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(28 November 2013) Indra has closed an agreement with the European Space Agency to host the main processing and archiving centre for the images of the Sentinel-2 mission at its facilities and take charge of its operation.


The company will use its facilities to host all the infrastructure of the new ESA centre, which will enter into service in 2014
Indra will store 1,000 terabytes of new images per year
This contract consolidates Indra’s position as a satellite data processing and archiving manager

This contract will strengthen the consultancy and technology multinational’s position as an operator of Earth observation image processing centres, consolidating its portfolio of solutions and services in the space sector. The company is the leader in the development of ground segments in Spain and has vast experience in Earth observation systems and applications.

The Sentinel satellites form part of the Copernicus Earth Observation Programme, previously known as GMES (Global Monitoring for Environment and Security), which will equip Europe with its own Earth observation capacity to serve the needs of its users.

The processing and archiving centre will be located at Indra’s facilities in San Fernando de Henares (Madrid) and will enter into service in September 2014, coinciding with the launch of the Sentinel-2. The centre may be expanded and accommodate also the data from another satellite, Sentinel-2B, to be launched in 2016 (another 1000TB per year).

These satellites, which will follow a polar orbit, will capture high resolution images in 13 bands in the visible and infrared part of the spectrum. They have a design lifetime of 7 years, although they have been prepared to allow the mission to be extended for a further 5 years.

Indra’s specialist Earth observation team will undertake the complete management and operation of the centre, including the processing of the images and their distribution to the end users.

Indra will also be responsible for the long-term storage of the data. Each year up to 1,000 terabytes of new images will be archived. The company will store this information at its advanced Data Processing Centre in San Fernando de Henares, which currently covers a surface area of 5,000 square metres and provides an uninterrupted service level of 99.98%.

Additionally, Indra’s role as the manager and operator of the Sentinel-2 Processing and Archiving Centre will place the company in an excellent position to offer new customised services to its customers using any of the European Space Agency’s Sentinel satellites (Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-3 and in the future Sentinels 4 and 5). Based on the information extracted from the images, it will be able to offer high value-added services to end users in the fields of the environment, agriculture, land use, emergencies, water management, forestry activity, etc.

Images to support the decision-making process

Indra has many years of experience in the scope of Earth observation. The company markets value-added images and services in national and international projects. In 2012, it strengthened this line of business by forming an alliance with RapidEye to gain access to its constellation of five satellites.

These images provide an enormous amount of information. For example, in the field of natural resource management it can be used to study the evolution of crops, provide advance data on their production, estimate damage due to adverse phenomena and determine the water demand that irrigation zones will require.

In addition to its role as an Earth observation services provider Indra has significant experience in the development of ground segments for this type of satellite. Indra is leading the development of the systems that will manage and control the Ingenio optical satellite and the Paz radar satellite, which are to be deployed within the Spanish National Plan for Earth Observation.

It was also commissioned by the Ministry of Defence to implement and provide maintenance and operational support for the systems to receive and process the images from the Helios and Pleiades satellite programmes developed by France and Spain. Furthermore, it led the deployment of the ground segment of the SMOS mission to study the water cycle of the Earth, developed by the European Space Agency.

Within GMES, Indra has participated in projects for the definition of urban, security and emergency, and land use products, and for the supply of reference layers such as the Digital Terrain Model, hydrography and grasslands (GMES Urban Services, BOSS4GMES, GEOLAND2, SAFER, G-MOSAIC, G-SEXTANT, G-NEXT, Initial GMES Service for Geospatial Reference Data Access, GIO-Land and GIO-Emergency projects).

Press release

Human civilization is having a dramatic impact on Planet Earth and for several decades there has been a growing need to minimize the negative impacts of man’s activities alongside supporting sustainable improvements in social and economic well-being.

The scale of the challenge requires us to understand what is happening to the planet on a range of scales, from the local to the global, and Earth observation provides a unique capability to provide knowledge across this range.

