Scientists meet for ESA Swiss symposium

MONTREUX, Switzerland, April 23 (UPI) -- More than 900 scientists traveled to Montreux, Switzerland, this week to discuss the state of the Earth.

The European Space Agency scientific symposium was formally opened Monday by ESA Director of Earth Observation program Volker Liebig, who said the ESA plans to launch 17 missions during the coming years to guarantee continuity of relevant data for scientific use and applications.

The scientists are using data supplied by the ESA's observation satellites, in particular Envisat -- the largest environmental satellite built.

The five-day meeting includes 800 scientific presentations from researchers representing more than 50 nations. Themes include the atmosphere, climate, oceanography, cryosphere, land and hazards.

The ESA said nearly all fields of Earth science will be addressed, including landslides, sea surface temperature, sea ice, volcanoes, earthquakes, floods, fires, winds and waves and oil spills.