{"id":25458,"date":"2020-03-31T15:17:11","date_gmt":"2020-03-31T21:17:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/futureearth.org\/?page_id=25458"},"modified":"2024-04-18T09:01:27","modified_gmt":"2024-04-18T15:01:27","slug":"esa-partnership","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/futureearth.org\/initiatives\/funding-initiatives\/esa-partnership\/","title":{"rendered":"ESA-Future Earth Joint Program"},"content":{"rendered":"
[vc_row gap=”35″][vc_column width=”2\/3″][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1713452027093{margin-top: 20px !important;}”]The European Space Agency (ESA) and Future Earth have partnered to facilitate the development and uptake of Earth observation data by Future Earth\u2019s research networks.<\/p>\n
The ESA-Future Earth joint program funding supports links by bringing Future Earth scientists to meetings and trainings organised by ESA, to promote the potential of Earth observation data to new communities and develop links with the GRPs and KANs. It also increases ESA\u2019s involvement in Future Earth conferences and events, supporting with sponsorship, keynote speakers, expert scientist participation and joint sessions. There is some limited travel support available to support strategic attendance (for events at least six months in advance, please directly email Sophie Hebden to develop an idea such as a conference training session).<\/p>\n
The partnership includes seed funding to stimulate new collaborations around the use of ESA\u2019s EO data, such as the research datasets developed via ESA\u2019s Climate Change Initiative<\/a> (CCI) and ESA\u2019s Open Science Data Catalogue<\/a>. CCI datasets are continually being developed for\u00a0land cover<\/a>,<\/em>\u00a0high resolution land cover<\/a>, vegetation parameters<\/a>,<\/em>\u00a0land surface temperature<\/a>,<\/em>\u00a0soilmoisture<\/a>, anthropogenic water use<\/a>, river discharge<\/a>,<\/em>\u00a0fire<\/a>,<\/em>\u00a0biomass<\/a>,<\/em>\u00a0lakes<\/a>,<\/em>\u00a0permafrost<\/a>,<\/em>\u00a0snow<\/a>,<\/em>\u00a0glaciers<\/a>, ice sheets (Antarctica<\/a><\/em>\u00a0and<\/em>\u00a0Greenland<\/a>),<\/em>\u00a0sea ice<\/a>,<\/em>\u00a0sea level<\/a>,<\/em>\u00a0sea state<\/a>,<\/em>\u00a0sea surface salinity<\/a>,<\/em>\u00a0ocean colour<\/a>,<\/em>\u00a0sea surface temperature<\/a>,<\/em>\u00a0greenhouse gases<\/a>,<\/em>\u00a0water vapour<\/a>,<\/em>\u00a0ozone<\/a>,<\/em>\u00a0aerosol<\/a>, precursors for aerosols and ozone<\/a>, and<\/em>\u00a0cloud<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n They are freely available from the CCI\u00a0Open Data Portal<\/a> and many are now produced operationally by climate services such as the Copernicus Climate Change Service<\/a>. \u00a0Satellite data from ESA can also be explored and accessed from the Copernicus Data Space Ecosystem<\/a>.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/3″][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n [\/vc_column_text][vc_separator border_width=”8″ css=”.vc_custom_1553032484587{margin-top: 0px !important;}”]\n Liaison, Future Earth and European Space Agency<\/p><\/div>\n Network of observatories and workshop: \u2018Participatory land observatories for a sustainable Andes\u2019 <\/strong><\/em><\/a> Workshop: \u2018FLARE: Fire science Learning AcRoss the Earth system\u2019<\/strong><\/em> Online workshops, trainee mentoring and digital \u2018demonstration tools\u2019 for stakeholders: \u2018Expanding EO data usage to address climatic changes in the marine biosphere of the northwest Pacific and Indo-Pacific regional seas\u2019<\/em><\/strong><\/a> Pilot study: \u2018Child health, climate, and land system change in Sub Saharan Africa: advancing planetary epidemiology through Earth Observations\u2019<\/strong><\/em> This project aims to examine how epidemiological research on the interacting impacts of climate change and land system change on child health in Sub Saharan Africa can be advanced through the use of high-resolution satellite data. It will explore how land system change can be detected from EO data and derive metrics for epidemiological research. Their use will be piloted in analyses of georeferenced records of child mortality and nutritional status from a longitudinal study of a rural subsistence farming population in Burkina Faso. It will deliver lessons on the strengths, limitations, and opportunities for linking EO and health data, and foster research collaborations to further advance EO-powered planetary epidemiology and monitoring.<\/p>\n Workshop: ‘Towards a global biodiversity monitoring system’<\/em><\/strong><\/a> It will bring together participants from key organizations to explore to explore the necessity of such global biodiversity monitoring systems, what the monitoring gaps are that such a system would fill, who the users of such as system would be, and which organizations could contribute to establish such a system. The main outcome of the workshop will be a synthesis report and white paper, outlining a vision of a global biodiversity monitoring framework and its purpose.