Memorandum 36
Submission from the Natural Environment
Research Council (NERC)
1. The Natural Environment Research Council
(NERC) welcomes the opportunity to comment.
2. NERC is one of the UK's eight Research
Councils. It funds and carries out impartial scientific research
in the sciences of the environment. NERC trains the next generation
of independent environmental scientists. Its priority research
areas are: Earth's life-support systems, climate change, and sustainable
economies.
3. NERC's research centres are: the British
Antarctic Survey (BAS), the British Geological Survey (BGS), the
Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH) and the Proudman Oceanographic
Laboratory (POL). Details of these and of NERC's collaborative
centres can be found at www.nerc.ac.uk.
4. NERC's comments are based on input from
Earth Observation (EO) staff, following consultation with NERC's
EO Centres of Excellence and BAS.
5. We hope that the Committee does not mind
our addressing the subject areas in a different order from that
in the inquiry announcement, so that the different areas follow
more logically in the NERC context.
SUPPORT FOR
SPACE-RELATED
RESEARCH AND
THE UK SKILLS
BASE
6. A key challenge for environmental sciences
today is to understand the Earth system as a whole. Modern research
is exposing complex interactions between the planet's physical,
chemical and biological components. We also know that human activity
is changing the Earth system. Unravelling these interactions and
feedbacks is central to NERC's overall science strategy. To help
achieve this, NERC maintains a vigorous and effective Earth Observation
(EO) Programme. Satellite-borne instrumentation plays a crucial
role in overcoming the historical difficulty of obtaining accurate,
continuous, synoptic and simultaneous measurements of the Earth's
atmosphere, oceans, ice sheets, land surface and interior.
NERC's EO Programme—overview
7. NERC's Earth Observation Programme supports
the delivery and exploitation of EO data in environmental sciences
across NERC's portfolio, through funding scientific research focusing
on various aspects of the Earth system. NERC's activities in EO
are taken forward within the framework of a dedicated EO Strategy
(2004-09), with activities brigaded as follows:
— the exploitation of current satellite
observations; mainly taken forward through seven EO Centres of
Excellence, focussing on the use of EO data to monitor both global
and regional changes in the environment, and to develop a detailed
understanding of these changes so that future environmental conditions
can be predicted;
— support for new satellite observations;
primarily taken forward through NERC's subscription to the European
Space Agency's environmental sciences programme; and
— definition and support for longer-term
technology for future satellite observations; taken forward (i)
through NERC's subscription to the European Space Agency's technology
programmes such as the Technology Research Programme (TRP) and
(ii) through the development of instrumentation for planned EO
missions and the preparation of science-driven concepts and technologies
for future missions on a national level through the Centre for
EO Instrumentation in collaboration with other government department,
and (iii) through dedicated instrument development investments
in collaboration with international space agencies.
8. NERC provides the UK's subscription (~£34
million per annum) to the European Space Agency's (ESA) environmental
sciences programmes, namely the Earth Observation Envelope Programme
(EOEP) and Envisat/ERS operations, and a share of the UK's subscription
to the general budget, covering more cross-cutting functions (administration,
technology development, archiving, at around £7 million per
annum). NERC also contributes to the UK's subscription to the
first phase of the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security
Space Component Programme (GMES SCP, £2.2 million over three
years), together with Defra (who lead on the programme and provide
the biggest share of the subscription), DTI and MoD.
9. NERC invests approximately £10 million
annually in EO activities at a national level (including direct
EO Programme spend, responsive-mode grants, and facilities), the
majority of which is spent on the exploitation of EO data. This
complements NERC's contribution to a "global observing system"
through its membership of ESA. NERC's investments within the UK
on technology development aim to strengthen the UK's capability
for instrument development in support of future scientific requirements
in an international, mainly ESA, context. This is intended to
maximise the benefits to the UK's environmental sciences community
from NERC's investments in ESA.
Review of NERC EO Activities
10. NERC conducted a comprehensive sectoral
review of EO investments in September 2005[46].
The review panel comprised both UK and international independent
experts. Their report, which identified a number of challenges
for NERC and potential solutions to address these, also offered
broad positive support for NERC's EO activities. A particular
element commended by the panel was the EO Centres of Excellence
Programme, where the following summary statement was offered:
"...the Centres of Excellence are an exemplary, even enviable
initiative and their programmes of work are both scientifically
and operationally effective. All seven were considered to be completely
aligned with NERC's highest science priorities, and six were judged
as being a 4/a 5..." (ie excellent or outstanding).
