The Greek island of Antikythera, whose name is linked to the history of science, is being transformed into a state-of-the-art climate observatory and a pioneer station for climate and weather research in the Mediterranean. The National Observatory of Athens (NOA), is building the Panhellenic Geophysical Observatory of Antikythera (PANGEA), a large remote sensing infrastructure, leveraging on a strategic investment of the European Investment Bank. The Mediterranean is one of the most climate-sensitive areas on the planet, and the observatory will fill a very important geographical gap in research on climate change and its implications. NOA holds significant expertise in Earth Observation to fulfill this mission, but it lacks scientific background in key areas of remote sensing and radiative transfer theory and applications, along with certain technological background. The PANGEA4CalVal Twinning project aspires to fill these gaps, by building upon PANGEA a framework of knowledge, R&I and management capacity, to establish a Centre for Earth Observation (EO) and satellite Calibration/Validation (Cal/Val) in the Mediterranean region. The project will enhance the human capacity and R&I growth in the region, towards supporting frontier environmental and climate research. PANGEA4CalVal is timely, to address the tremendous evolution of EO in both technology and application domains, the advent of the so-called “New Space” paradigm, along with the additional needs for satellite Cal/Val and enhancement of Copernicus Services. The project will apply a comprehensive set of activities to transfer knowhow from advanced partners in Europe, aiming to fill the identified knowledge gaps and fulfill the project objectives. PANGEA4CalVal will develop an open-access framework for PANGEA, with the mandate to bring together academia, industry, regional authorities and the civil society, to transform R&I capacities into socio-economic benefits for the region and the EU.