<\/p>\n Constraining High Latitude Dust activity in Greenland using the Sentinel constellation<\/em><\/strong> Bullard, J., Baddock, M., Hall, A., and Rideout, J., Location, timing and trajectory of dust emissions from ice-free Greenland (2016-2021), Conference poster<\/a>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n Four projects were selected<\/a> to develop online demonstration tools that tackle the threats posed by increasingly frequent cholera outbreaks, storm damage and flooding, and extremes of urban heat.<\/p>\n The projects have consulted with users and scientists across the Future Earth networks to develop information tools that will be showcased at the UNFCCC COP-26 meeting in November 2021 in Glasgow, UK. They feature on the Space Climate Observatory (SCO) pages as case studies.<\/p>\n City Explorer<\/strong> shows the expected benefits of urban green and blue space, and combines Earth observation data, city maps and a model of ecosystem services. For user-defined areas, it can predict the improvements to air pollution, urban heat and noise pollution. It is led by the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, UK and demonstrated in Paris. This tool is featured in Coventry’s City of Culture exhibit in the UK this summer, and is accredited by the Space Climate Observatory<\/a>.<\/p>\n Post-storm beach recovery on the Australian Gold Coast<\/strong> investigated the erosion effects of large storms, detecting the new coastline using an automated methodology. The project is explained on an ArcGIS storymap<\/a> and is accredited by the Space Climate Observatory<\/a>. It was led by Telespazio UK in partnership with the Coastal and Marine Research Centre (CMRC) at Griffith University, Australia.<\/p>\n The EARWAC project<\/strong> for enhancing adaptation and resilience along West Africa\u2019s coasts is developing a dashboard and assessment of coastal vulnerability, following extensive user consultations in the region. It is led by early career researchers from Future Earth’s Ocean KAN<\/a> based at Sixth Avis Ltd, Nigeria.<\/p>\n PODCAST-Demo<\/strong> is developing a web-based visualization and analysis tool for climate-driven hotspots of cholera in the northern Indian ocean. The information is based on a pilot cholera-risk model that uses satellite observations from the European Space Agency Climate Change Initiative, in-situ and clinical data from publicly available archives. It is led by researchers at Plymouth Marine Laboratory in the UK, and is accredited by the Space Climate Observatory<\/a>. This project was highlighted this year by the BBC World Service in 5 local languages, and is also now involved in a large pilot project for cholera early warning action supported by UN OCHA.<\/p>\n Workshop: Remote Sensing of Tipping Points in the Earth’s Climate System<\/a><\/em><\/strong> Workshop: Linking Earth Observation Data and Sustainable Development Across the Atlantic<\/em><\/strong><\/a> Workshop: Essential Climate Variables for Observations in Mountains<\/strong><\/em><\/a> For more information on GEO Mountains please take a look at the newly launched website: https:\/\/www.geomountains.org\/<\/p>\n Workshop: Fifth Interdisciplinary Biomass Burning Initiative (IBBI)<\/strong> <\/em><\/a> Workshop: Ecosystem Studies of Subarctic and Arctic Seas Meeting<\/strong><\/em><\/a> Workshop: Remote Sensing for Studying the Ocean-Atmosphere Interface<\/strong><\/em><\/a> Workshop: Challenges and promises of using predictive, spatially continuous variables in species distribution models: methods and applications<\/strong><\/em><\/a> Workshop: Understanding the effect of environmental and climate change on coastal lagoon management: Potential and challenges for Earth Observation<\/strong><\/em><\/a> Workshop: Harnessing Remote Sensing to Address Critical Science Questions in the Ocean-Atmosphere Interface<\/a><\/strong><\/em> [vc_row gap=”35″][vc_column width=”2\/3″][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1713452027093{margin-top: 20px !important;}”]The European Space Agency (ESA) and Future Earth have partnered to facilitate the development and […]<\/p>\nLearn More<\/h3>\n
\n <\/div>\n
Sophie Hebden<\/h4><\/div>\n
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PROJECTS FUNDED IN 2023<\/h3>\n
\nGlobal Land Programme<\/a>
\nThe initiative will establish the first network of \u201csocial-ecological observatories”, working to identify, compile, re-scale and integrate maps of social-ecological systems for the tropical and subtropical Andes of South America, and improve upon the data available using Earth observation products from ESA<\/a> and GEO Mountains<\/a>. The team will carry out a participatory mapping session to develop a preliminary map of Andean social-ecological systems, and hold a face-to-face workshop (4-5 days) in northern Argentina in May 2023. This workshop will serve as a starting point to strengthen the network, foster collaboration, and prioritize research gaps and social-ecological issues. It is led by an interdisciplinary group of researchers from Instituto de Ecologia Regional (IER), Instituto de Investigaciones Territoriales y Tecnol\u00f3gicas para la Produccion del Habitat (INTEPH), from Universidad Nacional de Tucum\u00e1n – CONICET (Argentina), Freie Universit\u00e4t Berlin (FUB – Germany), and Universidad de Los Andes (Venezuela), who aim to publish two peer reviewed papers.
