World experts in remote sensing and Earth observation will assess the health of the planet in Valencia this week

From 23 to 27 September, the Torrent Auditorium (Torrent, Valencia) will host the seventh edition of the Recent Advances in Quantitative Remote Sensing (RAQRS VII), a world reference meeting focused on the use of satellites to monitor the Earth. The conference is organised by the Global Change Unit, part of the Image Processing Laboratory (IPL) of the University of Valencia, and sponsored by Torrent City Council and the European Space Agency (ESA).

Starting on Monday 23 September and running for five days, the Recent Advances in Quantitative Remote Sensing (RAQRS VII) will evaluate the current state of the planet as observed from satellites. The event will showcase recent advancements in Earth observation and set trends for future research, with applications in fields as diverse as agronomy, oceanography, meteorology, climate change, urban heat islands, greenhouse gases, rising sea levels, natural disasters and security, among others.

The event, which will focus on the presentation of over 150 research papers, will bring together experts from around the world, as well as representatives from organisations such as NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), the Spanish Space Agency and the French National Centre for Space Studies (CNES), among other organisations from 20 countries that are benchmarks in Earth observation and remote sensing.

The opening ceremony will take place on Monday 23 at 09:30h and will be attended by the mayoress of Torrent, Amparo Folgado; the vice-rector for Research of the University of Valencia, Carlos Hermenegildo; the director of the Spanish Space Agency, Juan Carlos Cortés; and the president and organiser of the conference, José Antonio Sobrino, professor at the University of Valencia and winner of the 2019 Jaume I Award for Environmental Protection. Representatives from the Generalitat Valenciana will also be present.

To open the programme, the congress will feature Mark Drinkwater, head of the ground-based space missions division at the European Space Agency, who will talk about the ESA’s future projects in this field and highlight the importance of having accurate environmental data that contribute to the understanding of the planet’s climate changes. Juan Carlos Cortés, director of the Spanish Space Agency (AEE), will also present the AEE’s Earth Observation Programme.

Access the full programme