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Understanding biodiversity is among the most challenging intellectual and scientific puzzles facing mankind today. Nearly every economic sector around the planet has an impact on biodiversity or its conservation status. This is why the EU funds research in this domain and will continue to do so with the launch in 2007 of the EU’s next Seventh Framework Research Programme (FP7).

Biodiversity rests on a vastly complex nexus of social, economic, cultural, and ecological dimensions that embrace huge scales in terms of space and time. The threat to biodiversity’s richness is global but many of its pressures and drivers are local, which means that potential solutions often require detailed local or regional knowledge.
This scientific and intellectual challenge is borne out by the wide range of research projects in the Commission’s last two Framework Programmes. Together FP5 and FP6 have devoted € 170 million to research regarding biodiversity and ecosystems.
Five major FP6 projects will be showcased during the upcoming 8th Conference of the Parties to the Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD) in March in Curitiba, Brazil. The projects on display will offer a cross-cut of EU-supported research results that support implementation of the CBD’s work programmes and action plans to combat the ongoing loss of biodiversity.
Diversity of biodiversity projects
The EU contribution for the major FP6 projects, which have a lifetime up to 5 years, is often more than € 10 million per project. One example is ALARM, which is assessing the large-scale environmental risks for biodiversity posed by climate change, biological invasions, pollinator loss, environmental chemicals and socio-economic pressure. Another is HERMES whose researchers are studying the biodiversity, structure, function and dynamics of ecosystems along Europe’s deep-ocean margin. The MARBEF network links 82 European marine institutes together and disseminates information among them regarding marine biodiversity and ecosystem function. ALTER-Net is building a long-term biodiversity, ecosystem and awareness research network from case studies across seven countries, while EDIT is integrating European taxonomic efforts to create a top-class European virtual centre of excellence in this field.
MARINE GENOMICS offers new investigative methods regarding the biology of marine organisms and a web-based interface to bio-informatics data management and data analysis tools. The EVOLTREE network ties together 14 countries, 32 partners, 37 laboratories and 204 researchers working in forest genomics, genetics and terrestrial ecosystems. One of its aims is to create a European platform in population genomics of forest trees.
FP5 and FP6 also supported many smaller Specific Targeted Projects and Co-ordination Activities in biodiversity. Information about most of these projects dealing with terrestrial and freshwater biodiversity can be found on the websites of BIOTA and FP5 marine projects.
Conclusion
It is imperative that the international community pull together in halting the globe’s declining biodiversity. The continuing loss will make it impossible to achieve sustainable growth, and will seriously compromise our ability to attain the UN’s Millennium Development Goals regarding poverty, hunger, human health and water quantity and quality. To remain competitive each economy must take care of its natural environment. Indeed, nine out of ten European citizens say we have a duty to protect nature even if this means limiting human progress. By firmly carrying biodiversity research into FP7, Europe can remain competitive in key sectors such as bio-computing, complexity theory and dynamics of emergent systems. Research will also maintain Europe’s capacity to buffer our life-support systems from unwanted change, thus safeguarding our economic and social futures.
(Credits Europa)

Increasingly, space applications are seen as crucial tools for tackling the world’s social, technical and environmental problems. On 19-20 April 2006, the GMES (Global Monitoring for Environment and Security) Conference in Graz, Austria, addressed the question of how a market for GMES services can be created. The role of European regions and public entities, crucial users of GMES services, was highlighted.

