Dragon Training in
China Focuses on Atmosphere
(20 October 2006) Over 50 doctoral
level Chinese scientists from 30 institutes have gathered at the prestigious
Peking University in Beijing in the People's Republic of China to attend a
six-day advanced training course devoted to atmosphere monitoring over China
using ESA remote sensing instruments.
ESA and the National
Remote Sensing Centre of China (NRSCC) are sponsoring the course under the
framework of the Dragon Programme - a wide-ranging research initiative designed
to encourage increased exploitation of ESA remote sensing satellite data within
China as well as stimulate increased scientific co-operation in the field of
Earth Observation (EO) science and applications between China and
Europe.
Tropospheric nitrogen dioxide vertical columns over northeast China as measured by SCIAMACHY on Envisat, averaged between December 2003 and November 2004. (courtesy: Institute of Environmental Physics, University of Bremen et al.)
"International co-operation and
co-ordination are needed to sustain Earth Observation systems. Access to and
use of data and products obtained from satellites and ground-based observations
require transfer of know-how to the young generation of scientists emerging in
many countries and worrying about the endangered Earth and its future," Prof.
Paul Simon from the Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy (IASB) said. "Advanced
training courses such as the Dragon ones are an important tool to adequately
address this challenge at the beginning of the 21st century."
"With the
Dragon training, European atmospheric scientists and young Chinese researchers
have an excellent opportunity to exchange their scientific concepts, share
experiences and establish new co-operation while making extensive use of
satellite data," Prof. Hendrik Elbern of the Rhenish Institute of Environmental
Research at the University of Cologne said.
Dragon Project presentation to students. (courtesy: ESA)
The course, being held from 16 to 21
October, is aimed at teaching the students about the different atmospheric
instruments aboard ESA's Envisat and ERS-2 satellites and training the students
to apply tools and use the complementary atmospheric data sets for applications
like air pollution monitoring, ozone trend monitoring and stratospheric and
mesospheric research.
"The Advanced training course in atmosphere remote
sensing of the ESA-MOST Dragon Programme is an excellent chance for me to get
access to the latest information, to acquire new knowledge and to master
advantageous tools for atmosphere remote sensing," HU Zhowei, a student from
Capital Normal University, said.
Space-based sensors are a very good way
to carry out effective global and regional monitoring of the atmosphere and are
especially useful tools for analysing trends and seasonal variations in
atmospheric gases.
Group picture in front of the centennials hall (courtesy: ESA)
The Global Ozone Monitoring by Occultation
of Stars (GOMOS), Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding
(MIPAS) and the Scanning Imaging Absorption Spectrometer for Atmospheric
Chartography (SCIAMACHY) instruments aboard Envisat have significantly enriched
the scope of observational capabilities by making use of a variety of novel
measurement techniques and enhanced spectral coverage.
These instruments
also represent a continuation of the Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment (GOME)
instrument aboard ERS-2. Together, these data give users unprecedented insight
into the atmosphere's chemical and physical processes.
Five key European
scientists, who have been involved in defining these instruments, algorithms
and applications development, will present information on retrieval techniques,
validation, models and data assimilation.
This year's course is the
third advanced training course in China since 2004. In October 2004, an
advanced training course in ocean remote sensing was successfully held at the
Ocean University of China, Qingdao. In October 2005, a six-day training course
in land remote sensing was organised at the Capital Normal University in
Beijing, which was attended by over 100 Chinese scientists. By the end of this
course, nearly 250 Chinese scientists will have received training on ESA
instruments and applications.
Envisat is a truly advanced Earth Observation satellite with a unique combination of sensors to vastly improve the range and accuracy of scientific measurements of the atmosphere, oceans, land surface and ice. Its total range of capabilities far exceeds those of any previous or planned Earth Observation satellite. (courtesy: ESA/Denman productions)
Satellite instruments in
spotlight
The GOME instrument, launched aboard ERS-2 in April 1995,
has enabled scientists to make long-term measurements of ozone. Data from the
GOME instrument show how the ozone in the Earth's atmosphere changes with time.
A key feature of GOME is its ability to detect other chemically active
atmospheric trace-gases as well as aerosol distribution. ESA has been
delivering GOME global observations of total ozone, nitrogen dioxide and
related cloud information to users via CD-ROM and the Internet since
1996.
SCIAMACHY can identify multiple trace gases including the
pollutant nitrogen dioxide created artificially by vehicle exhausts, fossil
fuel burning and heavy industry. SCIAMACHY results tallied with previous
results gathered by GOME showed a steady increase in nitrogen dioxide levels in
industrialised eastern China.
GOMOS is an ESA instrument aimed at ozone
monitoring by measuring occultation of stars. It provides altitude-resolved
global ozone mapping and trend monitoring with very high accuracy, as needed
for the understanding of ozone chemistry and for model validation.
MIPAS
is a Michelson interferometer that detects the Earth's limb emission in the
mid-infrared. MIPAS provides accurate vertical profiles of atmospheric
temperature and a number of key trace gases and covers a height range from the
upper troposphere to the lower mesosphere.
This map shows the study areas for 13 of the Dragon projects. The Beijing and Qingdao study areas were added in October 2005 as these are the locations for the 2008 Olympic games for which demonstration products, such as air quality, sea state, meteorology, land use and urban heat environment, are being provided. (courtesy: ESA)
Dragon Programme highlights
In
addition to organising training courses, the Dragon Programme brings
Sino-European teams to work together and to report on the progress and results
of each project. In July 2006, these teams met in Lijiang city in the Yunnan
Province of the People's Republic of China to present their findings at the
third annual five-day Dragon Symposium.
There are currently 16 Dragon
projects including agricultural and forest monitoring, water resource
assessment, atmospheric chemistry, terrain measurement, the ocean environment
and climate change, among others. The joint Sino-European teams are led by
Chinese and European lead investigators.
Earth-observing satellites are
particularly useful for tackling and monitoring environmental phenomena in
China, the third largest country in the world, because of the country's sheer
size and various types of terrain, which range from Himalayan peaks to tropical
lowlands.
(source: ESA)