerland, to attend the 2007 Envisat Symposium from 23 to 27 April to
present and review results from ESA Earth observation satellites.
The objectives of the largest ESA Earth observation (EO) symposium ever held
are to provide a forum for investigators to present results of ongoing
research project activities using data from Envisat, ERS and Third Party
Missions and to review and assess the development of applications and
services.
"We are very pleased to host the symposium in Switzerland, an ESA Member
State, and to welcome scientists from across the world," ESA's Yves-Louis
Desnos, symposium co-chairman and Head of Research and Development, said.
"We anticipate a wealth of new scientific results to be presented, such as
global change indicators, derived by exploiting data from the ERS and
ENVISAT missions."
Previous Envisat and ERS Symposia have been held in Cannes, Hamburg,
Florence, Gothenburg and Salzburg. Dr. Remko Scharroo of
Altimetrics/National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) told ESA
that attending these symposia have always been highlights in his career and
provided excellent opportunities to exchange the latest results obtained
from the agency's satellites.
"As so many researchers focus on different instruments aboard these
satellites and their different uses, it is at these symposia where it all
comes together. I have always returned from those symposia with the feeling
that I learned a lot and also contributed my small share to the better
understanding of the satellites and to their applications in Earth
sciences," Scharoo said.
Themes of the 2007 symposium include the atmosphere, climate, oceanography,
cryosphere, land and hazards. Within these themes, almost all fields of
Earth science will be addressed, such as landslides, ocean colour, sea
surface temperature, sea ice, volcanoes, earthquakes, floods, fires, winds
and waves and oil spills, among others. Eight hundred presentations selected
by peer review will be given by ESA Principal Investigators travelling from
more than 40 countries worldwide. Numerous demonstrations are also planned
for the week in the ESA and Industry exhibit areas.
The conference will include a special session dedicated to the joint
ESA/European Commission Global Monitoring for Environment and Security
(GMES) programme, including the GMES space component, Sentinel missions and
contributions from national missions. There will also be a session dedicated
to the use of EO in support of International Environmental Conventions in
close collaboration with UN agencies, the World Climate Research Programme
(WCRP) and the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP).
As the greatest environmental challenge facing the world today, numerous
climate change studies and results will be presented at the symposium,
further illustrating the findings of the latest Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change (IPCC) report. Scharroo, for instance, will demonstrate how
he was able to estimate a common annual cycle and trend of global and
regional sea level rise of 3,2 mm a year by using multi-satellite radar
altimeter data.
"Through the years it has been a plight to ever increase the accuracy of the
ERS and Envisat altimeter data. That effort started with the ERS-1 absolute
altimeter range calibration in 1991, and continued by providing precise
orbits for both ERS-1 and ERS-2 to the user community. The symposium in
Montreux will be the time to discuss the latest results, and I am sure I
will return with new ideas to work on and new algorithms to implement,"
Scharroo added.
Radar altimeters, such as the one aboard Envisat, offer valuable information
on the state of the ocean by providing measurements of the height of the
ocean surface. Radar altimeters are fundamental instruments for globally
monitoring continental ice-mass imbalance, floating sea-ice thickness and
continental surface water levels in rivers and lakes -- all indicators of
climate change.
The impact human activities have on air quality will also be addressed.
Nitrogen dioxide (NO2), a mainly man-made gas, can cause lung damage and
respiratory problems and leads to the production of ozone in the
troposphere. Envisat is able to measure NO2 because of its onboard Scanning
Imaging Absorption Spectrometer for Atmospheric Chartography (SCIAMACHY)
instrument, which records the spectrum of sunlight shining through the
atmosphere.
Using data from Envisat, scientists developed in 2003 a high-resolution
global atmospheric map of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) pollution, which made clear
just how human activities affect air quality. Scientists developed another
global atmospheric map using Envisat data in 2006, allowing changes to be
monitored.
"At the Envisat Symposium I will present our findings regarding the trends
and sources of NO2 emissions, and I hope to learn more of the latest results
from international colleagues working on Envisat data," Dr. Ronald van der A
of the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI) said.
The symposium's preliminary programme is now available online at
http://www.esa.int/envisatsymposium
[NOTE: Images and weblinks supporting this release are available at
http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMBZNBE8YE_index_1.html ]
http://www.esa.int
22 February 2007
Scientists gear up for ESA's 2007 Envisat Symposium
More than 800 scientists from around the world will gather in Montreux,
Switzerland, to attend the 2007 Envisat Symposium from 23 to 27 April to
present and review results from ESA Earth observation satellites.
