Earth Cloud Aerosol and Radiation Explorer (EarthCARE)

Welcome to the EarthCARE Imagery Portal — your gateway to exploring and visualizing the latest data from the EarthCARE satellite, a joint mission by the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

Resources

Orbit Tracking

Imagery

Atmospheric Lidar (ATLID)

Cloud Profiling Radar (CPR)

Live Location

The Mission

The Earth Cloud Aerosol and Radiation Explorer (EarthCARE) satellite was successfully launched on 28 May 2024 and its payload includes a: a 94-GHz Doppler Cloud Profiling Radar with Doppler capability supplied by JAXA, an advanced 353 nm High-Spectral Resolution Lidar (HSRL, called ATLID), a Multi-Spectral cloud/aerosol Imager measuring narrow-band Top of Atmosphere (TOA) radiances (MSI) and a 3-view Broad-Band short- and total-wave Radiometers for TOA radiance (BBR).

EarthCARE can be considered an evolution of selected components from NASA’s highly successful A-train mission, offering several significant advantages. These include the radar’s Doppler capability, a lower orbit that enhances radar sensitivity by 6 dBZ, the lidar’s HSRL functionality, and the BBR’s multiple viewing angles. Furthermore, unlike NASA’s A-train, which uses separate platforms, EarthCARE is a single platform purpose-built to optimize the integration and synergy of its sensors.