Click on the image above to see a video of (a simulation of) EarthCARE in orbit


The EarthCARE satellite during system testing at ESTEC

Welcome to the EarthCARE ESA Validation Portal.

This part of the EarthCARE validation website serves as introductory information for scientists interested in EarthCARE validation, and also acts as a landing page for the (restricted)  collaboration environment for the Principal Investigators of the ESA EarthCARE Validation Team. Scientists that are interested to collaborate on EarthCARE Validation are requested to contact esa-ecvt@earthcare.esa.int in order to obtain information on how to join the EarthCARE Validation Team.

EarthCARE Validation Team Principal Investigator access

https://ecvt.esa.int

Introduction to the EarthCARE mission 

EarthCARE , ESA’s Clouds, Aerosols and Radiation Explorer mission developed in co-operation with JAXA, the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency, will address the need for a better understanding of the interactions between cloud, radiative and aerosol processes that play a role in climate regulation. That ESA-JAXA Joint mission was selected as the 6th Earth Explorer Mission and 3rd ESA Earth Observation Core Mission during the Granada ESA meeting in October 2004.

The EarthCARE mission aims to improve the representation and understanding of the Earth's radiative balance in climate and numerical weather forecast models by acquiring vertical profiles of clouds and aerosols, as well as the radiances at the top of the atmosphere. Aerosols control cloud properties, while clouds control the production of precipitation and convection influences stratospheric humidity. The observations of EarthCARE will therefore lead to more reliable climate predictions and better weather forecasts through the improved representation of processes involving clouds, aerosol and radiation.

The satellite will weigh about 2350 kilograms (including propellant) and will be placed in a quasi-polar orbit of 97° inclination at an altitude of about 400 kilometres.  EarthCARE has been launched on a Falcon 9 on 28 May 2024. The four instruments of the payload consist of an Atmospheric Lidar, a Broad-Band Radiometer and a Multi-Spectral Imager developed by ESA, and a Cloud Profiling Radar developed by JAXA. This instrument suite has been optimised to provide co-located samples of the state of the atmosphere along the satellite flight track.

News

  • EarthCARE has been launched on  
  • The EarthCARE validation is in full swing, with thus far (status )  43 underflights of 33 EarthCARE orbits by 7 aircraft involved in 6 campaigns with payloads including 5 lidars, 3 imagers, 1 polarimeter, 3 radars, and 4 different in-situ sampling suites, complemented by several networks of ground instruments and monitoring by ingestion assimilation models. Please refer to the validation plan and join the three EarthCARE workshops this year and the Living Planet symposium. 


EarthCARE Mission resources

Further information about the EarthCARE mission in general can be obtained from the following resources:


EarthCARE Validation

The geophysical validation of EarthCARE involves a suite of correlative instruments and methods. This portal provides an overview of the validation activities. These activities are resulting from the responses to the 2017 ESA Announcement of Opportunity (AO) for the Validation of EarthCARE. 

The activities have been presented and reviewed during the 1st ESA EarthCARE Validation Workshop in June 2018 in Bonn, Germany. 

The scientists in the EarthCARE validation team will collaborate with ESA algorithm and instrument experts and will be provided with preliminary EarthCARE data products as soon as available, hence well before public release of the consolidated data products.

Scientists that are interested in collaboration and joining the ESA EarthCARE Validation Team are invited to contact esa-ecvt@earthcare.esa.int


EarthCARE Validation Resources

Websites

Documents

Meetings/Workshops

Date

Venue

Title (link to workshop home page and presentations)

Report

13-15 June 2018Bonn, Germany1st ESA EarthCARE Validation Workshop20180613-15 ESA CalVal Workshop Report_(1.0).pdf
10 March 2021OnlineEarthCARE Geophysical Data Products and Retrievals
25-28 May 2021Virtual / Online 2nd ESA EarthCARE Validation Workshop20210525-28 2nd ESA EarthCARE Cal_Val Workshop Report.pdf
9-13 November 2023Frascati, ItalyESA-JAXA Prelaunch EarthCARE Science and Validation Workshoppre-launch validation workshop report
14-17 January 2025online1st ESA-JAXA EarthCARE In-Orbit Validation Workshop 
17-21 March 2025Frascati,Italy2nd ESA-JAXA EarthCARE In-Orbit Validation Workshop 
Nov/Dec 2025, Japan2025 ESA-JAXA EarthCARE Science and Validation Workshop
During Mission Life TimeTBC Annual Validation Workshops

Note that several additional meetings may be organised by validation subgroups and are not listed here. 



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