From the first Earth observation (EO) satellite launch in 1960 to the upcoming launch of a whole fleet of new EO satellites in the Copernicus programme1, the remote sensing technologies used to observe the Earth have been increasing rapidly in range and technical sophistication. While the public may be most familiar with optical imaging capabilities such as Google Earth2, a wide range of other sensing modalities are used to monitor and measure the Earth, mainly in the radio-wave, microwave, infrared, and optical parts of the electromagnetic spectrum. Between them these sensing modalities are rapidly increasing our understanding of Planet Earth and the impact human civilisation is having.

The UK Centre for Earth Observation Instrumentation (CEOI) has been driving the next generations of technology in this field for many years. CEOI’s activities have so far focused on the early stages of instrument development, supporting projects to develop new instrument concepts, prove technical capabilities, and raise technology readiness levels. In addition to projects which increase instrument performance, there is a strong focus on reducing the size, weight and cost. The EO instrument is only one element of an EO mission and the reduction in size and weight can enable several instruments to be flown on the same satellite, or dramatically reduce the cost of launching the satellite.

As with all such programmes, progress is often both evolutionary and revolutionary and CEOI is supporting the evaluation of a range of innovative new mission and instrument concepts that could transform our ability to understand what is happening to Planet Earth. These include:

  • The Wavemill mission concept for a hybrid interferometric SAR instrument, measuring ocean dynamic properties such as ocean currents.
  • New Doppler radar concepts to provide information about the three dimensional nature of clouds and precipitation microphysics
  • A geosynchronous radar mission giving real time data on events on land (e.g. landslides), and in the atmosphere (for weather forecasting).
  • Miniature laser heterodyne radiometer for monitoring atmospheric gases such as CO2, CO, NO, O3.
  • Low cost THz sounder for measuring gases in the upper atmosphere, especially the concentration of key gases such as atomic O, OH, H2O, NO.
  • Novel multi-wavelength photon counting lidar system which will give more accurate and informative data on forest canopies.
  • Methane emission imager using discrete shortwave infrared spectral bands.
  • Ultra-compact air quality mapper using an artificial neural network and differential optical absorption spectroscopy.

In addition to improving the performance of remote sensing instruments in space, the work of CEOI in reducing size and weight is opening up new markets and applications for these instruments. Satellites are only one of several platforms on which remote sensing instruments can be deployed. There are a range of airborne, ground based and seaborne platforms that can be used depending on the application.

This change is already happening in ground based remote sensing applications. Optical absorption spectroscopy instruments, originally developed to understand atmospheric chemistry with observations from space, have now been deployed on the ground to measure city-wide air quality. And new laser heterodyne radiometers with very high sensitivity can be built into instruments that are able to detect explosives at a distance of tens of meters, giving the security forces valuable new tools in the fight against terrorism.

Aircraft based applications for remote sensing, such as gravity gradiometry and ground penetrating radar, have been around for over 10 years. But now aircraft as a platform are being challenged by the rapid development in unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) capabilities, which is allowing their transition from military to civilian applications. UAVs have significant advantages over aircraft in cost, deployability, and use in ‘dull, dirty and dangerous’ applications. Combining UAVs with the next generation of smaller, lighter, remote sensing instruments for EO will open up a wide range of new applications and markets. It is highly unlikely that UAV based remote sensing instruments will replace satellite based ones, as each platform has significant advantages and disadvantages. When these are mapped, it is surprising how complementary they are to each other, opening up the likelihood of them working together collaboratively to meet future applications and market needs.

As human civilisation has an increasing impact on Planet Earth and globalisation more closely entwines our futures, EO instrumentation, whether deployed on satellites, UAVs, or ground based installations, is likely to be used in an increasing range of applications. Emerging markets include Fire & Rescue, precision farming, disaster monitoring, inspection of critical infrastructure, geo-physical surveys, and environmental monitoring. Future markets are likely to arise in the fields of civil development, natural resources, disasters, environment, energy, and people.

The Centre for Earth Observation Instrumentation (CEOI) is working with the Satellite Applications Catapult3 to identify the priority future markets which can benefit from Earth observation data. The CEOI is funding a wide range of innovative new instruments that measure our weather, our atmosphere, the icecaps, and many other aspects of the natural environment. Many of these are finding fascinating new applications in everyday life.

