On November 24 a delegation from the South Korean National Institute of Environmental Research (NIER) paid a visit to EOC. NIER is a state research facility whose objectives include improving living conditions, natural resource protection, and combating global warming and its consequences. After the visit a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed for the purpose of strengthening collaboration in these fields.
One of the most important features of this collaboration relates to a constellation of geostationary satellites. Their purpose is to measure hourly from an elevation of 35,000 kilometres how air quality on the ground is evolving. The constellation includes the instruments GEMS and TEMPO and the air quality sensor on Sentinel-4. GEMS stands for “Geostationary Environment Monitoring Spectrometer” and was launched by NIER in January 2020. This system now monitors air quality in almost 20 Asian countries. The “Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution” instrument (TEMPO) was launched by NASA in April of this year and covers North America. Sentinel-4, a satellite in Europe’s Copernicus Programme, will assure with its sensor European coverage starting in 2025.
The memorandum now formalizes the long-term cooperation of NIER and DLR in atmospheric remote sensing based on satellite, aerial, and ground measurements. Attention is focused on continuous air quality measurement for large areas and on the challenges relating to global warming.
The Remote Sensing Technology Institute (IMF) has many years of expertise in this field and on behalf of ESA is in charge of developing Sentinel-4 trace gas, cloud, and aerosol data products, among other responsibilities.
