Organisation: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Course overview:

A limitation of optical satellite remote sensing is that it depends on cloudless, well-illuminated areas to produce quality data. This is especially problematic for collecting data during nighttime or when there is cloud cover. Radar is an ideal sensor to study the surface of the Earth because of its ability to "see" through clouds regardless of day or night conditions. In addition, the radar signal can penetrate through the vegetation canopy and provide information about conditions underneath, such as flooding. Techniques such as interferometry can track surface deformation on the order centimeters, such as ground movement caused by earthquakes.

This webinar series builds on ARSET's previous webinar: Introduction to Synthetic Aperture Radar. The training will focus on different radar approaches and techniques including amplitude, time-series, polarimetry, and interferometry for mapping and monitoring disasters and land cover. Attendees will apply these techniques to map land cover and land use change, deforestation, flooding, crop monitoring, and surface deformation for earthquake monitoring.

One session of this course will be broadcast in Spanish (10:00-12:00 EDT, UTC-4), and one in English 18:00-20:00 EDT (UTC-4).

Organisation: European Space Agency (ESA)

Location: Frascati (near Rome), Italy

Overview:

ESA organises a series of summer schools on Monitoring of the Earth System to promote the exploitation of Earth Observation (EO) data across disciplines, with a specific focus on their assimilation into Earth System models.

The two-week course, held in ESA/ESRIN (near Rome, Italy), aims to provide students with an integrated end-to-end perspective going from measurement techniques to end-user applications. Courses include lectures covering issues related to Remote Sensing, Earth System Modelling and Data Assimilation as well as hands-on computing exercises on the processing of EO data. Keynote lectures on global change issues are also given to discuss the current state of the science of global change and its relationship to society in order to help students appreciate how their specific field fits into a broader scientific and political context. For more information, please see previous programme, news or video.

Organisation: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Course overview:

Urban flooding is already a major risk for cities. Increasing impervious surface area, inadequate storm water drainage, and aging infrastructure all contribute. As a result, growing urban populations will face a greater risk of flooding from extreme weather events. This webinar series will focus on the components of urban flooding that satellite data can track:

• extreme precipitation
• flooding
• waterlogged and ponded surfaces

Using satellite data allows individuals and organizations to develop better plans for handling floods. This can include developing better early warning techniques, better plans for rescue and relief, and more effective long-term infrastructure planning.

There are 2 identical sessions for this course and are provided twice per day to accommodate an International audience at 09:00-11:00 and 18:00-20:00 EDT (UTC-4).

Organisation: IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society

Location: Valencia, Spain

Symposium overview:

On behalf of the IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society and the Organizing Committee, you are invited to participate in the International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, IGARSS 2018, the 38th annual symposium of the IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society (GRSS). The symposium will be held in Valencia, Spain, between the 23 - 27 July 2018.

The theme for IGARSS 2018 highlights the pressing demands for "Observing, Understanding And Forecasting The Dynamics Of Our Planet".

Host Organisation: Caltech, Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)

Location: Pasadena, California, United States of America

Contact: COSPAR Secretariat - cospar@cosparhq.cnes.fr

Event Overview:

COSPAR 2018 takes place on COSPAR's 60th anniversary, and the symposium consists of approximately 125 meetings covering the fields of COSPAR Scientific Commissions (SC) and Panels, some of which include:

• SC A: The Earth's Surface, Meteorology and Climate
• SC C: The Upper Atmospheres of the Earth and Planets Including Reference Atmospheres
• Panel on Satellite Dynamics (PSD)
• Panel on Scientific Ballooning (PSB)
• Panel on Potentially Environmentally Detrimental Activities in Space (PEDAS)
• Panel on Radiation Belt Environment Modelling (PRBEM)
• Panel on Capacity Building (PCB)
• Panel on Education (PE)
• Special events: interdisciplinary lectures, round table, etc.

Selected papers published in Advances in Space Research and Life Sciences in Space Research, fully refereed journals with no deadlines open to all submissions in relevant fields.

Organisation: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Course Overview: Certain areas are experiencing longer fire seasons, with more frequent and severe droughts. Wildfire detection, monitoring, and mitigation is increasingly important in these regions. Satellite remote sensing data is useful for identifying active fires, evaluating burned areas, and assessing fire emissions. This advanced training will highlight tools useful for local fire managers. Presentations and exercises will introduce participants to tools to identify active fires, visualise fire emissions, and calculate burn severity.

Sessions will be held on Thursdays, on 12 and 19 July 2018, at 10:00-12:00 and 18:00-20:00 EDT (UTC-4). The session is broadcast twice per day to allow for international participation.