Further information about these projects and others funded by the CEOI can be found at www.ceoi.ac.uk. You can also contact CEOI Director, Professor Mick Johnson: Tel: +44 (0)1438 774421 or email: mick.johnson@astrium.eads.net for more technical information on the projects and Robin Higgons: Tel +44 1223 422404 or email: robin.higgons@qi3.co.uk for information on new applications and markets.

(1) Copernicus, previously known as GMES (Global Monitoring for Environment and Security), is the European Programme for the establishment of a European capacity for Earth Observation http://www.copernicus.eu/.
(2) Trade Mark of Google Inc.
(3) The Satellite Applications Catapult is a new type of independent innovation and technology company, created by the Technology Stategy Board to foster growth across the economy through the exploitation of space. They help organisations make use of and benefit from satellite technologies, and bring together multi-disciplinary teams to generate ideas and solutions in an open innovation environment.

“Source”:http://www10.giscafe.com/blogs/geodataconvergence/2013/11/20/todays-geospatial-solutions-help-the-oil-and-gas-industry-manage-infrastructure-in-remote-environments/


An article by the Swarm mission team.
Contact point: Rune Floberghagen (ESA Swarm Mission Manager) and Giuseppe Ottavianelli (ESA Swarm Sensors Performance, Products and Algorithms Manager)

A mission to explore the Earth’s magnetic field

Following 8 years of development, scientific research, verification and validation tests, last Friday three new Earth Observation satellites have been launched by the European Space Agency to explore the Earth’s magnetic field in unprecedented detail. This is the Swarm mission, originally proposed by a consortium led by Eigil Friis-Christensen (DTU Space, Denmark), Hermann Lühr (GFZ Potsdam, Germany) and Gauthier Hulot (IPGP, France).
Earth’s magnetic feel is something we do not see nor feel. Apart from the fascinating images of the aurora lights, the popular magnetic bracelets of dubious effectiveness, the entertaining fridge magnets and the occasional use of our smartphone compass, we do not seem to often interact with the magnetic field in our daily life. It is indeed rare to think about the magnetic field lines and the constant changing Earth’s magnetic flux during our busy days. Despite this, the Earth’s magnetic field is one of the most fascinating elements of our planet. This acts as a protective shield from charged particles from the Sun that stream towards Earth. It is essential for life itself and it has a strong influence on the evolution of the climate.

In short term time scales, such Sun-Earth interaction can also generate extreme global phenomena such as magnetic storms. One example is the notorious “Halloween Storm” that occurred on 29th October 2003. The magnetic direction at the poles rapidly changed more than 20 degrees and auroras were seen as low as 30 degrees of latitudes. The storm disrupted technological systems around the world. For example, over-the-horizon radio communication was disturbed and forced cancellation of airline polar routes. Civilian and military satellites were partially damaged. The geomagnetic orientation used for directional drilling for oil and gas was halted. GPS accuracy was degraded affecting commercial and military aircraft navigation. Astronauts took precautionary actions to avoid excessive levels of radiation. And geomagnetic induced currents in the Earth’s crust caused stress in the electric-power grids and even black outs from South Africa to Japan.

This confirms how the geomagnetic field is of uttermost importance for our Earth system and environment both in long and short time scales and as such it makes this three-spacecraft mission of great interest for science and the public at large.

Developed on behalf of ESA by an industrial consortium led by EADS Astrium GmbH, the three satellites, each 9.26 m long (with the boom fully deployed) and weighting 473 kg at launch (including 106 kg of Freon propellant), are all carrying the same payload and will together provide new insights into many natural processes related to Earth’s magnetic field: from those occurring deep inside the planet to the near-Earth electromagnetic environment and the influences of the solar wind.


