Oct. 20, 2015

Many locals and visitors to Paris are discovering a strange, large cube sitting on the Champs-Elysées.
Put in place by ESA and France’s CNES space agency, the Climate Cube is displaying the essential contribution of space and its applications on studying climate change, ahead of the COP21 climate change conference to be held in Paris from 30 November to 11 December.
With a huge screen on one of its 7 m sides, the Climate Cube focuses on how vital satellites are for understanding climate change, and how space is playing a major role in climate research and climate change mitigation.
While a series of videos on space and climate runs continuously on the screen, the other three sides offer an overview of European satellite missions measuring the ‘essential climate variables’ – 26 out of 50 are measurable only from space.
The Cube also features a high-resolution satellite image of Paris and surroundings, captured by ESA’s Sentinel-2A satellite.
The Climate Cube is standing on the Champs-Élysées, in front of the Grand Palais, 17—27 October. The nearest metro station is Place Clemenceau metro Champs-Elysées – Clemenceau.