High Spatio- Temporal Resolution Land Surface Temperature Mission - a Copernicus Candidate Mission in Support of Agricultural Monitoring

Abstract

Evolution in the Copernicus Space Component (CSC) is foreseen in the mid-2020s to meet priority Copernicus user needs not addressed by the existing infrastructure, and/or to reinforce services by monitoring capability in the thematic domains of CO <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> , polar, and agriculture/forestry. This evolution will be synergetic with the enhanced continuity of services for the next generation of CSC. The “High Spatio-Temporal Resolution Land Surface Temperature Monitoring (LSTM) Mission”, identified as one of the CSC Expansion High Priority Candidate Missions (HPCM), currently undergoes an ESA preparatory phase (phase A/B1) study to establish mission feasibility. The LSTM mission shall provide enhanced measurements of land surface temperature with a focus responding to user requirements related to agricultural monitoring.