11. NERC's response to the review panel's
recommendations is currently being implemented. An important plank
of this is the establishment of a National Centre for EO (by February
2008). The National Centre will be led by a Science Director who
will have overall responsibility for taking forward NERC's EO
Centres of Excellence activities and for building strong and effective
links with all other elements of the NERC EO programme[47].
Supporting the UK's skill base
12. Strengthening and broadening the trained
community is an important objective in the NERC EO Strategy 2004-09,
underlining the strategic importance of extending the use of EO
techniques across a broad spectrum of UK environmental sciences.
NERC's current suite of (seven) EO Centres of Excellence focuses
not only on the exploitation of EO data but also on building capacity
in the research community. Acting as a UK focus in their particular
scientific areas, each Centre aims to strengthen and broaden the
skills base, for example through providing training opportunities
for PhD students. In addition to the funding of dedicated studentships,
the Centres also organise and run workshops and summer schools.
NERC has also supported several academic posts in EO through the
Earth Observation Science Initiative and has held annual workshops
for the EO community since 2003.
13. A recent assessment of activities and
spending on EO within NERC outside the dedicated EO Programme
budgets has shown that the number of grants using EO has increased
considerably over time, which provides evidence of a growing community.
The assessment also showed that the uptake of EO data and techniques
has increased in non-traditional EO areas such as marine and Earth
sciences.
14. NERC and DTI are jointly supporting
the establishment of a new Centre for EO Instrumentation (see
paragraph 22), which will provide support to Knowledge Transfer
and skills development in HEIs, institutes and industry, in line
with processes advocated in DTI's Innovation Review and Technology
Strategy.
THE BENEFITS
AND VALUE
FOR MONEY
OBTAINED FROM
PARTICIPATION IN
THE EUROPEAN
SPACE AGENCY
AND OTHER
INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMMES
NERC's subscription to the European Space Agency's
environmental science programmes
15. NERC's scientific objectives relate
to a wide range of aspects of the Earth System. The global scale
of these issues demands international collaboration and cooperation,
both with regard to establishing a global observing system and
providing an underpinning knowledge base. For example, the contribution
NERC makes to ESA's environmental sciences programmes enables
it to secure access to a comprehensive portfolio of observations
that would not be affordable on a national basis and which makes
a valuable contribution to the delivery of a wide range of NERC's
scientific objectives. Essentially, such participation delivers
a significant gearing of funds and allows the NERC community to
draw on a very much wider pool of relevant scientific and technological
expertise.
16. ESA's EO Envelope Programme (EOEP) represents
NERC's primary means of procuring new missions. EOEP mainly funds
the development and operation of innovative Earth Explorer science
missions, providing EO data in support of environmental science
covering a broad range of scientific subjects.[48]
The scientific objectives of EOEP, as identified in the ESA EO
Science Strategy[49],
are substantially similar to those of NERC. NERC also supports
the operations of ERS-2 and Envisat, both carrying a wide range
of instruments monitoring various components of the Earth's environment.
17. GMES is a joint initiative of the European
Commission (EC) and ESA and aims to provide independent access
to information for decision makers in order to advance European
and national environment and security policy agendas. GMES is
also recognised as the major European contribution to the international
Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS—see below).
18. The rationale for NERC's involvement
in the GMES Space Component Programme (SCP) as a supporting partner
(behind the Defra lead) is based primarily on: (i) the need for
data continuity and access to long-term environmental data sets
for scientific research; (ii) the active participation and influence
of the environmental science community in the design and development
of GMES instruments and technologies; and (iii) a recognition
that the transition from research to operational missions needs
some support while the customer base is evolving. The GMES SCP
comprises a variety of missions that are likely to contribute
to the achievement of a wide range of NERC's scientific objectives,
particularly in the area of climate change and in the study of
the Earth system.[50]
19. In addition to its value for NERC scientists,
GMES offers a suitable vehicle for the transfer of NERC science
and technology to operational use and for the uptake of NERC science
at both national and European levels.