Photo: ESA

The payload and the mission orbits

Each of the three Swarm satellites will make high-precision and high-resolution measurements of the strength, direction and variation of the magnetic field, complemented by precise navigation, accelerometer, plasma and electric field measurements.
The two main instruments of Swarm are the Absolute Scalar Magnetometer (ASM) and the Vector Field Magnetometer (VFM). They will provide absolute and vector measurements of the magnetic field. Magnetic sensors measure a combination of the core field tangled with others from magnetised rocks in the crust, electrical currents flowing in the ionosphere, magnetosphere and oceans, and currents induced by external fields inside Earth’s mantle.

The challenge is to separate the individual magnetic field sources, each with their own characteristics in strength, space and time. To achieve this the satellites will be placed into specific orbits. Two satellites will fly side by side (separation in longitude at the equator equivalent to about 150 km) in near polar orbits at an altitude of 460 km at the beginning of life, with an inclination of 87.35°. One satellite in high polar orbit at an altitude of 530 km at the beginning of life, with a 87.95° inclination. They are not Sun-synchronous orbits and as such, they allow the satellites to move rapidly through local time. All local times (24h) will be covered over a period that doesn’t coincide with any seasonal variations, which makes it possible to study seasonal processes. And the almost circular and near-polar orbit enables a homogeneous and almost complete global coverage of the Earth.

The two lower pairs will be affected equally by the magnetosphere and ionosphere, and hence the differences detected in their measurements can be assumed to origin from very local effects of the Earth’s crust, mantle and core. Moreover, over the course of the mission, the orbit of the higher satellite will drift and after 4 years it will cross the path of the two lower satellites at an angle of 90°. Collecting data that is with different contributions, the higher satellite will enable to discriminate large-scale external sources of magnetic influence from Earth “fixed” ones.

The mission is intended to last at least four years and the combination of results from Swarm with previous missions and a possible extension beyond four years will enable a good separation between the secular variation of the core field and the influence on these time scales of the solar cycles.

The payload on each satellite also include GPS receivers, an accelerometer and an electric field instrument (EFI) that will deliver supplementary information to study the interaction of Earth’s magnetic field with the solar wind.

In details
Absolute Scalar Magnetometer (ASM)
This novel instrument will measure the magnetic field to an accuracy greater than any other magnetometer. The ASM is an ‘optically pumped metastable helium-4 magnetometer’, developed and manufactured by CEA-LETI in Grenoble (France) under contract with CNES Toulouse. It provides scalar measurements of the magnetic field for the calibration of the vector field magnetometer using a technique based on enhancing the magnetic resonance signal of helium atoms with a tuneable laser at 1083 nm.
Vector Field Magnetometer (VFM)
This core instrument will make high-precision measurements of Earth’s magnetic field vector components. It was developed and manufactured at the Technical University of Denmark based on heritage from many previous satellite missions as well as sounding rockets and stratospheric balloons.
Startracker assembly
This unit provides high-precision attitude data, primarily needed to determine the orientation of the magnetic field vector measured by the Vector Field Magnetometer. The attitude information is also used by the satellite’s attitude and orbital control system to establish a fine-pointing mode during normal operations and the orientation of other instruments. This latest generation of startracker was developed and manufactured at the Technical University of Denmark, based on heritage from many previous satellite missions.
Micro-accelerometer
These units will measure the satellites’ non-gravitational accelerations in their respective orbits, which in turn will provide information about air drag and solar wind forces. Air density models will be derived from these products and will be used together with magnetic data to obtain new insights on the geomagnetic forcing of the upper atmosphere. The instrument was designed and manufactured by VZLU (Czech Republic) supported by Czech subcontractors – the first time that ESA has contracted an instrument of this complexity to Czech industry.
Electrical Field Instrument (EFI)
To characterise the electric field around Earth, this instrument will measure plasma density, drift and acceleration at high resolution. It is the first ever three-dimensional ionospheric imager in orbit, with an ingenious thermal ion imager design from the University of Calgary (Canada) and a unique concept for the sensors of the Langmuir probe from IRFU, Uppsala (Sweden). The instrument was developed by ComDev (Canada) with scientific support of the University of Calgary for the thermal ion imager sensors. The power supplies were developed by CAEN SpA (Italy). A Langmuir probe assembly is included with the instrument to provide measurement of electron density, electron temperature and spacecraft potential.
GPS and laser retroreflector
The precise orbit determination of the Swarm satellites will rely on the data of the GPS receiver. Each satellite is equipped with a laser retroreflector to validate the GPS system. Swarm is supported by the International Laser Ranging Service that provides satellite laser-ranging observation data from a network of stations around the world. The GPS receiver (RUAG, Austria) is used firstly as the orbit sensor to provide a real-time navigation solution (position, velocity and time) to the attitude and orbit control system and secondly as a sensor generating raw measurements data (code and carrier phases) as required for precise orbit determination and total electron content measurements. The laser retroreflector for Swarm was procured as a rebuild of existing ones from the GeoForschungs Zentrum Potsdam, that have been used on previous satellite missions such as CHAMP, GRACE and TerraSAR-X.

