The Scanning Imaging Absorption Spectrometer for Atmospheric Chartography (SCIAMACHY) was one of the ten instruments onboard the Envisat satellite launched from Kourou (French Guyana) on the 28th of February 2002 and operated by the European Space Agency (ESA) until May 2012. SCIAMACHY measures transmitted, backscattered and reflected radiances from the atmosphere at high resolution (240 to 1700 nm, 2 microns and 2.4 microns). The instrument makes limb and nadir observations that can be combined. Its main objective was to provide global measurements of trace gases in the troposphere and the stratosphere. The data issued by ESA include Level 1B (radiances) and Level 2 (derived quantities) products. They come in a number of versions: a near real time (nrt) version, a consolidated version, result of a first processing by ESA to eliminate bad data and perform a few basic checks, and fully reprocessed versions.

Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH) Land Cover Map 2000 data are for use at the Network for Calibration And Validation of Earth Observations (NCAVEO) calibration/validation (cal/val) test sites for the illustration and explanation of processes involved in cal/val of earth observation data. The 5 UK test sites which have been identified as example cal/val sites are Barton Bendish, Chilbolton, Harwood Forest, Monks Wood and Thorney Island. The Land Cover Map datasets are available in 25 m derived raster format and Level 2 vector format.

The EMERALD projects were airborne measurement campaigns designed to study dynamical, microphysical and infra-red radiative properties of cirrus clouds, using both in-situ and remote measurement techniques. The dataset contains static air temperature, static air pressure, relative humidity, water vapour mixing ratio, and ozone mixing ratio. These data are part of the NERC Clouds, Water Vapour and Climate (CWVC) programme.

The ACES (Aerosol Coupling in the Earth System) project was an integrated research programme that aims to reduce uncertainties in our fundamental understanding of the formation of BSOA (Biogenic Secondary Organic Aerosol) and the subsequent impact on atmospheric composition, through coordinated chamber studies, field studies, process model development, and application of atmospheric models of chemistry and transport to assess coupling and feedbacks in the Earth system. As part of the APPRAISE-ACES project, the University of Manchester carried out several field measurements studies in the rainforest in Borneo (based at the forest in-canopy site located at the FACE (Forests Absorbing CO2 Emissions) nursery at the Sabahmas Estate oil plantation in Malaysia) and also aerosol chamber studies which followed in Manchester. This dataset collection contains measurements from aerosol instruments used in Borneo including Condensation Particle Counter (CPC), Grimm Optical Particle Counter (Grimm), Scanning Mobility Particle Sizer (SMPS) and a Sonic Anemometer 1. The ACES field measurement programme was designed to develop the objectives of the Oxidant and Particle Photochemical Processes above a South-East Asian Tropical Rain Forest (OP3-Danum-08) project.

The Convective and Orographically-induced Precipitation Study (COPS) was an international field campaign initiated by the German Research Foundation (DFG). This dataset collection contains vertical wind profiler measurements. The UK component of the campaign involved flights by the FAAM aircraft and the deployment of a number of the UK Universities' Facility for Atmospheric Measurement (UFAM) mobile instruments in summer 2007. These included a Doppler Lidar, a radiometer, a wind profiler, two sodars, an aerosol monitoring suite, a network of automatic weather stations and two radiosonde stations. The objective was to identify the physical and chemical processes responsible for the deficiencies in quantitative precipitation forecasting (QPF) over low-mountain regions with the goal of improving their model representation, and thus improve forecasts. For the field experiment, a region in southwestern Germany/eastern France was selected where severe thunderstorm activity is frequent in summer with significant amounts of precipitation and risk of flash flood events, while the skill of numerical weather forecasts in the region is particularly low. This dataset includes measurements of wind speeds and wind directions and aerosol concentrations.

The Atmospheric Chemistry Studies in the Oceanic Environment (ACSOE) OXIdising Capacity of the Ocean Atmosphere (OXICOA) was a study of oxidant, radical and related gas-phase chemistry in the clean and moderately polluted marine atmosphere. The objectives of Ozone Profile Experiment (OZPROF) was to obtain ozone profiles data which could be used to study the variations and structures of tropospheric ozone. This collection contains ozone profiles data obtained from Aberystwyth using ozonesondes and LIDAR for the period between 1996 and 1998.

