EarthCARE Earth Clouds Aerosols and Radiation Explorer to improve the representation and understanding of the Earth's radiative balance in climate and numerical weather forecast models by acquiring vertical profiles of clouds and aerosols, as well as the radiances at the top of the atmosphere. From a single platform in a 450 km polar orbit a lidar (laser radar) will acquire data on aerosols and thin clouds and a high frequency radar will do the same for thick clouds. A multi-spectral imager will provide additional information on distribution of aerosol and cloud optical properties, and a broadband radiometer will measure radiances.
SPECTRA Surface Processes and Ecosystem Changes Through Response Analysis - to describe, understand and model the role of terrestrial vegetation in the global carbon cycle and its response to climate variability under the increasing pressure of human activity. The mission will carry an imaging spectrometer to analyse radiance from vegetation. From a near-polar 670 km altitude orbit SPECTRA will collect data over a selection of regions representative of all the Earth's major biomes.
WALES Water VApour and Lidar Experiment in Space to provide global water vapour observations in the troposphere and lowermost stratosphere with high vertical resolution and accuracy to support climate and numerical weather prediction. WALES, a polar orbiting satellite at 450 km altitude, hosts a lidar using four wavelengths with different water vapour absorptions adapted to the large mixing ratio of water vapour in the atmosphere.
ACE+ Atmosphere and Climate Explorer to establish highly accurate measurements of humidity and temperature in the troposphere and the stratosphere for climate trend observations. ACE+ comprises four satellites flying as two pairs in the same Sun-synchronous orbital plane but at two different altitudes.
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Contact: Simonetta Cheli
simonetta.cheli@esa.int
39-069-418-0350
European Space Agency
15-Apr-2004