PARIS (ESA PR) — Europe experienced its warmest summer on record in 2021, accompanied by severe floods in western Europe and dry conditions in the Mediterranean. These are just some of the key findings from the Copernicus Climate Change Service’s European State of the Climate report released today. The in-depth report provides key insights and a comprehensive analysis of climate conditions in 2021, with a special focus on Europe and the Arctic.

PARIS (ESA PR) — Earth observation provides a wealth of information to benefit our daily lives. As the demand for satellite data grows to address the challenges of climate change and a growing population, ESA, under the leadership of the European Commission, along with its key European partners, are developing high precision digital models of Earth to monitor and simulate both natural and human activity, to enable more sustainable development and support European environmental policies.

Today, at the ESA Council, Member States approved a ‘Contribution Agreement’, which paves the way for cooperation with the European Commission on the Destination Earth initiative, in the context of the Digital Agenda of the European Union.

DARMSTADT, Germany (EUMETSAT PR) — Europe’s meteorological satellite agency, EUMETSAT, will become the largest operator of the Copernicus programme’s Sentinel satellite missions under an agreement signed with the European Commission today. Copernicus is a component of the European Union Space Programme. It looks at our planet and its environment for the benefit of all European citizens. It offers information services that draw from satellite Earth Observation and in-situ (non-space) data.

by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor

Although the United Kingdom’s (UK) “Brexit” departure from the European Union (EU) on Jan. 1 will not affect its membership status in the European Space Agency (ESA), the nation’s participation in a number of European space programs is either ending or being curtailed.

On Christmas Eve, the UK and EU announced an agreement in principle that will govern trade, security and political relations after Brexit. Under the agreement, the UK’s participation in the:

• Galileo satellite navigation and European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS) program will end;
• Copernicus Earth observation satellite program will continue, contingent upon a further agreement to be worked out next year; and
• EU Space Surveillance and Tracking (EUSST) program will end, although the Britain will continue to receive data as a non-EU country.

• On 1 July 2020, the European Space Agency awarded contracts for the development and construction of six further Copernicus satellites.
• Contracts with a value of more than 800 million euro are being awarded to space companies in Germany, a high percentage of which are SMEs.
• The new satellites are intended to help find answers to the global challenges posed by climate change, population growth and environmental problems.

BONN, Germany (DLR PR) — Sentinel satellites are at the heart of Copernicus, Europe’s largest Earth observation programme. Sentinels are already reliably and continuously providing large amounts of data on the state of the climate, vegetation and oceans. Now, six more ‘Earth Guardians’, the High Priority Candidate Missions (HPCM), are being added.

https://www.ecmwf.int/en/about/media-centre/news/2020/ecmwf-starts-assimilating-aeolus-wind-data

READING, England (ECMWF PR) — The European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF ) started assimilating wind data from the European Space Agency’s ground-breaking Aeolus satellite operationally on 9 January 2020 after tests showed that they significantly improve weather forecasts.