Satellites Play a Major Role In Understanding Global Carbon Cycle

The global carbon cycle plays a key role in climate change and is of intense importance to policy makers, but significant knowledge gaps remain in our understanding of it. Scientists are now using satellite instruments to fill this gap.

On 23rd of April,2007 Envisat Symposium 2007 took place in Montreux, Switzerland.More than 900 scientists from around the world had gathered in , for a five-day symposium to discuss, present and review their findings on the state of our world’s land, oceans, ice and atmosphere using data from ESA Earth observation satellites, in particular Envisat – the largest environmental satellite ever built. ESA plans to launch 17 missions in the coming years to guarantee continuity of relevant data for scientific use and applications.

Prof. John Burrows of Bremen University in Germany spoke on advances in Atmospheric science: “A combination of GOME on ERS-2 and Envisat’s GOMOS, MIPAS and SCIAMACHY instruments are providing a quantum leap forward in Earth observation.

“The quality and quantity of data is such that we are able for the first time to look at processes and changes in the atmosphere, which is necessary both for understanding atmospheric physics and chemistry and for policy making. We are on the verge of a new era where the quality of satellite data is sufficient that we can both monitor important international protocols like the Montreal Protocol, controlling ozone depleting substances, and Kyoto Protocol, observing greenhouse gases, the precursors of climate and temperature changes.”

To read more about this symposium click here