A promotional banner for the 'BeGEO Scientists Webinar' on April 9, 2025, from 15:30 to 17:00 CEST. The webinar focuses on 'InSAR and P-SBAS applications in Earth Sciences' and the 'EarthConsole® platform for assisted processing of large Earth Observation datasets.' The banner has a yellow background with blue text and logos of supporting organizations, including BeGEO Association, EarthConsole®, Progressive Systems, and IREA-CNR.

Join the 3rd BeGEO webinar on InSAR and P-SBAS applications in Earth Sciences

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We’ve teamed up with the BeGEO Association and the Italian Istituto per il Rilevamento Elettromagnetico dell’Ambiente (IREA-CNR), to bring you the 3rd BeGEO webinar entitled “InSAR and P-SBAS applications in Earth Sciences. The EarthConsole® platform for the assisted processing of large Earth Observation datasets”.

The webinar will be held on April 9, 2025, from 15:30 to 17:00 (CEST).

REGISTER HERE

Why this webinar?

Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) is a powerful technique that allows for the analysis of Earth’s surface motions caused by both natural and anthropogenic processes. However, the processing of large SAR datasets needs large in-house processing resources.

That’s where EarthConsole® steps in.

EarthConsole® is Progressive Systems’ cloud-based platform that helps institutions, researchers, and developers create, test, and host applications and processors, enabling simplified access to Earth Observation data and processing services. By co-locating computing resources with data archives, the platform ensures faster and more efficient data processing.

During the webinar we present an overview of the InSAR theory and show the application of the P-SBAS on-demand service for Sentinel-1 (2016–present) and ENVISAT (2002–2012) hosted on the EarthConsole® platform to produce time-series of incremental ground motions and maps of the average velocities. A particular focus will be given to the study of ground deformation caused by both natural and anthropogenic processes. A demonstration will guide participants through the request and practical use of the service, with a particular emphasis on the graphical user interface (GUI) and processing parameters.

At the end of the webinar the attendants will be acquainted with the InSAR principles, as also with the procedure to request the P-SBAS service and process their own data on EarthConsole®.

What’s on the Agenda?

  • 15:30:16:00 – Dr. Claudio De Luca, Researcher at IREA-CNR: Differential SAR Interferometry: Principles, techniques and applications.
  • 16:00-16:20 – Massimo Orlandi, Engineer on Earth Observation projects (Progressive Systems): P-PRO On-Demand P-SBAS service: Live Demonstration
  • 16:20-16:40 – Maddalena Iesué, Communication and Partnerships Manager (Progressive Systems): How to request free access to the P-PRO On-Demand P-SBAS service and Overview of EarthConsole®
  • 16:40-17:00 – Q&A section

Bonus for attendees

Upon request, we will provide attendees with a one-week free trial, including up to 30 processing hours, to test the P-SBAS for Sentinel-1 on-demand service on EarthConsole®. Instructions for making the request will be shared during the webinar.

See you soon online!

 

This webinar is supported by the ESA Network of Resources Initiative
Picture representing the Arctic Ocean and Polar Ice Cap

Advancing Polar Research: the conclusion of the OCRE CryoSSARinSAM+ Project

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We are pleased to announce the conclusion of the CryoSSARinSAM+ project, an initiative funded by the European Commission’s OCRE (Open Clouds for Research Environments) program. Led by the Technical University of Denmark (DTU), the project set out to produce a single, open-access CryoSat-2 altimetry mission dataset created to become the reference standard for the radar altimetry research community to advance the knowledge of the polar oceans and ice cover, and the impact of climate change on them.

EarthConsole® by Progressive Systems, selected by DTU as service provider, supported the processing of these data and established a repository where researchers can now easily access and download the dataset.

Why Polar Regions Matter

The polar regions have always been a focal point for scientific research, and in today’s world, the need to monitor them has never been more urgent. With the accelerating effects of climate change, the melting of polar sea-ice is one of the most significant amplifiers of global warming with decreasing albedo. This makes tracking changes in the polar oceans essential for understanding long-term climate patterns, the opening of new arctic shipping routes, and the broader impact on the global ecosystem.

For years, different research groups independently processed CryoSat-2 radar altimetry data for the polar oceans, mainly covering the period 2010–2020. While these datasets were valuable for studying changes in these regions, the lack of coordination among the different research groups meant the data was fragmented. This project aimed to provide a more unified approach, also expanding the temporal and geographical coverage of these dataset.

