Our changing world

Climate monitoring has become a key element of the Earth Observation Programme. Almost every change in our natural environment is reflected in our weather patterns. Meteorological satellites have played their part in identifying long-term trends and it is estimated that improved weather forecasting has saved industries and the public millions of Euros every year.

Meteosat images of weather patterns are an everyday feature on European television and are used by national meteorological services to provide increasingly more accurate weather forecasting. To continue this crucial work, ESA and Eumestat are now working on the Meteosat Second Generation (MSG).

The first of three MSG spacecraft was launched in the summer of 2002 and - having entered operational service as Meteosat-8 - is providing meteorologists with much improved imagery and data. A further development will come in the shape of Metop-1 which will be launched in 2005 as part of a joint European-United States polar satellite system.

The first of a series of three similar satellites developed by ESA and Eumetsat, Metop-1 will operate in unison with a similar United States spacecraft, producing high-resolution images, detailed temperature and humidity profiles of the atmosphere and temperatures of the land and ocean surfaces. Instruments on board will also monitor ozone levels in the atmosphere and wind flow over the seas.

As a polar-orbiting satellite, Metop-1 will fly at a lower altitude than its geo-stationary Meteosat and MSG counterparts and will, therefore, be able to provide different and complementary kinds of meteorological information.

Into new realms

Since the beginning of the 1990s, ESA has taken Earth observation into new realms through the work of its ERS satellites. ESA's ERS-1 spacecraft was launched into space by an Ariane 4 in 1991. ERS-2 followed in 1995.

At the time these two satellites – both of which carried highly advanced radar instruments - were the most sophisticated Earth observation spacecraft ever developed in Europe. For the first time they were able to create accurate radar images of the Earth’s surface, giving us new eyes on our world.

They have since collected a wealth of information on the Earth's land surfaces, oceans, sea ice and polar caps, and their contribution towards our understanding of world environmental issues has been invaluable.

On a global scale, the ERS programme has expanded our understanding of the interaction between the oceans and atmosphere, ocean currents and changes in Arctic and Antarctic ice, giving climatologists more confidence in predicting changes in our climate and helping us to monitor environmental pollution.

Europe's guardian

This work has led to the development of the World's most ambitious ever Earth observation satellite – Envisat. Envisat, which was launched on 1 March 2002 (CET), involved nearly 10 years work by some of Europe's most respected scientists and engineers. On board the spacecraft are 10 highly sophisticated instruments, all of which will collect crucial environmental data over a planned five-year mission period.

Envisat represents one of the Earth's most important sources of environmental information and has further enhanced ESA's position as a major authority on world environmental issues.

The new generation

The use of satellites for observing the Earth is seen as the way forward to preserve our planet. Studies on climate change or ozone depletion, for example, take years to complete, requiring massive amounts of information.

Continuity of ESA's Earth observation activities is therefore critical and already work is well underway on ESA's Living Planet Programme, the next generation of satellite missions.

This programme, which will be phased in over the coming few years, will involve the use of smaller satellites on shorter, cheaper and more focused missions. As a new approach for ESA it will encourage industry partnerships and increased dialogue with the scientific research and political communities within Europe.