Mission facts and Data Access

  • Updated information about the mission can be found on the link
  • Data will be freely available. More info on

ESA videos

International NGOs and the UN will bring aid in the field using disaster maps issued by the the European Commission’s Copernicus Emergency Management Service soon after Typhoon Haiyan violently struck the Philippines on the 8th of November. The first damage assessment maps show the most affected areas of Tacloban City.


e-GEOS is the Service Provider of the Emergency Management Service funded by DG Enterprise within the Copernicus Programme.
e-GEOS operates as the producer of the maps, leading an international team that includes GAF (Germany), ITHACA (Italy) and SIRS (France).

The production teams have been working day and night to perform geospatial analysis of the newly acquired satellite data over Tacloban city, and the regions including Ormoc and Cebu, Cadiz, Kabancalan, Iloilo and Roxas City. All map and vector products produced are accessible through the Copernicus Emergency Management Portal

“European satellite resources have been used to support the needed assistance to local authorities,” said European Commission vice-president Antonio Tajani, who is now in Vietnam.

The World Food Program and UN OCHA as well as the World Bank and the European Union DG ECHO, who are coordinating humanitarian aid in the countries affected, confirm that the Copernicus Emergency Management Service — triggered soon after the typhoon struck — brings important benefits by providing impact assessments from satellite images and geospatial analysis to facilitate disaster management.

Less than six hours after Typhoon Haiyan struck the Philippines, the e-GEOS Emergency Team was in action.


before

after

The Emergency Crisis Room was activated at 6:00 UTC on November 8, since when some 30 maps have been produced by the combined efforts of the e-GEOS Emergency Management Team, with others from GAF in Germany and ITHACA in Turin, with 25 people working day and night.

Thanks to the acquisition of Very-High-Resolution optical imagery, it was possible to provide highly detailed data for damage assessment in several towns, and of individual buildings in Tacloban City.

The The European Response Coordination Centre of the European Commission has requested further activations in other areas affected by the disaster, in particular in the area of Hernani. The production of maps and other emergency products is ongoing.

For more than 10 years, e-GEOS has operated in the area of Emergency Management Services.

e-GEOS offers a complete catalogue of services in the Emergency and Early Warning domain, with product categories adapted to the various phases of the Emergency Management cycle . e-GEOS collaborates with the Italian Civil Protection, European Civil Protection authorities and other organizations intervening in the various phases of emergencies, pre- and post-event.

The experience of e-GEOS in these fields dates back over many years of implementing such services within FP7- Copernicus (formerly GMES) projects SAFER and G-MOSAIC

e-GEOS leverages COSMO-SkyMed capabilities. With privileged access to satellite tasking, e-GEOS can plan a COSMO-SkyMed acquisition in less than 24 hours. e-GEOS can also exploit its acquisition capability for other radar and optical data at Matera (Italy), Neustrelitz (Germany) as well as its partners’ ground stations.

With a specialized team and a dedicated crisis room, e-GEOS can provide rapid and effective response to emergency situations through the following services:

  • Hydrogeological Risk Maps and Flood Assessment
  • Earthquake damage assessment
  • Fire Detection and Extent Monitoring Maps
  • Siuation/trafficability maps for humanitarian aid

Go to the site where pre and post event maps are available.

