On 1 April, the German Environmental Satellite EnMAP was successfully launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida on board a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Over the next several years, the hyperspectral mission will gather images of the Earth’s surface in about. 250 colours (“spectral bands”), offering unparalleled information on the current state of the planet’s vegetation, soils and waters. The Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) will also use this data for future analyses of climatic and environmental phenomena around the globe.
The specially designed cameras on board the satellite will deliver images of the Earth’s surface in more than two hundred narrow, parallel wavelength bands, also referred to as hyperspectral images or imaging spectroscopy. This spectral, high-resolution data will allow us to observe the planet in unprecedented detail – and e.g. detect and identify minerals or pollutants, determine plant species and monitor their nutrient supplies, or assess pollution levels in bodies of water.
The satellite, which is roughly the size of a wardrobe, can also be used to detect short-term changes. The environmental mission EnMAP is being spearheaded by the German Space Agency at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) on behalf of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK). Scientific coordination for the mission is being provided by the Helmholtz Centre Potsdam – German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ). The satellite and its hyperspectral instruments were designed and constructed by the firm OHB-System AG. Total costs are estimated at ca. 300 million euros.
The EnMAP (Environmental Mapping and Analysis Program) satellite will image our planet from an altitude of 650 kilometres and using 242 spectral channels: this cartographic data is recorded by the satellite and then downloaded by the DLR ground stations as the satellite flies over them.
The AWI Working Group “Phytooptics”, led by Prof Astrid Bracher, is directly involved in the mission. As an expert on remote sensing of water bodies, Bracher herself is a member of the EnMAP mission’s Science Advisory Group (EnSAG), while the Phytooptics Group is responsible for the validation of EnMAP products concerning Germany’s inland and coastal waters. In addition, data provided by the EnMAP satellite will allow the team to determine not only the concentration but also the composition of microalgae like phytoplankton in our inland and coastal waters. To date, comparable data products are only available for the open ocean, since the spatial resolution (several kilometres) offered by other sources of high-resolution spectral satellite data is insufficient to capture the highly dynamic changes in the composition of phytoplankton and other substances (e.g. plastic) in these waters. Satellite-based datasets on the distribution and productivity of various phytoplankton groups are extremely valuable in terms of making reliable statements on the quality of these water bodies and their use as water sources, food sources and