Important Dates

20 May 2025 - Website open
20 August 2025 - Abstract submission deadline
30 September 2025 - Notification of Acceptance
15 October 2025 - Issue of Preliminary Program
31 October 2025 - Registration deadline
20 November 2025 – Release of Final Program
1 to 5 December 2025 – Workshop Date

Abstract Submission

Submit your abstract

Submission deadline: 20 August 2025.

For those of you who have submitted an abstract, please also complete the registration from the following link “Join the workshop”.

Registration

Join the workshop

Submission deadline: 31 October 2025.

If you would like to update your registration details, please resubmit the registration form with the same email address.

Background

The international science community is invited to participate in the EarthCARE Science and Validation Workshop 2025, which will be held at Yayoi Auditorium Ichijo-Hall at the University of Tokyo from 1 to 5, December 2025.

The workshop is organised by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and the European Space Agency (ESA). The workshop is co-hosted by the Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute (AORI), the University of Tokyo.

The Earth Cloud, Aerosol and Radiation Explorer (EarthCARE) mission objective is to improve our understanding of the cloud-aerosol-radiation interactions and Earth radiative budget, so that they can be modelled with better reliability in climate and numerical weather prediction (NWP) models. To achieve this objective, EarthCARE provides measurements of the 3D structure of clouds, precipitation and aerosols, together with collocated observations of solar (shortwave) and terrestrial (thermal) radiation.

Specifically, the EarthCARE scientific objectives are:

• Observation of the vertical profiles of natural and anthropogenic aerosols on a global scale, their radiative properties and interaction with clouds;
• Observation of the vertical distributions of atmospheric liquid water and ice on a global scale, their transport by clouds and their radiative impact;
  
• Observation of cloud distribution, cloud precipitation interactions and the characteristics of vertical motions within clouds;
  
• Retrieval of profiles of atmospheric radiative heating and cooling through the combination of the retrieved aerosol and cloud properties.

To fulfil its objectives, the EarthCARE mission is collecting co-registered observations from a suite of four instruments located on a common platform. The optical payload encompasses three European instruments, consisting of an ATmospheric LIDar (ATLID), a Multi- Spectral Imager (MSI) and a BroadBand Radiometer (BBR). The fourth instrument, provided by JAXA, is a Cloud Profiling Radar (CPR).

• The two active instruments, ATLID and CPR, are providing vertical atmospheric profiles of aerosols and clouds along the satellite nadir path.
• MSI provides contextual information that allows profile extension in 3D, as well as some aerosol and cloud information.
• BBR provides the measured radiation balance from the shortwave and thermal fluxes, for comparison and radiative closure.

Instrument data is processed individually and synergistically to retrieve the vertical structure and horizontal distribution of clouds, precipitation and aerosol fields, together with the outgoing radiation, over all climate zones.

The EarthCARE satellite was loaded on the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and has been launched on 29 May 2024 from Vandenberg, California, USA.

1st ESA-JAXA EarthCARE In-Orbit Validation Workshop

2nd ESA-JAXA EarthCARE In-Orbit Validation Workshop

Objectives & Themes

Science Workshop Objectives

The objectives of the science workshop are as follows:

• Provide an open forum for the science community to present and discuss EarthCARE science topics and results.
• Promote synergy of EarthCARE with past, present and future satellite missions, for both active and passive remote sensing instruments.
• Foster international collaboration in the scientific exploitation of EarthCARE.
• Explore EarthCARE’s contribution to the development and scientific exploitation of Earth System Models (ESM), mesoscale atmospheric models, Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) & cloud models.
• Identify novel, scientific use cases and applications for EarthCARE within and beyond the cloud, precipitation, aerosol and radiation interaction domain.
• Investigate how EarthCARE can provide insights into climate process studies and trend assessments.
• Identify the innovative information technologies in the exploitation and evolution of EarthCARE's observations
• Foster a new, diverse generation of remote sensing atmospheric scientists to explore EarthCARE and associated observations in the future.
• Identify recommendations on the EarthCARE scientific exploitation and future activities.

Validation Workshop Objectives

The objectives of the validation workshop are as follows:

• Discuss findings from initial validation activities related to 3- and 4-sensor Level 2b products
• Review further findings on Level 1, Level 2a and 2-sensor Level 2b products validation
• Formulate recommendations for product improvements
• Inform the broader scientific community of the quality of the EarthCARE data, now that the entire product suite is publicly released

Science Workshop Themes

The themes of the science workshop are as follows:

• Cloud, Precipitation and Aerosol Microphysics
• Aerosol-Cloud-Interaction and Aerosol-Radiation-Interaction
• Earth Radiation Budget
• Modelling, Assimilation and Parameterisation at Global, Regional and Cloud Level
• Climate Studies and Long-Term Data Records
• Passive and Active Observational Techniques
• UV Lidar and Cloud Radar Earth system science
• Novel Scientific Developments beyond EarthCARE Specific Objectives

Validation Workshop Themes

The themes of the validation workshop are as follows:

• Level-1 products validation
• Aerosol products validation
• Cloud & Precipitation products validation
• Radiation products validation

Committee

Organizing committee

Science committee

Workshop Format

The workshop will feature both oral and poster sessions.
While we strongly encourage participants to join us in-person in Tokyo, a hybrid format with the option to connect remotely is foreseen.

Program

Issue of Preliminary Program planned on 15 October 2025.

Poster List & Demos

Details will be released after the program issued on 15 October 2025.

Guidelines for Authors

Coming soon

Social Events

An ICEBREAKER will be offered to all participants on the evening of 1 December.
A non-hosted SOCIAL DINNER in somewhere surrounding the campus is planned for 3 December.

Hotel & Travel info

Information on hotels and travel will be provided here in the future. If you need VISA invitation letters, please contact the EarthCARE workshop secretariat( z-earthcare-event@ml.jaxa.jp ).

Venue

Contact

For information regarding the submissions, author instructions, scientific committee related inquiries, registration and VISA Invitation letters, please contact z-earthcare-event@ml.jaxa.jp