The objectives of the largest ESA Earth observation (EO) symposium ever held
are to provide a forum for investigators to present results of ongoing
research project activities using data from Envisat, ERS and Third Party
Missions and to review and assess the development of applications and
services.
"We are very pleased to host the symposium in Switzerland, an ESA Member
State, and to welcome scientists from across the world," ESA's Yves-Louis
Desnos, symposium co-chairman and Head of Research and Development, said.
"We anticipate a wealth of new scientific results to be presented, such as
global change indicators, derived by exploiting data from the ERS and
ENVISAT missions."
Previous Envisat and ERS Symposia have been held in Cannes, Hamburg,
Florence, Gothenburg and Salzburg. Dr. Remko Scharroo of
Altimetrics/National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) told ESA
that attending these symposia have always been highlights in his career and
provided excellent opportunities to exchange the latest results obtained
from the agency's satellites.
"As so many researchers focus on different instruments aboard these
satellites and their different uses, it is at these symposia where it all
comes together. I have always returned from those symposia with the feeling
that I learned a lot and also contributed my small share to the better
understanding of the satellites and to their applications in Earth
sciences," Scharoo said.
Themes of the 2007 symposium include the atmosphere, climate, oceanography,
cryosphere, land and hazards. Within these themes, almost all fields of
Earth science will be addressed, such as landslides, ocean colour, sea
surface temperature, sea ice, volcanoes, earthquakes, floods, fires, winds
and waves and oil spills, among others. Eight hundred presentations selected
by peer review will be given by ESA Principal Investigators travelling from
more than 40 countries worldwide. Numerous demonstrations are also planned
for the week in the ESA and Industry exhibit areas.
The conference will include a special session dedicated to the joint
ESA/European Commission Global Monitoring for Environment and Security
(GMES) programme, including the GMES space component, Sentinel missions and
contributions from national missions. There will also be a session dedicated
to the use of EO in support of International Environmental Conventions in
close collaboration with UN agencies, the World Climate Research Programme
(WCRP) and the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP).
As the greatest environmental challenge facing the world today, numerous
climate change studies and results will be presented at the symposium,
further illustrating the findings of the latest Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change (IPCC) report. Scharroo, for instance, will demonstrate how
he was able to estimate a common annual cycle and trend of global and
regional sea level rise of 3,2 mm a year by using multi-satellite radar
altimeter data.
"Through the years it has been a plight to ever increase the accuracy of the
ERS and Envisat altimeter data. That effort started with the ERS-1 absolute
altimeter range calibration in 1991, and continued by providing precise
orbits for both ERS-1 and ERS-2 to the user community. The symposium in
Montreux will be the time to discuss the latest results, and I am sure I
will return with new ideas to work on and new algorithms to implement,"
Scharroo added.
Radar altimeters, such as the one aboard Envisat, offer valuable information
on the state of the ocean by providing measurements of the height of the
ocean surface. Radar altimeters are fundamental instruments for globally
monitoring continental ice-mass imbalance, floating sea-ice thickness and
continental surface water levels in rivers and lakes -- all indicators of
climate change.
The impact human activities have on air quality will also be addressed.
Nitrogen dioxide (NO2), a mainly man-made gas, can cause lung damage and
respiratory problems and leads to the production of ozone in the
troposphere. Envisat is able to measure NO2 because of its onboard Scanning
Imaging Absorption Spectrometer for Atmospheric Chartography (SCIAMACHY)
instrument, which records the spectrum of sunlight shining through the
atmosphere.
Using data from Envisat, scientists developed in 2003 a high-resolution
global atmospheric map of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) pollution, which made clear
just how human activities affect air quality. Scientists developed another
global atmospheric map using Envisat data in 2006, allowing changes to be
monitored.
"At the Envisat Symposium I will present our findings regarding the trends
and sources of NO2 emissions, and I hope to learn more of the latest results
from international colleagues working on Envisat data," Dr. Ronald van der A
of the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI) said.
The symposium's preliminary programme is now available online at
http://www.esa.int/envisatsymposium
[NOTE: Images and weblinks supporting this release are available at
http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMBZNBE8YE_index_1.html ]