“The command and appropriate use of information has important geo-strategic implications,“ said Heinz Zourek, Director-General of the Commission’s Enterprise and Industry Directorate-General, “and Europe needs to have available a capacity which allows it independently to evaluate its policy responses in a reliable and timely manner. A comprehensive Earth observing system, using space-borne and in situ techniques on land, in the air and at sea, through well-defined operational services, is key to ensuring the implementation and monitoring of environmental and security policies in the context of sustainable development.”
According to Zourek, GMES will answer essential questions, such as:
* How efficient is EU land use?
* How attractive is our living environment, for both residents and investors?
* How secure are our resources, i.e. crops, fish stocks, water and energy?
* What is the risk of natural or human-made disasters and are we prepared?
* What are the real impacts of our political decisions, in agriculture, infrastructures and spatial planning?
* What our alternatives?
A wide-ranging agenda
The Graz GMES conference, attended by over 200 participants, tackled a number of pressing issues still to be resolved before GMES gets off the ground. Sessions covered important topics, including:
* The European and International Context of GMES;
* The current and future GMES market;
* Creating a market in Europe;
* Public and private demand;
* The role of the regions;
* The characteristics of the security market;
* GMES value for money;
* The role of governance in organising user needs.
One clear message was the confirmation of GMES as the most important space application programme of the coming years. Continuity was assured concerning its high place on the political agenda of the Austrian Presidency up to at least the German Presidency in 2007.
The role of the European Commission in federating users was also confirmed. User communities must be organised, as are the weather service user communities today, starting with the three ‘fast track’ services – emergency response, land monitoring and marine services – but including others in the longer term.
Crucially, EU funding under the upcoming Seventh Research Framework Programme (FP7) is considered insufficient. Funding under other user Directorate-General budgets will also have to be explored. A specific funding line for the GMES space infrastructure is also now requested by some conference participants and the national capacities of Member States must be factored in.
Investment remains key
Attending the conference were officials from both public (EUMETSAT, OECD, GEOSS) and private organisations. The European Association of Remote Sensing Companies was well represented. With 70 members, most of whom are SMEs, it makes up a full 50% of the Earth Observation (EO) community.
Most agreed that investment in GMES is not just about money, but must include ideas and education. While big players in the USA such as Google and Microsoft have added to the broad awareness of the possibilities of EO, the question remains as to how much the average European knows about the GMES initiative.
A final thematic session focused on the draft report of the GMES Advisory Council Working Group on future structure and governance, highlighting GMES’ political dimension.
Moving forward now
“We are all convinced that GMES is indispensable for both the pursuance of European competitiveness in fulfilment of the Lisbon goals and to accomplish our policies with regard to a responsible management of the planets limited resources,” said Zourek.
“Pooling our resources would make the service providing industry much more robust with advantages for both the users, who benefit from increased continuity, standardised formats and lower prices, and for industry itself, becoming stronger thanks to the growing world market for information products.”
Speaking at a major press conference that followed the event, European Commission Vice-President Günter Verheugen placed GMES users at the forefront. “Space manufacturers have done a great job developing the technologies required for GMES,” he said. “The focus now moves to users. What are their real needs? Can we meet them with GMES services? And, in the long-term, will services be sustained by operating budgets, rather than the research budgets now being used?”
More info at
(Credits Europa)

NOAA’s budget includes financial resources to purchase two next generation satellite programmes

Vice Admiral Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere asked 1 Million US Dollar to cover National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOOA)’s satellite activities, which represents 30 % of the whole Agency’s budget.

NESDIS (NOAA Satellite and Information Service) will allocate its financial resources to purchase its two next generation satellite programmes: GOES-R (Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite) and NPOESS (National Polar- orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System).

More on NOAA

The practice of States and international organizations in registering space objects was a key item on the agenda of the 45th session of the Legal Subcommittee of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS), held in Vienna, Austria from 3 to 13 April.

Source UN-OOSA. April 2006.

Other topics of discussion included the status and application of the five United Nations treaties on outer space, the definition and delimitation of outer space, the draft protocol on matters specific to space assets to the Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment, review and possible revision of the Principles Relevant to the Use of Nuclear Power Sources in Outer Space and matters relating to the character and use of the geostationary orbit. As in previous sessions of the Subcommittee, international organizations were invited to report on their activities relating to space law.

A symposium, which was held following the conclusion of the first day of the session, examined the legal aspects of space-system-based disaster management.

