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Three ESA Earth science missions move to next phase

2 March 2009

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The three selected Earth Explorer candidate missions missions that go foward to Feasibility Study are BIOMASS, CoReH₂O and PREMIER. Each proposes to look at a component of the Earth system.

BIOMASS aims to determine the distribution and temporal changes of forest biomass at a global scale. CoReH₂O aims to measure fresh water stored in snow on land surfaces and in snow accumulation on glaciers and ice sheets. PREMIER aims to quantify processes controlling global atmospheric composition in the mid- to upper-troposphere and lower stratosphere.

Credits: ESA

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The objective of the candidate Earth Explorer BIOMASS mission is to acquire global measurements of forest biomass to assess terrestrial carbon stocks and fluxes. The mission is envisaged as a novel spaceborne P-band synthetic aperture polarimetric radar operating at 435 MHz and 6 MHz bandwidth.

Credits: ESA/AOES Medialab

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The CoReH2O mission concept aims to fill the gaps in current information on snow, glaciers and surface water. The concept employs twin frequency synthetic aperture radars (9.6 and 17.2 GHz) in two consecutive mission phases to deliver all-weather, year-round information on regional and continental-scale snow-water equivalent.

Credits: ESA - AOES Medialab

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The PREMIER mission aims to advance our understanding of the processes that link trace gases, radiation and chemistry in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere. The instrumentation will consist of an infrared limb-imaging spectrometer and a millimetre-wave limb-sounder.

Credits: ESA - AOES Medialab

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