\nContacts: Julieta Carilla (IER) julietacarilla@gmail.com, Maria Piquer-Rodriguez (FUB) maria.piquer-rodriguez@fu-berlin.de<\/p>\n
\nSOLAS<\/a>
\nFire redistributes nutrients from the local environment to global ecosystems via smoke in the atmosphere and ash in rivers. Recent evidence suggests that wildfire-induced nutrient redistribution impacts marine ecosystems by fertilising phytoplankton in nutrient-depleted waters. Increasing trends in wildfire activity and stratified, nutrient-depleted ocean waters suggest that nutrients supplied to the oceans from wildfires will become a critical player in marine productivity in the coming decades. It also highlights one of the ways that increasing wildfire activity can alter the Earth system. The speed of change and the multidisciplinary nature of the problem urge a coordinated research strategy, sharing knowledge on the role of wildfires across all land, atmosphere, and ocean interfaces and how to observe changes from space. To trigger the creation of an integrated wildfire science community, SOLAS will host a 3-4 day workshop with experts from each field represented. The goal is to develop a roadmap for coordinated wildfire research for the next 5- 10 years.
\nContact: Douglas Hamilton (North Carolina State University) dshamil3@ncsu.edu<\/p>\n
\nIMBeR<\/a> (Workshop report<\/a>, Final report<\/a>)
\nThis project stems from the ongoing IMBeR study group activities of the Ocean Colour-based Plant species identification and Carbon flux in the Indo-Pacific oceans<\/a> (OCPC) and coastal studies in relation to Future Earth Coasts<\/a>. Compared with European seas, the optical characteristics of coastal and open ocean waters of the northwest Pacific and the Indo-Pacific regional seas have not been investigated enough to support sustainable exploitation of marine resources. Human pressures and climate change pose many issues such as eutrophication, heat waves, and unsustainable exploitation of the marine biosphere. Through the synergistic use and fusion of multi-source, multi-temporal and high spatial scale data from geostationary and polar-orbiting satellites, the team aim to quantify the basic optical properties of these seas, and identify major phytoplankton species and groups and the key factors controlling the biological carbon pumps in these seas. The group will expand their demonstration efforts of the Earth observation data and their open software tools, holding a series of online training workshops. Ten trainees will be selected from Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines who will be mentored to carry out validation and tailoring of the software to their region. Digital demonstration tools will be developed to support communication with governments and regional fisheries and environmental management departments for informed decision making.
