How are space-based tools helping to preserve our oceans?

Selma Cherchali: Earth-observation satellite data are key to our understanding of ocean environments and the development of operational oceanography. CNES is a legacy player that has worked to develop space assets to study the world’s oceans, in particular through the series of altimetry satellites measuring sea level rise.

• In the field of satellite altimetry, it all began with TOPEX/Poseidon in 1992, followed by the Jason and Sentinel programmes. The SWOT satellite, launched in 2022, is a game-changer set to bring a rich harvest of promising data. ESA and the European Union will be continuing this mission with the future Sentinel 3-NG-Topo satellite in the next decade.
• Another series of satellites is studying ocean surface winds and waves. One of these is the French-Chinese CFOSat mission, and a new generation is in the pipeline designed to measure ocean currents.
• Yet other programmes are focusing on ocean geochemistry and biology: ESA’s SMOS mission is measuring ocean salinity, while other satellites are also tracking variations in ocean colour to yield information on biodiversity and water quality.

Besides observation, satellite data have a genuine use in adapting to climate change, and on the impacts of human activities…

S. C.: That’s right, and it’s one of the issues being addressed by the Space4Ocean Alliance outlined at the 3^rd United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC3). The question is how to leverage such satellite data by combining them with other in-situ data and models to develop services. This covers the impacts of climate change on coastal communities (within the framework of the Space for Climate Observatory (SCO)), monitoring of plastic pollution of our seas, the health of marine protected areas (MPA) and illegal fishing.

In all these areas, space assets combined with in-situ data are already enabling huge advances, and we hope to amplify solutions operationally and transpose them to all maritime and small island nations that in some cases don’t have the space capabilities and expertise to cope with the major challenges facing them.

What are the goals and the principle driving UNOC?

S. C.: This conference brings together all UN member states. Its aim is to step up global actions in pursuit of the UN’s 14^th Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) to conserve oceans and marine resources within the 2030 timeframe. The initiative was launched by UN Secretary General António Guterres and his Special Envoy for the Ocean, Peter Thomson, to better coordinate stakeholders across the board: governments, civil society, science organizations, private and institutional players, and the broader marine and maritime sector. The first UNOC conference took place in 2017 in New York.

Was the space sector on board from the outset?

S. C.: The 2^nd UN Ocean Conference (UNOC2), in 2022, recalled that the space community was a key player in preserving the world’s oceans and that it needed to be involved more closely in seeking concrete solutions with other stakeholders. It’s against this backdrop that the 3^rd UN Ocean Conference (UNOC3) is set to be held, organized jointly in Nice by France and Costa Rica, with the aim of reaching an intergovernmental consensus on commitments and an action plan. One of the high points of this international event will be the official inauguration of the Space4Ocean Alliance on 9 June.

Who are the members of the alliance?

S. C.: The Space4Ocean Alliance (S4O) was set up within the framework of UNOC, but it will operate independently. At the initiative of CNES, it counts several founding members: the Norwegian Space Agency (NOSA), the Monaco Office for Space Affairs, the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), and the UNESCO International Oceanographic Commission (UNESCO IOC). These founding partners have already been joined by other stakeholders like Mercator Ocean, and others—like ESA, the Italian space agency ASI, the German space agency DLR, Morocco’s Royal Centre for Remote Sensing (CRTS), and Royal Centre for Space Studies and Research (CRERS)—have already expressed an interest. Our ambition is to get many more members from all horizons to quickly join the alliance.

What will this alliance actually do?

S. C.: Its aim is to consolidate international collaboration by connecting the space sector to the marine, maritime and oceanographic communities to help preserve and conserve the world’s oceans.

Among the many actions envisioned is the deployment of space-based tools, products and operational services at local scale. In particular, we’re looking to support least-developed countries and small-island developing states, which are feeling the brunt of the challenges facing coastal oceans, such as pollution, threats to biodiversity and sea level rise due to global warming.

This dimension is very important, as many nations don’t possess their own space assets; within the framework of the S4O alliance, with the support of our partners, we’ll be able to build this capacity to help them use the right tools and services for their territory.

The alliance will also strive to develop local and global indicators of ocean health relying on satellite data, and to promote future space missions.

What will its first actions be?

S. C.: The main principles of the alliance’s governance have been laid down and its steering committee will convene once a year. In the short term, we’re working to define the concrete requirements of UN member states, which we intend to update regularly. These elements will feed into a roadmap for space-based and in-situ observations, with an international call for oceanography missions yet to be developed, focusing on applications and operational services, and on capacity building.