Practice of States and international organizations in registering space objects A key item on the agenda was the practice of States and international organizations in registering space objects. The Convention on Registration of Objects Launched into Outer Space (the Registration Convention) requires States parties launching objects such as satellites, to provide information on the launched object to the United Nations. Based on this information, the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (OOSA) maintains, on behalf of the United Nations Secretary-General, the United Nations Register of Objects Launched into Outer Space, for which it also provides an online searchable index.

The Subcommittee agreed that it was important to further promote greater adherence to the Registration Convention, which would lead to more States registering space objects, and also to encourage international organizations to declare their acceptance of the rights and obligations under the Convention.

The Working Group under this agenda item agreed on the elements that could constitute the basis for consensus on specific recommendations and conclusions to be included in the report of the Legal Subcommittee at its next session in 2007. These elements relate to: (a) the benefits of becoming a party to the Registration Convention; (b) adherence to and implementation of the Registration Convention; and © registration practice.

Status and application of the five United Nations treaties on outer space The Subcommittee endorsed the recommendation of the Working Group under this agenda item that member States of COPUOS provide information on any action that might have been taken at the national level as a result of receiving the letter from the UN Secretary-General encouraging participation in the outer space treaties.

The Subcommittee also endorsed the recommendation that the Office for Outer Space Affairs (OOSA) send a letter transmitting information on advantages of adherence to the Convention on International Liability for Damage Caused by Space Objects (the Liability Convention), to all States that had not yet become parties to that Convention.

Definition and delimitation of outer space

The Working Group under this item agreed to continue to invite Member States to reply to the questionnaire on aerospace objects until a consensus on criteria for analyzing the replies could be reached by the Subcommittee. The Working Group also agreed to invite member States of COPUOS to submit information on national legislation or any national practices that might exist or were being developed, relating directly or indirectly to the definition and/or delimitation of outer space, taking into account the current and foreseeable level of the development of space and aviation technologies.

Registering property interests in space assets

Another item on the agenda of the Subcommittee were the developments concerning the draft protocol on matters specific to space assets to the Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment. The Convention was developed by the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (Unidroit), an intergovernmental organization not affiliated to the United Nations. The Convention establishes a general legal framework for registering interests in mobile high-value equipment that move across national boundaries, such as aeroplanes and trains, and would result in lower costs of securing funding for the equipment. The protocol on matters specific to space assets is aimed at establishing an international system for registering property interests in space assets, such as satellites.

Symposium

The symposium examined the legal aspects of disaster management and the contribution of the law of outer space.

The symposium was jointly organized by the International Institute of Space Law (IISL) of the International Astronautical Federation and the European Centre for Space Law (ECSL) and was held in the afternoon of the first day of the Subcommittee session. The programme included presentations by leading experts on topics such as the challenges of access to Earth observation data for disaster management, the initial legal issues and experiences related to the International Charter “Space and Major Disasters” and the legal and policy aspects of disaster management support from space in Asia.

The Subcommittee agreed to invite IISL and ECSL to organize a one-day symposium during the forty-sixth session of the Subcommittee, in 2007, that would include presentations by national and international space law institutions with emphasis on their capacity-building activities.

Membership

The Legal Subcommittee, like COPUOS, its parent committee, has the following 67 Member States: Albania, Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Benin, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Canada, Chad, Chile, China, Colombia, Cuba, Czech Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Lebanon, Libya, Malaysia, Mexico, Mongolia, Morocco, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Romania, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, Sudan, Sweden, Syria, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Venezuela and Viet Nam.

The following inter-governmental and non-governmental organizations have permanent observer status with COPUOS: Association of Space Explorers, Committee on Earth Observation Satellites, Committee on Space Research, Regional Centre for Remote Sensing of the North African States, Eurisy, European Space Agency, European Space Policy Institute, International Academy of Astronautics, International Astronautical Federation, International Astronomical Union, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, International Law Association, International Mobile Satellite Organization, Intersputnik International Organization of Space Communications, International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, International Space University, National Space Society, Space Generation Advisory Council, Spaceweek International Association and The Planetary Society.

The Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) was set up by the General Assembly in 1959 to review the scope of international cooperation in the peaceful uses of outer space, to devise programmes in this field to be undertaken under United Nations auspices, to encourage continued research and the dissemination of information on outer space matters and to study legal problems arising from the exploration of outer space. COPUOS and its two Subcommittees each meet annually to consider questions put before them by the General Assembly, reports submitted to them and issues raised by the Member States. The Committee and the Subcommittees, working on the basis of consensus, make recommendations to the General Assembly.

The United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (OOSA) implements the decisions of the General Assembly and of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space and its two Subcommittees, the Scientific and Technical Subcommittee and the Legal Subcommittee. The Office is responsible for promoting international cooperation in the peaceful uses of outer space, and assisting developing countries in using space science and technology. Located in Vienna, Austria, OOSA maintains a website at http://www.unoosa.org/.

For information contact:

Qais Sultan

Associate Programme Officer

Telephone: +43 1 26060-4962

E-mail: qais.sultan@unvienna.org

United Nations Information Service Vienna (UNIS)

EADS Fleximage (Paris, France) has released a software platform incorporating geographical information, embedded modules broadcasting of sensors data, and communications networks used for positioning and transmitting positioning information

This solution allows Hub télécom to offer its customers two dedicated services:
* Assist solution, which is dedicated to Ground Support Equipment (GSE) tracking system management of airport assistance vehicles in order to optimize the processes, improve coordination amongst on-site team members, adapt operations in real time, and manage assistance vehicles.
* Fleet solution for airport vehicles, among others, which is especially adapted for monitoring and managing a fleet of light, commercial or heavy goods vehicles.
(Credits geoconnexion)
More info at www.hubtelecom.com

The first MetOp meteorological satellite arrived at its launch site, the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, following shipment from the industrial prime contractor, EADS Astrium in Toulouse, on board an Antonov-124 transport plane.

MetOp-A is the first in a series of three EUMETSAT Polar System (EPS) satellites developed by the European Space Agency (ESA) for EUMETSAT, the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites. After undergoing a mechanical and environmental test campaign, the spacecraft passed the acceptance review last year and the recent compatibility test between satellite and ground segment cleared the way for shipment of the satellite to Baikonur.

This shipment comprises a service module, a payload module and the solar array, including the electrical and mechanical ground support equipment needed for the launch campaign. The mission includes a total of 12 instruments developed in cooperation with French Space Agency, CNES, and the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

MetOp is scheduled for launch on 17 July 2006 at 22.28 Baikonur time (18.28 CEST) with the latest Soyuz ST Fregat launcher operated by Starsem.

MetOp is the first polar orbiting satellite dedicated to operational meteorology. The MetOp satellite services have been designed to provide global weather data until 2020. MetOp, which will fly at a height of about 837 km, promises, with its 12 sophisticated instruments, to provide data of unprecedented accuracy, thus improving global weather forecasting and providing enhanced climate monitoring capabilities.

For further information, please contact:

ESA Media Relations Division

Tel.: + 33(0)1.53.69.7155

Fax: + 33(0)1.53.69.7690

(Credits ESA)

Department of Geomatic Engineering at University College London (UCL) have been funded by the British National Space Centre (BNSC) to develop a web GIS service to serve global geographic data derived from remote sensing datasets.

Funding was provided as part of the BNSC International Cooperation Programme 2 (ICP-2). ICEDS was inspired in particular by the Committee on Earth Observing Satellites (CEOS) CEOS Landsat and SRTM Project (CLASP) proposal. An express intention of ICEDS (aim 4 in the list above) was therefore that the solution developed by ESYS and UCL should be redistributable, for example, to other CEOS members. After an initial survey of the Web GIS packages available at the time , the ICEDS team decided initially to use the Deegree package, a free software initiative founded by the GIS and Remote Sensing unit of the Department of Geography, University of Bonn , and lat/lon. The Red Spider web mapping software suite was also provided by IONIC Software. The final map server package adopted by the project was the University of Minnesota Map Server.
(Credits geoconnexion)

Some 50 scientists and engineers gathered at the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation headquarters in Rome, Italy, on 27 April for a workshop to discuss the use of gathering, cataloguing and sharing satellite imagery, spatial databases and interactive maps.