Organisation: European Association of Remote Sensing Laboratories (EARSeL)

Location: Chania, Greece

Symposium overview:

Climate change, over population, over exploitation of natural resources, all put pressure on the sustainability of most human activities. Many believe that we must drastically change our ways, in order to adapt to the new circumstances. In order to decide on what is required to change, we must investigate the possibilities and to do so, we require data and information. So how can remote sensing methods help fill this gap and lead us to sustainability?

The symposium offers the opportunity to EARSeL and non-EARSeL members to interact and present preliminary research between the dedicated Special Interest Groups (SIG) workshops that are organised every two years. It is a great opportunity for all interested parties to expose their research to an international scientific community. The topics addressed in each annual symposium are related to the EARSeL's Special Interest Groups, as well as contemporary topics of high interest. Submissions and presentations should be focusing on one or more of those topics, as sessions will be mostly organised according to those topics.

Organisation: European Space Agency (ESA)

Location: Rome, Italy

Conference overview:

ESA through its Earth Observation ground segment team responsible for the Sensor Performance and Product Algorithm (SPPA) is co-sponsoring, together with the Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate of the National Research Council of Italy (ISAC-CNR) and the University Sapienza of Rome, the 1st international summer school-conference: "SORBETTO: SOlar Radiation Based Established Techniques for aTmospheric Observations".

The school will be held in Rome from 02 to 06 July 2018 and is open to researchers, PhD students and workers involved in this type of atmospheric observations.

Main topics will include:

• Radiometry (theory, networks, calibration)
• Photometry (theory, networks, calibration)
• Inter-comparison campaigns
• Spectrometry (theory, networks, calibration)
• Calibration and Validation of satellite missions
• Laboratories

The school, will include theoretic lessons and laboratory activities held by international teachers from leading Universities and Research Centers in Europe and Asia. Attendance to the school-conference is free of charge.

For further information and to submit requests for participation, see ISAC-CNR website. For any request, please contact: sorbetto2018@artov.isac.cnr.it

Organisation: European Space Agency (ESA)

Location: Innsbruck, Austria

Event overview:

The European Space Agency is organising the 'EO4Alps' The Alps from Space Workshop, which will take place from 27 to 29 June 2018 at the Villa Blanka Conference Center, in Innsbruck, Austria.

The focus of this workshop is to assess the opportunities for EO research and development as well as downstream activities that may be the basis for future ESA investments to address some of the key information needs relevant to the Alpine Region. These opportunities will be framed with respect to emerging Earth science, development of novel applications, testing innovative information services and implementing required upgrades to capabilities to manage and manipulate large data volumes.

The objectives of the workshop are:

1. To assess the status and priority interests in the European Alpine Region for Earth Science, geo-information and operational monitoring
2. Review the main activities, projects and initiatives taking place in the different Alpine application areas, where Earth observation from space can contribute
3. Evaluate the potential of the increasing observation capacity by satellites to address needs for science, applications and information services in the European Alpine region
4. Characterise and address data collection and analysis gaps and define high-level requirements for supporting ICT solutions to advance EO data infrastructure capabilities in the Alpine region

Organisation: International Surface Working Group (ISWG) and

Location: Lisbon, Portugal

Workshop overview:

The 2nd International Surface Working Group (ISWG) event will be held jointly with the 8th Land Surface Analysis Satellite Application Facility (LSA-SAF) Workshop in Lisbon, Portugal from 26 to 28 June 2018, at Instituto Português do Mar e da Atmosfera (IPMA).

The meeting will focus on:

• Assimilation of surface observations derived from: IR/MW, active/passive remote sensing data relevant to terrestrial surfaces, land-atmosphere interactions, and related applications;
• Land surface assimilation schemes: state of the operational land surface modelling systems and recent developments; sensitivity studies of surface model parameters to remotely sensed data; outcomes of assimilating SMOS, GPM, SMAP observations; calibration issues, variable transforms or PDF matching techniques;
• Radiative transfer and emissivity/reflectivity model development: VIS/IR/MW, all surface types, review of current parameterization for forward modelling surface boundary; description of available land emissivity databases/atlases (MW and IR); intercomparison/validation of physical models and retrieved emissivity (MW and IR, including land, ocean, and ice surfaces);
• Retrievals of surface parameters: product characteristics and performances and expected evolutions including land surface temperature, albedo, vegetation state, soil moisture, snow water equivalent, water-body extent, sea surface wind, salinity, canopy parameters, vegetation water content, sea-ice concentration, etc. and the resulting surface emissivity/reflectance spectra
• Other relevant topics: model-data comparison efforts involving EO dataset and shared experiences from ongoing surface monitoring systems, use of multi-sensor/ multi-platform, multi-temporal approaches to maximize information over heterogeneous or rapidly changing surface types.

