Robin Hogan
@robinjhogan.bsky.social
Principal Scientist at #ECMWF and Professor of Atmospheric Physics at the University of Reading - Radiative Transfer - Co-Chair of ESA-JAXA #EarthCARE Mission Advisory Group
Would you believe it: just 10 days after #EarthCARE went through the eye of Hurricane Humberto, it did the same with Hurricane Priscilla in the East Pacific on 7 October! A very different beast this one: a huge eye around 100 km across, and very lopsided, with much more rain on the southern side.
October 23, 2025 at 9:09 AM
Would you believe it: just 10 days after #EarthCARE went through the eye of Hurricane Humberto, it did the same with Hurricane Priscilla in the East Pacific on 7 October! A very different beast this one: a huge eye around 100 km across, and very lopsided, with much more rain on the southern side.
Second, the signal from the "Rayleigh" channel of EarthCARE's lidar is strongly related with ocean chlorophyll estimates from routine ocean colour measurements, with the advantage that EarthCARE's lidar can continue to make measurements in polar night!
October 23, 2025 at 8:58 AM
Second, the signal from the "Rayleigh" channel of EarthCARE's lidar is strongly related with ocean chlorophyll estimates from routine ocean colour measurements, with the advantage that EarthCARE's lidar can continue to make measurements in polar night!
First, the depolarisation of the land surface measured by EarthCARE's lidar seems to be very well correlated to the widely used "NDVI" vegetation index - but why? We don't yet know but potentially this could be telling us something new about vegetation!
October 23, 2025 at 8:58 AM
First, the depolarisation of the land surface measured by EarthCARE's lidar seems to be very well correlated to the widely used "NDVI" vegetation index - but why? We don't yet know but potentially this could be telling us something new about vegetation!
New instruments always throw up surprises - Gerd-Jan van Zadelhoff of KNMI had a look at the #EarthCARE lidar's surface returns and found some intriguing and unexpected things as explained in ESA's latest EarthCARE web story... earth.esa.int/eogateway/su...
October 23, 2025 at 8:58 AM
New instruments always throw up surprises - Gerd-Jan van Zadelhoff of KNMI had a look at the #EarthCARE lidar's surface returns and found some intriguing and unexpected things as explained in ESA's latest EarthCARE web story... earth.esa.int/eogateway/su...
And here's EarthCARE's radar reflectivity with GOES-E for context (thanks to Mark Fielding)!
September 29, 2025 at 4:02 PM
And here's EarthCARE's radar reflectivity with GOES-E for context (thanks to Mark Fielding)!
The level of detail revealed by EarthCARE is amazing: as well as the usual change in vertical Doppler velocity as snow melts to rain, we can see the rising air in the eye wall! The imager also captures the 3D nature of the convective cells in the rain bands further out. More analysis to come...
September 29, 2025 at 3:12 PM
The level of detail revealed by EarthCARE is amazing: as well as the usual change in vertical Doppler velocity as snow melts to rain, we can see the rising air in the eye wall! The imager also captures the 3D nature of the convective cells in the rain bands further out. More analysis to come...
So this is pretty amazing - yesterday EarthCARE sampled Hurricane Humberto straight across the eye! The eye of a tropical cyclone is small so a direct hit is rare: this is the first time EarthCARE has hit one after over a year in orbit! (Showing here also VIIRS on NOAA-20 for context.)
September 29, 2025 at 3:12 PM
So this is pretty amazing - yesterday EarthCARE sampled Hurricane Humberto straight across the eye! The eye of a tropical cyclone is small so a direct hit is rare: this is the first time EarthCARE has hit one after over a year in orbit! (Showing here also VIIRS on NOAA-20 for context.)
...and the volcanic plume from Klyuchevskaya Sopka in Russia, which erupted July-August 2025. More coming soon! Thanks as always to @masonshannon.bsky.social for many of the images and to NASA Worldview for the wider context. worldview.earthdata.nasa.gov?v=154.961959...
September 26, 2025 at 10:21 PM
...and the volcanic plume from Klyuchevskaya Sopka in Russia, which erupted July-August 2025. More coming soon! Thanks as always to @masonshannon.bsky.social for many of the images and to NASA Worldview for the wider context. worldview.earthdata.nasa.gov?v=154.961959...
