MetEOC-3

Further metrology for earth observation and climate: 1/09/2017 to 31/08/2020

Overview

A big limitation to providing confident guidance to policymakers on suitable actions to mitigate or adapt to climate change has been the performance of forecast modelling and the quality of the data that these models were built upon. Remote sensing from space was the main source of such data but the buffeting of launch and harshness the space environment limited the potential accuracy and traceability of such data provided by satellite sensors.
The EMPIR project 19ENV07 MetEOC-4  is building on this work.

• Publishable Summary: Further Metrology for Earth Observation and Climate (16ENV03).

Outcomes

This EMPIR project applied results from the EMRP projects ENV04 Met-EOC1 and ENV53 Met-EOC2 to improve pre- and post-launch calibration and remote climate sensor validation processes by improving the usability of standards in space and ground-based test sites.
The project also established a method for assigning quality metrics to climate data – which will improve the reliability of evidence for the scale and timescale of climate change, and support mitigation and adaptation strategies.

Impacts

This project supported earth observation and climate change communities to have access to robust information and advice to support decision-making on mitigation and adaptation strategies facilitated by:

• Upgraded instrument performance
• Fit for purpose data on effectiveness of carbon sinks
• Harmonised methods to identify and quantify trends in long term climate data records (CDRs)
• Improved awareness and consistency on the use and interpretation of ‘uncertainty’
• Providing a focal point for advice on metrology aspects of climate data, in coordination with the European Metrology Network (EMN) for Climate and Ocean Observation
• Internationally coordinated test-sites
• Raised profile of pre-and post-launch calibration and validation (Cal/Val) and traceability
• More efficient and accurate transfer standards

Partners

• Internally Funded Partners:
  • NPL, United Kingdom
  • Aalto, Finland
  • PTB, Germany
  • VSL, Netherlands
• Externally Funded Partners:
  • BUW, Germany
  • JRC, Europe
  • NLS, Finland
  • Rayference, Belgium
  • STFC, United Kingdom
  • TNO, Netherlands
  • UT, Estonia
  • UoR, United Kingdom
• Unfunded Partners:
  • FZ-Juelich, Germany
  • KIT, Germany
  • SFI Davos, Switzerland
  • UZH, Switzerland

Publications

• Calders, K., (2018). Realistic Forest Stand Reconstruction from Terrestrial LiDAR for Radiative Transfer Modelling, Remote Sensing, https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/10/6/933
• Bouvet, M., (2019), RadCalNet: A Radiometric Calibration Network for Earth Observing Imagers
• Operating in the Visible to Shortwave Infrared Spectral Range, www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/11/20/2401 
• Bialek, A., (2020). Monte-Carlo based quantification of uncertainties in determining ocean remote sensing reflectance from underwater fixed-depth radiometry measurements, https://doi.org/10.1175/JTECH-D-19-0049.1
• Berg, S., (2021), Calibration of a CubeSat spectroradiometer with a narrow-band widely tunable radiance source, https://doi.org/10.1364/AO.417467
• Smith, D., (2021), Traceability of the Sentinel-3 SLSTR Level-1 Infrared Radiometric Processing, https://doi.org/ 10.3390/rs13030374
• Hunt, S., (2020), Comparison of the Sentinel-3A and B SLSTR Tandem Phase Data Using Metrological Principles, https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12182893
• Ma, L., (2020), Uncertainty Analysis for RadCalNet Instrumented Test Sites Using the Baotou Sites BTCN and BSCN as Examples, https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12111696
• Talone, M., (2018). Non-linear response of a class of hyper-spectral radiometers. Metrologia, 55 (5), 747-758, https://doi.org/10.1088/1681-7575/aadd7f
• J. Kuusk, (2018), Implication of Illumination Beam Geometry on Stray Light and Bandpass Characteristics of Diode Array Spectrometer, DOI: 10.1109/JSTARS.2018.2841772
• De Vis, P., (2022), Ancillary Data Uncertainties within the SeaDAS Uncertainty Budget for Ocean Colour Retrievals, https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/14/3/497

Funding

EMPIR projects are co-funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme and the EMPIR Participating States.
EMRP joint research projects are part of EURAMET’s European Metrology Research Programme. The EMRP is jointly funded by the EMRP participating countries within EURAMET and the European Union.