ISWG contributors and all those interested in these topics are also invited to contribute to a special issue in the Remote Sensing journal titled Advancing Earth Surface Representation via Enhanced Use of Earth Observations in Monitoring and Forecasting Applications (deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 July 2018).

Organisations: German Institute of Navigation (DGON) and the Fraunhofer Institute for High Frequency Physics and Radar Techniques (FHR)

Location: Bonn, Germany

Symposium overview:

Due to the rapid development of technologies, radar technique is still an expanding technical and economical segment with practical applications both in civil and military areas. The worldwide community of radar researchers and experts is lively and everyone from the radar family is cordially invited to attend the International Radar Symposium 2018 in Bonn, Germany.

The International Radar Symposium aims to provide a forum for both academic and industrial professionals in radar from all over the world and to bring together academicians, researchers, engineers, system analysts, graduate and undergraduate students with government and non-government organisations to share and discuss both theoretical and practical knowledge. We invite everybody to submit outstanding and valuable original research papers and participate in the technical exhibition during the conference.

Organisation: European Space Agency (ESA)

Location: Frascati, Italy

Event overview:

The Coastal Altimetry Community invites you to the European Space Agency establishment in Frascati (Italy), ESRIN, for the 11th Edition of the Coastal Altimetry Workshop on 12-15 June 2018, which includes a Coastal Altimetry Training for Early Career Scientists.

The symposium will promote the scientific and operational exploitation of Proba-V data and is open to Proba-V users, scientists, students, representatives from national, European and international agencies, operational end-users and value adding industries.

Organisation: ESA

Location: Svalbard, Norway

Course overview:

As part of the Earth Observation (EO) Science for Society – Scientific Exploitation element of EOEP-5 program, the European Space Agency (ESA) is organising an advanced training course on remote sensing of the Cryosphere, devoted to train the next generation of scientists and specialists to exploit EO data for science and applications.

Postgraduate-level, PhD students, post-doctoral research scientists and users from Europe and Canada interested in applications of remote sensing of the Cryosphere are welcome to apply to the 6-day course, held at University Centre in Svalbard (UNIS) in Longyearbyen, Svalbard, from 11 to 16 June 2018. Participants from all other countries are also welcome to apply, subject to availability of places.

No participation fees will be charged for the training. Participants are expected to finance their own travel and accommodation expenses. The official language of the course is English.

Objectives:

• To train the next generation of scientists on Remote Sensing of the Cryosphere;
• To provide an advanced understanding of theoretical principles, processing algorithms, data products and their use in applications;
• To give hands-on practice with tools and methods for satellite data exploitation as well as fieldwork experience for in-situ cryosphere-related data collection;
• To provide insights of EO challenges/opportunities within the polar context for further studies.

Organisation: European Space Agency

Location: Bonn, Germany

Workshop overview:

The international science community is invited to participate in the EarthCARE Science and Validation Workshop, which is jointly organised by the German Aerospace Center (DLR), the German EarthCARE Project Office at the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology (MPI-M) and the European Space Agency (ESA), in cooperation with our partners, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and the National Institute of Information and Communication Technology (NICT).

The workshop will provide the forum for the discussion of the preparation of the mission exploitation and its product validation. It combines the Seventh International EarthCARE Science Workshop – following the sixth workshop held in 2014 in Tokyo – and the First ESA EarthCARE Validation Workshop, following ESA's Announcement of Opportunity for submitting proposals for the calibration and validation of EarthCARE, to organise the activities of the Principal. The workshops will be arranged side-by-side in respective morning and evening sessions during the identified week.

Organisation: European Space Agency (ESA) and Belgian Science Policy Office (BELSPO)

Location: Ostend, Belgium

Symposium overview:

The second Proba-V symposium will promote the scientific and operational exploitation of Proba-V data and is open to Proba-V users, scientists, students, representatives from national, European and international agencies, operational end-users and value adding industries. It will cover the following objectives:

• Provide an overview on current mission status, data quality and Cal/Val results
• Gather and foster the Proba-V scientific and user community
• Encourage international collaborations on land, water and cryosphere applications
• Reinforce Proba-V's role as complement to Sentinel-2 and Sentinel-3 missions
• Discuss data harmonization and synergy across sensors
• Provide a forum to report results of on-going science activities using Proba-V data
• Promote the use of Proba-V data for downstream operational services
• Consult scientists to formulate recommendations for products improvements