ESA SUPPORT TO EARTH OBSERVATION PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATORS: PREPARING FOR THE NEXT GENERATION

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ESA SUPPORT TO EARTH OBSERVATION PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATORS: PREPARING FOR THE NEXT GENERATION Yves-Louis Desnos (1), Peter Regner (1), Rita Malosti (2), Francesco Palazzo (2), Muriel Simon (2) (1)

Principal Investigators (PI) with a dedicated PI portal, the regular organisation of thematic workshops and symposia, and the continued development of toolboxes to facilitate exploitation of EO data.

1 ESA SUPPORT TO EARTH OBSERVATION PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATORS: PREPARING FOR THE NEXT GENERATION Yves-Louis Desnos (1), Peter Regner (1), Rita Malosti (2), Francesco Palazzo (2), Muriel Simon (2) (1) ESA-ESRIN, Via Galileo Galilei, Frascati, Italy (2) Serco SpA c/o ESA-ESRIN, Via Galileo Galilei, Frascati, Italy ABSTRACT ESA supports and promotes the work of Earth Observation Principal Investigators (PI) with a dedicated PI portal, the regular organisation of thematic workshops and symposia, and the continued development of toolboxes to facilitate exploitation of EO data. In addition, each year ESA organises advanced thematic training courses hosted at European Universities to prepare the next generation of EO PIs. This paper provides an overview of the EO PI support activities and focuses on the advanced Training courses for Land and Ocean Remote Sensing. The ESA EO missions data available to PIs can be either archived or acquired on demand (e.g. from ERS, ENVISAT). Furthermore, Third Party Missions data (e.g. Terra/Modis, Spot, ALOS ), for which ESA has a distribution agreement, are also available to PIs. Thanks to the Category 1 access policy the number of Principal Investigators has steadily increased in time, passing from 1000 in 2000 to 2300 in * 1. ESA PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATORS The Data policy approved by ESA Member States in 1999 defines the access to EO data provided for Category-1 use (i.e. Science and Applications development). A prospective Principal Investigator simply needs to submit a Category-1 research proposal to ESA which will be peer reviewed and evaluated in less than 8 weeks. This proposal submission is possible at any time and data are granted at cost of reproduction. In addition to this mechanism, dedicated Announcements of Opportunity (AOs) are used to prepare for the scientific use of ESA Earth Explorers missions or to encourage scientific research in countries currently making little use of ESA Earth Observation data. For projects accepted in an AO s framework, after approval by PB-EO, data are made available free of charge with a quota compatible with ESA production capability. No of Proposals * Estimates for 2007 Year Figure 2. Number of projects receiving data through Category-1(Orange) or Announcements of Opportunity (Green) since 2000 This growing EO PI community encompasses scientists and researchers working in international and national centres, academic staff (researchers, professors, PhD and postdoctoral students) addressing specific thematic disciplines, and students making their first steps in Earth Observation. An overview of the thematic distribution of the research carried out by PIs is provided in Fig. 3. Oceanography 10% Renewable Resources 7% Topographic Mapping Other 1% 2% Atmosphere 10% Calibration/Validation 11% Methods Coastal Zones 7% Figure 1. Worldwide distribution of scientific projects Land Environment 10% Ice Sea-Ice 2% Hydrology 7% Hazards 17% Geodesy Geology Figure 3. Distribution of projects by main theme of research Proc. Envisat Symposium 2007, Montreux, Switzerland April 2007 (ESA SP-636, July 2007)

ESA is pro-actively supporting its EO PIs via several means: - The hosting of a dedicated EO PI Portal as unique access for ESA EO category 1 data use; - The organisation of regular thematic