NERC'S INVOLVEMENT
IN THE
GROUP ON
EARTH OBSERVATIONS
(GEO) AND THE
GLOBAL EARTH
OBSERVATION SYSTEM
OF SYSTEMS
(GEOSS)
20. GEO is an international partnership
comprising 62 member countries, including the UK, the EC and 43
participating organisations leading a worldwide effort to build
a Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) over the
next 10 years. The GEO approach is to put in place a framework
to facilitate the co-ordination of current and future global EO
investments to deliver synergy and increased benefits. GEOSS will
work with and build upon existing national, regional (eg GMES)
and international systems to provide comprehensive Earth observations
from satellite borne and in situ instruments worldwide for the
benefit of science and society. GEOSS is structured around delivering
to nine key societal benefit areas, all of which are relevant
to NERC's scientific agenda, including in the areas of natural
disasters, climate change, water resources, ecosystems, desertification
and biodiversity.
21. NERC is actively involved in a raft
of the participating organisations within GEO, and provides a
wide ranging input to GEOSS through this route. NERC is also a
member of the UK delegation to the GEO Plenary process, alongside
Met Office and Defra. Effective engagement by NERC in GEOSS over
the next 10 years is likely to deliver significant benefits through
the provision of access to important global data sets, across
a wide range of relevant disciplines and themes.
Collaboration with international space agencies
22. Historically, NERC has supported dedicated
technology and instrument development in collaboration with international
space agencies with major investments for three instruments: the
Geostationary Earth Radiation Budget (GERB) instrument flying
on Eumetsat's Meteosat Second Generation mission[51],
the High Resolution Dynamic Limb Sounder (HIRDLS) flying on NASA's
AURA mission[52]
and the Along Track Scanning Radiometers (ATSR-1/2) flying on
ESA's ERS-1/2 missions.[53]
All of these instruments advance certain aspects of research in
the climate change area.
THE IMPACT
OF CURRENT
LEVELS OF
INVESTMENT ON
SPACE-RELATED
ACTIVITIES ON
THE UK'S
INTERNATIONAL COMPETITIVENESS
IN THIS
SECTOR
23. NERC's primary interest with regard
to its ESA contribution lies in assuring scientific excellence
in the mission selection and thus maximising scientific benefits
for the UK's environmental sciences community, whilst recognising
that ESA's modus operandi is based on geo-return.
24. NERC aims to achieve the right balance
and complementarity between its national and international investments
in EO in terms of provision and contribution to a global observing
system and the exploitation of EO data deriving from such a system
(mainly through the EO Centres of Excellence Programme and the
future National Centre for EO).
25. The UK has been particularly successful
in proposing and leading ESA EOEP Explorer missions. Two of the
presently approved six Explorer missions are led by Principle
Investigators from the UK—CryoSat is led by Prof. Duncan
Wingham from UCL and EarthCARE is led by Prof. Anthony Illingworth
from Reading University. In response to the most recent call to
select the 7th Explorer mission, six missions have been shortlisted
as candidate missions, with a final selection due in 2008. Two
of the six candidate missions are led by the UK, PREMIER is led
by Dr. Brian Kerridge from RAL and BIOMASS is led by Prof. Shaun
Quegan from Sheffield University. In the cases of BIOMASS and
CryoSat, there is also a direct link to the EO Centres of Excellence
Programme and thus to the exploitation of the resulting observations
since both investigators are also Directors of an NERC EO Centre
of Excellence.
26. The UK is promoting a concept to establish
a Distributed Data Assimilation Research Centre (DDARC) across
European institutions, building on the expertise of one of the
NERC Centres of Excellence: The Data Assimilation[54]
Research Centre (DARC). The ESA has issued an invitation to tender
to determine the potential benefits of such a structure and the
UK is leading a multi-institutional, multi-national, consortium
bid in response.
27. UK scientists play an active role in
the calibration and validation activities for the ESA Explorer
missions and in exploiting EO data derived from ESA's ERS-1/2
and Envisat missions, which form the basis of a large number of
scientific publications.
