Memorandum 111
Supplementary submission from the Natural
Environment Research Council (NERC)
The European Space Agency (ESA) Earth Observation
Envelope Programme (EOEP) is set to deliver six so-called Earth
Explorer missions over the next five years. These will make an
enormous contribution to the number of areas where space data
can be used to address key environmental research issues. As detailed
in NERC's written evidence, two missions are led by principal
investigators from the UK:
— Cryosat will test the prediction
of thinning arctic ice due to global warming, which could change
the climate of the Arctic and possibly other regions; and
— EarthCARE, a joint European-Japanese
mission, will address the need for a better understanding of the
interactions between cloud, radiative and aerosol processes that
play a role in climate regulation.
The four further approved missions will, respectively:
— provide the best ever survey of the
geomagnetic field and its temporal evolution, and gain new insights
into the Earth's interior and climate (SWARM);
— measure the Earth's gravity field
and model the geoid with extremely high accuracy and spatial resolution,
crucial for deriving accurate measurements of ocean circulation,
sea-level change and terrestrial ice dynamics, all of which are
affected by climate change (GOCE). The geoid is also used as a
reference surface from which to map all topographical features
on the planet;
— provide global observations of wind
profiles from space to improve the quality of weather forecasts,
and to advance our understanding of atmospheric dynamics and climate
processes (ADM); and
— observe soil moisture over the Earth's
landmasses and salinity over the oceans to enable hydrological
studies vital for improving our understanding of ocean circulation
patterns (SMOS).
The two UK-led candidate missions for the next
round of the Explorer programme, PREMIER and BIOMASS, would look
at atmospheric chemistry and forest biomass, respectively.
2. It is clear from the input from my co-witnesses
(Mr Douglas and Professor Dalton) during the oral evidence session
on 7 February that both the Met Office and Defra make regular
use of data from satellite-based observations. On the latter (Defra),
you may wish to note that, as part of the UK's Countryside Survey
2007, which is funded largely by NERC and Defra, a new version
of the national land cover map will be produced where satellite
land cover data will be integrated with data from the Ordnance
Survey's MasterMap to produce a parcel-based land cover map. This
will be a world first for the UK and will provide many new opportunities
for both public and private sector groups.
3. Raising the awareness of Government departments
to the potential uses that they might make of such data is clearly
important if Earth observations are to be exploited effectively
in the policy arena. I am aware that DTI, through BNSC, have recognised
this need and have run an activity, known as GIFTSS (Government
Information From The Space Sector), for a number of years which
aims to encourage greater use by the public sector of space data
products and services. As I understand it, this initiative has
so far supported six pilot projects across four Government departments
and there are a number of new projects currently in the pipeline.
4. Finally, the instruments that I was referring
to in my oral response are largely those to be flown on the ESA's
forthcoming Explorer missions, as detailed in point 1 above. Significant
new research opportunities will be realised by the exploitation
of the associated observations. In the cases of CryoSat, BIOMASS
and/or PREMIER, these will be supported by a strong link to NERC's
Earth Observation (EO) Centres of Excellence Programme. Additionally,
as identified by both Professor Quegan and Professor Wingham in
their oral evidence, the scientific community has made great advances
in amalgamating different datasets so that the range of problems
to which those datasets can be applied can be further broadened.
This trend will be reinforced through the establishment of NERC's
new National Centre for Earth Observation (from April 2008), which
will, amongst other things, integrate expertise already nurtured
through NERC's Centres of Excellence programme.
May 2007
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