Download Satellites provide unique insight into our climate system

LAND
MARINE
ATMOSPHERE
EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT
CLIMATE CHANGE
SECURITY
ISSUE 33 / SEPTEMBER 2013
SATELLITES PROVIDE UNIQUE
INSIGHT INTO OUR CLIMATE SYSTEM
Facts
According to the IPCC:
Understanding climate change is arguably one of the greatest challenges facing
humankind this century. While there may be uncertainties about the extent of
change, it is clear that our world is warming up and that this is happening more
rapidly than any other past warming event. A warmer planet could result in some
drastic effects such as the melting of polar ice, sea level rise, a lack of freshwater
and more frequent and stronger extreme weather leading to, for example, floods
and droughts. In turn, this will have serious implications for society, the environment
and the economy. Effective mitigation and adaptation measures need to be taken to
reduce exposure and vulnerability. However, projections of climate change still hold
significant uncertainties and the analysis of current trends is hampered by the lack
of adequate information.
Copernicus satellites provide global, reliable, sustained observations to
support our understanding of climate and how it is changing through the
21st century, and beyond.
Globally complete, highly stable, long- term reliable measurements of various geophysical parameters are
needed to constrain climatic models and to improve our understanding about climate change. The Global
Climate Observing System (GCOS) has identified a set of (50) parameters, known as Essential Climate Variables
(ECVs), that could and should be systematically supported by the international community. About half of
these can be based on satellite observations. Future climate data records critically depend upon space-based
contributions. However, to meet the objective, these must be made sufficiently homogeneous, accurate and
stable for as long as possible.
1950
2000
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), voluntarily
supported by thousands of scientists from all over the world,
provides periodic assessments of the latest knowledge on climate.
This image, taken from the last IPCC assessment report, shows the
observed changes in (a) global average surface temperature, (b)
global average sea level and (c) northern hemisphere snow cover
for March to April. These are all derived from conventional data,
except for the last 30 years of sea surface measurements that
rely on satellite data (panel b, in red). Although their relatively
short record of just 30 years still prevents their comprehensive
use in climate models, satellites observations are being used
more and more by climatologists given the effectiveness of their
contribution.
Source: IPCC Fourth Assessment Report: Climate Change 2007
www.esa.int/copernicus • http://copernicus.eu/
> warming in the last century has
occurred in two phases, from
the 1910s to the 1940s (0.35°C),
and more strongly from the
1970s to present (0.55°C)
> temperature is projected to rise
between 1.8°C to 4°C by the
end of the 21st century
> on average, global losses could
be 1 to 5% of GDP for a 4°C rise
in temperature, but regional
losses could be substantially
higher
> in a warmer future climate,
there will be an increased risk
of more intense, more frequent
and longer-lasting heat waves
and extreme weather events
Benefits
Satellites improve our
understanding of climate change
by providing:
> data with regular,
homogeneous, global
coverage
> reliable assessments of
temporal trends for specific
variables
> observations needed
particularly in remote regions
that are under-sampled by
conventional networks
> detection of individual biases
in conventional data
Policy Objectives
> European Climate Change
Programme
> United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change
> Kyoto Protocol
> Global Climate Observing
System
ISSUE 33 / SEPTEMBER 2013
COPERNICUS
ACTIVITIES
Copernicus services
The Copernicus Climate Change Service
projects will make use of satellite data to
develop accurate and detailed long-term
series of geo-physical products related to
climate change, thereby responding to
environmental and societal challenges
associated with human-induced climate
change.
Example products:
> Climate records such as temperature
increase, sea-level rise, ice-sheet melt,
ocean warming
> Climate indicators and indices based on
records of temperature, precipitation,
drought event, for example
Sentinel contribution
Next steps
The Copernicus Sentinel satellites address
the majority of the satellite-based GCOS ECVs
including for example,
> Build high quality climate data record of
ECVs based on Sentinel data
> wind speed and direction, sea ice,
ice sheets, glaciers and soil moisture
(Sentinel-1)
> land cover, snow cover, rivers and lakes,
glaciers and ice caps (Sentinel-2)
> sea and land surface temperature, sea level,
ocean colour, cloud top heights and cloud
cover (Sentinel-3)
> carbon dioxide, methane, ozone and other
long-lived greenhouse gases as well as
aerosols (Sentinel-4, -5 and -5P)
ESA's Climate Change Initiative contributes
to the global ECVs database by exploiting
the full potential of the global Earth
observation archives that ESA together
with its member states have established
over the last 30 years.
> Strengthen the use and blending of
adequate quality satellite-derived
products in Earth system models and
improve corresponding assimilation
schemes
> Maintain historical archives of existing
data
> Consolidate a reliable strategy for the
long-term availability of an adequate
space observational capacity
> Routinely provide capability for
re-analysis (synthesis of change),
attribution (causality of change) and
prediction (forecast of change)
Sentinel-3
Supporting global climate monitoring from space
The Sentinel-3 satellites will routinely monitor ocean and
land surfaces with a near-complete global coverage. The main
objective of Sentinel-3 is to measure sea surface topography,
sea and land surface temperature as well as ocean and land
surface colour. This will be done with high-end accuracy and
reliability in support of ocean forecasting systems, and for
environmental and climate monitoring. Therefore climate
services will highly benefit from Sentinel-3 missions.
The first Sentinel-3 satellite will be ready for launch in 2014,
followed by the second to provide the required level of
coverage for Copernicus services. The Sentinels are designed
to last seven years. Regular replacement by recurrent units
must be envisaged to ensure long-term data records for
climate applications.
The image shows the sea surface temperature, one of the Essential Climate Variables,
measured by the Envisat Advanced Along-Track Scanning Radiometer (AATSR). Satellites
provide a consistent and global view of sea surface temperature at high resolution.
Measuring the sea surface temperature across regional and global scales is important for
improving weather and ocean forecasting and climate change research. Envisat’s AATSR
is a precursor of the Sea and Land Surface Temperature Radiometer (SLSTR) which will be
on board the upcoming Sentinel-3 mission.
Source: ESA's Climate Change Initiative
www.esa.int/copernicus • http://copernicus.eu/