Welcome to the CEOS Homepage

Established in 1984, the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS) coordinates civil space-borne observations of the Earth.  Participating agencies strive to enhance international coordination and data exchange and to optimize societal benefit. Currently 28 space agencies along with 20 other national and international organizations participate in CEOS planning and activities. For more information, contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , or contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it to update web content.
 

CEOS-GEO Actions Workshop & CEOS Climate Working Meetings

Capitol

 

These meetings will be held January 25-28, 2010 at the Embassy Suites - Crystal City in Arlingon, VA. For more info and meeting documents, please click here.

 
 

SIT-25 Meeting Announcement

sit25

 

 

 

 

The 25th meeting of the CEOS Strategic Implementation Team will be held 13-14 April, 2010 in Tokyo, Japan. The meeting will be hosted by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan (MEXT) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). For more information, visit http://www.ceos-sit25.org/.
 

Recent Achievements

GIAM





 International Water Management Institute (IWMI) and many National/International Institutes (e.g., China, India, USA) have collaborated to produce the first ever satellite sensor data based on Global Irrigated Area Map (GIAM) and Global Map of Rainfed Cropland Areas (GMRCA). The products include maps, country-by-country statistics, and images. These products are made available through a public domain data portal: http://www.iwmigiam.org. This work led to the book, “Remote Sensing of Global Croplands for Food Security” (Taylor and Francis) and was led by Dr. Prasad S. Thenkabail (USGS). For questions on data and products, please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
smos_over_earth

3 November 2009
Following the launch of ESA’s SMOS satellite on 2 November, the instrument’s three antenna arms have been deployed as planned, and the instrument is in good health.  To acquire data on soil moisture and ocean salinity, each one of the 69 LICEF antenna-receivers measures radiation emitted from Earth’s surface within the ‘L-band’, around a frequency of 1.4 GHz. This frequency provides the best sensitivity to variations in moisture in the soil and changes in the salinity of the surface waters of the oceans. In addition, this frequency is not affected too much by the weather, atmosphere and vegetation cover. For more information, please refer to the European Space Agency web site.
2009_qa4eo_workshop small

19 October 2009: A Workshop on Facilitating Implementation of the Quality Assurance Framework for Earth Observation (QA4EO), chaired by GEO and hosted by TÜBİTAK UZAY (Uzay Teknolojileri Araştırma Enstitüsü), was held from  September 29th to October 1st, 2009 in Antalya, Turkey. Presentations and discussions throughout the three-day workshop spanned a cross-section of EO disciplines as the participants considered how best to take QA4EO forwards and encourage its rapid uptake by the full GEOSS (Group on Earth Observations System of Systems) community. See the QA4EO Portal for more details.
altimetrydocimage October 2009: In Feb '08, EUMETSAT and NOAA initiated a study to define long-term, high-level mission requirements for satellite altimetry. Given the existing and emerging altimetry capabilities within the international community, this study was conducted in support of the CEOS Ocean Surface Topography (OST) Constellation. The report resulting from this study, "The Next 15 Years of Satellite Altimetry: Ocean Surface Topography Constellation User Requirements Document", presents high-level user requirements ­ based both on operational and research needs for satellite altimetry over the next 15 years. Click here for more information or to download the document.