In only 50 years, observation from space and numerical modelling have revolutionized our knowledge of the Earth, from the global scale of oceans to the local scale of an agricultural parcel. Today, observations collected by satellites feed numerical models in order to better forecast weather, to follow the evolution of Arctic ice and sea level, to monitor atmospheric pollution, to detect wild fires and quantify the burnt surfaces, to document desertification and Saharian dust transport, … Observation and modelling are increasingly entangled, constituting an indispensable source of knowledge both for science and for policy-making, in the short run of crisis management and in the long run of infrastructure management or the regulation of the emissions of pollutants.

This module is organized as 4 lectures followed by 5 project-based work sessions. The lectures present the fundamental knowledge forming the basis for remote sensing and numerical modelling of the atmosphere. The goal of a « satellite remote sensing » is to design a space mission for the observation of Earth. The aim is to understand the successive steps leading to the definition of a complete mission in order to imagine tomorrow's observations. The goal of a « numerical modelling » project is to answer a scientific or policy question through numerical modelling of a natural phenomenon. The aim is to acquire the method allowing to exploit the numerical tool while taking into account the limitations and uncertainties inherent to the forecasting exercise.

Lecture 1
Passive remote sensing
Physical bases of atmospheric numerical models

Lecture 2
Active remote sensing
Deterministic chaos and predictability

Lecture 3
Orbitography, Instrumentation, Space mission
Initialization and data assimilation

Lecture 4
Clouds : the contribution of satellite remote sensing
Clouds : physical parameterizations in numerical models

Sample projects
Remote sensing :
greenhouse gases
Earth's radiative budget
atmospheric pollution
wild fires in quasi-real time …
Modelling :
forecasting intense rainfall
dispersion of a polluting plume
air quality in Ile-de-France
local impact of climate change

Evaluation mechanism : Evaluation will be based on the project : work, results, oral presentation.

Last Modification : Tuesday 27 March 2012