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| Earth observation encompasses the atmosphere, biosphere, cryosphere, geosphere and the hydrosphere. Credit: ESA. |
The symposium takes place from 28 June to 2 July 2010. The Living Planet Symposium might be Europe's most important conference for Earth observation satellites and monitoring of our planet's climate and environment.
This year the conference will take place in Bergen on the west coast of Norway. It is being organized by the European Space Agency (ESA), in cooperation with the Norwegian Space Centre and the Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center (NERSC).
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.
- The very first results from the three new European research satellites GOCE, SMOS and CryoSat-2 will be presented, says Johnny Johannessen, Research Director at NERSC.
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| GOCE is measuring the Earth's gravity field with extreme accuracy. Credits: ESA. |
GOCE's new map of the Earth's gravity field will provide researchers with extremely accurate altitude data. Such data are of utmost importance for measuring sea levels, ocean circulation and ice thickness in polar regions.
First of its kind
The new data will also be useful in many other contexts, such as the construction of high speed railways and monitoring of earthquake areas.
"Both the new gravity field map and SMOS' measurements of global soil moisture and ocean salinity will be the first of their kind," says Johannessen.
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| Cryosat-2 is measuring the ice thickness in polar regions. Credits: ESA. |
Cryosat-2's first measurements of ice thickness will also be presented at the symposium.
Data from all the three new satellites will provide new knowledge about the Earth's climate and environment, like the great ocean currents, the inland ice in Antarctica and the sea ice in the Arctic.
Some Earth observation satellites have been in orbit for close to 20 years. Envisat and ERS-2 are prime examples of satellites that have given continuous measurements over a long period of time.
Continuity
This continuity is important to strengthen climate and environmental research, especially the processes and change in the Earth's total global systems.
"There is still fairly large gaps in the understanding of these processes," says Johannessen.
It was Johannessen who suggested that the Living Planet Symposium for 2010 should be held in Bergen. One reason was that NERSC and Norwegian scientists have been working with Earth observation since the 1980s.
Today they are involved in several national and international research and development projects based on ESA's Earth observation satellites.
1200 participants
More than 1200 participants are registered for the symposium. There will be parallel sessions for various fields of interest every day and poster presentations in the afternoon.
According to Terje Wahl, Director for Space and Earth Sciences at the Norwegian Space Centre, it is only natural that the Living Planet Symposium takes place in Bergen.
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| SMOS is measuring global soil moisture and ocean salinity. Credits: ESA. |
Earth observation is one of the main reasons Norway joined the ESA in 1987.
"Data from Earth observation satellites for forecasting weather, ice, ocean currents and other natural phenomena means more to Norwegian businesses, lives and health than they do in many other countries because we are a maritime nation with a lot of extreme weather," he says.
Since several of ESA's Earth observation satellites are placed in polar orbits, the advantage for Norway is formidable.
"This symposium is a celebration of more than 20 years of an active and enthusiastic Norwegian ESA membership," says Wahl.
Contact:
Terje Wahl - Director for Space and Earth Sciences, Norwegian Space Centre. Tel: (+47) 22511815
Johnny Johannessen - Research Director at the Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center - johnny.johannesen@nersc.no
