ESA Climate Office✓

Satellite datasets are easier to understand when changes become visible. 🛰️ Climate from Space is an interactive web app that uses over forty years of satellite observations to create animated globes and maps. Users can view and interact with data over time, compare global datasets, and explore the stories that explain the satellite science behind the visualisations. Learn more:

Missed our SATACI webinar with Marta Luffarelli? Here are three takeaways: 🛰 Co-location choices matter: aerosol–cloud relationships vary according to region, height, season, surface type, time lag, resolution and data product. 📊 Stratification and uncertainty propagation help to make satellite-based results more robust. 🌍 Initial results suggest that a satellite-based aerosol–cloud indicator could be used to track aerosol-related radiative effects at regional and global scales. Watch the recording here:

Snowfall, melting, glacier flow and iceberg calving all shape Antarctica’s ice sheet. Satellite observations and climate models help scientists understand how the balance between these processes could affect future sea-level rise. In our new format "3 Questions with…", climate scientist Dr Ruth Mottram shares insights into her latest research. Swipe through the carousel. 🧊

Amazon fires do more than release carbon.🔥 Pollutants from fires can form ground-level ozone, which damages surviving trees and reduces the forest’s ability to absorb carbon. A new study, supported by ESA's Climate Change Initiative, estimates that this indirect loss equals about 24% of fires’ direct carbon emissions. Read more:

Only 1 day left to register! Join Frank Paul on 21 October at 16:00 CEST for an in-depth look at glacier changes in the Karakoram region, and how satellite data helps scientists to understand the dynamics, surges and mass balance of an area where field measurements are very limited. Register here:

Rivers respond directly to changes in rainfall, drought and evaporation, making them valuable indicators of climate change. Using satellite records of river water levels and flow rates from ESA's Climate Change Initiative spanning the period from 2000 to 2020, researchers improved simulations of the Niger and Congo river basins.🛰️ The data can be used to refine water-cycle monitoring and support future flood and drought forecasting. Read the paper:

What makes the glacial changes in the Karakoram region so complex? In our next webinar, Frank Paul will address three key questions: 🗻 How have glaciers changed in recent decades? 🗻 Is the Karakoram Anomaly caused by climate trends? 🗻 What do we know about glacier surges in the Karakoram? Register for 21 October at 16:00 CEST via this link:

Long-term satellite records and improved retrieval algorithms are a fundamental component of climate services. Yesterday, @CAlbergel, Head of the European Space Agency’s Actionable Climate Information Section, joined a panel at the 10th Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service General Assembly in Athens, hosted by @CopernicusECMWF. The discussion highlighted why sustained observations, research and development matter, including research supported through ESA’s Climate Change Initiative on aerosols, clouds, long-lived greenhouse gases and methane emissions from individual facilities. 🛰️

Meet Frank Paul from the University of Zurich. As the science lead on the cross-ECV Karakoram Anomaly and Glaciers_CCI+ projects, he specialises in the intersection of glacier mapping, mass-balance modelling, and satellite-based change assessment. In his webinar on 21 October, he will share insights from one of the world's least data-rich glacier regions. Interested? Secure your spot here:

Satellite aerosol observations span several generations of instruments, each with different capabilities. A new conceptual analysis by Thomas Popp from @DLR_de, building on two decades of work through ESA's Climate Change Initiative, maps a route towards self-consistent satellite aerosol records from around 1980 to 2030.🛰️ The chart shows four satellite sensors measuring aerosol amount from 1996–2024: same pattern as the ground reference, but with a visible gap and small differences. 💡Combining sensors can strengthen the record. Read more:

Long-term satellite records can help climate models better represent change on land. 🛰️ At the 6th Annual Land Data Assimilation Community Virtual Workshop on 27-28 October, @CAlbergel will discuss how ESA's Climate Change Initiative supports this work by bringing satellite observations and models together. Register for free by 23 October:

Glaciers in the Karakoram region show complex and region-specific patterns of change. 🗻 Join our next ESA Climate Change Initiative webinar with Frank Paul on 21 October 2026 at 16:00 CEST to learn how satellite data can be used to monitor glacier dynamics, and to find out what the initial results of the cross-ECV Karakoram Anomaly project reveal. Register here:

Crossing the 1.5°C threshold increases the risk of cascading, potentially irreversible climate impacts. The '10 New Insights in Climate Science' report by @FutureEarth , The Earth League and WCRP highlights significant developments to inform critical decisions in the coming decade.📝 Scientists working through ESA's Climate Change Initiative contributed as authors and reviewers. Satellite observations and long-term global climate records also informed several of the report’s findings. 🛰️ Read more here and join today's webinar presenting the report at 14:00 BST:

New study shows: Lake Kariba’s basins respond differently to low water levels. Using a novel integrated approach combining satellite data, including data from ESA's Climate Change Initiative Lakes project, with a 3D model across 14 years, researchers found that 💧 the upstream basin is particularly sensitive and 💧 downstream waters are more stable Read the full study: Image: Greife, A. J., Calamita, E., Pinardi, M., Carrea, L., Maidment, R. I., Pitarch, J., et al. (2026). How water levels shape phytoplankton blooms across Lake Kariba, 2004–2018. The heatmaps compare weekly changes in algae growth across the reservoir’s three basins. Symbols mark years with low, medium and high water levels. The maps show where persistent bloom hotspots occurred most frequently under each water-level condition. Satellite datasets from the European Space Agency’s Climate Change Initiative underpin the analysis.

Find out more about the Lakes project:

Help shape the next generation of global satellite climate records! 🛰️ ESA is inviting proposals for research and development across essential climate variables to support climate science, modelling, mitigation, adaptation and operational climate services. Up to 20 contracts are expected to be funded as part of this initiative. Read more and submit your proposal by 16 December 2026 at 13:00 CET:

Irrigation leaves a detectable pattern in soil moisture. 💧 ESA-funded research used satellite observations and irrigation-off model simulations to map major irrigated regions across the contiguous United States. The new method identifies irrigation’s distinctive pattern in soil moisture over time, rather than only direct differences in soil moisture. Results more closely matched official state-level water-use statistics than the existing map alone. 📊 Find the paper here:

Meet Prof. Ruth Mottram, Principal Investigator of ESA PISCO project and polar climate scientist at the Danish Meteorological Institute and honorary professor at Aarhus University. She combines satellite Earth observation with regional climate modelling to study snow, melt and surface processes across the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets as well as their role in sea-level rise. Secure your spot for 16:00 CEST today:

Polar ice sheets play a crucial role in the climate system, yet they remain a major source of uncertainty in sea-level rise projections. In our next ESA Climate Change Initiative webinar on 28 September 2026 at 16:00 CEST, Prof. Ruth Mottram will introduce PISCO (Processes for Ice Sheets in Climate models and Earth Observation) and demonstrate how satellite Earth observation and high-resolution regional climate models can be used to track snow, ice and atmosphere feedback over Greenland and Antarctica. 📆 28 Sept 2026, 16:00 CEST Register here: