G. Duchossois

On 17 July 1991 the European Space Agency launched ERS-1 into a Sun-synchronous, polar orbit at an altitude of about 780 km, followed by ERS-2 in 1995. ERS-1 is observes the ocean, sea ice, the cryosphere and the land surface. The satellite carries three active microwave instruments: a synthetic aperture radar (SAR), a wind scatterometer, and a radar altimeter (RA)

This symposium, which discusses studies of the atmosphere, the earth, and the sea and describes imaging systems for earth observations, contains papers on remote sensing of the earth's atmosphere by IR absorption spectroscopy, a conceptual design of Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment III instrument proposed for the Earth Observing System, the determination of optical properties and composition of atmosphere from

ICEWATCH is the first joint project in Earth observation between the Russian Space Agency (RKA) and the European Space Agency (ESA). The overall objective of the project is to implement satellite monitoring by combined use of ESA ERS SAR, RKA Okean SLR and other remote sensing data to support ice navigation in the Northern Sea Route (NSR), offshore industry and environmental studies. ERS-1 SAR images have been used in ice monitoring of the NSR in several demonstration campaigns since 1991. The experience from use of SAR data onboard Russian icebreakers to assist in ice navigation is very positive although ERS-1 can only provide data in selected parts of the NSR with a limited swath width of 100 km. In the ICEWATCH project a concept for integrating ERS SAR data in the Russian ice monitoring service is demonstrated where Okean SLR data are included. The system is currently being tested in pilot demonstration phase before it is planned to become operational. In addition to data acquisi...