Commission approves six projects for Environment and Climate programme
The European Commission has selected six projects for funding under the Environment and Climate specific RTD programme of the Fourth Framework Programme following the call for proposals launched on 17 October 1995 (OJ No C 271 of 17.10.1995 p. 23). The call was for projects in area 3.2 of the work programme (space techniques applied to environmental monitoring and research, in particular research and development work for potential future operational activities). The six projects will receive total Community funding of ECU 4.2 million. The six projects are: - OASE (ozone application simulator and explorer): This "umbrella" project combines ongoing developments supported by various European organizations (ESA, EUMETSAT and several national institutes) and aims to define the specifications of an operational ozone monitoring system and to test new concepts for ozone monitoring instruments; - Operational Sea Ice Monitoring by Satellite in Europe: The aim is to allow an optimal use of satellite data to monitor sea ice, which has a strong influence on climate, the biosphere, human settlements, industries and sea transportation; - SAFE (synthetic aperture radar (SAR) for agriculture and forestry in Europe): It will evaluate the usefulness of space-borne SAR data to meet the requirements of European agriculture and forestry. The project should result in a more efficient use of satellite radar data in agricultural and forest monitoring; - REFIR (radiation explorer in the far infra-red): It aims to improve knowledge on water vapour in the low atmosphere. The project should lead to the design of a novel instrument allowing precise measurements of water vapour amounts. This data is of fundamental importance as atmospheric humidity is a key parameter in climate modelling. The results should also make an important contribution to ESA, EUMETSAT and NASA programmes; - Medium-Scale Surface Temperature Mission: It aims to promote an imager mission providing measurements from space in the thermal infra-red range. This data is very useful to estimate the status of soil and vegetation systems. For example, it provides information on water availability, vegetation state, potential stress due to drought, illness and pests; - FUEGO: It will investigate the potential benefits of real-time space observation to fire-fighting in Mediterranean forest areas. The project should lead to a complete description of the payload elements, including sensors and processors, of the satellite.