The Expanded Cryosat-2 Dataset

The CryoSSARinSAM+ project aimed to grow and expand this vital dataset to create an Arctic and Antarctic dataset with full coverage from 2010-2024 for the Arctic region (50N-90N) and the Antarctic region (90S-50S).

The project added processing of C2 to create such. By using SARvatore for CryoSat-2 and SARINvatore for CryoSat-2 processors, the project focused on the:

  • the Subarctic region (180.00W, 50.00N, 180.00E, 65.00N) for the winter months from October 2010 to December 2020, as well as full-year data from 2021 up to January 2022, and
  • the Arctic (180.00W, 50.00N, 180.00E, 90.00N) and Antarctic (180.00W, 80.00S, 180.00E, 50.00S) regions from February 2022 up to September 2024.

A powerful dataset for many applications

The new CryoSat-2 dataset generated by the CryoSSARinSAM+ project holds immense potential for a wide range of applications. Some of the key areas of focus include:

  • Sea Level and Circulation: studying trends in sea level rise and ocean circulation in the polar regions.
  • Ice Thickness: estimating winter and summer sea ice thickness in the Arctic and Antarctic Ocean.

The dataset is designed to support a variety of research and monitoring efforts, and contribute to the global effort to understand and mitigate climate change.

Accessing the data: The Altimetry Virtual Lab repository

To download the CryoSat-2 dataset for free and explore its potential applications, simply:

  1. Register or login to EarthConsole®
  2. Request a free membership to the Altimetry Virtual Lab
  3. Navigate to folders 18 (SAR data) and 19 (SARIN data) within this repository.

The Altimetry Virtual Lab, hosted on EarthConsole®, provides processing services for CryoSat-2, Sentinel-3 and Sentinel-6-Michael-Frielich SAR (Syntethic Aperture Radar) altimeters data, such as the SARvatore for CryoSat-2 and SARINvatore for CryoSat-2 processors used for this project and much more. These services support data processing from L1A (FBR) products to SAR/SARin L2 geophysical products.

Beyond processing services, this virtual space also offers tools to facilitate the exchange of scientific knowledge, data, and resources.

Looking Ahead

The conclusion of the CryoSSARinSAM+ project marks a significant milestone in the ongoing exploration of Earth’s polar regions. We are excited to see how this expanded dataset will contribute to the growing body of knowledge about polar oceans, ice dynamics, and sea level change.

At EarthConsole®, we remain committed to supporting innovative research and providing the tools and infrastructure needed to tackle the challenges of climate change.

A Special Opportunity for Researchers

If you’re working on research, educational, or pre-commercial project and are interested in using one of the processing services available through the Altimetry Virtual Lab, you can apply for an ESA Network of Resources (NoR) sponsorship to cover the associated costs.

The NoR is an ESA initiative that provides sponsorship opportunities for users interested in utilizing services from innovative operational platforms and cloud services integrated into this framework, including EarthConsole®.

If ESA approves your sponsorship request, the NoR will provide a voucher of up to €5,000 for non-ESA projects (with no limits for ESA projects), which can be used to cover the cost of the Altimetry Virtual Lab services available through EarthConsole®.

To get started, simply request the desired service through our web app. After submitting your request, we’ll guide you through the process of applying for a sponsorship via the NoR.

Time series of four MERIS L2 images acquired over northern Italy from August 2002 to July 2003. The subsets are collocated and refer to the band 13 TOA reflectance.

Reducing Time Spent on Preparing Earth Observation Data: ARD for ENVISAT MERIS FR now on EarthConsole®

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Preparing Earth Observation data for processing can be a time-consuming and complex task, requiring technical expertise or access to an in-house processing infrastructure which may not always be readily available. This is where Analysis Ready Data (ARD) becomes increasingly valuable, above all for non-EO experts. ARD simplifies the process by providing pre-processed, georeferenced and harmonized datasets that are ready for immediate use. By eliminating the need for complex data preparation, ARD ensures consistency and comparability across time and space, allowing scientific users to move quickly to deriving insights for their research.

Introducing ARD for ENVISAT MERIS FR on EarthConsole®

To facilitate the scientific community’s use of Earth Observation data, EarthConsole® now offers a new processor designed to generate Analysis Ready Data (ARD) from MERIS, an instrument onboard ENVISAT satellite that collected data about ocean colour, atmosphere and land surface between 2002 and 2012.

