Orbital remote sensing and climate adaptation: capabilities and operational limits
Satellite remote sensing today constitutes one of the most consistent sources of environmental data for monitoring critical climate variables. Through multispectral optical sensors, synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and thermal radiometers, systems in low and medium orbit enable the characterisation of parameters such as surface soil moisture, the extent of glacial masses, land surface temperature and vegetation indices, with revisit periodicities ranging from hours to days. This temporal cadence is decisive for the early detection of anomalies associated with extreme events: droughts, floods, large-scale wildfires or accelerated degradation of coastal ecosystems. From a technical standpoint, the operational utility of these data depends to a large extent on the processing chain following acquisition. Level-1 products require rigorous radiometric and atmospheric corrections before they can be assimilated into climate prediction models or institutional geographic information systems. The fusion of data from heterogeneous constellations — with differing spatial, spectral and temporal resolutions — introduces cross-calibration complexities that condition the coherence of long-term time series, an aspect that is fundamental to the analysis of climate trends. Within the framework of the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly SDGs 13, 14 and 15, remote sensing functions as a cross-cutting observation infrastructure. Institutional Earth observation programmes, such as Copernicus at the European level, provide open access to data that feed environmental monitoring indicators for national and regional administrations. However, the capacity of end users to integrate these data into operational decision-making processes remains uneven, particularly in environments with limited digital infrastructure or insufficiently consolidated regulatory frameworks for land management. The intrinsic limitations of the sector merit analytical attention. Persistent cloud cover in tropical and polar regions significantly reduces the availability of high-resolution optical data, which reinforces the complementarity with C- or L-band SAR systems. Likewise, the continuity of observation series is contingent on funding and mission maintenance decisions by institutional bodies, whose long-term planning does not always align with the planning horizons of climate adaptation policies. The resilience of the observation infrastructure itself — in the face of orbital degradation, interference or ground segment dependencies — is an operational factor that planning bodies must consider with the same rigour as the quality of the delivered data.
NASSAT - Network Satellite Systems