THE MAXIMISATION
OF COMMERCIAL
BENEFITS AND
WEALTH CREATION
FROM UK SPACE-BASED
TECHNOLOGIES THROUGH
INNOVATION AND
KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER
28. NERC and DTI are jointly supporting
a Centre for Earth EO Instrumentation. The procurement process
is underway. The Centre will be expected to provide an excellent,
internationally competitive instrument and instrument technology
research and development programme, clearly driven by longer-term
NERC science objectives, the NERC Earth Observation strategy and
the capabilities within UK Industry. The Centre will provide a
demonstrable UK focus for scientific and technical collaboration
between the academic and industrial communities and will strengthen
the UK's capability for instrument development in support of future
scientific requirements addressed by international Earth Observation
missions. The Centre is intended to forge partnership with further
users with common technology interests, such as PPARC, Met Office
and DEFRA. It is geared towards supporting NERC's success in other
technology programmes such as ESA's Technology Research Programme
(TRP) and the cross-council Basic Technology programme.
29. The more focused Centre for EO Instrumentation
approach was preceded by the New Observing Techniques Programme,
a competitive grants scheme to encourage the development of novel
EO instrumentation and techniques and aiming towards positioning
the UK in an international context, with special regard to ESA.
The New Observing Techniques Programme was part of a coordinated
approach together with DTI's NEWTON and SMS programmes, with the
aim of aligning scientific research and technology development.
30. A further scheme run in collaboration
with DTI is the EO LINK programme. It supported innovative, pre-competitive
research into applications of EO data carried out by partnerships
of academia and industry.
31. NERC has a dedicated knowledge transfer
(KT) strategy which focuses on maximising the transfer of all
forms of knowledge arising from NERC-funded science to its users.
NERC established a variety of tools to facilitate KT activities.
The EO community has been successful in securing some enabling
funding from these schemes for, for example, establishing a network
for calibration and validation of EO data or funding a translator/facilitator
position to support collaboration between academic institutions
and government departments in the area of forestry.
THE DELIVERY
OF PUBLIC
BENEFITS FROM
THE SPACE-RELATED
ACTIVITIES OF
DIFFERENT GOVERNMENT
DEPARTMENTS (EG
DEFRA, MOD, DTI, DFT),
AND THE
CO-ORDINATION
OF THESE
ACTIVITIES
32. As a key funder of space activities,
NERC is a member of the UK Space Board, along with PPARC (currently
the chair), DTI, Met Office and MoD. NERC attaches importance
to the work of the Space Board and believes that the Board offers
an appropriate forum for the consideration of high-level civil
space issues and for the provision of a strategic steer to the
British National Space Centre (BNSC).
33. NERC is one of the partners of BNSC[55]
and works through this partnership to ensure coordination of efforts
and to maximize the benefits for the UK from its investments in
civil space activities. This coordinated approach enables the
partners to drive international developments and programmes. Particular
areas for collaboration have included:
— Working with PPARC and DTI to drive
and influence the focus of ESA programmes;
— The coordination of the UK's GMES
programme subscription to ESA with Defra, DTI and MoD;
— Joint funding and close working with
BNSC partners to facilitate the UK's chair of the Committee for
EO Satellites (CEOS) in 2004-05;
— Contributing to the Group on EO (GEO)
process together with the Met Office and Defra;
— Supporting common technology development
across the partnership through funding, together with DTI, a Centre
for EO Instrumentation.
34. The EO sector review panel assessed
the relationship between NERC and BNSC and in particular commented
on the fact that "...The Director EO post is a dual NERC/BNSC
appointment, and the Team voiced its support for this arrangement,
considering it an important mechanism for achieving a successful
BNSC partnership and enabling fulfilment of NERC's major scientific
and funding responsibilities..."
35. Within the BNSC partnership, NERC leads
on EO-related scientific activities through contributing to a
global observing system, mainly via its subscription to ESA, supporting
scientific research in areas such as climate change and prediction,
one of the UK government's priority areas, along with other areas
of public interest and benefit.
36. A key example is CryoSat, the first
ESA Earth Explorer Opportunity Mission to be selected, which will
be launched in spring 2009[56].
The mission is led by Professor Duncan Wingham from University
College London and is closely linked to NERC's Centre for Polar
Observation and Modelling (CPOM). CryoSat will be the first satellite
designed specifically to map ice thickness. A sophisticated radar
instrument will determine variations in the thickness of the Earth's
continental ice sheets and marine ice cover—to an accuracy
of a few centimetres. Its primary objective is to test the prediction
of thinning arctic ice due to global warming, which could change
the climate of the Arctic and possibly other regions. In addition,
it is important to understand the extent to which the Antarctic
and Greenland ice sheets have contributed to the global rise in
sea level.