In June 2006 the NERC-funded Network for Calibration and Validation of EO data (NCAVEO) organised a cal-val field experiment in Chilbolton, north Hampshire involving 48 scientists from 20 organisations (click for list). The aim was to undertake a validation exercise based on the protocols and methods developed by the Validation of Land European Remote Sensing Instruments (VALERI) project, but modified as necessary for UK conditions. The experiment is a scoping exercise for the establishment of one or more VALERI sites in the UK as well as an opportunity to learn and share best practice amongst NCAVEO partners and the wider community. The initial plan was to base the experiment at the Barton Bendish test site in East Anglia, but the absence of on-site instrumentation coupled with uncertainty about access to this site and its distance from the main research groups led to a search for other suitable sites. The one chosen was centred on the Services and Technology Facilities Council Chilbolton Facility for Atmospheric and Radio Research (CFARR), approximately 45 km north of Southampton (Figure 1). CFARR comprises a number of state-of-the-art instruments for measuring atmospheric properties, including the 25 metre diameter Chilbolton dish, a 3 GHz doppler-polarisation radar, 1275 MHz clear air radar and a UV vertical sounding LiDAR In addition, the site has a full suite of continuously operating meteorological instruments. Datasets collected include Digi HRG data, remotely sensed data from 2 aircrafts, ground spectral data , atmospheric data, biophysical data, and fluvial geomorphological data.

Landsat 4 and Landsat 5 carry both the TM (thematic mapper) and the MSS (multi-spectral scanner) sensors, though routine collection of MSS data was terminated in late 1992. The satellites orbit at an altitude of 705 km and provide a 16-day, 233-orbit cycle with a swath overlap that varies from 7 percent at the Equator to nearly 84 percent at 81 degrees north or south latitude. Landsat data is widely used in many fields including geology, agriculture, resource management, climate analysis etc. The Landsat program is jointly managed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the US Geological Survey (USGS). The NERC Earth Observation Data Centre (NEODC) now also holds the data. The cost of retrieving data from these satellites is now prohibitive and they are now obsolete; in 1993 Landsat 6 failed to achieve orbit but the launch of Landsat 7 in 1999 provided open source data at less than commercial prices. See Landsat 7 article. Note: Gaining access to the Landsat 4/5 TM data will also automatically give you access to the Landsat 7 etm data also held at the NEODC

The European Space Agency's (ESA) Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) instruments have been flown on board ERS-1, ERS-2 and the Advanced SAR (ASAR) on board Envisat satellite. The ERS-1, ERS-2 and Envisat satellites, launched in 1991, 1995 and 2002 respectively, are ESA multi-payload, Earth observation satellites. This dataset collection contains Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data from the European Remote Sensing (ERS) satellites ERS-1 and ERS-2, and Advanced SAR data from Envisat. The ERS-1 mission began in 1991 and ended in 2000, and ERS-2 and Envisat are still ongoing. SAR provides high resolution images, ocean wave spectra data and wind direction vector data. They are available through the NEODC to UK based students only.

The Landsat 8 mission was a collaboration between the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the United States Geological Survey (USGS) which ensures the continued availability of Landsat data. This dataset collection contains moderate resolution images of the Earth’s surface in the visible to thermal infrared. Landsat 8 carries two science instruments: the Operational Land Imager (OLI) and the Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS). The OLI provides measurements in the visible, near infrared and shortwave infrared including a panchromatic band with 15 m spatial resolution and multispectral bands with 30 m spatial resolution. The TIRS provide a new infrared channel (band 9) for cirrus detection and a new deep blue band (band 1) for coastal monitoring. The TIRS instrument provides measurements at 100 m resolution in two bands in the thermal infrared previously covered by a single wide band. Some data from 2014 is now held by the Centre for Environmental Data Analysis (CEDA).