The European Space Agency (ESA) has announced its 2026 Call for Participation for universities interested in joining the next edition of the Science Hub Challenges. The initiative invites institutions with Master’s or PhD programmes in fields such as Earth Observation, Environmental Science, and Remote Sensing to engage students in real-world scientific challenges using ESA’s cloud-based …
The European Space Agency (ESA) is expanding the EarthCODE federation through a new round of Best Practice activities, strengthening Europe’s collaborative ecosystem for FAIR and Open Earth Science. EarthCODE – the Earth Science Collaborative Open Development Environment – is ESA’s initiative to advance Open Science, enabling researchers and scientists to share data, code, and methods …
When the ground trembles during a powerful earthquake, the danger doesn’t end once the shaking stops. Hidden threats like landslides and floods often emerge later, putting lives and infrastructure at risk weeks, months, or even years after the main event. The knowledge gap Collapsed buildings and fast-moving landslides make headlines, but earthquakes destabilise …
Using over a decade of data from ESA’s CryoSat satellite, scientists have identified 85 previously unknown active subglacial lakes beneath Antarctica, bringing the total to 231. These lakes, hidden several kilometres below the surface, periodically fill and drain—movements detected through subtle ice surface height changes measured by CryoSat’s radar altimeter. The discovery also adds 12 …
With almost 150 proposals received, the 4th Call for Tandem projects launched by ESA in cooperation with the African Union Commission (AUC) and coordinated by the EO Africa R&D Facility demonstrated the high interest in scientific collaboration between Africa and Europe. The call aimed to leverage Earth observation to tackle present and future challenges in …
On 28 May 2025, a massive rock/ice avalanche detached from the Birch Glacier above the village of Blatten in the Lötschental valley (Valais, Switzerland). About 10 million cubic metres of rock and ice broke free, surged downslope and reached the valley floor, destroying the village and temporarily blocked the Lonza River. The sequence of events …
A new study published in Nature Geoscience reports the first documented case of a subglacial lake draining explosively through Greenland’s ice sheet, blasting a roughly 2 km² area and cutting a 85 m‑deep crater in July-August 2014. The researchers estimate the event released about 90 billion litres of meltwater bursting upward through nearly 85–90 m of ice. The flood …
At the Living Planet Symposium 2025, EarthCODE played a central role in promoting Open and FAIR Science as part of ESA’s wider commitment to open science principles. The team delivered hands-on workshops, tutorials, and one-on-one sessions aimed at onboarding projects into the Open Science Catalogue and the ESA Project Results Repository (PRR). These sessions helped researchers increase …
During the ESA Living Planet Symposium 2025 in Vienna, Austria, a key milestone in the roadmap towards implementing FAIR Open Science in support of the ESA Science Strategy was marked with the Open Science Partnership Ceremony, held on Thursday, 26 June. The event brought together representatives from ESA, ESA Member States and international partners to …
The European Space Agency’s Earth System Science Hub Challenges 2025 have kicked off with a first workshop organized from 7-11 July 2025 with students from the University of Leicester and Sorbonne University/IPGP during the week of 7–11 July 2025. The Science Hub Challenges, organised twice per year by the European Space Agency, offer a unique opportunity for …
