Climate change is arguably the greatest environmental challenge facing us in the 21st century. The consequences of a warming climate are far-reaching, potentially affecting fresh water resources, global food production and sea levels. Threatening impacts on the natural environment and life on Earth for generations to come, climate change is high on political, strategic and economic agendas Worldwide. To respond to the need for climate data, ESA has undertaken its Climate Change Initiative (CCI) programme. The CCI aims to realise the full potential of the long-term global Earth Observation archives that ESA and its Member states have established over the last 30 years. See http://cci.esa.int//