The amount of data acquired by satellites is increasing at an exponential rate, with many images able to be used for numerous applications. Sharing and reusing these data are beneficial for organisations as it allows them to gain access to more information and to decrease costs. In order to share, the data must be collected and catalogued and users must know such collections exist and how to search for them.
The Catalogue/Discovery Services Standardisation workshop – organised jointly by ESA, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the Joint Research Centre (JRC) – highlighted current and future standardisation efforts of each agency that is making Earth observation (EO) data available to users together with the relevant geospatial data.
Opening the workshop, FAO Assistant Director-General Alexander Julius Müller said: “Whereas FAO has a record of longstanding and productive cooperation with both the European Space Agency as well as the EU-Joint Research Centre, this is the first time the three agencies meet in one room for a full day to review and discuss common experiences and ways forward to use standardized approaches for locating and using geospatial data.”
Maps derived from satellite imagery play an important role in the work of decision makers, sustainable development planners and humanitarian and emergency managers in need of quick, reliable and up-to-date user-friendly cartographic products as a basis for planning and monitoring their activities.
Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES), a joint initiative of the European Commission and ESA, will harmonise in-situ and space-based data to provide timely and quality data at global, regional and local levels. GMES will join all available scientific data on environmental and security issues and customise it to users’ specific needs.
GMES will be of great value throughout the developing world because it is able to provide infrastructure information which may not otherwise exist. For instance, by providing and disseminating high-quality data sets of road networks, ports and airstrips, agencies will be able to better deliver food aid.
JCR’s Infrastructure for Spatial Information in Europe (INSPIRE), expected to be released later this year, will deliver integrated spatial information services to the largest possible number of users, including policy-makers, planners and managers at national and local levels and citizens. Such services include visualisation of information layers, overlay of information from different sources, spatial and temporal analysis, among others. JRC’s INSPIRE team and ESA are working together to ensure coherence of INSPIRE and GMES developments.
In September 2005, the ESA launched the “Heterogeneous Mission Accessibility -Interoperability (HMA-I) Project”. HMA-I will define the necessary interfaces and a generic, service-oriented architecture to ensure interoperability within the GMES Space component comprising a constellation of satellites together with its Ground Segment and the interfaces to the other components of GMES.
Thanks to the HMA project, the interoperability of ESA’s Envisat, the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites’ (EUMETSAT) meteorological missions, the French Space Agency’s (CNES) Pleiades, the Canadian Space Agencies Radardsat-2 and the German Space Agency’s (DLR) Terrasar-x will be ensured to provide the EO data necessary to allow an operational rollout of the GMES services starting in 2008.
(Credits ESA)

On 24 March 2006, European and American officials met in Brussels to discuss co-operation in space.