Developed by us at Progressive Systems, the company behind the EarthConsole® platform, the ARD for ENVISAT MERIS FR processor automates the process of accessing and preparing this data. It downloads the needed MERIS data directly from ESA dissemination service, then creates a subset based on the region of interest.

The subset is collocated per pixel with respect to a master image (raster or re-projected onto a Coordinate Reference System).

Time series of four MERIS L2 images acquired over northern Italy from August 2002 to July 2003. The subsets are collocated and refer to the band 13 TOA reflectance.

All of this is done using EarthConsole® parallel processing environment, which optimizes data access by leveraging the co-location of computing resources with the data archives.

This processor is critical for tasks like tracking changes over time (multi-temporal analysis) or artificial intelligence applications, where each image needs to be georeferenced and comparable at the pixel level. Thematically, this tool can be applied to a wide range of research areas, ranging from vegetation to water quality and land use studies.

The value of this tool increases even further when its outputs are combined with data from active Earth Observation missions, enabling even more comprehensive analysis on long-term environmental trends.

Practical Applications

The ARD for ENVISAT MERIS FR tool is already being used in important research projects, like the ESA River Discharge Climate Change Initiative. This project focuses on studying rivers worldwide and how their flow patterns are changing over time due to climate change.

Using this tool, 25,000 satellite images were processed, focusing on 45 specific locations around the world. The tool automatically prepared smaller, targeted datasets (about 72,000 in total) for these locations. These prepared datasets were then ingested in a machine learning model developed by the project team. To learn more, you can read our EarthConsole® Story on tracking and predicting changes in river systems with ENVISAT data.

Getting started with ARD for ENVISAT MERIS FR on EarthConsole® (FREE ACCESS):

This tool is available for free bulk processing via the Heritage Missions Virtual Lab hosted on EarthConsole®, a European Space Agency’s initiative aimed at valorising the use of data from Earth Observation missions which are no longer active in space. To request the service:

      1. Log in to www.earthconsole.eu.
      2. Request a free membership to the Heritage Missions Virtual Lab www.earthconsole.eu/groups/heritage-missions.
      3. Click on the card ‘Request the service you need’ and submit the service request using the dedicated form within the Lab.
      4. Wait for approval; it may take a few days as we process your request with ESA.
      5. Once approved, you’ll receive 100 free processing hours, which can be renewed for another 100 hours pending ESA approval.

For any questions, we will be happy to help at info@earthconsole.eu.

Image of sea near the coastline

Coastal and Open Ocean Altimetry Data: How ALES unlocks insights from 1995 to today on EarthConsole®

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In the world of satellite altimetry, precision is key. For years, satellites have revolutionized how we measure sea levels, monitor ocean currents, and track environmental changes.

But there’s been one tricky area for researchers: coastal regions.

Historically, satellite altimeters have struggled to provide reliable data near coastlines.

That’s where ALES — the Adaptive Leading Edge Subwaveform retracker — available on EarthConsole® comes in, offering a new way to make accurate altimetry measurements.

What is ALES and why should you care?

ALES is a subwaveform retracking algorithm developed by Marcello Passaro from the German Geodetic Research Institute of the Technical University of Munich, to overcome the challenges altimeters face when measuring sea levels close to the coast.

ALES improves the accuracy of satellite data near coastlines, all while maintaining high accuracy in open ocean measurements, making it a relevant tool for scientists, oceanographers, and anyone tracking sea level rise or coastal changes.

How Does ALES Work?

To understand how ALES functions, let’s start with how satellite radar altimetry works.

Satellites send out radar signals that bounce off earth surface and catch the echoes as they bounce back. The time it takes for these signals to return helps calculate the distance to the surface, allowing us to determine for example sea level. While this process is straightforward in open waters, it becomes complicated near the coast due to interference from land or other reflective objects like for example ship traffic.

ALES works by looking at the signals the satellite gets back and focusing on a specific part of each signal – the leading edge. From this section, ALES makes a rough estimate of how tall the waves are. This information is important because knowing the wave height helps improve the accuracy of the data.

Once ALES has the wave height estimate, it can choose the best part of the wave signal to analyze. By narrowing its focus, ALES can avoid interference from other factors, such as reflections from land or ships. This targeted analysis helps to eliminate noise and enhances the quality of the data, resulting in more precise measurements of sea level.

