Delegates from the Changchun Institute of Optics, Fine Mechanics and Physics (CIOMP) attended the SI-Traceable Space-based Climate Observing System Workshop in London earlier this month.

CIOMP, a member institute of China Academy of Sciences, was invited to attend alongside China’s Aerospace Information Research Institute, National Satellite Meteorological Centre, Anhui Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics, Shanghai Institute of Technical Physics, etc.

More than 40 UK and international space technology related institutions, organisations and universities attended the workshop, including the European Space Agency (ESA), European Meteorological Satellite Organization (EUMETSAT), as well as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and Laboratory of Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) from the United States.

Delegates discussed topics such as:

State-of-the-art technology in establishing traceability in orbit: current technologies, methods, and missions (e.g. CLARREO and its Pathfinder, TRUTHS, and Chinese and Indian counterparts)

New observation and climate-sensitivity detection capabilities and concepts

Potential scientific and economic benefits of related technology.

Dr. YE Xin, head of CIOMP’s delegation, delivered at the workshop an academic report entitled Investigation on Space Radiation Standard of Solar Reflection Spectrum, in which he introduced the research foundation and target of space radiation reference load in solar reflection spectrum, current research progress and future implementation plans.

CIOMP delegates held in-depth exchanges and discussions with Professor Nigel Fox, advocate of the TRUTHS project in the UK, on technical details such as on-orbit traceable radiation benchmark sources and on-board calibration chains, and assisted the conference working group in completing the white paper of the workshop.

The workshop provided CIOMP researchers an opportunity to demonstrate their progress and prowess in this field.

Demand for climate observation for radiation accuracy and remote sensing data fusion between sensors has become increasingly urgent in recent years. An industry consensus has been reached to establish a space radiation benchmark to solve the problem of high-precision quantitative remote sensing. CEOS, WGCV Working Group and WMO/GSICS Working Group are actively promoting extensive exchanges and cooperation among relevant research organisations and institutions, and planning to establish a space radiation benchmark for the unified global satellite data quality standard.

The workshop, held at Britian’s National Physics Laboratory (NPL), was the result of nearly half a year of careful planning of the UK space agency, Committee of Earth Observation Satellite (CEOS), and World Meteorological Organization (WMO) 

Figure 1 Chinese delegates attending the workshop (Photo by CIOMP)