Call for Media: New applications for ESA’s SMOS mission
Media are invited to a press briefing on the scientific results and operational applications that continue to come from ESA’s water mission.
At the opening of the 2nd SMOS Science Conference on 25 May at ESA’s European Space Astronomy Centre in Villanueva de la Cañada near Madrid, Spain, experts will discuss the mission’s contribution to our knowledge of Earth’s water cycle.
The potential for modelling and predicting Earth’s carbon cycle and using SMOS data in numerical weather prediction will be presented. There will be a focus on the mission’s role in operational applications – namely in fire detection and ocean – that have been emerging thanks to the versatility of the observations provided.
The Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity mission, or SMOS, was launched in November 2009. During its five years of operations, new applications areas have emerged, with data on inter-annual differences showing great potential for climate research.
Although designed as a five-year mission, it has been extended until at least 2017 – reflecting its excellent scientific results achieved so far and its stable technical performance.
The event will highlight the most recent scientific results. It will also provide the media with the opportunity to speak to representatives from ESA and France’s CNES space agency, as well as to key scientists.
For more information on the mission, visit www.esa.int/smos
Press interested in attending the event are requested to register by 22 May via:
Beatriz Arias
Email: comunicacionesac@esa.int
Tel: +34 918131359
Opening session and press event programme:
11:30 Welcome address by Álvaro Giménez, Director of ESA’s Director of Science and Robotic Exploration Programmes
11:35 Director of Earth Observation Programmes, Volker Liebig, opens the conference
11:45 Jorge Lomba from CDTI highlights Spain's involvement in SMOS
11:55 Selma Cherchali from CNES discusses her organisation’s role in the SMOS programme
12:05 Prof Jose Moreno from the University of Valencia highlights the value and potential of SMOS soil moisture data to our understanding, modelling and predicting of Earth’s carbon cycle
12:20 Pierre Yves Le Traon from Mercator Ocean outlines howSMOS ocean salinity data are used for operational monitoring of the oceans
12:35 Ramon Riera from Barcelona’s Technical Office for the Prevention of Forest Fires discusses fire risk detection with SMOS
12:50 ECMWF’s Peter Bauer speaks on the benefit of SMOS for numerical weather prediction
13:05 Q&A, interviews opportunities and light lunch
14:00 End of event