ALES on EarthConsole®

You can now access an extensive time series of altimetry data spanning from 1995 to today, thanks to the addition of the bulk processing option for ALES for Envisat and ERS-2 data (both missions no longer operational in space) via the Heritage Missions Virtual Lab on EarthConsole®.

This addition complements the existing ALES+ SAR service for Sentinel-3 and CryoSat-2, which was already available for both bulk and on-demand processing via the Altimetry Virtual Lab on EarthConsole®.

This will provide you with a clearer understanding of how coastal zones and open ocean conditions have evolved over the last three decades.

Getting started with ALES for ENVISAT or ALES for ERS-2 (FREE ACCESS):

  1. Log in to www.earthconsole.eu.
  2. Request a free membership to the Heritage Missions Virtual Lab www.earthconsole.eu/groups/heritage-missions.
  3. Click on the card ‘Request the service you need’ and submit the service request using the dedicated form within the Lab.
  4. Wait for approval; it may take a few days as we process your request with ESA.
  5. Once approved, you’ll receive 100 free processing hours, which can be renewed for another 100 hours pending ESA approval.

What makes ALES stand out is its adaptability and versatility.

Whether it’s applied to older satellite missions like ERS-2 and Envisat, or the latest missions like CryoSat-2 and Sentinel-3, ALES is applicable to waveforms from different altimeters. This flexibility enables to extend the time series and ensures that we can analyze both historical and current satellite data to better understand sea level changes over time.

If you’re interested in finding out whether ALES is suitable for your research, feel free to contact us at info@earthconsole.eu.

Image of a river flowing

EarthConsole® Stories: Tracking and predicting changes in river systems with ENVISAT data

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EarthConsole® Stories are experiences about how we helped universities, research centres or service developers to leverage Earth Observation data to extract valuable insights for their research, educational or pre-commercial projects.

The Project

The ESA River Discharge Climate Change Initiative aims to generate long-term climate data records—spanning at least 20 years—of river discharge for selected river basins and key locations within their networks. This will be achieved using satellite remote sensing observations, including altimetry and multispectral images, along with ancillary data. This data is essential for understanding the flow and behaviour of rivers in specific regions and at critical points along their courses. The goal is to develop a robust analytical tool capable of tracking and predicting changes in river systems resulting from climate change.

The Need

The research team, tasked with managing ENVISAT MERIS data spanning 2002 to 2012 from multiple global sites, required an efficient platform for handling this extensive dataset. They found the ideal solution in the Heritage Missions Virtual Lab, an ESA initiative hosted on EarthConsole®. This platform provides specialized processing services for data from discontinued Earth Observation missions like ENVISAT.

Beyond data access, the team needed to generate Analysis Ready Data (ARD) for the MERIS FR datasets. For this purpose, the EarthConsole® team developed a tool that automatically extracted time series data from approximately 25,000 MERIS FR Level 2 products, targeting specific stations within 45 worldwide sites. This process produced around 72,000 subsets, which were subsequently utilized in the neural network model developed by the team.

Why EarthConsole®

The EarthConsole® G-BOX hosting service via the Heritage Missions Virtual Lab was the research team’s choice for direct access to ENVISAT Meris data.

The service was used to process Analysis Ready Data for large ENVISAT MERIS FR datasets for 45 sites worldwide with our own neural network model. In fact, the processing of the huge number of images from 2002 to 2012 would have been too time consuming to be handled on our local infrastructure. The EarthConsole® hosting service was used to speed up the process and provide a consistent and practical method to process the multi-temporal analyses to be later on compared with the in-situ river discharge

Paolo Filippucci, Researcher at IRPI CNR – Italy

 

The Impact

The ESA River Discharge Climate Change Initiative will greatly benefit the research community and society by using advanced satellite technology to monitor and analyse river ecosystems over time. This project provides crucial data on river flow and behaviour, helping to track and predict changes due to climate change. Researchers, environmentalists, and policymakers will gain valuable insights, enabling better decision-making for sustainable water management and climate resilience.

This project has been supported via the ESA Network of Resources initiative.

 

EGU 2024: training course on the P-SBAS DInSAR web tool for Earth surface deformation

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Earth surface deformation due to phenomena like volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, landslides, land subsidence due to fluid extraction activities or large infrastructure construction, can be effectively investigated using Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) sensors.

Through the SAR Interferometry (InSAR) technique, two radar images of the Earth’s surface are captured from slightly different angles. By comparing these images, detailed three-dimensional maps of the ground can be created, providing valuable insights into its topography.

