8. Cherri

Summary

CHERRI aims to improve advanced climate models by incorporating satellite data going back to the 1970s, while strengthening the use of current Copernicus missions.

The challenge is significant: producing coherent, stable climate records that span half a century requires reconciling instruments, calibration approaches, and data formats across generations of missions. CHERRI tackles that head-on, turning fragmented historical archives into seamless time series that climate models can actually use.

Longer, more stable historical data records mean more robust climate models and more reliable answers to the questions climate science is being asked to settle.

Our contribution

We are the only SME participating in the international consortium, contributing specialized expertise to one of the project’s core scientific challenges: the recovery, recalibration, and homogenization of historical satellite data, a process best described as data archaeology.

This work eliminates discontinuities between missions and produces coherent, stable time series suitable for advanced climate model assimilation, helping unlock the scientific value buried in five decades of satellite archives.

Key activities:

• Recovery of historical satellite data, including records from the 1970s.
• Recalibration and homogenization across mission generations.
• Elimination of discontinuities between heritage and modern datasets.
• Generation of coherent, climate-quality long-term time series.
• Technical support to the wider ECMWF-led consortium.

Dates

• Status: Ongoing.
• Data scope: Satellite records from the 1970s onwards, alongside current Copernicus missions.

Partners

• ECMWF — project lead.
• European Commission / Copernicus Climate Change Service — funding framework.
• High-profile international consortium.

Related links

• Copernicus Climate Change Service
• ECMWF