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Assimila managed  the European Space Agency GlobModel project on behalf of the University of Reading.  The purpose of GlobModel was to identify opportunities to increase the uptake of Earth Observation data in scientific and operational Earth System Modeling.

The project comprised a study and a demonstration.  Supported by an expert panel of leading scientists from across Europe, the study undertook a comprehensive consultation with the user community to identify the main priority areas where action is required to help increase the uptake of EO data. This was followed up by a workshop held at ESA-ESRIN in September 2007 from which resulted in a strategy and implementation plan recommending the way forward.

The study was complemented by a demonstration of the utility of EO data in atmospheric chemistry forecasting.  The demonstration was led by the Data Assimilation Research Centre at the University of Reading, supported by KNMI and ECMWF.

More Details can be found on the GlobModel WWW site.

GlobModel

Project Details

National Centre for Earth Observation (NCEO)

NCEO is a new research programme funded by the UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC).  Lasting 5 years and with a budget of over £30m NCEO’s aim is to be at the forefront in exploiting Earth Observation to respond to the challenges of climate and environmental change.

Assimila Ltd has been supporting the University of Reading, which hosts the NCEO directorate, since the inception of NCEO in 2006.  This support included the preparation of the programme proposal, bringing together contributions from over 20 universities and research centres that are involved in the programme.

Assimila now provides programme management services to NCEO.  This role involves liaison inside the NCEO to support the individual themes in delivering against the NCEO objectives.  More details on the NCEO can be found on the NCEO WWW site.

BNSC International Cooperation Programme

The project builds upon a technical advisory role for the Inter American Development bank in connection with loan funding for the Argentine Space Agency’s SAOCOM L-Band SAR Satellite.

The project identified areas where UK science expertise could contribute to exploitation of SAOCOM data.  A science workshop was held in Buenos Aires involving leading members of the EO science community and a series of cooperation projects identified.

EO Strategy and GMES Support

Assimila provides support to Defra in development and execution of its Earth Observation strategy and in its role as UK policy lead for the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) programme.  GMES is a joint EU / ESA programme to provide operational users and policy makers with environmental monitoring services based on satellite and in situ data.  Four “core services” are being developed for land, marine and atmosphere monitoring and for response to civil and humanitarian emergencies.

Assimila is responsible for communications with UK stakeholders in GMES, organising a series of Network Groups and an annual GMES Forum. These two-way communications channels provide the community with information on the development of GMES and Defra with feedback from potential users on the usefulness of GMES services.

More information can be found on the Defra EO pages and the GMES WWW sites of the EC DG-Enterprise and ESA.

The Environmental Research Funders Forum (ERFF)  is an initiative of 19 major UK public-sector funders of environmental research in order to maximize the coherence and effectiveness of UK funding for environmental research, monitoring or observation, policy development and training.  Assimila is supporting ERFF in a study of coordination bodies for environmental science in the UK.  The study has identified and categorized a large number of coordination bodies and consulted with the major ones to establish a clear view of their scope, objectives, membership and methods of operation.

The study will include an analysis of gaps and overlaps which will enable ERFF to target its own activities more effectively.

More information can be found on the ERFF WWW site.

Environmental Research funders Forum

Earth Observation Land Data Assimilation EO-LDAS  (2009-present)

The EO-LDAS project is funded by the European Space Agency (ESA) as part of the Earth Observation Envelope Programme and is led by the UK NCEO. The project aims to build a generic data assimilation scheme to obtain high quality and consistent geophysical parameters extracted from optical EO data. In order to achieve this, the scientific requirements have been established and the scientific community consulted to validate the structure and implementation of the scheme. A prototype software package is being developed and validated using multi-sensor EO and field data with the goal of producing a scientific roadmap to be consulted for further development.

Assimila is responsible for managing the EO-LDAS project on behalf of the University of  Reading. More details on the EO-LDAS project can be found at www.eoldas.info

In 2007, the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) launched the “Next Generation Science for Planet Earth” strategy. This strategy outlines NERC’s scientific priorities until 2012 with the aim to provide an essential basis for predicting future changes to the earth system. Numerous organisations, the government and scientific community contributed to the strategy which was devised through various meetings and consultations. The scheme recognises the importance of Earth System Modelling (ESM) as a central theme in the prediction of climate and environmental change due to its ability to identify the linkages and feedbacks within the Earth System and the different space and time scales at which various processes operate.

Assimila carried out an audit of the ESM activities funded by NERC. The audit results were used to develop the strategy by a high level Strategy Group in collaboration with the Met Office. The audit report is an on-going process which Assimila is responsible for, as well as playing an important role in international benchmarking of the strategy. More details of NERC and the Strategy can be found at www.nerc.ac.uk

Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Earth System Modelling Strategy (2009-present)