When these images are taken at different times, employing the Differential SAR Interferometry (DInSAR) technique, it becomes possible to measure changes in the Earth’s surface over time.

One particularly effective method for tracking these changes is the Parallel Small BAseline Subset (P-SBAS) algorithm, developed at IREA-CNR.

During the EGU General Assembly 2024, on April 18th, IREA – CNR will be conducting a training course, organized with our support, on the P-SBAS DInSAR on-demand service integrated on the EarthConsole® platform.

In this training, you will be guided by IREA – CNR team experts on the Interferometric analysis and on the use of this tool to process both Sentinel-1 and ENVISAT SAR images in a fully unsupervised manner, all through the EarthConsole® P-PRO ON DEMAND web interface without the need to download data to your own processing and archiving systems.

You will also be introduced to the ESA Network of Resources (NoR) initiative that may sponsor scientific users to access the P-SBAS DInSAR on EarthConsole® free of charge.

Find more information on the course either online or on this flyer.

The entry into operation of the P-SBAS DInSAR for Sentinel-1 on-demand service represents an important opportunity for researchers studying Earth surface deformation as it complements the already operational P-SBAS DInSAR for ENVISAT on-demand service available through the ESA Heritage Missions Virtual Lab hosted on EarthConsole®.

This will enable researchers to generate time series and get insights into the evolution of Earth surface deformation over the years.

 How to access these services on EarthConsole®:

  • Log in/Register on the EarthConsole® webapp.
  • For P-SBAS DInSAR for Sentinel-1: fill in the P-PRO ON DEMAND form. We will use the information collected through the form to prepare a sponsorship request for the ESA Network of Resources initiative, that we will send you for your review and approval. If authorized by ESA, the NoR sponsorship would cover the cost of using the P-SBAS DInSAR for Sentinel-1 service within a 6-months time frame.
  • For P-SBAS DInSAR for ENVISAT: request a free of charge membership to the ESA Heritage Missions Virtual Lab. Upon authorization from ESA, you will receive 100 processing hours to start using the service.

If you need any clarification, please do not hesitate to get in touch at info@earthconsole.eu.

 

 

OCRE Project by CENTEC: more than a decade of processed CryoSat-2 and Sentinel-3 AB data over coastal zones available on ESA Altimetry Virtual Lab

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We are pleased to share the conclusion of the European Commission OCRE (Open Clouds for Research Environments) [1] financed project led by CENTEC (Centre for Marine Technology and Ocean Engineering) – Instituto Superior Técnico de Lisboa. With our support here at EarthConsole®, this project aimed at evaluating renewable wave energy resources in the coastal zone, employing advanced high-resolution altimetry products.

CENTEC selected EarthConsole® among the providers of the OCRE Earth Observation catalogue to process data over selected coastal zones and an extensive period of 11 years (from January 2011 to December 2022) for CryoSat-2 data and 7 years (from April 2016 to December 2022) for Sentinel-3 data. The processing was conducted using the ESA-ESRIN SARvatore services for CryoSat-2 and Sentinel-3, which allow users to customise the processing from L1a to L2 data products, and include a list a configurable options such as the one used for this project, the enhanced geophysical retrieval algorithm known as the SAMOSA+ model and retracker.

These services are available for both systematic and on-demand processing via the ESA Altimetry Virtual Lab hosted on EarthConsole®.

The ESA Altimetry Virtual Lab is the virtual space that offers customised services to process Synthetic Aperture Radar Altimetry from CryoSat-2, Sentinel-3 and Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich missions, providing a community space for simplified services access and knowledge-sharing.

The areas of interest processed for this project are delineated in the accompanying figure below. Green areas represent processing with both CryoSat-2 and Sentinel-3 data, yellow areas are exclusively related to CryoSat-2 data, and blue areas represent processing with Sentinel-3 data.

To download the datasets, we invite you to log into the Altimery Virtual Lab and visit its datasets repository. A free of charge subscription to the Lab will be required in case you are not yet a Lab Member.

We remind you that you could also have the chance to get the costs of the ESA Altimetry Virtual Lab services covered, by requesting a voucher to the ESA Network of Resources.

[1] OCRE receives funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement no. 824079

Picture including a measurement of the water level of a river.

EarthConsole® Stories: Monitoring water level changes in the Yangtze River using FF-SAR data

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EarthConsole® Stories are experiences about how we helped universities, research centres or service developers to leverage Earth Observation data to extract valuable insights for their research, educational or pre-commercial projects.

