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EarthCARE Satellite
Context:
ESA launches EarthCARE on its mission to study clouds and aerosols in Earth’s climate.
More on News:
- The European Space Agency’s (ESA’s) Earth Cloud Aerosol and Radiation Explorer (EarthCARE) satellite embarked on its journey into space onboard a Space X Falcon 9 rocket.
- ESA’s EarthCARE satellite, poised to revolutionise understanding of how clouds and aerosols affect the climate.
Objective:
- To examine the role clouds and aerosols play in reflecting incident solar radiation out to space and trapping infrared radiation emitted from Earth’s surface.
- EarthCARE will provide crucial information on the complex interactions between clouds, aerosols and radiation within Earth’s atmosphere.
- Clouds play an extremely important role in atmospheric heating and cooling.
- They remain one of the biggest uncertainties in understanding how the atmosphere drives the climate system and, how they will shape our future climate.
Countries:
Mission is a joint venture between ESA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).
EarthCARE Instruments:
- Atmospheric Lidar (ATLID): Provide essential vertical profile data on clouds and aerosols to improve climate modelling
- Cloud Profiling Radar (CPR): Critical instrument that will provide unprecedented 3D cloud measurements, including Doppler velocities, to enhance understanding of clouds and their interactions with climate.
- Multi-Spectral Imager (MSI): Provides detailed information on cloud properties, essential for understanding the Earth’s energy balance and the impact of climate change.
- Broadband Radiometer (BBR): Providing measurements of the reflected shortwave (SW) and emitted longwave (LW) radiation at the top of the atmosphere (TOA).