EarthCARE is a inexhaustible source of beautiful imagery of some of the most spectacular phenomena nature has to offer, so I've started a Gallery page on the EarthCARE Science web site, showing for example convective motions in the trainbands of Typhoon Ragasa... www.earthcarescience.net/gallery
September 26, 2025 at 10:21 PM
EarthCARE is a inexhaustible source of beautiful imagery of some of the most spectacular phenomena nature has to offer, so I've started a Gallery page on the EarthCARE Science web site, showing for example convective motions in the trainbands of Typhoon Ragasa... www.earthcarescience.net/gallery
When we look at the cloud properties estimated by combining the radar, lidar and imager (using the "ACM-CAP" algorithm developed by @masonshannon.bsky.social and me) we see this layer contains high concentrations of very small ice crystals. The imager shows that they block upward thermal radiation.
September 17, 2025 at 7:47 PM
When we look at the cloud properties estimated by combining the radar, lidar and imager (using the "ACM-CAP" algorithm developed by @masonshannon.bsky.social and me) we see this layer contains high concentrations of very small ice crystals. The imager shows that they block upward thermal radiation.
These are atmospheric gravity waves with a wavelength of 18 km, probably triggered by airflow over mountains; wavy structures are also seen in the zoomed-in radar and lidar backscatter. The updrafts bring air to liquid saturation and droplets form, but colder than -40°C they immediately freeze.
September 17, 2025 at 7:47 PM
These are atmospheric gravity waves with a wavelength of 18 km, probably triggered by airflow over mountains; wavy structures are also seen in the zoomed-in radar and lidar backscatter. The updrafts bring air to liquid saturation and droplets form, but colder than -40°C they immediately freeze.
Another great #EarthCARE Image of the Month, this time led by Shannon Mason (@masonshannon.bsky.social): the Doppler radar sees wave structures in an Antarctic cloud while the lidar and imager see an optically thick ice cloud layer at around -45°C. What's going on? earth.esa.int/eogateway/su...
September 17, 2025 at 7:47 PM
Another great #EarthCARE Image of the Month, this time led by Shannon Mason (@masonshannon.bsky.social): the Doppler radar sees wave structures in an Antarctic cloud while the lidar and imager see an optically thick ice cloud layer at around -45°C. What's going on? earth.esa.int/eogateway/su...
Great to see the new #ECMWF building going up on the beautiful University of Reading campus, very near the Meteorology Department - looking forward to moving in in 2027!
September 2, 2025 at 10:59 AM
Great to see the new #ECMWF building going up on the beautiful University of Reading campus, very near the Meteorology Department - looking forward to moving in in 2027!
The deadline for abstracts to December's #EarthCARE Science & Validation workshop in Tokyo has been extended to 1st September. www.eorc.jaxa.jp/EARTHCARE/ev...
August 21, 2025 at 8:50 AM
The deadline for abstracts to December's #EarthCARE Science & Validation workshop in Tokyo has been extended to 1st September. www.eorc.jaxa.jp/EARTHCARE/ev...
ESA has performed careful calculations of projected fuel usage in the case of weak, moderate and strong solar activity - if the next solar maximum is weak, EarthCARE would have fuel for much longer than 10 years! Let's hope the instruments keep operating as successfully as they have so far...🤞
July 28, 2025 at 11:52 AM
ESA has performed careful calculations of projected fuel usage in the case of weak, moderate and strong solar activity - if the next solar maximum is weak, EarthCARE would have fuel for much longer than 10 years! Let's hope the instruments keep operating as successfully as they have so far...🤞
The next #EarthCARE Science and Validation Workshop is in Tokyo this December - the deadline for abstract submission is 20 August. It will be a great opportunity to share our scientific findings so far and will coincide with the release of final tranche of products. www.eorc.jaxa.jp/EARTHCARE/ev...
July 16, 2025 at 8:52 AM
The next #EarthCARE Science and Validation Workshop is in Tokyo this December - the deadline for abstract submission is 20 August. It will be a great opportunity to share our scientific findings so far and will coincide with the release of final tranche of products. www.eorc.jaxa.jp/EARTHCARE/ev...
