15 July 2015: Under a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by the European Environment Agency (EEA) and the European Space Agency (ESA), the two agencies have agreed to exchange scientific expertise and technical information to strengthen work on Earth observation and environmental monitoring. Coming into effect immediately, the MoU will promote joint activities and mutual access to data.

The cooperation between the two agencies is meant to improve environmental management by, for instance, using ESA satellite data to augment environmental knowledge of a particular subject through time, allowing for evidence-based policymaking.

Launched on 23 June 2015, the Sentinel-2A satellite, for example, is providing data for the Copernicus Land Monitoring Service coordinated by EEA. The information furnished allows the Service to track land cover and land-use change and variables related to vegetation and the water cycle. Sentinel-2A’s input to the Service is optimized in terms of spatial resolution and geographical coverage.

The input received will inform EEA’s regular state of the environment reports, in addition to facilitating the monitoring of Europe’s urban environment, various habitats, landscape fragmentation, and climate change impacts. [EEA Press Release] [ESA Website]