"Contemporary satellite instruments, providing accurate long-term observations at global scale, consist a fundamental tool in aerosol research. Relied on different remote sensing techniques, spaceborne sensors provide information about suspended particles’ load and nature, which are both highly variable in spatial and temporal terms. Our team has vast experience on the implementation of active and passive aerosol retrievals, acquired from lidars (e.g., CALIOP, CATS) and spectroradiometers (e.g., MODIS), in a wide range of scientific tasks. The in-house developed ESA-LIVAS database, in which a global 4D depiction of aerosols and clouds has been realized through the utilization of CALIOP vertically resolved observations, consists the flagship of the satellite component of the ReACT group. Advanced techniques, applied and tested at the ground, have been adopted in spaceborne observations making feasible a global view of fine/coarse dust aerosols and dust-related CCN/IN concentrations. Moreover, a global fine resolution dust optical depth dataset has been developed via the exploitation of MODIS and CALIOP data, whereas any possible multi-sensor synergy is considered aiming at optimizing aerosol loads’ description and characterization. One of the priorities of our team is the participation in the Cal/Val activities of ongoing (AEOLUS) and forthcoming (EarthCARE) satellite missions of the European Space Agency (ESA). Satellite observations are also analyzed for the investigation of outstanding cases (e.g., dust outbreaks, smoke transport, volcanic eruptions) as well as for the evaluation of numerical simulation aerosol outputs. Finally, in collaboration with modelling groups, satellite data are ingested in data assimilation schemes towards improving dust forecasting and monitoring. "

-Dr. Antonis Gkikas