Key Takeaways
- The ESA’s EarthCARE satellite has completed its commissioning phase, with its first level data now publicly available.
- This mission aims to improve understanding of how clouds and aerosols influence atmospheric heating and cooling.
- Future data releases, including processed Level-2 products, are expected throughout 2025.
EarthCARE Satellite Achieves Major Milestone
Launched in May 2024 as a collaborative effort between the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), the EarthCARE satellite has successfully completed its commissioning phase. With four sophisticated instruments onboard, EarthCARE will help scientists explore how clouds and aerosols interact with solar energy, thereby influencing global climate.
The satellite is equipped with advanced tools designed for comprehensive atmospheric analysis:
– A cloud profiling radar from JAXA that analyzes the vertical structure and dynamics of clouds.
– An atmospheric lidar that delivers detailed profiles of aerosols and thin clouds, along with cloud-top information.
– A multispectral imager which provides expansive views across multiple wavelengths.
– A broadband radiometer that measures both reflected solar radiation and outgoing infrared energy from the Earth.
Up until now, the data gathered by these instruments was restricted to ESA project teams and validation teams. However, EarthCARE Mission Manager Bjoern Frommknecht announced that the first level data, known as Level-1, is now publicly accessible. He expressed pride in the satellite’s performance and thanked JAXA for contributing the Level-1 data from the cloud profiling radar.
A recent example of this data in action is a striking image showing smoke layers from the ongoing Los Angeles wildfires captured on January 9, 2025. The satellite’s atmospheric lidar provided this Level-1 data, illustrating how aerosols, such as smoke, can impact air quality and climate.
The significance of aerosols extends beyond air quality; they play a crucial role in Earth’s climate system. Aerosols can directly absorb or reflect incoming solar radiation and indirectly affect climate by serving as nuclei for cloud formation, which is one of their most significant influences on atmospheric processes.
ESA’s Director of Earth Observation Programmes, Simonetta Cheli, emphasized the complexity and scale of the EarthCARE mission. She acknowledged the extensive collaborative efforts that made this groundbreaking satellite a reality and encouraged the scientific community to utilize this newly available data for further research. This open access is a step towards fostering innovation and addressing climate change through better understanding of atmospheric dynamics.
Users interested in the Level-1 data can access it through the ESA Online Data Dissemination website after creating a free account. Additionally, a compilation of Level-1 data is available on the ESA Earth Online platform, along with the EarthCARE Product Data Handbook. Future releases of processed Level-2 data, which will be more refined and comprehensive, are anticipated to begin in March 2025, offering a wealth of information to the scientific community and researchers worldwide.
The content above is a summary. For more details, see the source article.
