'Satellite Observations for Climate Resilience and Sustainability'
Presenter: Prof. Stephen Briggs, European Space Agency – ECSAT (European Centre for Space Applications and Telecommunications) & University of Cambridge
Time: March 1, 2018 – 19:30 UTC
Location: Winstanley Lecture Theatre, Trinity College (Map)
Reception (with eco-friendly sandwiches, snacks, alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks) to follow.
Tickets: Not needed, but please RSVP on Facebook so we have an idea of the number of people to expect.
Observations from Earth observing satellites are now the primary source of information on climate change and prediction. They also underpin the management of adaptation to climate change and its mitigation, together with wider issues of sustainability addressed thought the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations, and disaster risk reduction.
Prof. Briggs will show examples of how observations provide evidence of ongoing change in the climate system, and how we might use these and other data to be able better to manage, and increase our resilience to, future change.
Prof. Stephen Briggs holds the position of Senior Adviser in the Directorate of Earth Observation Programmes, ESA, with particular responsibility for relations to external bodies, and Visiting Professor at the Department of Chemistry at the University of Cambridge. He is currently Chairman of the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) Steering Committee and in this context interacts with the UNFCCC and with the IPCC WGs on adaptation and mitigation.
He has been involved in the development of the Group on Earth Observations (GEO), an IGO with over 100 sovereign national members and a further 100 participating organisations, since its inception in 2003 and sits on its Executive Committee and Programme Board. Until November 2017 he was Chair of the Strategic Implementation Team of the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS), and is ad hominem adviser to the Chinese National Remote Sensing Programme. He also serves on the Advisory Board of the Global Terrestrial Network – Glaciers.
He was the founding Chair of the International Charter Space and Major Disasters, developed to ensure easy access to satellite data for emergency management. He has led ESA work with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the World Bank (WB) on disaster management scenarios and recently spoke at the Annual Meeting of ADB on the use of satellite data analytics in risk reduction in Asian cities.
He has also worked with the World Bank Global Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction and with the insurance industry for improved risk modeling based on integrating research and commercial paradigms.
