Remote-Sensing Satellite Data and the Making of Global Climate in Europe, 1980s-2000s

How do we perceive global climate? The answer to this question is very important, considering that our perception determines our actions and therefore how we manage the climate crisis. The ERC-funded CLIMASAT project will study the history of global climate practices, discourses and policies in the 1980s and 1990s. Focusing on the production, circulation and use of data generated by three Earth-orbiting satellites, the project will test the hypothesis that the ways in which satellite data were collectively negotiated, shared, maintained and used by scientists, economists, legislators, diplomats and the media informed certain understanding and actions about global climate. The findings will offer policymakers and researchers unprecedented insight into how satellite data mediated current perceptions of global climate.