The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.
Find out more about space activities in our 23 Member States, and understand how ESA works together with their national agencies, institutions and organisations.
Exploring our Solar System and unlocking the secrets of the Universe
Go to topicProtecting life and infrastructure on Earth and in orbit
Go to topicUsing space to benefit citizens and meet future challenges on Earth
Go to topicMaking space accessible and developing the technologies for the future
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Fires are a major source of atmospheric carbon dioxide. The ESA Fire Climate Change Initiative project intends to provide an accurate and consistent evaluation of burned areas globally using European Earth observation sensors. The outputs of this project will be used by climate-vegetation modellers to improve their current estimations of global vegetation and atmospheric conditions related to fire.
Working like thermometers in the sky, the Along Track Scanning Radiometer and the Advanced Along Track Scanning Radiometer on ESA’s ERS-2 and Envisat satellites measure thermal-infrared radiation to take the temperature of Earth’s land surface. Data from these sensors are compiled to create ESA’s ATSR World Fire Atlas.