Examples below:


Overview

Detail

IABG was contracted by the Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy (BKG) to update the satellite based Digital Landscape Modell of Germany (DLM-DE 2012). Compared to the previous project DLM-DE 2009 (already successfully completed by IABG), this update will also include land cover and land use codes awarded to all objects. As a result, this new set of three-dimensional data for Germany allows unprecedented areas of application. This project is due for completion by February 2014.

In April 2013, IABG was commissioned by the German Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy (BKG) to update the so-called Digital Landscape Model of Germany (DLM-DE 2012). The supplementing and updating of spatial data for the area of the Federal Republic of Germany encompasses approximately 360,000 square kilometres. In IABG’s production centre, the “Geodata Factory” in Dresden, remote sensing experts will update the DLM-DE 2012 based on satellite image data. The starting point for the update are the edited ATKIS® database (ATKIS = Official Topographic-Cartographic Information System) and the DLM-DE 2009, which was also created with IABG involvement. The project is due for completion by February 2014.

In contrast with the DLM-DE 2009, which was still compiled on the basis of CORINE Land Cover (CLC) nomenclature, in the 2012 update a land cover and land use code will be awarded for all objects. Due to this segregation developed by the BKG, the complex landscape structures can be depicted with a high degree of realism in DLM-DE 2012. The minimum mapping area is 1 hectare, the minimum mapping length 15 metres. Specifically, thematic and geometric changes are included that had not previously been part of the DLM-DE. Existing objects are verified and corrected if necessary.

Mapping includes, for example, the recent enlargements of urban and industrial areas, and also changes in forest, field and meadow areas. Data are validated and updated by means of highly efficient, semi-automated data processing, saving time and money and ensuring the quality of the data. Using the BKG project guide as a basis, IABG developed detailed mapping instructions in order to achieve a homogeneous and efficient evaluation. Besides the mapping itself, the tasks include the implementation of the database schema and the preparation of a quality assurance plan. The development of appropriate software tools contributes both to an efficient mapping process as well as to quality assurance. The required standard of quality level was increased in comparison with 2009 to a total accuracy of 97.5 per cent.

The primary data source for mapping is, as in 2009, the German RapidEye satellite constellation. To cover Germany, 750 tiles of 25 × 25 km each are needed. Based on RapidEye AG’s excellent preparatory work the best scenes could be selected. Data acquisition is limited to the growing season of 2012. In addition, data from the European GMES program (GMES = Global Monitoring for Environment and Security) is used. These free data represent a high added value, in particular for tracking changes to forested or wooded areas.

Thus, a spatial data set is created for Germany that can serve many different sorts of applications in the fields of environment, agriculture, forestry, water conservation, transport, security and land-use planning. Particular beneficiaries are interdisciplinary issues: the new DLM-DE provides a current and reliable basis for the accurate surveying and environmental information required here. The land cover and land use codes of the new DLM-DE are subsequently used to derive the classes of the CORINE Land Cover (CLC) pan-European land-use mapping, carried out via a fully automated process at the BKG. This ensures that the Federal Republic of Germany can fulfil its commitment to register the CLC data set (reference year 2012) with the EU by the summer of 2014.


Source IABG

Down Stream Services were developed within the three years project period (2011–2013) for the effective identification of various forest damages like storm, forest fire, snow brake, insect damage detection and assessment and for an operational derivation of forest parameters. The EUFODOS consortium applied the Copernicus High Resolution Forest Core Layer, state-of-the-art optical and radar satellites and LIDAR technology.

Forests play a key role in the European economy and environment. This role incorporates ecological as well as economic functions which can be affected by the occurrence of insect infestations, storms or windfall events. Local or regional authorities thus require detailed information on the degradation status of their forests to be able to take appropriate countermeasures against forest damage and to ensure sustainable forest management.

For the effective identification of various forest damages and for an operational derivation of forest parameters COPERNICUS Down Stream Services were developed in EUFODOS during the time frame from 2011-2013.

Main Goals
To develop sustainable Forest Downstream Services for the effective assessment of forest damage and forest functional parameters based on COPERNICUS Land/Forest Core Products.

