People at risk in China, India, Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia as climate warms; satellite launched to track rising seas

This handout image taken on July 17, 2020, and released by The European Space Agency (ESA) on Nov 19, 2020, shows the Sentinel-6 satellite, dedicated to measuring sea levels as part of the European Union’s Copernicus Earth Observation. The Sentinel-6 satellite, which will measure sea levels, is scheduled for launch on Saturday (Nov 21) will continue with unparalleled precision an almost thirty-year mission, whose data are crucial for observing climate change at work on the seas the globe and predict its consequences for human activity. - AFP

PARIS, Nov 21 (AFP): An Earth-observation satellite developed by European and US space agencies set to lift off Saturday will measure sea level rise, tracking changes threatening to disrupt tens of millions of lives within a generation.

If all goes according to plan, the payload will be hoisted into a low-Earth 1,300-kilometre (800-mile) orbit by a Space X Falcon 9 rocket, with lift-off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California at 17:17 GMT.