2 ESA is pro-actively supporting its EO PIs via several means: - The hosting of a dedicated EO PI Portal as unique access for ESA EO category 1 data use; - The organisation of regular thematic workshops, dedicated conferences and symposia for PI reporting; - The continued development of freely available toolboxes to help reading and understanding EO products; - The organisation of advanced training courses to prepare young scientists to exploit EO missions for Land, Ocean or Atmospheric science and applications development. 2. THE EO PI PORTAL This portal, accessible at the address is conceived to be a focal point for anyone interested in Earth Observation and reports some 57,000 hits per month. Figure 4. The EO PI portal The portal offers different functionalities, enabling the general public and ESA member states to search information about PIs and their latest results. The portal informs prospective PIs on different ways to access ESA data and allows web-based Category-1 proposals to be submitted. The portal is also used by EO scientist members of the ESA Category-1 Advisory Group to review and evaluate proposals. Finally, the PI of an accepted project can submit webbased reports on results and achievements and have them advertised on the home page. 3. ESA PI WORKSHOPS AND SYMPOSIA To complement the feedback mechanism offered by the reporting tools available on the PI portal and to stimulate advances in scientific research and foster applications development, ESA organises dedicated thematic workshops and symposia, whose formal proceedings are available as ESA Special Publications. Thematic workshops offer a unique opportunity to discuss and gather feedback and recommendations from world specialists e.g. for new or better products, for improved mission exploitation or for new science/application ideas. ESA formally records those recommendations, acts on them as appropriate and reports to the EO PIs on their disposition or progress at the following workshops Polinsar (01/03) MERIS (11/03) FRINGE'03 (12/04) GOCE (03/04) ENVISAT (09/04) SMOS (11/04) Participants Polinsar (01/05) CryoSat (03/05) Dragon (06/05) MERIS/AATSR (09/05) TIGER (10/05) SeaSAR (01/06) FRINGE'05 (12/05) Radar Altimetry (03/06) Atmospheric Conference (05/06) Papers EPS/MetOp (06/06) MSG (06/06) Dragon (07/06) GOCE (11/06) PolInSAR (01/07) Figure 5. Participation to ESA Workshops and Symposia (Jan 2003 Jan 2007) In addition, every 3-4 years ESA also organises a symposium to bring together the various research communities and to assess the state of art in EO science, applications and services development exploiting ESA EO and TPM missions. Some 1000 participants are expected to be present at the 2007 ENVISAT Symposium in Montreux (23-27 April), where 800 presentations will be delivered. Presentations, proceedings and recommendations from all such events can be found online on the ESA Portal and at 4. TOOLBOXES To facilitate the handling and exploitation of ESA and Third Party Missions data, the Agency provides a number of free software tools available in source code. BEAM (Basic ERS & Envisat (A)ATSR and MERIS toolbox) has been developed to facilitate the utilisation, viewing and processing of ESA MERIS, (A)ATSR and ASAR data. BEAT (Basic ERS & Envisat Atmospheric Toolbox) has been developed to facilitate the utilisation, viewing

and processing of ESA GOMOS, MIPAS, SCIAMACHY, GOME and other data (e.g. GOME-2, OMI, etc.) data. BEST (Basic ERS & Envisat SAR Toolbox) has been developed to facilitate the use of ESA (A)SAR data.

In particular interactive training exploiting EO SAR data in Polarimetry and Polarimetric Interferometry has been offered during POLinSAR workshops from 2005 to 2007.

Links to all above toolboxes are available on the EOPI portal and at http://earth.esa.int/resources/softwaretools 5. ESA ADVANCED TRAINING COURSE IN REMOTE SENSING Figure 6.

3 and processing of ESA GOMOS, MIPAS, SCIAMACHY, GOME and other data (e.g. GOME-2, OMI, etc.) data. BEST (Basic ERS & Envisat SAR Toolbox) has been developed to facilitate the use of ESA (A)SAR data. ESA provides regular interactive training opportunities for EO PIs exploiting the POLSARPRO tool developed by the University of Rennes 1, France. In particular interactive training exploiting EO SAR data in Polarimetry and Polarimetric Interferometry has been offered during POLinSAR workshops from 2005 to Over the last 2 years, some 250 scientists have been trained to exploit Polarimetric airborne/spaceborne SAR data for science and applications development. Links to all above toolboxes are available on the EOPI portal and at 5. ESA ADVANCED TRAINING COURSE IN REMOTE SENSING Figure 6. ESA toolboxes and their users. In total, there are more than 4000 registered users BRAT (Basic Radar Altimetry Toolbox) is currently designed to facilitate the use of radar altimetry data, from ERS-1 & 2, Topex/Poseidon, Geosat, Jason-1 and ENVISAT. Its tutorial gives general (no missionspecific) information about altimetry, technique and application, as well as an overview of the missions, access to data, software and documentation. It also presents a series of data use cases, showing the basic methods for some of the most frequent ways of using altimetry data. POLSARPRO (Polarimetric SAR Data Processing and Educational Tool) is a toolbox for the scientific exploitation of polarimetric SAR data. It contains educational resources in high level radar polarimetry and polarimetric interferometry education, such as a tutorial, do it yourself examples, slide presentations and a full POLinSAR training course. Figure 7. POLSARPRO training, POLinSAR 2007 In 2006 the European Space Agency initiated a new series of regular advanced training courses in Remote Sensing. These training courses initially covering Ocean, Land and Atmospheric applications - are hosted at European Universities, with the host country alternating among the ESA Member States. The training courses, held on an annual basis, share a set of common objectives: - Stimulate and support the exploitation of ESA EO and Third Party Mission remote sensing data for thematic applications; - Introduce available tools and methods for exploitation of ERS, Envisat, TPM and Explorers satellite data; - Prepare for the future by training the next generation of European and Canadian Principal Investigators; The training courses are governed by a set of guiding principles: - The training course subject and programme are application-driven rather than instrument-driven: Ocean, Land and Atmospheric applications will be initially addressed; - The teaching is provided by European professors who are also lead ESA PIs and who therefore combine teaching expertise with experience in using ESA data; - The courses are at advanced level: participants are expected to be at a higher stage in their studies, typically at PhD level, and must be familiar with at least one of the application fields presented; - Hands-on sessions occupy a large proportion of the training course schedule.