\nContact: Fang Shen fshen@sklec.ecnu.edu.cn<\/p>\nPROJECTS FUNDED IN 2022<\/h3>\n
\nHealth KAN<\/a>
\nThe African continent is undergoing fast change due to the interacting and compounding effects of climate change and land system change, marked by the expansion of agricultural land and loss of natural vegetation. This poses a health risk to vulnerable communities, yet empirical evidence on the impact on health is limited.<\/p>\n
\nbioDISCOVERY<\/a>
\nThe increasing threats to biodiversity, as well as the rapidity of the resulting change, requires monitoring of biodiversity change and associated drivers of change. The Global Biodiversity Framework currently under development with its associated monitoring framework highlights the need for a global monitoring system that supports countries in reporting their progress. This high-level workshop will take place on 26th June 2022 at the World Biodiversity Forum<\/a> in Davos, Switzerland.<\/p>\n
\nSOLAS<\/a>
\nMineral dust aerosols play a prominent role across interacting environmental systems, with dust transport linking terrestrial sources to sensitive sinks, such as oceans and the cryosphere. The particular role of dust in the high latitudes is a new focus for research, with high latitude dust (HLD) sources estimated to contribute as much dust annually as Australia. This project will use a wide suite of ESA data to understand dust emission and transport from high latitude sources, with a focus on Greenland and Alaska. In summer 2022 it will train two students in embedded summer placements to use Sentinel-2 data to establish an inventory of dust point sources, making use of Sentinel-5P for quantification of aerosol burdens associated with dust outbreaks. The project will then hold a virtual workshop in conjunction with the international IceDust Association and SOLAS and IGAC activities, with opportunities for presentation for early career researchers. The work will be reported in peer-reviewed journal articles.<\/p>\nPAST PROJECTS 2020-2021<\/h3>\n
Past events funded under the Joint ESA-Future Earth Partnership:<\/h3>\n
\nAIMES – Analysis, Integration, and Modelling of the Earth System<\/a>
\nThis forum held 26-29 January 2021 brought modellers and the remote-sensing community together to discuss how Earth observations can contribute to our understanding of tipping elements in the climate system<\/a> and help with early warning of change. Hosted by the International Space Science Institute and convened by ESA Climate Office and the Future Earth AIMES project, the interdisciplinary meeting highlighted research opportunities, challenges, and recommendations that will be published in commentary papers. The thematic areas explored during breakout sessions were tipping elements in the cryosphere – the planet\u2019s snow and ice-covered regions; the terrestrial biosphere; and the atmosphere and ocean and its biota. Modellers reported that remote sensing was viewed as an emerging opportunity, and felt that holding the meeting online meant the group was more mixed and therefore more valuable for learning new information and making new contacts. Follow-up will be via the new AIMES working group on tipping points to continue this valuable exchange of ideas.<\/p>\n
\nFEC (Future Earth Coasts \u2013 formerly LOICZ)<\/a>
\nFEC aims to set up a new community across different scientific disciplines and economic activities relating to the Atlantic basin, particularly from the South and Central Atlantic, for routine use EO data in support of the Sustainable Development Goals. Towards this aim, ESA supported a workshop in Estoril, Portugal, 3-5 December 2019 to coincide with the 3rd Marine Technologies Workshop 2019<\/a> organized by Instituto Hidrogr\u00e1fico. It aims to attract new users of EO data, likely technicians and scientists from marine-related activities in Fisheries and Aquaculture, Spatial Planning, Coastal and Risk Management, Security and Pollution. It will include discussion and discovery sessions for capacity development on the use of EO data across diverse thematic areas: Environment, Ocean, Coast and Sustainable Development Goals.<\/p>\n
\nMountain Research Initiative<\/a> \/ GEO Mountains<\/a>
\nThis workshop was co-organised by the Mountain Research Initiative and the Group on Earth Observation\u2019s Global Network for Observation and Information in Mountain Environments (GEO Mountains). It was held in Berne, Switzerland, 24-26 June 2019, with the aim of identifying and selecting essential climate variables (ECVs) to guide \u2018Elevation Transect Data\u2019 for monitoring climate change and its impacts in high elevation contexts. Participants condensed the most relevant indicators from the GCOS list of 54 ECVs, defined key criteria for data collection protocols and standards, and listed in-situ and remote-sensing methods feasible for application in high elevation regions. An Open Access paper from the workshop has been published in OneEarth<\/a>, supported by the Joint ESA-Future Earth programme.<\/p>\n
\nIGAC<\/a>
