Climate from Space: the evidence

From their unique vantage point, satellites provide key lines of scientific evidence to understand the climate.

The ESA Climate Change Initiative

The CCI aims to realise the full potential of the long-term global Earth Observation archives that ESA has established over the past 30 years, as a significant and timely contribution to the ECV databases required by UNFCCC.

Essential Climate Variables: the projects

Twenty-two dedicated projects are developing long-term global data records, as part of ESA’s Climate Change Initiative, to track changes across the oceans, atmosphere and land

Climate from Space

Witness the changing planet through the eyes of Earth-orbiting satellites with this new interactive visualisation tool

A new coastal sea level record

A new coastal sea level record from reprocessed satellite altimetry

The climate of a region is its predominant weather conditions, averaged over many years

Scientific evidence for warming of the climate is unequivocal (IPCC Fifth Assessment Report, 2013)

CCI uses climate knowledge and technical capabilities from across ESA Member States to support research and development.

Satellites observing Earth provide a clear picture of changes across the entire planet, measuring and monitoring our vast oceans, land, atmosphere and areas that are difficult to reach, such as the polar regions.