4 The first advanced training course, on remote sensing for ocean applications was held in September 2006 in Hamburg, Germany. The second advanced training course, dedicated to land applications, will take place in Lisbon, Portugal, in September ADVANCED TRAINING COURSE ON OCEAN REMOTE SENSING Some 60 PhD level and young post-doc students based in Europe and Canada and wishing to expand on their knowledge and skills in ocean research, participated in the first ESA advanced training course on Ocean Remote Sensing held at the Institute of Oceanography of the University of Hamburg, Germany, from 25 to 29 September Figure 8. Training course participants in front of the Institute of Oceanography of the University of Hamburg, Germany Course objectives The primary objective of the course was to train the next generation of ESA Principal Investigators and to provide first-hand information on a broad range of research topics across all ocean applications, including physical oceanography and bio-geochemical applications from the open ocean and the coastal regime. The course was also an excellent opportunity for students to meet and exchange views on their own research work, and to get in touch with famous professors and authorities in their own field, with sufficient time for questions Course Topics The training course included the following components: - SAR principles, data products and applications including oil pollution, ship detection, wave and wind field retrievals, oceanic eddies and fronts, underwater bottom topography, sea ice monitoring. - MERIS Ocean colour principles, atmospheric correction and water constituents retrieval algorithms, products and applications. - AATSR principles, atmospheric correction algorithms, comparison of microwave and infrared techniques for SST measurements, AATSR applications for oceanography. - RA principles, atmospheric and geophysical corrections, algorithm for sea level, wave height and wind observations, and applications relevant for large scale and coastal oceanography. Moreover, the synergy of data from these remote sensing sensors was discussed Lectures A series of theoretical lectures was given by European professors who are also leading ESA Principal Investigators with broad expertise on the use of ESA Earth Observation data and expertise in teaching. - Prof. J. Johannessen (NERSC, Norway) explained SAR principles, data products and applications including oil pollution, ship detection, wave and wind field retrievals, oceanic eddies and fronts, underwater bottom topography, sea ice monitoring. - Dr. R. Doerffer MERIS (GKSS, Germany) demonstrated basic principles of ocean colour measurements, atmospheric correction and water constituents retrieval algorithms, products and applications. - Prof. D. Llewellyn-Jones (Univ. of Leicester, UK) and Prof. I. Robinson (Univ. of Southampton, UK) discussed (A)ATSR principles, atmospheric correction algorithms, comparison of microwave and infrared techniques for SST measurements, (A)ATSR applications for oceanography. - Prof. D. Stammer (Univ. of Hamburg) introduced students to the principles of Radar Altimetry, atmospheric and geophysical corrections, algorithm for sea level, wave height and wind observations, and applications relevant for large scale and coastal oceanography Practicals The theoretical lectures were complemented by handson computing exercises exposing students to remote sensing applications and illustrating the efficient use of some of the software tools available for the exploitation of ESA remote sensing data.

Dorandeu (CLS) showed how to use the BRAT software for the exploitation of RA data; - Prof. J. Robinson (Univ. of Southampton, UK) explored the UNESCO Bilko image processing system using (A)ATSR data.