37. Also, scientists from the NERC's Centre
for the Observation and Modelling of Earthquakes and Tectonics
(COMET) and the Geological Survey of Iran have carried out substantial
research into the cause of the devastation caused by the Bam earthquake.
The magnitude 6.5 earthquake on 26 December 2003 destroyed the
town of Bam in southern Iran and killed more than 26,000 people.
COMET scientists have demonstrated (and were involved in developing
this technique using radar data from ESA's Envisat satellite)
that interferograms, maps showing the deformation of the Earth's
surface, can be used to measure the small rates of strain accumulation
that occur between earthquakes. Measurements of slow movements
in the years immediately following large earthquakes provide information
about the mechanical properties of the crust and uppermost mantle.
The techniques developed and work carried out by COMET support
the improvement of predictions for and thus prevention of further
such natural disasters. This work was selected as a Top Science
Achievement of NERC funded research in 2005.
October 2006
46 For a full report see http://www.nerc.ac.uk/funding/earthobs/documents/eoreviewreport05.pdf. Back
47
For futher details see http://www.nerc.ac.uk/publications/latestpressrelease/2006-47earthobservation.asp Back
48
See http://www.esa.int/esaLP/LPearthexp.html and http://www.esa.int/esaLP/ESADQ0UHN6D-LPfuturemis-0.html
for further details on the approved and candidate Explorer missions
respectively. Back
49
See http://esamultimedia.esa.int/docs/SP-1234.pdf for ESA's Strategy
for EO. The strategy is in the process of being updated in consultation
with the European science community. The updated strategy will
be presented at the next ESA Programme Board meeting for EO. The
new strategy-`The Changing Earth-New Scientific Challenges for
ESA's Living Planet Programme' (ESA SP-1304 )- will be published
until the end of 2006. Back
50
The GMES missions will provide data, which will e.g. enable NERC
scientists to study and model ice sheet dynamics, support work
on earthquakes and vulcanology and look at the role of the land
and the biosphere in the Earth system. They will also provide
long-term data sets for ocean sea-surface temperature, surface
states, altimetry and ocean colour. Two of the GMES missions will
be relevant to NERC in providing a route to the operational delivery
of global data sets on atmospheric chemistry. Back
51
NERC funded the first GERB in a series of 4 instruments (subsequent
instruments are funded by Eumetsat) that will monitor the energy
balance and climate of the Earth over the next two decades. GERB
was selected as a Top Science Achievement of NERC funded
research in 2003, recognising its major contribution to one of
NERC's science priorities, namely climate change-predicting and
mitigating the impact. Back
52
NERC's investment in the development of the ATSR instruments
and the follow-on Advanced ATSR (AATSR) instrument flying on board
Envisat (funded by DEFRA) has initiated a 15-years time series
of globally and continuously measured sea-surface temperatures
from space with a high accuracy, which is demanded by the improved
ability to model and the need to monitor climate trends. Back
53
HIRDLS is measuring temperatures and atmospheric composition,
including ozone, water vapour and aerosol particulates in the
upper layers of the atmosphere to understand processes affecting
climate change. HIRDLS is delivering unique measurements, revealing
processes that are unobservable by current satellite instruments. Back
54
Data assimilation: Observation data for the Earth system are
obtained from a variety of sources, including satellites. The
data are of different types (eg temperature, wind, ozone) and
to get the maximum benefit from these data, we need to find a
method to combine them. Data assimilation is such a method. It
is a technique in which the data are combined with output (forecasts)
from a model of the evolving atmosphere (for example) to produce
an optimal representation of the evolving state of the atmosphere. Back
55
For further details on the BNSC partnership see http://www.bnsc.gov.uk/default.aspx?nid=3193. Back
56
The original launch date for the Cryosat mission was October
2005. Due to an anomaly at launch the mission was lost. ESA's
Programme Board for EO decided to rebuild the mission, strongly
supported by the scientific community and international organisations,
clearly emphasising the scientific and public value of such a
unique mission. Back
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