One of the biggest conferences on geoscience and remote sensing will be held this summer in Europe. The deadline for abstract submissions for the July symposium is fast approaching.

Jointly organised by the IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society, the DLR German Aerospace Center and ESA, the 2012 International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS) is scheduled to be held 22-27 July in Munich, Germany.

IGARSS provides a forum for scientists from more than 70 countries to obtain up-to-date information about the latest developments in remote sensing, exchange ideas, identify research trends and make contacts with the international remote sensing community.

With more than 2000 expected participants, this year’s conference is open to anyone interested in geoscience and remote sensing or involved in the development of Earth observation missions. This includes scientists covering multiple disciplines, ESA/DLR Principal Investigators, students, data users and representatives from national, European and international space agencies and value-adding industries.

The deadline for the submission of abstracts is just around the corner: interested parties need to send in their proposals for papers and posters by 12 January for the Scientific Committee’s review. For more information, visit http://www.igarss2012.org/Papers.asp

The event will also provide an opportunity to mark the 50th anniversary of the IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society.

Keynote presentations from Prof. Johann-Dietrich Woerner, Chairman of the Executive Board of the German Aerospace Center, and from Prof. Volker Liebig, Director of Earth Observation Programmes at ESA, will begin the symposium on 23 July.

Special sessions will be devoted to the presentation of the Sentinels missions that ESA is developing for Europe’s Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) programme.

Additional sessions will be organised to present the latest scientific results and achievements from 10 years of ESA’s Envisat mission, the SMOS mission and DLR’s TanDEM-X and TerraSAR-X missions. The symposium will also focus on the characterisation of dynamic Earth processes, assimilation, integrated Earth observing systems and current as well as upcoming satellite missions prepared in Europe and worldwide.

Finally, the ESA Climate Change Initiative and associated Essential Climate Variables derived from the exploitation of 30 years of Earth observation data will be considered.

The symposium will offer accommodation for up to 30 exhibitors in the main hall. Full details of sponsorship opportunities and exhibition booth reservation are available on the symposium website.