New data sets for climate change and land use studies are on track

Well-calibrated IR and visible image data sets, from satellite sensors designed to provide urgently needed information for the debate on climate change and global warming, are now available from the European Space Agency (ESA). These data sets also have application to a wide range of land use and other Earth studies. The data have been collected by Along Track Scanning Radiometer (ATSR) instruments on ERS 1 and 2 since the early 1990s. ESA will launch a further ATSR, the Advanced ATSR (AATSR),on its Envisat mission next year. It is expected that the data can also be applied in other fields and, through its synergistic use with information from other sensors, can improve calibration and reduce uncertainties in interpretation of that information.