EarthCARE Reveals Unprecedented Image of Earth’s Clouds

Ibadan, 27 June 2024. – Less than a month after its launch, ESA’s EarthCARE satellite has returned the first image from one of its instruments. The image unveils the internal structure and dynamics of clouds for the first time from space. This first image, which the satellite’s cloud profiling radar captured, offers a mere glimpse of the instrument’s full potential once it completes full calibration.

EarthCARE carries four sophisticated instruments working in harmony to shed new light on the role that clouds and aerosols play in heating and cooling Earth’s atmosphere, thereby contributing to a better understanding of climate change. Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) provided the cloud profiling radar instrument EarthCARE used to capture the picture. On the other hand, the first data from the satellite’s three European instruments will come in the next weeks and months.

ESA’s Director for Earth Observation Programs, Simonetta Cheli, explained, “This is a fantastic first result from our JAXA partners and a true indication of what we can expect in the future when we fully calibrate and commission the satellite and all of its instruments.” The Director also added, “The key to the mission is having all four instruments working together to give us a holistic understanding of the highly complex interactions between clouds, aerosols, incoming solar radiation and outgoing thermal radiation to help better predict future climate trends.”

Likewise, JAXA’s Mission Scientist for the cloud profiling radar, Takuji Kubota, said, “We are happy to present this first image, which reveals detail on the internal structure of cloud dynamics over the ocean, east of Japan on 13 June. We have never had this kind of information measured from space before. I believe that the cloud profiling radar will bring various scientific discoveries.”