3rd ESA Carbon Science Cluster Meeting

Background

The carbon cycle is central to the Earth system, being inextricably coupled with climate, the water cycle, nutrient cycles and the production of biomass by photosynthesis on land and in the oceans. Understanding the patterns of exchanges of carbon between the atmosphere, ocean and land and the processes associated to them such as CO₂ fertilization, ocean acidification, changes in surface runoff of sediments, changes to wetlands and peatlands, warming of permafrost, and changes to natural disturbance regimes, are critical to improving knowledge of the carbon cycle, its direct and indirect impacts on society and identifying approaches to mitigate and adapt for its consequences. To achieve such understanding requires an integrated approach to the carbon cycle which exploits the both observations (satellite and in situ) and modelling and cross-domain research (ocean, land and atmosphere).

In the last few years ESA has launched a critical mass of projects addressing different and complementary aspects of the Carbon cycle over land, ocean and atmosphere. Those projects, today more than 20, represent the core of the ESA Carbon Science Cluster. Through this Cluster, ESA also aims at contributing to the establishment of a strong European carbon cycle research area in close collaboration with the European Commission Directorate General for Research and Innovation, through the Earth System Science Initiative and other European and international partners. In addition the Cluster targets putting in place projects that provide a contribution to answering science questions posed in the ESA EO Science Strategy.

To encourage exchange between these projects as well as linking them effectively to ongoing work internationally, the ESA Carbon Science Cluster will be supported by a number of research opportunities and networking actions. These are aimed at promoting collaborative research, and fostering international collaboration and bringing together different expertise, data and resources to ensure that the final result is bigger than the sum of the parts.

The 3^rd ESA Carbon Science Cluster Meeting represents an opportunity for the projects under the Cluster to present their activities, discuss opportunities for collaborative research and help the Cluster to identify new challenges, problems and mechanisms for engaging with the wider carbon cycle community and with, in particular, activities under the ESA-EC Earth System Science Initiative.

Objectives

With the belief that it would be extremely beneficial to establish a technical forum for all teams and ESA to present the work done, discuss opportunities and define potential ways forward, ESA has planned the Carbon Science Cluster Meeting to:

• Present the status and results of ESA’s science supported activities in Terrestrial Carbon Research, and potential links to other clusters especially Ocean and Atmosphere).
• To identify synergies and potential collaboration and cross-fertilization among the different teams.
• Strengthen coordination and collaboration of different activities if needed.
• Discuss and propose a way forward in terms of scientific gaps and requirements, science questions, and new ideas that may be used as guidelines for ESA to define a Carbon Science Plan for 2026-2028.
• Explore options to widen the community.

Proposed approach

The workshop will be a virtual meeting. The intention is to involve all the teams currently funded by ESA to establish a dialogue across all the projects to identify gaps, common areas for further work and opportunities, in particular those presented by upcoming satellite missions.

The workshop will take place in sessions to review all the projects currently under ESA funding and opportunities offered through new missions, campaigns and other ESA activities in 6 main sessions and 2 discussion sessions.

Day 1: 17^th November

1. Preparation for multi-mission assessment of the carbon cycle (Flex, BIOMASS and the Sentinel Expansion missions)
2. Global Carbon Budgets and Earth Observation
3. Understanding the role of land use change in the carbon cycle

 At the end of Day 1 there will be a themed discussion session of 1 hour:

4. How can we link existing projects between ESA and EU better and improve EO inputs to RECCAP3, what gaps/opportunities exist for complementary work?

The objective to this discussion is to coordinate better across the ESA and EC funded projects dedicated to the terrestrial carbon cycle and how these can potentially contribute to the third Regional Carbon Cycle Assessment and Processes (RECCAP3) exercise just launched by the Global Carbon Project.

 Day 2: 18^th November

5. Exploring ground-based, airborne and satellite observations and concepts for the carbon cycle
6. Understanding the dynamics of the carbon cycle
7. Understanding Emissions

 At the end of Day 2 there will be a next steps discussion session (1 hour): 

8. What topics should be covered for the 5^th Carbon from Space workshop (October 2026) and what areas should be the focus of the Carbon Cluster Work Plan 26-28?

This session is dedicated to definition of the Carbon Cluster Work Plan 2026-28 and subsequently planning for the 5^th Carbon from Space workshop in ESRIN in October 2026. The latter workshop acts as a guideline for activities in the near term (nominally 5 years) and results in a Recommendations report. The most recent report can be found at 4th Carbon from Space Recommendations.

The final agenda is available👉HERE.