DARMSTADT, Germany, May 9, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

With the launch of the Copernicus Sentinel-3 ocean-monitoring satellite in February 2016, operated by EUMETSAT (the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites) on behalf of the European Union (EU), a new set of eyes in orbit is now monitoring the health of the vast watery surfaces that feed the world and drive the dynamics of our weather and climate. Tracking the paths of storms and the spread of pollution, helping to improve maritime safety and weather forecasting, supporting fisheries and monitoring the effects of climate change are just some of the myriad uses for the data from ocean-monitoring satellites such as Sentinel-3.

Sentinel-3 constitutes a major contribution of the European Copernicus programme towards monitoring ocean colour.

At the International Ocean Colour Science (IOCS) meeting in Lisbon, Portugal from 15 to 19 May, key scientific experts will discuss emerging applications and cutting edge results based on the new European products that will be showcased during the meeting.

Observations of ocean colour, the imaging of marine ecosystems from orbit, is an integral part of this new marine service. Oceans are not always blue. In fact, the colour of the ocean varies considerably depending on the contents carried along with the currents. Special satellite sensors, like the Ocean and Land Colour Instrument (OLCI) aboard Sentinel-3 have been developed to track the ever shifting water hues in order to identify its contents. Ocean colour can be influenced by a number of factors such as suspended sediments or microscopic algae. It might sound trivial - but monitoring ocean colour is actually vital to monitoring harmful algae blooms that can have devastating effects on aquaculture such as fish farms.

Ocean colour data are also being used to monitor water quality, pollution, sediment transport, and to assess the role of the ocean in the carbon cycle in our changing climate. These data are now indispensable to the management of marine resources, fisheries, marine and coastal ecosystems.

With the new flow of data from the Copernicus Sentinel-3 satellite now available via EUMETSAT's data dissemination systems - openly and free of charge - ocean colour science will be taken to the next level.

Leading scientists and keynote speakers from a wide range of institutions and agencies, including among others Dr. Shubha Sathyendranath, Head of Remote Sensing and Marine Optics at Plymouth Marine Laboratory, and Dr. Mark Dowell, Global Environment Monitoring Unit at the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission, will be available to present topical findings and expectations for the future in dedicated interviews.

The programme will include breakout workshops such as "Hyperspectral remote sensing" and multiple sessions including "Copernicus Session: Emerging applications and science from the Sentinel missions", among others.

About Copernicus  

Copernicus represents an independent European capacity for the operational provision of global Earth Observation information.

The programme consists of a set of highly developed systems which collect data from Earth observation satellites (Sentinel and contributing missions) and in-situ sensors.

Copernicus data are openly available, free of charge.

EUMETSAT and Copernicus  

The European Union has entrusted EUMETSAT with exploiting the four Sentinel missions of the Copernicus space component dedicated to the monitoring of atmosphere, ocean and climate on its behalf. EUMETSAT will carry out these tasks in cooperation with ESA.

About EUMETSAT  

The European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites is an intergovernmental organisation based in Darmstadt, Germany, currently with 30 Member States and one Cooperating State.

EUMETSAT operates the geostationary satellites Meteosat-9, -10 and -11 over Europe and Africa, and Meteosat-8 over the Indian Ocean.

EUMETSAT also operates two Metop polar-orbiting satellites as part of the Initial Joint Polar System (IJPS) shared with the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

EUMETSAT is a partner in the cooperative high precision ocean altimetry Jason missions involving Europe and the United States (Jason-2, Jason-3 and Jason-CS/Sentinel-6).

The data and products from EUMETSAT's satellites are vital to weather forecasting and make a significant contribution to the monitoring of environment and climate change.

EUMETSAT has established cooperation with operators of Earth Observation satellites from Europe and China, India, Japan, Russia and the United States.

Please contact Claudia Ritsert-Clark (claudia.ritsertclark@eumetsat.int ; +49-6151-8076050) for more information regarding Copernicus, EUMETSAT and the International Ocean Colour Science meeting.

For more information please follow the link: http://www.iocs.ioccg.org/ 

SOURCE EUMETSAT