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Envisat services interrupted
After 10 years of service, Envisat has stopped sending data to Earth. ESA’s mission control is working to re-establish contact with the satellite. Although this landmark mission has been in orbit twice as long as it was designed for, ESA … Continue reading
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ESA representatives visit CLS-Brest
On the sidelines of the ESA Globcurrent meeting hold in Brest from the 7th to the 9th of March 2012, Henri Laur (responsible for the ESA Earth Observation Missions Management Office) and Yves-Louis Desnos (Head Research & Development section & Senior Advisor EO Science and Applications Department) organized, with IFREMER, a special event to celebrate the 10 years of marine observations with ENVISAT. CLS took the opportunity to invite them for a presentation of its infrastructures and activities in Brest. Continue reading
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Tagged EMSA, ESA, GlobCurrent, Henri Laur, Vendée Globe, VIGISAT, World Bank, Yves-Louis Desnos
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Wakes behind Horn Rev 1 & 2 wind farms
With the large amount of wind farms to be built in the next years, multiple wind farms will appear in the most favourable locations. The planning and design of these clusters pose new challenges with regards to the sitting of … Continue reading
Posted in Case study, Wind
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Latest current products over Agulhas :
http://soprano.cls.fr/searchL2/searchL2/L2/currentProducts/atom1?zone=agulhas Continue reading
Von Karman Vortex street
Case of north-easterly wind in the North of the Aegean Sea with evidence of a repeating pattern of swirling vortices caused by the unsteady separation of flow over Samothrace island in the Aegean Sea. Continue reading
Hurricane Irene
On 22th August 2011, the tropical storm Irene was classified as stage 1 Hurricane while it was passing over Puerto Rico Island. With time, it gained power, reaching stage 2 on 23th in the morning and stage 3 as it was approaching the coast of the Bahamas, before heading north aside the US East Coast (about 400km off the shore). Its intensity then diminished down to stage 1 when it passed Cap Hatteras. Still, the forecast trajectory announced it would reach New York City which, unlike the Caribbean’s, is not very used to this type of natural events (Gloria, the last hurricane that hit the city, dates back to 1985).
As soon as the news came out, ASAR (Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar onboard ENVISAT) acquisition plans were updated by ESA (the European Space Agency) to get a radar snapshot of the hurricane. Roughness products show the two radar images, acquired over Cap Hatteras before the cyclone reached the American East Coast. The eye of the hurricane is well depicted on the first image (dark disk). The displacement of the hurricane is shown by the new location of the eye, passing over the Sound of Pamlico 12 hours later.
Radar observation presents many advantages: the capacity to see through rain and clouds, at night and days and with a high resolution to assess geophysical parameters such as surface wind, swell and currents. Besides, its wide swath of 400km gives a synoptic view of such meso-scale phenomenon. Continue reading