Since the 1970s, spatial imagery has allowed to witness dramatic changes in sea ice extension and distribution. However, the sea ice thickness (SIT), which is a fundamental variable to understand and predict sea ice dynamics, is still insufficiently observed. So far, the only possibility to observe the sea ice freeboard (the sea ice emerged part …
Based on the new possibilities of the Sentinel series of satellites, this project aims to develop a highly novel approach to derive global fire emissions estimates based on the characterisation of individual fires and their behaviour. These data will be combined with bottom-up estimates of fuel and combustion and top-down constraints on total carbon emissions …
The ET4FAO project demonstrated the suitability of Copernicus data (Sentinel-2, Sentinel-3 and ERA-5) for accurate and consistent country-wide mapping of actual evapotranspiration (ET) at spatial resolutions ranging from 20 m to 300 m. This was achieved through production of ET maps covering the whole of Tunisia and Lebanon for the year 2019. Validation across 6 …
This activity is part of the ESA Regional Initiatives programme. Its objective is to support the implementation of regional priorities in the Mediterranean region by i) developing and delivering a customized set of EO based products that fully exploit the large volumes of EO data from the Sentinel missions and other EO missions and ii) …
The objective of the Sen4GPP project is to assess time-space variability of terrestrial gross primary production (GPP) of terrestrial ecosystems by a synergistic exploitation of the complementary information provided by the Sentinel missions (Sentinel-2, Sentinel-3 and Sentinel-5P) at multiple spatial and temporal resolutions, as well as other Earth Observation and in situ data.
The Baltic Sea is one of the most polluted sea areas in the world and prone to eutrophication due to its physical characteristics and nutrient, mineral particle and humic substance loading from the surrounding land. Improved understanding of carbon fluxes between land and sea is essential to ultimately plan and implement protection measures. Some of …
Recently, the European Environmental Agency (EEA) reported that air pollution contributed to 400.000 annual deaths in the EU. The Alps are special. They host 14 million people and attract many tourists and businesses. Due to the diverse landscape and climate, pollution hotspots can develop in certain areas while pristine environments prevail throughout most of the high …
Living Planet Fellowship research project carried out by Cassandra Normandin. In the context of the ESA BIOMASS Earth Explorer mission, the Namib Desert was selected as a test site to assess the performance of P-band SAR for subsurface imaging in arid environments. In cooperation with the Gobabeb Research and Training Centre, a study of the paleo-hydrology of …
Ocean currents are a key component to understanding many oceanic and climatic phenomena and furthermore the knowledge we have of them is crucial for navigation and operational applications. Therefore, a key problem in oceanography is the estimation of the synoptic (or “big picture”, large-scale, simultaneous conditions over a broad area) velocity field. Thanks to satellite …
Living Planet Fellowship research project carried out by Zina Mitraka. The rate at which global climate change is happening is arguably the most pressing environmental challenge of the century and it affects our cities. Temperature is one of the most important parameters in climate monitoring and Earth Observation (EO) systems and the advances in remote …
