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HE Space wins ESA contract for Climate office

HE Space has been awarded a multi-million Euro contract by ESA to deliver a new flagship climate coordination office. The office is hosted by ESA at its ECSAT site, Harwell, UK.

“We are delighted to have this opportunity to support climate modelling activities,” says Dr Jason Maroothynaden, UK Director of HE Space. “The CMIP International Project Office also aligns with HE Space’s focus on climate change and sustainability.”

The contract, awarded after an open competitive process run by ESA and the World Climate Research Organization (WCRP), is for 5 years under the title “Implementation of the World Climate Research Programme’s (WCRP) Coupled-Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP) International Project Office (IPO)”.

Launching on 1st March 2022, the HE Space-run office headed by incoming director, Dr Eleanor O’Rourke, will ensure continuity of WCRP’s technical response to monitoring climate change.  ESA as host, demonstrates European strategic support to strengthen scientific consensus by drawing Earth Observation and modelling communities closer together.

According to Dr Susanne Mecklenburg, Head of ESA’s Climate Office, “We are pleased to award HE Space the service to provide the team. ESA hosting the new CMIP office aligns with ESA’s long-term strategic commitment to provide high-quality observation-based climate data records to support the modelling community.”