It was the first meeting of the ‘EU-US Dialogue on Civil Space Co-operation’, announced at the June 2005 US-EU Summit. On the agenda were a broad range of activities and key policy issues spanning both sides of the Atlantic, including space applications such as Earth Observation (EO), satellite navigation and communications, space transport systems, space science and exploration, and regulatory issues.
“Europe is moving forward,” said Paul Weissenberg, Director of Aerospace, Security, Defence and Equipment at the Commission’s Enterprise and Industry Directorate-General. Speaking directly to his American guests, he said, “Space is now an EU matter. We are making significant progress on our GALILEO satellite navigation initiative, but also on GMES and in many other areas, and we feel it is important that we meet with our American partners now to discuss our common interests and areas where we can work together. We therefore welcome this occasion to discuss and exchange information on concrete space applications for the benefit of our citizens.”
Speaking on behalf of the American delegation, Ralph Braibanti, Director of the Office of Space and Advanced Technology at the US State Department, said, “This is a very interesting moment and we hope that this first meeting and our new relationship will evolve and grow over time. We in the United States are currently working in co-operation with many nations, but we always look to Europe first and we are very enthusiastic about today’s meeting.”
A broad spectrum
Some indication of the breadth of the discussions is given by the variety of participants. Officials on the European side represented the Commission’s Directorates-General of Research, Enterprise and Industry, Information Society, Transport and Energy, External Relations, and the Joint Research Centre (JRC), as well as the European Space Agency (ESA) and EUMETSAT. The US side was represented by officials from the US State Department, NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the US Geological Survey and the US Mission to the EU.
Luc Tytgat, Head of the EU’s Space Policy Unit, started the programme with a comprehensive outline of what the EU is doing in space, emphasising the EU policy areas. This was followed by a similar review of US space activities presented by the American side, with special attention paid to the fields of remote sensing, space transportation, Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT), and space exploration.
Later in the day, discussions focused on specific areas and applications where joint efforts might prove fruitful. Earth Observation was identified as a field where the potential for co-operation is high, especially within the GMES initiative (Global Monitoring for Environment and Security), the European Commission’s flagship space programme. The two sides agreed to explore the potential for co-operation, taking account of political aspects.
This first meeting went a long way towards improving mutual insight into the two sides’ space policies and planned space programmes. The talks took place under a climate of confidence and EU officials say they are looking forward now to facing common EU-US challenges constructively, with a particular view to solving critical future path issues. The two sides have now agreed to continue the dialogue through regular meetings on an annual base. Officials on both sides were positive that this could pave the way for more concrete exchanges in the very near future.
(Credits Europa)
More information at:
- US Dept.of State- Space & Advanced Technologies

A cooperative agreement was signed today between EUMETSAT, the French Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES), NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) of the USA, to secure the Jason-2 Programme, a new Earth observation mission dedicated to Ocean Surface Topography planned for launch in 2008.

Under the agreement the four partners will design, develop, launch and operate a second generation altimetry satellite, Jason-2. The Jason mission is built around a series of satellites that will collect global ocean surface data on a continuous basis for several decades, extending sea level measurements gathered by TOPEX/Poseidon since 1992, and continued by Jason-1 since 2001.
Jason-2 is a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite, flying at an altitude of around 1300 km. The main instruments on board are a radar altimeter, a microwave radiometer, and several precise orbit determination systems. The aim is to measure the global sea surface height to an accuracy of a few cm every 10 days, to determine ocean circulation and sea level rise and its correlation with climate change.
Applications of the data collected by Jason-2 are in the areas marine meteorology, operational oceanography, climate monitoring and seasonal forecasting. The information on sea surface height can be assimilated into numerical ocean circulation and wave models, and in combination with in-situ measurements, provide vastly improved ocean and atmospheric forecasts, both for shorter and longer time-scales.
Acting as an interface for near-real time product distribution to European users, EUMETSAT will provide data processing and the necessary infrastructure for archiving and data distribution. The radome, the antenna and the electronic equipment constitute the Jason-2 Earth Terminal and have been successfully installed and tested in Usingen, Germany beginning of 2006.
EUMETSAT
The European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites, is an intergovernmental organisation that establishes and maintains operational meteorological satellites for 19 European States (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and the United Kingdom). EUMETSAT has signed 11 Cooperating State Agreements. Those with Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovenia and the Czech Republic have entered into force whereas the Agreements with Serbia and Montenegro and Iceland are to be ratified in the near future.
EUMETSAT is currently operating Meteosat-6, -7 and -8 over Europe and Africa, and Meteosat-5 over the Indian Ocean.
The data, product and services from EUMETSAT’s satellites make a significant contribution to weather forecasting and to the monitoring of the global climate.
(Credits Eumetsat)