The Project

This study aims at using Sentinel-6 and Sentinel-3 FFSAR data for monitoring changes in water levels within the Yangtze River during the period of January 2019 to March 2023. A key objective of this study is to assess the precision of these datasets in the context of the Yangtze River, accomplished through comprehensive comparisons with both measured water level data and data sourced from alternative satellite monitoring systems.

In addition, the research extends into the topographical characteristics of the Yangtze River, involving a detailed analysis of waveform patterns and potential factors influencing transit points along the river. Furthermore, the study seeks to uncover the root causes behind the fluctuations in the Yangtze River’s water levels, achieving this by cross-referencing data with climate information.

The Need

The requirement at hand revolved around exploring the correlation between temporal and spatial changes in the Yangtze River’s water levels and climate change. Sentinel-3 and Sentinel-6 FFSAR data stood out for their renowned accuracy in monitoring river water level changes. To facilitate this investigation effectively, EarthConsole® offered the FFSAR (Fully Focused Synthetic Aperture Radar) processor for Sentinel-6 developed by Aresys, enabling to delve into this relationship.

Why EarthConsole®

In particular, the P-PRO (Parallel Processing) service within the ESA Altimetry Virtual Lab hosted on EarthConsole® has been selected to gain access to the FF-SAR processor to process Sentinel-6 L1a data on the Yangtze River Basin.

The EarthConsole® P-PRO service proved to be an ideal fit for our project, as it provided the reliable and readily available FF-SAR processor hosted on the platform. Furthermore, this service allowed us to entrust the processing management to EarthConsole® experts, allowing me to concentrate on my research and easily retrieve the results once they were ready.”

Shanmu Ma, Student at the Aerospace Information Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences – China

This project has been supported via the ESA Network of Resources initiative.

Banner with text saying EarthConsole 2023 wrapped.

EarthConsole® 2023 Wrapped: A Year in Review and Exciting Updates for 2024

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As we near the close of 2023, it is the perfect time to unwrap some of the highlights of this year, which has been nothing short of extraordinary for EarthConsole®.

We’ve been right there, sticking to our promise of helping the scientific community getting value added information from Earth Observation data.

Been at it for years, our dedication is still going strong today and will continue in 2024, bringing in new services and options for data processing.

The ESA Heritage Missions Virtual Lab: Unleashing the Potential of Retired Earth Observation Missions

We have proudly introduced the ESA Heritage Missions Virtual Lab, a new space on EarthConsole® dedicated to harnessing the vast potential of data from non-operational Earth Observation missions.

Even though these missions have retired, their data remain a goldmine for understanding current natural phenomena.

It’s a true honour to take on this responsibility from ESA, and we’re excited to have kicked things off with the On-Demand Small Baseline Subset for ENVISAT service by IREA – CNR to study the temporal evolution of natural or human induced surface deformation.

Right now, it’s the first (and only, for the moment) service in this Lab.

But we’ve got more processors lined up, since renowned research institutions have already manifested their interest in sharing their Heritage Missions data-based algorithms with our users’ community.

These are high on our priority list for integration in 2024, so keep an eye out for those updates!

And here’s the best part—subscribing to the Lab won’t cost you a penny. Once ESA gives the green light, you’ll have a head start with 100 free processing hours.

And if you have an algorithm of your own, let us know via our web app for a chance to be considered for a free integration into the Lab.

EarthConsole® on the ESA Network of Resources: Empowering Earth Observation Research and Educational projects, also in 2024

In 2023, we assisted 20 research and educational projects that received financial support from the ESA Network of Resources, allowing their teams to utilise our services free of charge.

It’s truly gratifying to see so many of our users taking advantage of this opportunity thanks to the scientific merit of their projects.

Looking ahead to 2024, we plan to add new services to the EarthConsole® offering such as the SBAS for Sentinel-1 on demand service based on the algorithm owned by IREA – CNR. We plan to make it available in the first quarter of next year.

And we’re also excited to share that the ESA Network of Resources will continue to offer sponsorship opportunities for research, educational, and pre-commercial projects.

To get your sponsorship request process started, first connect with us through our web app to ask for the desired services. You will find us on the other side, ready to guide you through the entire process, ensuring you get the financial and technical support you need.

ESA Altimetry Virtual Lab: A Growing Community of Altimetry Data Users

The ESA Altimetry Virtual Lab on EarthConsole® continues to thrive, with over 100 members and a repository of processed data exceeding 10 TB.

