The Baltic SEAL project is a project funded by the European Space Agency (ESA), under the remit of the Earth Observation Envelope Programme 5 (EOEP5) Regional Initiative. The project is part of the ESA Baltic Initiative, a wider Baltic region activity looking at salinity dynamics, sea-level, land-sea biogeochemical linkages, 4D sea reconstruction and Geodetic SAR for Height System Unification (HSU) (more about DGFI-TUM's activities in Baltic+ HSU can be found here). The ESA Baltic Initiative aims to ultimately foster a coordinated approach to advance EO-based science, novel applications and data exploitation infrastructures serving the specific needs of the Baltic community.

Baltic SEAL will create and validate a novel multi-mission sea level product for the Baltic Sea. It will bid to provide an advanced sea-level information product to Baltic Sea stakeholders, and improve the performances of the current ESA Sea Level Climate Change Initiative. Advanced solutions in the pre-processing and post-processing of satellite altimetry data will be tested and developed with the semi-enclosed nature of the sea magnifying our ability to explore the coastal complexity and sea-ice challenges. Knowledge can then be transferred to global initiatives, such as the future phases of the European Space Agency’s Sea Level Climate Change Initiative.

Baltic SEAL is being undertaken by a consortium consisting of five partners based in four European countries. Led by the DGFI-TUM, the consortium consists of experts from DTU Space (Denmark), Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI), Danish Meteorological Institute (DMI), and University College Cork (UCC, Ireland) having strong expertise in the fields of Earth Observation systems, satellite altimetry, dynamic ocean topography research, and stakeholder outreach and engagement. As the funding body, the European Space Agency (ESA) is also a key partner in this initiative, providing the fuel to develop these advances, and the experienced oversight to deliver them.

More information about the project can be found on ESA's project website.