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Space4Climate members win funding for new ESA climate projects

News  |  01 November, 2020

Four new Earth Observation projects awarded to exploit the European Space Agency’s Climate Change Initiative (ESA CCI) datasets include two led by Space4Climate members and they will be showcased at next year’s UK-hosted COP26.

The projects are:

  • Post-Storm Beach Recovery (coastal management under extreme storms) led by members Telespazio UK
  • Cholera outbreaks and climate drivers (PODCAST-DEMO) led by members Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML) and National Centre for Earth Observation (NCEO)
  • Enhancing Adaptation and Resilience Against Multi-hazards along West Africa’s coasts (EARWAC) led by a group of early career researchers in Future Earth’s Ocean Knowledge Action Network, Nigeria
  • The City Explorer tool (ecosystem services for climate-resilient city planning) led by UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (UKCEH)

The funding has come from the ESA-Future Earth Joint Programme and the announcement coincided with the launch of ESA’s new interactive CCI data visualisation app which features stunning user-friendly visuals showing our changing planet through the eyes of Earth-orbiting satellites.

Susanne Mecklenburg, head of ESA’s Climate Office, said: “We aim to highlight the value of Earth observation for developing adaptation measures to climate change. The long-term datasets for key climate variables produced under ESA’s Climate Change initiative can enhance our understanding of how climate impacts are evolving in different regional contexts.

“With these projects we aim to bring the latest satellite-based climate data and analysis techniques closer to decision-makers, to co-develop tools for interpreting data to get the information they need.”

Marie-Fanny Racault, who is based at Plymouth Marine Laboratory and is leading the PODCAST-DEMO project, said:

“The PODCAST-DEMO web tool represents a very good opportunity to showcase the use of EO to inform environmental policy for safeguarding the natural environment and to highlight the value of EO for developing adaption measures to climate change, including at COP26.”

Andrew Iwanoczko, Head of Geo Information Marketing and Sales at Telespazio UK, which is leading the Post-Storm Beach Recovery Project, said: “Understanding the dynamics of climate change at the land-sea interface and developing adaptation strategies that do not rely on hard engineering represents a significant challenge for coastal towns, cities and communities across the world,”

“Telespazio is looking forward to better understanding how sea state information linked to earth observation shall allow for the anticipating of coastal erosion and accretion and its evolution through a changing climate scenario.”

You can read the full story on ESA Climate’s website