\nFifty-three participants from 15 countries gathered in July 2018 in Boulder, Colorado, for the Fifth IBBI Workshop. As well as changing the land surface, biomass burning releases large amounts of trace gases and aerosols to the atmosphere that play important roles in atmospheric chemistry and climate. However, there is large uncertainty on how climate change and global change will impact the frequency, intensity, duration, and location of biomass burning in the short- and long-term, making their emissions a large source of uncertainty in future atmospheric composition. The workshop discussed how to leverage the efforts in the U.S. and Europe to improve scientific research and understanding of open biomass burning around the world and maximize the benefits from the new satellite instrumentation. The workshop discussed linking smoke plume properties to fire characteristics \u2013 like flaming versus smouldering \u2013 in US field campaigns. It also developed plans for visiting scientist involvement in making campaign results accessible to groups worldwide, with likely long-lasting effect for years to come.<\/p>\n
\nIMBER (Integrated Marine Biogeochemistry Research)<\/a>
\nSupport was given to the ESSAS meeting in Fairbanks, Alaska, held from 12 to 14 June 2018, which focused on remote sensing applications in the study of climate change impacts on high-latitude ecosystems. Additional sessions and workshops focused on ocean acidification, where ESA work was highlighted, and other stressors; the biology, ecology and paleoecology of Arctic Gadids, and the use of Integrated Ecosystem Assessments (IEA) as a framework for understanding and managing subarctic and Arctic marine ecosystems.<\/p>\n
\nSOLAS<\/a>
\nThe workshop was designed to advance knowledge of the Core Theme 2 (Air-sea interface and fluxes of mass and energy) of the SOLAS Science Plan, sponsored by ESA through Future Earth, NASA, the Scientific Committee for Ocean Research (SCOR), and SOLAS. Held at the Bolger Center, Potomac, Maryland, USA, 13-15 March 2018, it brought together 43 experts and students from nine countries (Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, UK, and USA) to discuss novel and new remote sensing techniques to study the ocean atmosphere interface. The presentations were grouped into new and future sensors and missions, remote sensing of challenging properties and processes, remote sensing of air-sea fluxes, and remote sensing in challenging conditions. It was stressed that SOLAS wields influence in space agencies to set priorities for future missions and guide specification and selection of instruments, which SOLAS members should take advantage of. A workshop outcome is an accepted session at the ESA Living Planet Symposium held in Milan, Italy in May 2019 entitled \u201cRemote Sensing of the Ocean Surface and Lower Atmosphere – a SOLAS Session\u201d.<\/p>\n
\nBioDISCOVERY<\/a>, GLP<\/a>, and GMBA<\/a>
\nHeld in February 2018 at the University of Zurich, Switzerland, the workshop was organized in two parts: the first, under the responsibility of the Global Mountain Biodiversity Assessment, bioDISCOVERY and the Global Land Programme, focused on the use of Remote Sensing data for informing Species Distribution Models (SDMs). The second part, under the responsibility of the ESA GlobDiversity project, focused on data requirements for the development of ecologically useful RS-enabled Essential Biodiversity Variables (EBVs). It gathered 40 participants to review how the remote sensing and SDM communities benefit each other, explore methodological and conceptual challenges of using remote sensing data in SDMs – in particular those associated with measurement errors and error propagation – using mountain-specific case studies; and evaluate how high spatial resolution remotely sensed EBVs can contribute to large scale biodiversity monitoring and simultaneously inform local SDMs. Workshop outcomes included the publications: Randin et al., Monitoring biodiversity in the Anthropocene using remote sensing in species distribution models<\/a><\/p>\n
\nFEC<\/a>, SWFP, PECS<\/a>, IMBeR<\/a>
\nThe 3-day workshop took place in the Centre for Marine and Renewable Energy (MaREI), Environmental Research Institute, University College Cork, Ireland 12-14th September 2017 and was structured around three themes: Lagoon monitoring and management issues; The potential of Earth Observation for coastal lagoon monitoring and management; and Challenges posed and potential identified solutions towards future research. Presentations are available here<\/a>. Vulnerable coastal lagoon ecosystems around the world were chosen as case studies to carry out a hands-on assessment of the applicability of EO and other datasets (in-situ, auxiliary) in tackling these issues. ESA CCI ECVs that were discussed included SST, Ocean Colour, Sea Level and Land Cover, and information and data extracted in a study site (Curonian lagoon) was presented to showcase the potential of EO and ECVs, and inform the workshop discussions. The potential for new and emerging EO platforms (e.g. ESA Coastal-TEP and H2020 Co-ReSyF) and the ESA CCI Toolbox was also discussed. Finally, a new scientific hub, the Lagoons Forum, was established during the workshop.<\/p>\n
\nSOLAS<\/a>
\nThis meeting was dedicated to highlighting the key challenges in the Surface Ocean-Lower Atmosphere Study sciences, and how remote sensing measurements and approaches can help address them. Held at ESA-ESRIN, Frascati, Italy, 13-15 June 2016, it brought remote sensing, SOLAS, and related sciences experts together to brainstorm on the issue, and to produce few examples of key SOLAS problems that could be approached by new or improved remote sensing methodologies. The workshop ideas, including ideas for new missions, are presented in Neukermans et. al. Harnessing remote sensing to address critical science questions on ocean-atmosphere interactions<\/a>.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/3″][vc_single_image image=”33274″ add_caption=”yes” alignment=”center”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"