N° 11–2010: Call for Media: ESA’s Living Planet Symposium, Bergen, 28 June – 2 July
16 June 2010
The media are invited to ESA's largest scientific event of the year: the Living Planet Symposium, in Bergen, Norway. The symposium covers all areas of Earth observation, highlighting the results and ESA's planned missions, as well as bringing together the key scientists and decision-makers worldwide.
In addition to presenting the contributions that ESA's ERS and Envisat satellites have made in advancing our understanding of Earth's environment and climate change over the last 15 years, there will be emphasis on the first results from the three latest missions: GOCE, SMOS and CryoSat.
The first gravity model, resulting from data acquired by the Gravity field and Steady-State Ocean Explorer (GOCE), will be released. GOCE, launched in March 2009, is dedicated to measuring Earth's gravity with unprecedented accuracy to advance our knowledge of ocean circulation, sea-level change and processes occurring inside Earth.
The first official results from the Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) mission will also be released. SMOS was launched in November 2009 to provide a global image of surface-soil moisture and ocean salinity to further our understanding of Earth's water cycle.
The first results from the CryoSat mission, launched in April this year, will be presented. CryoSat is studying Earth's ice to show how the volume is changing and to improve our understanding of the relationship between ice and climate.
In addition, special sessions will be devoted the Sentinel families of missions and services being developed for Europe's Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) programme.
Programme
The latest results from ESA's missions will be presented during the opening plenary session on Monday, 28 June, 09:30-12:00, followed by a working lunch between the panel's participants and the media.
09:30-12:00
- Welcome by Mayor of Bergen
- Opening address by Dr. Volker Liebig, Director of ESA EO Programmes….
- GOCE: Prof. Reiner Rummel, Principal Investigator, Technical University of Munich
- SMOS: Prof. Yann Kerr, CESBIO, Toulouse
- SMOS: Prof. Jordi Font, Institut de Ciencies del Mar, Barcelona
- CryoSat: Prof. Duncan Wingham, Lead Investigator, University College London
- ERS/Envisat: Prof. Johnny Johannessen, ESAC Chair, NERSC, Norway
- ESA Earth observation: Dr Volker Liebig, Director of ESA EO Programmes
- Address by Trond Giske, Minister of Trade and Industry of Norway
12:00-13:00
- Media questions and answers session
The full programme will follow after the opening plenary session, and can be found at: www.esa.int/lp-symposium/
For further information please contact:
ESA Media Relations Office
Communication Department
Tel: + 33 1 5369 7299
Fax: + 33 1 5369 7690