Welcome to the CEOS Homepage

Established in 1984, the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS) coordinates civil space-borne observations of the Earth.  Participating agencies strive to enhance international coordination and data exchange and to optimize societal benefit. Currently 28 space agencies along with 20 other national and international organizations participate in CEOS planning and activities.

For more information about CEOS, how to add events to the CEOS calendar, how to access the CEOS Actions/Documentation, or to update web content, please contact:
Brian Killough, NASA SEO ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) or
Kenneth McDonald, NOAA SIT ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )

 

SIT 24 Meeting Announcement

Eumetsat Building Model image

The SIT-24 Meeting will take place September 10-11, 2009 at EUMETSAT Headquarters in Darmstadt, Germany. Hosted by EUMETSAT, SIT-24 will be preceded by key side meetings on September 9, 2009. As agreed at the 22nd CEOS Plenary, SIT-24 will be a working-level meeting and a very important follow-on to SIT-23 for finalizing deliverables for the November CEOS and GEO plenaries and the UNFCCC COP-15.  More information can be found here.

 

Recent Achievements

ASTER image

29 June 2009 Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and NASA announced the release of the ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model (GDEM). The GDEM was created by stereo-correlating the 1.3 million scene ASTER VNIR archive, covering the Earth's land surface between 83N and 83S latitudes. It is produced with 30 m postings and is formatted in 1° x 1° tiles as Geo TIFF files, each accompanied by a Quality Assessment file giving the number of ASTER scenes used to calculate a pixel's value or the external data source used to fill ASTER voids. Under the leadership of Prof. Jan-Peter Muller (BNSC/UCL), the WGCV Terrain Mapping subgroup and GEO DA-09-03d "Global DEM" task team are involved in the production of a global, coordinated and integrated DEM. The 22600 ASTER GDEM tiles may be downloaded from ERSDAC (http://www.gdem.aster.ersdac.or.jp/) and from the LP DAAC (https://wist.echo.nasa.gov/~wist/api/imswelcome/).

gosat image

16 June 2009 The operations of the Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite "IBUKI" (GOSAT) are proceeding very well with the calibration/validation activities.  The Level-2 (L2) products (CO2 and CH4 Column amounts) will be distributed to the public in January, 2010, but the researchers selected as Principal Investigators will get L2 products as early as October, 2009. Demonstrations based on the use of Greenhouse Gases (GHG) products for the coming COP-15 are being prepared. For more information on GOSAT, please refer to: http://www.jaxa.jp/projects/sat/gosat/index_e.html

16 June 2009 Catalog of Worldwide Test Sites for Sensor Characterization. The number of Earth-observing satellites is rapidly growing and measurements from these sensors are used to answer increasingly urgent global issues.  It is imperative that scientists and decision makers rely on the accuracy of Earth-observing data products.  The characterization and calibration of these sensors is vital to achieve an integrated Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) for coordinated and sustained observations of the Earth.  A first set of prime candidate worldwide test sites for the post launch characterization and calibration of space-based optical imaging sensors has been identified and is available online. This activity is being conducted in the scope of the GEO Task on the "Quality Assurance framework for Earth Observation (QA4EO)" led by CEOS/WGCV.
lsi portal image16 June 2009 CEOS Land Surface Imaging (LSI) Constellation Portal for Mid-Resolution Optical LSI Satellite Information and Enhanced Data Access. Thanks to the LSI Portal, users may access data acquired by mid-resolution (10 m to 100 m), optical land surface imaging satellite systems operated by CEOS member agencies.  The LSI Constellation seeks to promote the efficient, effective, and comprehensive collection, distribution, and application of space-acquired image data of the global land surface, especially to meet societal needs of the global population, such as those that comprise the nine Societal Benefit Areas of the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS).  The LSI Portal is accessible at http://wgiss.ceos.org/lsip/