Congratulations to the WIVERN team for all their amazing work in preparing the case for selection, particularly to Professor Anthony Illingworth who had the original idea for WIVERN, as well as being the Father of EarthCARE!
July 15, 2025 at 12:30 PM
Congratulations to the WIVERN team for all their amazing work in preparing the case for selection, particularly to Professor Anthony Illingworth who had the original idea for WIVERN, as well as being the Father of EarthCARE!
You can learn more from the WIVERN presentations given at the user consultation meeting in Prague last week - I particularly liked the animations showing what WIVERN will measure in tropical cyclones! www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tfX...
July 15, 2025 at 12:30 PM
You can learn more from the WIVERN presentations given at the user consultation meeting in Prague last week - I particularly liked the animations showing what WIVERN will measure in tropical cyclones! www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tfX...
Great news: "WIVERN" has been recommended as ESA's 11th Earth Explorer satellite following the user consultation meeting last week! WIVERN uses a scanning 94-GHz radar to measure winds and reflectivity in an 800 km swath, invaluable for assimilation and understanding severe weather. wivern.polito.it
July 15, 2025 at 12:30 PM
Great news: "WIVERN" has been recommended as ESA's 11th Earth Explorer satellite following the user consultation meeting last week! WIVERN uses a scanning 94-GHz radar to measure winds and reflectivity in an 800 km swath, invaluable for assimilation and understanding severe weather. wivern.polito.it
You can find all #EarthCARE web stories listed at the EarthCARE Science web site: www.earthcarescience.net/web-stories
July 13, 2025 at 4:54 PM
You can find all #EarthCARE web stories listed at the EarthCARE Science web site: www.earthcarescience.net/web-stories
Taking #EarthCARE merch to the next level! You've got the polo shirt. You've even got the lego model. Now you can enjoy EarthCARE toilet paper! 🧻🧻🧻 Rated top for environmental impact by Consumer NZ 👍 www.stuff.co.nz/business/121...
July 11, 2025 at 1:09 PM
Taking #EarthCARE merch to the next level! You've got the polo shirt. You've even got the lego model. Now you can enjoy EarthCARE toilet paper! 🧻🧻🧻 Rated top for environmental impact by Consumer NZ 👍 www.stuff.co.nz/business/121...
Science meets art in a fantastic and immersive installation at #LPS25:
the sound is generated from actual #EarthCARE data!
the sound is generated from actual #EarthCARE data!
June 27, 2025 at 9:15 AM
Science meets art in a fantastic and immersive installation at #LPS25:
the sound is generated from actual #EarthCARE data!
the sound is generated from actual #EarthCARE data!
BIG NEWS from Bjorn Frommknecht at #LPS25: the latest estimate of #EarthCARE mission lifetime based on fuel usage is at least TEN YEARS, much higher than the pre-launch design lifetime of 3-4 years! Opens the door to even more great science!
June 25, 2025 at 6:58 AM
BIG NEWS from Bjorn Frommknecht at #LPS25: the latest estimate of #EarthCARE mission lifetime based on fuel usage is at least TEN YEARS, much higher than the pre-launch design lifetime of 3-4 years! Opens the door to even more great science!
We're making use of research aircraft underflights of #EarthCARE to test and improve our synergistic cloud products. The image shows good agreement in ice clouds in a Canadian flight from the ECALOT campaign. We're also using flights from the UK VERIFY campaign. earth.esa.int/eogateway/su...
June 25, 2025 at 4:30 AM
We're making use of research aircraft underflights of #EarthCARE to test and improve our synergistic cloud products. The image shows good agreement in ice clouds in a Canadian flight from the ECALOT campaign. We're also using flights from the UK VERIFY campaign. earth.esa.int/eogateway/su...
Thanks to Timon Hummel and all his colleagues at ESA-ESRIN for hosting the very stimulating EarthCARE validation workshop in Frascati this week!
March 20, 2025 at 3:33 PM
Thanks to Timon Hummel and all his colleagues at ESA-ESRIN for hosting the very stimulating EarthCARE validation workshop in Frascati this week!