ESA Climate Office

Read more about the Anthropogenic Water Use project from ESA's Climate Change Initiative here: climate.esa.int/en/projects/an…

Irrigation is the single largest human intervention in the water cycle, yet climate models still struggle to account for it. New research under @esa's Climate Change Initiative presents the first long-term dataset collection of irrigation water use across four major regions: the US, India, Australia's Murray-Darling Basin, and Spain's Ebro Basin. They consist of monthly estimates, spanning up to two decades, from three independent methods. "The work marks an important step towards an Earth Observation-based climate data record of irrigation water use, providing long-term, spatially explicit estimates that can help climate models better account for human activities such as irrigation." — Luca Brocca PhD, Science Leader, National Research Council of Italy. Access the paper here: essd.copernicus.org/articles/18/48…

Last month, Europe experienced one of the most intense heatwaves on record. This also effects our soils. When soils dry out during a heatwave, the usual cooling mechanism of water evaporation breaks down, accelerating the very temperatures that caused the drying in the first place. @esa's Climate Change Initiative has been producing a global soil moisture climate data record since over four decades. While the animation shows global satellite data from 1991-2024, the graph compares the data to a 1991-2020 average. 🛰️ Read more here: climate.esa.int/projects/soil-…

Europe is facing extreme temperatures. Monitoring them from space is as critical as ever. In her webinar Abigail Waring explained how Land Surface Temperature is retrieved from satellite observations and why it is important for climate research, including the methods used to validate the data and ensure its quality. Have you missed it? Watch the recording here: climate.esa.int/de/climate-cha…

If you are a PhD student in Earth observation, climate, water or a related field, you should take Suzan Dehati’s advice: “I would strongly encourage you to apply to the ESA & EGU early-career climate scientists mentoring scheme.” The ESA Climate Office, in partnership with @EuroGeosciences (EGU), has kicked off a new round of its Mentoring Scheme. The programme pairs PhD candidates one-to-one with ESA Climate Office professionals for a year of dedicated mentoring and career advice. Suzan Dehati and Julia Miller participated in the previous mentoring round and are grateful for the unique opportunities they received, ranging from taking part in the Climate Change Initiative colocation meeting to gaining new insights into their future career steps. 📅 Apply by 31 July: climate.esa.int/en/news-events…

How do satellites detect and measure wildfires and what can that data tell us about the climate system? 🔥🛰️ In his webinar on 22 July, Emilio Chuvieco will present the aims and key results of @esa's Climate Change Initiative Fire project, which has been tracking global burned area from satellite data spanning back to 1982. The project produces burned area datasets at up to 250 m resolution, drawing on observations from multiple satellite sensors including MODIS, Sentinel-2 and Sentinel-3, and providing one of the most detailed and consistent long-term records of fire activity available. Emilio will explain how this data is used in climate research and modelling, and explore the wider applications that the Fire products have enabled. Secure your spot here: t1p.de/xuyrj

The Earth's energy is out of balance. Our planet absorbs more energy from the Sun than it releases into space and it's getting worse. This excess energy fuels stronger storms, droughts and floods. No single satellite can measure this tiny signal. ESA’s Climate Change Initiative combines satellite observations across land, ocean, ice and atmosphere to estimate Earth’s energy imbalance and surface air temperature, helping modellers improve forecasts. Check out our new data story: cfs.climate.esa.int/index.html#/im…

Learn from one of the top 2% most influential scientists worldwide... Ranked in this category and recipient of the 2022 Rei Jaume I Award for Environmental Protection, Emilio Chuvieco has spent his career mapping fire from space. As a professor of Geography at the University of Alcalá (@UAHen), Spain, he leads the Environmental Remote Sensing Research Group and is the science leader of the @esa Climate Change Initiative Fire project. He has authored more than 430 papers on fire science and remote sensing. 🔥🛰️ Benefit from his expertise and join our webinar on 22 July: t1p.de/xuyrj

Many European cities recorded their highest ever temperatures last month. 🌡️ With satellite derived Land Surface Temperature data from ESA’s Climate Change Initiative, you can explore how much more cities heat up compared to surrounding rural areas. Our training notebook will guide you from fetching LST data sub-setting it spatially, and looking at Urban Heat Islands. Check it out now: esa-cci.github.io/cci-training-m…

