UN/Austria/ESA Symposium on Space Applications to Support the Plan of Implementation of the World Summit on Sustainable Development
"Space Tools and Solutions for Monitoring the Atmosphere in Support of Sustainable Development"
Graz, Austria, 11 - 14 September 2007
The United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs, the Government of Austria and the European Space Agency (ESA) in 2006-2008 are jointly organizing the second
series of three consecutive symposia to promote activities to carry out the Plan of Implementation of the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), held in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 2002. The first
symposium in the current series of symposia, held in September 2006, addressed the benefits provided by space technologies for monitoring air pollution and energy production and use for sustainable development. Building on this event, the Symposium in 2007 will focus on space tools and solutions for monitoring the atmosphere in support of sustainable development, with the aim to support or enable participants to develop and implement projects in this area, and to provide reliable data and information for policy- and decision-making related to such issues as air quality, climate change, ozone and ultra-violet monitoring.
The Symposium will be hosted and co-sponsored by the Government of Austria (Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs and Federal Ministry for Transport, Innovation and Technology), the State of Styria and the City of Graz. It will also be co-sponsored by ESA. This will be the fourteenth in a series of symposia organized through the United Nations Programme on Space Applications in cooperation with these co-sponsors since 1994. The Symposium programme is supported through contributions by the Austrian Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics (ZAMG), the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the GMES Bureau of the European Commission, the Group on Earth Observations (GEO), the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and others.
The deadline for application for participants seeking full or partial funding support has expired on 22 June 2007.
Applicants have been informed about the outcome of their applications by mid-July 2007.
The Symposium has now ended. All presentations and post-Symposium Information is available
here.
Symposium Programme and Presentations:
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Information Note (PDF format, English only)
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Final Programme as delivered at the Symposium (PDF format, English only)
- United Nations Information Service Press Release: "United Nations to Hold Symposium on Space Tools and Solutions for Monitoring the Atmosphere in Support of Sustainable Development"
UNIS/OS/356 (External Link)
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Presentations made at the Symposium
- Report of the Workshop
(A/AC.105/904) (available in all official languages of the United Nations)
Reference and Tutorial Materials
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Reference Materials
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Tutorial Materials
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Fundamentals of Remote Sensing: A primer for those seeking to learn about or refresh their knowledge on remote sensing basics made available by the Canada Centre for Remote Sensing. Participants to the Symposium should have a good knowledge of the basics and concepts explained in this primer
Links to Atmosphere-related Data and Websites
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Data and Information
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Archived satellite data, maintained by National Satellite Meteorological Center of China
Archived satellite data can be ordered through this website. Data sets include: FY2C, FY2D, FY1D, MODIS/Terra (HRPT), MODIS/Aqua (HRPT), NOAA18/17/16 HRPT, MTSAT. Currently only a Chinese version is available. Registration is required, however it is free-of-charge.
- CALIPSO satellite
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EUMETSAT Image Gallery (Europe and Africa)
- India Meteorological Department Satellite Images and Products (INSAT satellite)
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Infusing Satellite Data into Environmental Applications (IDEA) site
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Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) description
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MODIS direct broadcast site
- MODIS Level 2 LAADS data browser
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MODIS Rapid Response System
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MODIS True Color and Aerosol Images
- MODIS True Color Images
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NASA Earth Observatory
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NASA Giovanni
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NASA Visible Earth
- OMI instrument
- Parasol satellite
- Satellite information service, maintained by National Satellite
Data for monitoring of dust, snow, fire, drought, flood, precipitation, fog, cyclone, etc. can be found at this website. Currently only a Chinese version is available. Registration is required, however it is free-of-charge.
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Satellite Products for Europe (German Remote Sensing Data Center)
- The International Sand and Dust Storm Warning System, maintained by Centre for Atmosphere Watch and Services
Modeling results and in-situ measurements for dust storms can be found through this website. An English version is available.
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Tropospheric Emission Monitoring Internet Service (European)
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U.S. Air Quality (The Smog Blog)
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U.S. EPA's AirNOW website
- U.S. NOAA Air Resources Laboratory HYSPLIT Model
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Weather Underground
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Institutional Programmes and Initiatives
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WMO Space Programme
The WMO Space Programme Page provides namely information on:
- global satellite planning, status and launch plans of Geo, LEO andR&D satellites
- overview and on-going projects of the WMO Space Programme
- data formats and dissemination mechanisms
- technical documents and meeting reports
- user requirements for satellite observations
- Virtual Laboratory and training activities
- Links to satellite operators and other relevant organizations
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Personal Websites
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Activities of Commercial Entities
Logistical Information for Symposium Participants
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Hotel Accommodation and Local Information, Symposium Preparation
- Hotel Reservation Form for self-funded participants (MSWord format, English only)
- The Symposium will be held at the Space Research Institute of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Schmiedlstraße 6, 8042 Graz, Austria.
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Registration Form for non-funded participants, including attendees from the academic and private sector (PDF format, English only)
- Registration will commence at 8:15 on Tuesday, 11 September 2007.
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Important notes for participants
- The Symposium will include a hands-on tutorial and training session to be held in the afternoon of Thursday, 13 September, organized with the support of NASA. The organizers strive to make available a limited number of PC workstations, however, to individually follow the tutorials and training exercises participants are strongly encouraged to bring along their WLAN-enabled notebook computers to the Symposium."
- For this training session the participants are kindly asked to come prepared with information and descriptions of the types of measurements (i.e., ground-based data) that are available to them in their region - the more specific the better.
- To make the training session and discussions at the Symposium most efficient, participants should also be prepared to describe the type of air quality activities they are involved with (e.g., management analysis and decisions they make, any policy issues they're trying to analyze and address) and specific problems/challenges they face that may then be addressed during the training session. Preferably this information should be given to the trainers at the beginning of the Symposium.
- Funded participants are reminded to prepare a short presentation of approximately 10 minutes duration on their professional work related to the Symposium theme prior to their arrival in Graz. The presentations will be delivered as part of the Symposium programme and may also include ideas on how to implement particular recommendations, proposals for starting new initiatives or for further enhancing ongoing or planned projects and programmes. Please send an electronic copy your presentation or a one-page abstract thereof to Mr. Levent Canturk (E-mail:
Levent.Canturk@unvienna.org) and Mr. Werner Balogh (E-mail:
Werner.Balogh@unvienna.org) by 17 August 2007.