ESA Open Invitation to Tender AO9322
Open Date: 05/06/2018
Closing Date: 14/09/2018 13:00:00

Status: ISSUED
Reference Nr.: 17.155.05
Prog. Ref.: EWatch – Climate CH.
Budget Ref.: E/0073-01 – EWatch – Climate CH.
Special Prov.: AT+BE+CH+DE+DK+ES+FI+FR+GB+GR+IT+LU+NL+NO+PT+RO+SE+CA
Tender Type: C
Price Range: > 500 KEURO
Techology Domains: Space System Software / Earth Observation Payload Data Exploitation / Applications and Services
Establishment: ESRIN
Directorate: Directorate of EO Programmes
Department: Science, Applications & Climate Dep.
Division: ESA Climate Office
Contract Officer: Boisard, Nathalie
Industrial Policy Measure: N/A – Not apply
Last Update Date: 05/06/2018
Update Reason: Tender issue

A key commitment in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) concerns systematic observation and development of data archives related to the climate system. The Global Climate Observing System (GCOS, established 1992) has, on behalf of UNFCCC, established a list of „Essential Climate Variables” (ECVs) that have high impact. In 2006 it identified specific requirements for satellite data products related to these ECVs. These requirements have since been periodically revised by GCOS in 2011 and 2016.The ESA Earthwatch programme element „Global Monitoring of Essential Climate Variables” (GMECV) also known internationally as the „ESA Climate Change Initiative” (CCI), responds directly to the UNFCCC/GCOS requirements, within the internationally coordinated context of GEO/CEOS. Its objective is: To realize the full potential of the long-term global Earth Observation archives that ESA together with its Member states have established over the last thirty years, as a significant and timely contribution to the „Essential Climate Variable” databases required by United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The programme element ensures that full capital is derived from on-going and planned ESA missions for climate purposes, including ERS, Envisat, the Earth Explorer missions, the Copernicus Space Component, and relevant ESA managed archives of Third-Party Mission data. Its essential featureis to implement a coherent and continuous suite of actions that encompasses all steps necessary for the systematic generation of relevant Essential Climate Variables (ECVs), and ensures their regular updating on timescales corresponding to the increasingly urgentneeds of the international climate change community. The programme is implemented along four themes: (i) New ECVs (ii) Additional RD on ECVs that were already included in CCI. (iii) Cross-ECV Projects. (iv) Knowledge Exchange. This Invitation to Tender (ITT) concerns exclusively the first theme (ii) Additional RD on ECVs that were already included in CCI. Contracts shall beplaced to perform the „Detailed requirements definition, algorithm development, validation and prototyping” for thirteen existing ECVs: oCloud oOzone oAerosol oGreen House Gases oSea Ice oSea Level oSea Surface Temperature oOcean Colour oGlaciers oLand Cover (Medium Resolution) oFire oSoil Moisture oIce Sheets Due to the specificity and huge differences of the Ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica this ECV will be the purpose of two different projects Greenland Ice Sheet and Antarctica Ice Sheet. Each contract will focus on one ECV and bring together several leading research groups expert in EO data analysis and validation, together with relevant specialist climate research groups acting as test users. Upon completion (and after the CCI+ mid-term review in Dec 2020), these contracts shall be followed by a second contract for each ECV project on „Pre-operational system development and demonstration, large scale ECV data processing, final validation and climate-user assessment”, as was done for all ECVs included in CCI so far. These second contracts are outside the scope of the current ITT.

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