Partners

The services, strongly asked by regional forest authorities, were developed by a consortium of commercial service providers and research organisations from Austria, Bulgaria, Finland, Germany, and Italy in different European testcases located in 7 European countries in the temperate and boreal zone.

Users and user federation

EUFODOS involved an extensive user community. To secure that the service development is in line with the user requirements all EUFODOS users were engaged in a User Executive Body. The intensive cooperation between service providers and users within the EUFODOS project facilitated the roll-out of the services and the uptake of the services by the users.

Applications and products

EUFODOS focused on the development of services for surveying forest damage and investigating forest parameters which can be used for economic assessments or as a basis for targeted management of protective forests. These services comprise, for instance, a rush service on assessing storm damage, a more targeted non-rush service damage assessment on various damages like storm, forest fire, snow brake, insect damage detection and assessment and a change detection approach assessment. The latter can be applied on any area with any remote sensing data and was demonstrated in a region of almost 8,000 km² using SPOT data with 10m spatial resolution.

The EUFODOS consortium applied the Copernicus High Resolution Forest Core Layer, state-of-the-art optical and radar satellites and LIDAR technology. The advantages using these technologies proved to be applicable manifold, firstly they facilitate the procurement of data in very short time intervals and secondly the processing is realized in a cost efficient way. For instance, an assessment of storm damage can be delivered to users in the form of geo-referenced damage maps based on satellite data quickly and with low investment as compared to using conventional assessment methods.

The EUFODOS products can for instance be applied for:

  • Effective damage assessment and countermeasures
    
Identification of damaged areas – due to storm, snow break, fire or insect infestations (Fig. 1, 2 and 3) in order to enable proper countermeasures, compensation payments or reforestation planning.
  • Sustainable management of protective forests

    Targeted management of protective forests (Fig. 4) to maintain and enhance their protective function against natural hazards.
  • Sustainable management of commercial forests
    
Wood procurement planning (Fig. 5) and strategic investment planning for commercial forests.
  • Reporting

    Revision of forest maps and inventories, compilation of regular reports and annual statistics (e.g. changes in forested area), establishment of forest damage information systems.

Pan-European service

As an outcome of EUFODOS it is also envisaged to establish a Pan-European Forest Monitoring Service as a regular mapping service in order to provide information on forest damage such as storms and spread of insect infestations for European states in a uniform approach. Such a service may be considered as a complementary action to the initiative for investigating the framework for a European Forest Risk Facility.

Additional information about the EUFODOS project is available at www.eufodos.info
Contact: stefanie.linser@umweltbundesamt.at; eufodos@joanneum.at


Figure 1: Snowfall/Snowbreak damages (Source: RESAC, 2013).


Figure 2: Forest fire damages (Source: RESAC, 2013).


Figure 3: Defoliation in pine forest (Source: RapidEye, 2013).


Figure 4: Upper tree height (Source: Joanneum Research, 2013).


Figure 5: Forest stem volume (Source: VTT, 2012).

The online audience of the Copernicus Masters website has voted HAB Forecast – Harmful Algal Bloom Forecast this year’s most beneficial Earth-monitoring service for European citizens. The service provides a weekly alert primarily dedicated to fish farmers and regulators via web bulletin

It is the first forecast system of this kind and designed to combine all available information from Earth (in-situ monitoring stations), space (satellite data) and in-silico (biological and physical oceanic models) sources. The service, which is part of the FP7 project ASIMUTH, was submitted by Julie Maguire for the Irish Daithi O’Murchu Marine Research Station. ASIMUTH is using products from the pre-operational marine service of Copernicus that is currently provided through the EU-funded project MyOcean2

The Best Service Challenge is one of nine categories in the European Earth monitoring competition Copernicus Masters. It invites service providers to upload profiles of their existing services within the main thematic areas of the European Earth observation programme Copernicus to the competition website for a public voting. The Best Service Challenge aims to increase awareness of existing Earth monitoring services and their benefits to European citizens.

