Far-infrared Outgoing Radiation Understanding and Monitoring

FORUM (Far-infrared Outgoing Radiation Understanding and Monitoring) is an Earth observing satellite that is planned to launch in 2025 or 2026.

The FORUM mission is led by the European Space Agency and has as its main goal the study of the Earth's radiation budget. It is expected that FORUM's measurements will be improving climate models and offer new insights into the way climate change is affecting the planet.

Background

On 24 September 2019 it was announced that FORUM was selected to become ESA's ninth Earth Explorer mission, beating the Sea surface KInematics Multiscale monitoring (SKIM) proposal following a two-year feasibility study phase[1][2]

The main scientific purpose of FORUM is to better understand the Earth's radiation budget - the balance between the incoming radiation mostly from the Sun at short wavelengths, and outgoing radiation, which is a combination of reflected radiation from the Sun and radiation emitted by the Earth system, much of it a longer wavelengths - and the way this exchange is affected by the changes in the Earth's atmosphere caused by human activity. FORUM will especially be measuring the long-wavelength outgoing energy, which is strongly influenced by water vapour and thin ice clouds in the Earth's atmosphere. According to available data, about 50 percent of the total energy emitted by the Earth is in this long-wavelength range, but these emissions were not monitored in detail from space until now.[3][4][5]

These insights will offer a better understanding of the climatic changes taking place on Earth and improve climate predictions. According to ESA, the FORUM mission was selected over SKIM specifically because it promises to "fill in a critical missing piece of the climate jigsaw".[1]

The mission is planned for a 2025 or 2026 launch and its budget, which will be decided in November 2019, is expected to cost a maximum of 260 million euros.[6][7]

See also

European Space Agency

Living Planet Programme:

References
  1. "A new satellite to understand how Earth is losing its cool". European Space Agency. 24 September 2019. Retrieved 24 September 2019.
  2. "Two new Earth Explorer concepts to understand our rapidly changing world". European Space Agency. 15 November 2017. Retrieved 26 September 2019.
  3. Dunning, Hayley (24 September 2019). "New satellite looking at how Earth is losing its cool gets the go-ahead". Imperial College London. Retrieved 24 September 2019.
  4. "European Space Agency will add to climate knowledge". SciTech Europea. 24 September 2019. Retrieved 24 September 2019.
  5. Amos, Jonathan (24 September 2019). "Satellite will gain hi-res view of greenhouse effect". BBC. Retrieved 24 September 2019.
  6. Vaughan, Adam (24 September 2019). "European satellite will reveal Earth's atmosphere in unrivalled detail". New Scientist. Retrieved 24 September 2019.
  7. Cristobal, L. C. (24 September 2019). "ESA to launch satellite to gather high-resolution view of greenhouse effect". LiveNewsClub. Retrieved 24 September 2019.
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