TRAINING COURSE ON DATA APPLICATIONS OF EUROPEAN REMOTE SENSING SATELLITES TO BE HELD IN FRASCATI, ITALY
Press Release
DEV/2175
OS/1733
TRAINING COURSE ON DATA APPLICATIONS OF EUROPEAN REMOTE SENSING SATELLITES TO BE HELD IN FRASCATI, ITALY
19971120 NEW YORK, 20 November (Department of Economic and Social Affairs) -- The United Nations and the European Space Agency are jointly organizing a training course on the applications of satellite data gathered by the European Remote Sensing Satellites (ERS-1 and ERS-2). The course is to be held in Frascati, Italy, from 24 November to 5 December for experts from English- and Portuguese-speaking African countries. The focus is on the applications of satellite data to natural resources, renewable energy and the environment.The training course, jointly organized by the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs, under the auspices of the United Nations Programme on Space Applications, and by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, in cooperation with the European space Agnecy, is being hosted by the European Space Research Institute in Frascati, Italy. Twenty experts in the field of remote sensing from the following countries will attend the two-week session: Botswana, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Libya, Malawi, Nigeria, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
The training course is expected to strengthen the capacity of participating experts in the practical applications of radar remote sensing systems, in particular, to geology, mineral prospecting, oceanography and near coastal areas, agriculture, forestry, meteorology and environmental monitoring. That directly responds to the recommendations of chapter 10 of Agenda 21 of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) and the Global Plan of Action for the United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II), as well as to the recommendations of the Second United Nations Conference on the Exploration and Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UNISPACE 82)
The training programme focuses on: the fundamentals of remote sensing; an overview of ERS microwave instruments; processing and calibration of microwave data; applications of radar data to land and coastal resources; weather, climate and oceanographic applications; and an introduction to ERS data distribution policy. The participants will be exposed to various aspects of current ERS microwave remote sensing systems and applications of their data to natural resources exploration and environmental monitoring, the processing of such data and to the ways microwave data can be integrated and combined with data from other sensor systems to manage natural resources and preserve the Earth's environment.
- 2 - Press Release DEV/2175 OS/1733 20 November 1997
A field trip to ESA Fucino ground station will help demonstrate the actual methods of ERS data acquisition, registration and storage. Discussions on the different aspects of ERS data applications for national development, including opportunities for follow-up projects organized by the European Space Agency and the United Nations, in cooperation with national space agencies and concerned institutions, will conclude the training course.
The educational and application-oriented aspects of the training programme were developed jointly by the United Nations and the European Space Agency. The facilities and the technical support, as well as lecturers and information documents for the training course, are being provided by the European Space Agency/European Space Research Institute. Funds for the training course were provided by the Office for Outer Space Affairs and the United Nations Trust Fund for New and Renewable Sources of Energy. This is the fourth and last training course of a series which have included sessions for experts from Asia and Pacific countries (1995), Latin American and Caribbean countries (1994) and Francophone African countries (1993).
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