As the winner of the Best Service Challenge 2013, HAB Forecast will benefit from a substantial satellite data quota worth EUR 40,000 made available with financial support by the European Commission.

Coming second in the voting was Landmap – Spatial Discovery. This service, which provides web-based access to spatial data and e-learning materials for the academic community, was submitted by Gail Millin-Chalabi for Mimas – at the University of Manchester.

Taking the third place, meanwhile, was SmartIrrigation – satellite monitoring for agriculture. Submitted by Elizabeth Gil-Roldán for Starlab Barcelona SL, this service provides farmers with a tool for optimising agricultural production through efficient irrigation based on the combination of remote sensing data and measurements from in-situ sensors.

All of the other winners of this year’s Copernicus Masters will be announced at the official Awards Ceremony on 5 November 2013 in line with the www.space-solutions.eu Conference 2013.
The overall winner – the Copernicus Master – will be selected from among the winners of the Challenges. He will receive an additional cash prize of EUR 20,000 and benefit from EUR 60,000 in satellite data, made available with financial support by the European Commission.
All of the winners of the Copernicus Masters will be published on the competition website by 6 November 2013.
To know more about the Copernicus Masters Best Service Challenge, please visit www.copernicus-masters.com
Source Copernicus.info

AeroGRID is now supplying wide area aerial imagery of Europe via a WMS feed to satellite image provider RapidEye AG. The high resolution imagery covers 21 European countries over nearly 4 million km².

WMS is the standard protocol for streaming georeferenced map imagery over the Internet to web based applications, GIS and CAD software. WMS feeds load the imagery that a user needs to see, so it is a very convenient and efficient way for clients to subscribe to AeroGRID’s growing library of high resolution imagery. Users can confidently base their projects on AeroGRID data, which always comes with guaranteed accuracy due to long-term partnerships with well-established aerial survey companies.

“Our business requires access to precise orthophotos with an accuracy of better than 3m, and AeroGRID’s WMS service provides us with this imagery in an easy and cost effective way,” said Massimilano Vitale, RapidEye’s Chief Operating Officer.

“This contract exemplifies our core strengths” commented Miles Taylor, AeroGRID’s General Manager. “We provide unequalled wide area coverage for our clients with unparalleled accuracy and are playing a leading role in the development and wider adoption of WMS amongst the GIS community.”

About AeroGRID: AeroGRID is a one-stop-shop for international archived aerial imagery providing speedy access to aerial photography from over 60 countries with off-the-shelf high resolution satellite orthophotos for many others. By marshalling an impressive network of partner’s survey aircraft and high resolution digital cameras AeroGRID is able to extend coverage around the world. AeroGRID’s WMS servers provide instant access to orthophotos for 14 million km² from 23 countries in Europe, America and Africa with more countries added every month.
www.aerogrid.net For further information please contact: Miles Taylor. T: + 33 671 156 116 E: info@aerogrid.net

About RapidEye: RapidEye is a leading provider of high-resolution satellite imagery. With a constellation of five Earth Observation satellites, RapidEye is able to image up to five million square kilometers of earth every day, and adds over one billion square kilometers of imagery to its archive every year. Online searching and viewing of its collection is quick and easy with EyeFind, RapidEye’s archive discovery tool (eyefind.rapideye.com).
RapidEye: Delivering the World – www.rapideye.com

(August 2013) The European Volcano Observatory Space Services, (EVOSS) is an European Union science initiative, funded by the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) and using the latest European earth observation data. EVOSS is a consortium of data providers, academic institutions and government bodies whose aim is to develop techniques allowing the monitoring of volcanic hazards on a global scale.

Due to the unpredictable nature of active volcanic areas, repeat ground-based monitoring has special challenges concerning accessibility and terrain instability. The EVOSS project demonstrates how real-time operational monitoring can be enhanced by satellite remote sensing.

On behalf of EVOSS, TRE has recently processed radar imagery from the Cosmo-SkyMED satellite constellation over four volcanoes in Africa and Antille. Analysis of images was made to determine ground topography changes and generated a better-than-one metre precision elevation model.

To know more about the project, click the article here