ISRO, CNES agree to share climate data with other countries

Mumbai: India and France will provide scientists from other countries free access to data from their Megha Tropiques satellite, scheduled for launch next year. This was decided at the joint working group of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the French Space Agency Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES), which met at Goa on 5 July 6 July to review the progress of on-going collaborative programmes.

During the meeting, under the chairmanship of of Dr G Madhavan Nair, chairman, ISRO and his French couneterpart Dr Yannick d`Escatha, president, CNES, an agreement was signed between ISRO and CNES on the data policy for distribution of data received from Megha Tropiques. This will enables the global scientific community to have free access to Megha Tropiques data after calibration and evaluation of the payloads by scientists from both the agencies for weather and climate change.

This data is expected to enhance a better understanding of the tropical weather phenomena including the monsoons.

The satellite, due for launch in late 2009, is being built and launched by ISRO and has four vital French payloads - a microwave radiometer, a humidity sounder, a radiation measuring instrument and a radio occultation sounder for atmospheric studies.

The meeting also reviewed the status of SARAL, a small satellite mission with payloads from CNES for the study of ocean parameters towards enhancing the understanding of the ocean state conditions which are otherwise not covered by the in-situ measurements. The satellite carries a Ka band altimeter and a payload for reception of ARGO floats deployed all over the world oceans. The altimeter data will provide support in coastal environment studies, estuarine, bathymetry and preparedness towards Tsunami disaster. The periodic data collection over the oceans permits climate assimilations for improved weather forecast.

While reviewing the future collaborative projects, the teams emphasised the need for space-based observations for climate, environment and disaster management. Scientists from ISRO and CNES exchanged ideas for cooperation in conceiving space based systems and methodologies, which lead to a better understanding of tropical weather and climate.

The cooperation between the two agencies will also enhance interaction between scientists outside space agencies in India and France and among the global scientific community. It was re-emphasised that technical and scientific strengths of ISRO and CNES would lead to evolving and establishing innovative operational space systems in addressing issues related to the tropical weather and climate. Both the agencies concluded that these efforts should facilitate achieving leadership position in understanding the tropical climate.