ESA workshop on the Earth Radiation Budget (in-person, invite only)

The European Space Agency will be hosting this expert workshop to discuss outstanding questions, satellite sensing capabilities, and the products available to assess the Earth Radiation Budget (ERB). The workshops objectives are to help shape the contours of possible future observing systems and identify priorities for science studies with existing and upcoming datasets.

This invite-only, in-person workshop takes place from 23 to 26 February 2027 at the European Centre for Space Applications and Telecommunications (ECSAT) in Harwell, UK. The meeting will start and end at lunchtime.

Through a complement of keynote talks and ample discussion time, the workshop will review past and current observational capabilities, best practices in exploiting Earth observation products, and user needs for satellite-based ERB data records. The conclusions will help define the scientific pathways needed to advance our understanding of the Earth system and inform missions addressing continuity needs and observational gaps.

The workshop session themes include:

1. Top of Atmosphere (TOA) Radiation Budget
2. Surface Atmosphere Radiation Budget
3. Cloud Radiative Response
4. Aerosol Radiative Forcing
5. Climate Model Evaluation
6. ERB products supporting climate policy
7. ERB products in commercial applications

Each session will feature two invited presentations: one outlining the topic’s importance for understanding the climate system, including outstanding scientific research questions, and the other reviewing current observational capabilities, including key gaps and limitations. These presentations will be followed by open floor discussions, with all participants, on how to address knowledge gaps, including research priorities and strengthening observational capabilities.

Status updates from recent and upcoming satellite missions (e.g., CERES, EarthCARE, LIBERA, FORUM) will also be presented in a poster session as a complement to the session discussions.

Note that the workshop will address terrestrial outgoing fluxes only and will not address incoming solar radiation monitoring requirements.

Session topics

The 7 workshop session themes comprise the following:

Topic 1: TOA Radiation Budget

The session will discuss how Earth radiation budget satellite data are used to track and understand changes in Earth’s top-of-atmosphere (TOA) energy budget, constrain model projections of future warming, and advance understanding of the linkages between Earth’s energy budget, atmosphere-ocean circulation, and precipitation. Additionally, the session will briefly overview the instruments and ancillary data required to produce the data products needed to address these scientific areas.

What future observations are required to advance our understanding in these areas, given current knowledge gaps? Furthermore, how should we balance the need for long-term observational continuity (i.e., long observational climate data records) against the development of new measurement technologies aimed at poorly understood climate processes?

Topic 2 - Surface and Atmosphere Radiation Budget

The session will discuss how satellite and surface radiation budget data are being used to observe and understand regional and global scale surface and atmosphere radiation budgets (SARB), how surface and atmospheric properties interact with the SARB, how the SARB are changing over multidecadal time scales, and how these changes influence Earth’s water cycle. The session will describe how satellite and ancillary data are used to produce the SARB data products and how TOA radiation budget measurements play a key role in the process.

What future observations are required to advance our understanding in these areas, given current knowledge gaps? Furthermore, how should we balance the need for long-term observational continuity (i.e., long observational climate data records) against the development of new measurement technologies aimed at poorly understood climate processes?

Topic 3 - Cloud Radiative Response

The session will discuss how satellite observations of clouds and their radiative effects can constrain cloud radiative responses and feedbacks and their contribution to changes in Earth’s energy imbalance. It will especially consider the roles of low marine clouds, tropical convective clouds and storm-track shifts, and examine how long-term records, radiative kernels and process-based diagnostics can reveal the thermodynamic and dynamical origins of cloud changes and separate feedback signals from internal variability.

What observational continuity and new capabilities are needed to reduce uncertainty in cloud feedbacks? In particular, what could improved spatial and temporal sampling, spectrally resolved measurements, active profiling, and new observables enabled by improved instrument capabilities and sensitivity add, and how should these measurements be integrated to distinguish robust cloud changes from natural variability and measurement artefacts?

Topic 4 - Aerosol Radiative Forcing

The session will discuss how satellite observations are used to quantify aerosol radiative forcing and its evolution, including direct aerosol-radiation interactions and indirect effects mediated by clouds. It will review current estimates, assess evidence for changes over the past two decades, and examine how observations and models can be combined to separate aerosol effects from meteorological variability and improve understanding of aerosol-cloud-radiation processes.

What observational attributes are needed to constrain aerosol forcing more robustly, including accuracy, stability, spatial and temporal sampling, spectral information and coincident measurements of aerosols, clouds and radiation? The session will also consider how existing records can be used more effectively and which new measurement capabilities would most improve process understanding, trend detection and model evaluation.

Topic 5 - Climate Model Evaluation

This session will discuss how Earth radiation budget (ERB) satellite observations are used for the evaluation, validation, and development of climate models. We will examine current state-of-the-art metrics, including climatological means, variability, trends, and spatial patterns of change, as well as coupled analyses of radiative processes and the atmosphere-ocean system. Particular emphasis will be placed on using ERB observations to evaluate aerosol forcing, cloud feedback, aerosol-cloud-radiation interactions, and other processes that remain major sources of uncertainty in climate models.

Which processes can current ERB observations effectively constrain, and what observational attributes such as accuracy, stability, spatial and temporal sampling, spectral information, and resolution are required? What additional processes would we like future observations to constrain, and what measurement advances are needed to achieve this?

The session will also consider how ERB observations can keep pace with rapidly evolving modeling capabilities, including higher-resolution climate models, calibrated physics ensembles (CPE), and numerical weather prediction (NWP), and how model development can inform requirements for the next generation of ERB observations.

Topic 6 - Supporting Climate Policy & Climate Action

The session will discuss how observations of Earth’s radiation budget and Earth’s energy imbalance can support global climate action, mitigation tracking and policy assessment. It will examine how ERB information can be combined with climate and economic modelling to distinguish the effects of mitigation from natural variability, evaluate whether the energy imbalance is stabilising or declining, and provide evidence relevant to emerging policy and assessment needs.

What precision, stability, spatial resolution and record length are required to detect policy-relevant changes in ERB and attribute them with confidence? The session will also explore how observational products and uncertainty information should be designed for decision-makers, how ERB can inform the optimisation and evaluation of mitigation pathways, and how its significance can be communicated clearly to stakeholders and the public.

Topic 7 - ERB Products in Commercial Applications

The session will discuss the growing use of ERB surface radiation data for industries in the Energy, Infrastructure, and Agricultural sectors. Specific examples will be provided to illustrate how ERB data are used in these applications and how they inform critical decisions. The session will also discuss how data product development for climate research can be leveraged to create data products that serve the specific needs of these communities.

How do the observational requirements differ between the applied science and climate science research communities? How will that change in the future as applied science use of ERB data continues to grow?