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Climate change monitoring success celebrated at Oxfordshire laboratory

22 October 2009

The success of three sea temperature measuring devices, which have enabled the Met Office and other scientists to produce accurate climate change data and contributed to climate change modelling, is being celebrated at the Science & Technology Facilities Council's (STFC's) Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL) today.

Scientists from as far afield as Australia who have worked on the satellite instruments known as Along Track Scanning Radiometers (ATSRs) are gathering to mark the coming of age of the devices which provide accurate measurements of sea surface temperature, vital to the process of monitoring climate change.

Artist's impression of the Envisat satellite in orbit, carrying the AATSR instrument (Copyright ESA)

The first of three ATSRs whose development was led by a team at RAL was launched eighteen years ago in 1991 and followed closely by ATSR-2 in 1995, both of which were supported by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). The latest upgrade of the initial model, the Advanced Along Track Scanning Radiometer (AATSR) was launched in 2002. The sea surface temperature from the programme is currently being used by the Met Office for the Hadley Centre climate change programme, through funding from the Department of Energy & Climate Change (DECC), and for weather forecasting.

The instruments are capable of taking extremely accurate readings due to their high quality stable on-board calibration system and their pioneering use of dual view observations, taking a slanting view of the ocean ahead of the satellite and then viewing the same patch of ocean from directly overhead. By combining the information from these two views, project scientists can obtain measurements of sea surface temperature which are considerably more accurate than readings made by other satellite instruments. They have now set the world-wide standard for measuring sea surface temperature.

The data provided by all three instruments has provided a continual stream of extremely accurate data taken over an 18 year period; this offers an invaluable source of information for scientists' climate models and also for improving the quality of our weather forecasts.

Dr Chris Mutlow from the Space Science & Technology Department (SSTD) at RAL said, "The data from the ATSR sensors is valuable both on its own and as a calibration source for other satellite and in-situ observations. ATSR data is now regarded as one of the most relevant sources there is when studying climate change; it is starting to have a huge impact on climate science at a time when climate change is one of the biggest challenges we face."

It is the combination of high accuracy, ultra-stable, near continuous measurements since July 1991 and global coverage which surface measurements cannot supply that makes the ATSR data a key source of information about the changing temperatures of the world's oceans.

The AATSR instrument which is being flown on the European Space Agency's Envisat spacecraft was largely funded by DECC and its predecessor departments.

David MacKay, DECC Chief Scientific Adviser, said, "The success of the ATSR satellite instrument programme for measuring sea surface temperatures reflects the hard work and dedication of all the people who have contributed to it over the many years, as part of an international collaborative effort. The very accurate temperature record it has produced for the last 18 years is an important source of data for climate monitoring and modelling research."

The ATSR processing software and data archive has been jointly funded by DECC, the European Space Agency and NERC. DECC also funds the science and validation work on AATSR. The celebrations are taking place in SSTD and will include a series of talks detailing the project's achievements and future plans. Guests will include Professor Sir John Houghton and Defra Chief Scientist Professor Bob Watson.

Further information

Lucy Stone
Press Officer
Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
Tel: 01235 445627
Mob: 07920 870125

NERC Press Office
Natural Environment Research Council
Polaris House, North Star Avenue
Swindon, SN2 1EU
Tel: 01793 411561
Mob: 07917 557215

Notes

1. RAL's involvement in the project saw a team lead the initial developments of the first ATSR and then as part of the programme help move each of the instruments from experiment to operations, each time having more significant industry lead than the previous. The data for access by UK users is held at RAL within the NERC Earth Observation Data Centre (NEODC); the (A) ATSR archive is supported with co-funding from DECC as a part of this NERC funded Earth Observation data facility operated by RAL.

Press release: 23/09

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