More than 8 million square kilometres burn every year, almost double what was previously estimated, giving fires a big share in global greenhouse gas emissions, aerosol release, and land transformation. 🔥 In our next @ESA Climate Change Initiative webinar, Emilio Chuvieco presents the aims and key products of the Fire project – a long-running satellite-based effort to track burned area and fire emissions across the globe. He will explain how fire scientists, climate modelers, environmental stakeholders, and civil protection services can use the Fire_cci data via different applications. 🔗 Register here: us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regist…

Satellite data can make a major contribution to climate adaptation tracking – but is most powerful as part of an integrated evidence system 🛰️ That's the key finding from a joint ESA and @EU_Commission workshop on Earth observation and the Global Goal on Adaptation, held in Harwell last week. Read more: climate.esa.int/en/news-events…

🗺️ Check out the ESA CCI Arctic Land Cover Map: climate.esa.int/en/news-events…

Research reveals arctic permafrost is slumping 23 times faster than in the 1960s.📈 A new study tracking retrogressive thaw slumps across Siberia's Yamal and Gydan peninsulas shows a dramatic acceleration of permafrost thaw between 1964 and 2024. And unexpectedly, it is not the summer, but winter warming that is driving the thawing. The researchers used a detailed Arctic Land Cover Map developed by ESA's Climate Change Initiative, which is the only map precise enough to link these slumps to specific tundra vegetation types. Only that level of detail made the spatial analysis possible. Find the study here: nature.com/articles/s4159…

New: You can now sort your dataset searches by publication date. It is even easier to find the latest data products released to the @esa Climate Change Initiative Open Data Portal. Check it out now: climate.esa.int/search

Are you a PhD candidate in Earth observation or climate science? This is your chance to get a dedicated mentorship programme. 💪 A new round of the @esa Climate Office & @EuroGeosciences Mentoring Scheme is now open for PhD candidates in Earth observation and climate science. The programme offers you a year of one-on-one career mentoring from ESA professionals with experience across academia, industry, and policy. It also supports you in attending the ESA Climate Colocation meeting and provides a registration fee waiver for the EGU General Assembly. 📅Application deadline: 31 July 2026 Read more and find out how to apply: climate.esa.int/en/news-events…

From 1 July 2026, @esa will co-host the @WCRP_Cordex International Project Office 🛰️🌍 Leading the office will be the newly appointed Director, Dr Rachel McInnes, who has over 15 years' experience in climate science, regional climate modelling, and applied climate services. ESA already hosts the project office for the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project. With CORDEX now hosted at ESA ECSAT, satellite observations and the two major pillars of WCRP's global climate modelling coordination activities are together in one place for the first time ➡️ climate.esa.int/en/news-events…

This new dataset offers an enhanced, globally consistent view of lakes as key indicators of climate and environmental change. Developed as part of @esa's Climate Change Initiative, it covers over 2,000 lakes worldwide from 1992 to 2023, capturing e.g. water levels, surface temperatures, ice cover, and, for the first time, lake storage change. Records of globally distributed lakes can help understand - and support mitigation and adaption to - climate change. The dataset is available here: climate.esa.int/en/catalogue/a…

New multi-sensor, jointly retriefed dataset of effective Leaf Area Index (LAI) and fraction of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fAPAR) released by the ESA Climate Change Initiative. The dataset covers a time series of 2000-2020 in a 1 km spatial resolution for a north-south transect from Finland to South-Africa and the full Mediterranean area as well as LAND Validation areas. Explore the dataset now: climate.esa.int/en/catalogue/8…

Did you miss our webinar on satellite retrievals of vegetation parameters? Here's what you need to know: 🌍 Vegetation is a key driver of the Earth's carbon cycle, and satellites can track it with remarkable precision 📊 The dataset covers 21 years of Leaf Area Index & the fraction of absorbed photosynthetically active radiation data at a resolution of 1 km 🔥 It can detect abrupt events, such as forest fires, as well as gradual changes in seasonal phenology Watch the recording here: t1p.de/tg6bh

This new dataset provides monthly mean level 3 tropospheric nitrogen dioxide concentration. It is spatiotemporally averaged per month over a standard grid using observations from the Tropospheric Monitoring Instrument sensor on Copernicus Sentinel-5P from May 2018 to December 2021. The data were produced by the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute under the @esa's Precursors for Aerosols and Ozone project. They are ready for model evaluation, trend analysis, and emission studies. Access the data here: climate.esa.int/en/catalogue/a…