5 - Dr. C. Brockmann (Brockmann Consult, Germany) explained the use of the BEAM Toolbox for the exploitation of MERIS data; - Dr. V. Kerboal and Dr. F. Collard (BOOST Technologies, France) demonstrated the functionality of the SARtool for the interpretation of SAR data; - Dr. V. Rosmorduc and Dr. J. Dorandeu (CLS) showed how to use the BRAT software for the exploitation of RA data; - Prof. J. Robinson (Univ. of Southampton, UK) explored the UNESCO Bilko image processing system using (A)ATSR data. 7. ADVANCED TRAINING COURSE IN LAND REMOTE SENSING The second ESA advanced training course is dedicated to the exploitation of Earth Observation data from ESA and Third Party Mission instruments for land applications, with a focus on applications over Europe. It is scheduled to take place from 2 to 7 September 2007 in Lisbon, Portugal Host institute The Instituto Superior de Estatística e Gestão de Informação (ISEGI) of Universidade Nova de Lisboa (UNL, New University of Lisbon), is hosting the training course. Figure 9. Participants in a hands-on computing exercise 6.5. Feedback Collectively, the course participants were very satisfied with the organisation and the content of the training course. Students appreciated the well balanced mixture of lectures providing sufficient theoretical background information and practical computer exercises giving instructions and tools to apply ESA ERS and ENVISAT data products in a variety of applications. The course material is available for free download at Figure 10. Universidade Nova de Lisboa ISEGI is a university-level teaching institute with administrative and financial autonomy, created by a joint initiative of UNL and the Portuguese National Statistical Institute. ISEGI's areas of expertise are in statistics and information management, in particular Geographic Information Systems (GIS). The institute is also a pioneer in Portugal on e-learning technology, and in particular runs the first Portuguese MSc in distance learning mode Course contents The training course is organised along four main components: - Theoretical fundamentals on remote sensing over land; - EO missions, instruments, and products for land remote sensing; - EO land applications lectures; - Hands-on sessions, mainly using the relevant ESA toolboxes. Both radar and optical/thermal remote sensing are covered within these four components.

To account for a heterogeneous audience while guaranteeing an advanced teaching level the theoretical fundamentals are presented in two parallel sessions.

6 To account for a heterogeneous audience while guaranteeing an advanced teaching level the theoretical fundamentals are presented in two parallel sessions. These sessions will address advanced concepts to students with radar and optical background and expose them to the basics of the other domain. This approach aims at providing all the necessary theoretical background in support of the application lectures. Following on, the core of the course is devoted to applications, starting with theoretical lectures in the morning, followed by hands-on sessions, covering in particular GMES land thematic priorities: land resources (forestry, agriculture, urban), disasters (fires, floods, and landslides), and water resources (water availability). The important place taken by the practical sessions more than one-third of the overall course duration will ensure that the participants get a good insight on the use of ESA data and products for their research purposes, and shall increase their awareness on the capabilities of the ESA toolboxes to support them in their work Teaching team A total of nine professors, all internationally renowned experts in their field of research, will deliver the theoretical and application lectures and lead the practical training sessions. They come from six different European countries: France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain and represent nine different research institutions. They all have research experience using ESA remote sensing data products (in particular they are all active ESA PIs) combined with extensive teaching expertise. The team brings together instrument and application specialists, from both radar and optical/thermal communities. Prof. Caetano from the Portuguese Geographic Institute, Dr Le Toan from CESBIO, Prof. Moreno from University of Valencia, Prof. Pereira from the Technical University of Lisbon, Prof. Pottier from University of Rennes, Prof. Rocca from Politecnico di Milano, Prof. Schmullius from Friedrich-Schiller University of Jena, Prof. Su from ITC and Dr Yésou from SERTIT will all make contributions to the training course Participants Similarly to the ocean training course in 2006, the land training course is targeted to the European and Canadian research and development community, in particular post-doc researchers as well as masters and PhD students. Participants willing to participate can apply online via a dedicated application form on the training course website, prior to the registration deadline of 15 May Figure 11. Flyer announcing the training course The number of participants is limited to a maximum of 60 students in order to ensure the proper management of the practical sessions. 8. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ESA would like to acknowledge Prof. D. Stammer for hosting the Advanced Training Course on Ocean Remote Sensing at the Institute of Oceanography of the University of Hamburg and for supporting the coordination of this event. ESA would also like to acknowledge Prof. Marco Painho for hosting the Advanced Training Course on Land Remote Sensing at the Instituto Superior de Estatística e Gestão de Informação, Universidade Nova de Lisboa (ISEGI-UNL), and for supporting the coordination and logistics associated with this event. We thank Prof. Mário Caetano from the Portuguese Geographic Institute (Instituto Geográfico Português, IGP) for his help in the preparation of the land training course. 9. CONCLUSION PERSPECTIVES ESA supports Earth Observation Principal Investigators (PI) with a dedicated portal, the organisation of regular consultation and reporting events and the publication of scientific proceedings. In addition, new toolboxes facilitate the exploitation of EO data and can be used as educational tools and tutorials for science and application demonstrations. Furthermore, ESA organises advanced thematic training courses hosted in European Universities to best prepare the next generation of EO PIs. The first ESA advanced training in atmosphere remote sensing will be hosted at University of Oxford, UK in 2008.

How to Access EO Data

How to Access EO Data Andrea Minchella 29 June 2009, D1L1 ESA CAT-1 EO Principal Investigator ESA PIs and Projects 1-10 projects 11-20 projects 21-40 projects 41-60 projects 61-100 projects 101-200 projects