This year alone, the lab’s services contributed to the publication of 5 scientific papers, adding to the 40+ publications accessible via the open ESA Altimetry Virtual Lab library.

Joining this very active community is free and easy!

And for more details on the Lab’s altimetry SAR services and a glimpse into what lies ahead, you can check out the abstract from the recent poster session held at the AGU Annual Meeting in San Francisco.

OCRE-Funded Projects: Earth Observation Services for Extensive Processing Campaigns

We have proudly served as a service provider for two research projects funded through the OCRE (Open Clouds for Research Environments) initiative. These projects involved extensive data processing using the Altimetry Virtual Lab’s ESA-ESRIN SARvatore services for CryoSat-2 and Sentinel-3 missions.

The CENTEC-led project, focusing on renewable wave energy in the Atlantic Ocean, has recently concluded, and its outcomes are generously shared through the Altimetry Virtual Lab datasets repository.

At the same time, the ongoing project led by the Technical University of Denmark aims to produce an open-access dataset derived from past and future CryoSat-2 altimetry mission acquisitions over the polar ice caps. This ambitious goal here is to turn this dataset into the go-to reference standard for the radar altimetry research community studying polar oceans.

Get ready to welcome WIMEX into the EarthConsole® suite of services widening support for the scientific community

WIMEX (Wave Interaction Models EXploitation) is ready to step into the scene next year. This ESA initiative led by Sapienza University of Rome and contributed by us at Progressive Systems as a partner, proposes a brand-new framework designed to make your life easier by letting you develop, validate and use your forward and inverse electromagnetic wave interaction models through a systematic approach.

The WIMEX prototype is gearing up to make its debut, starting with a focus on forward and inverse models for soil moisture and snow water equivalent, in the second half of 2024.

At the moment we’re on the lookout for Earth Observation innovators like you to join the beta testing crew. If you want to be part of the action and help refine the prototype once it’s ready to roll, let us know.

As we wrap up this remarkable year, we’re already gearing up for an even more Earth Observation data-rich and service-packed 2024 in the world of Earth Sciences!

Thank you for your trust and continued support, which made it all possible.

In the meantime, it’s time to rest and wish you and your loved ones a joyous and Merry Christmas, filled with warmth and happiness.

Banner of the AGU Annual Meeting 2023 taking place in San Francisco from the 11th to the 15th of December 2023.

The ESA Altimetry Virtual Lab on EarthConsole® at the AGU Annual Meeting 2023

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The ESA Altimetry Virtual Lab hosted on EarthConsole® is set to take center stage at the AGU Annual Meeting 2023, offering a unique opportunity for attendees to delve into the world of its altimetry data processing services.

Dr. Jérôme Benveniste, the Lab’s initiator and Senior Advisor at the European Space Agency (ESA), is geared up to personally walk you through the online and on-demand services that make up the Lab’s portfolio during a dedicated poster session.

So if you will be in San Francisco for AGU 2023, mark your calendar for Thursday, 14 December 2023, from 14:10 to 18:30 PST, and head to Poster Hall A-C – South (Exhibition Level, South, MC) to discover:

  • The ESA-ESRIN SARvatore service for CS-2 and S-3 services, which allow users to customize the processing at L1b & L2 (a list of configurable options for, e.g., SAMOSA+/++ and ALES+ SAR retrackers, not yet available in the ESA Ground Segment).
  • The ESA SAMPY (Cryo-TEMPO project) for CryoSat-2 to append the SAMOSA+ retracker output to official CryoSat-2 Level-2 GOP products.
  • The TUDaBo SAR-RDSAR (TU Darmstadt–U Bonn SAR-Reduced SAR) for CS-2 and S-3. It allows users to generate reduced SAR, unfocused SAR & LRMC data, with configurable L1b & L2 processing options and retrackers (BMLE3, SINC2, TALES, SINCS, SINCS OV).
  • The TU München ALES+ SAR for CS-2 and S-3. It allows users to process official L1b data and produces L2 products by applying the empirical ALES+ SAR subwaveform retracker, including a dedicated Sea State Bias solution.
  • The Aresys Fully-Focused SAR for CS-2 & S-3, to produce L1b products with configurable options and appending the ALES+ FFSAR output.

And here’s the best part – if you’re not part of the Lab’s 100+users community, you can join for free.

We look forward to welcoming you to the ESA Altimetry Virtual Lab!