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Logica is leading an ESA-funded project called eSurge, to help improve the use of available satellite Earth Observation data for modelling and forecasting coastal inundation from storm surges, one of the world’s most damaging natural phenomena. The project is now entering its operational phase, making data available to users and working with them to maximise its use.

About Storm Surges

Storm surges – where water is pushed onto a shoreline by extreme weather – are one of the most damaging natural phenomena. The recent “superstorm” Sandy graphically demonstrated this, with at least 130 people killed and $63bn of damage done in the US alone. Many parts of the world’s coastline are at risk of storm surges, including those of Europe. The famous 1953 North sea floods killed 2000 and led directly to the construction of coastal defences in the UK and the Netherlands. The city of Venice is frequently flooded during the winter storm period.

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A particular area of concern is the North Indian Ocean, where frequent severe cyclones make landfall on a shallow, low-lying coastline with few defences, either natural or man-made. Up to 140,000 fatalities were estimated in Myanmar (Burma) from Cyclone Nargis in 2008, and up to 10,000 in Bangladesh from Cyclone Sidr in 2007. In such cases, improving the predictions even marginally could help to save a significant number of lives.

The eSurge project

Satellite data already plays an important role in forecasting severe storms. However the available data is not used as widely as it could be. In particular, newer types of data such as coastal altimetry and high-resolution scatterometry are yet not widely used.
Recognising this, in 2011 the European Space Agency initiated the eSurge project (www.storm-surge.info), to make such data more widely available and to work with users to encourage its uptake.
eSurge is now entering its operational phase, with a wide range of data for historic surge events being available through the project website (www.storm-surge.info/data-access), including scatterometry, wave data, altimetry, sea surface temperature and more. Many of these data sets are already available, however by bringing them together in one place makes it easier for researchers and modellers (who may not be experienced using satellite data) to access and use them.
However making data available is only the first step; the next is to ensure that it is actually used. This is partly about helping users to get familiar with new types of data, for example through training sessions and workshops. In addition, the project is performing modelling experiments to investigate the best ways to add new data to existing numerical models, and to look at the resulting benefits.
A parallel project, eSurge Venice has been set up to look at the special conditions of the Adriatic sea and Venetian lagoon; see their website at www.esurge-venice.eu for more details.

What can satellite data do?

There are several ways in which satellite data could be used to improve storm surge prediction. A simple way is to validate the numerical models used, for example by comparing model outputs with altimetry measurements of sea height (see below), or by comparing satellite images of inundation with forecasts. This can help with tuning of models, assessing which parameters work best.

A more sophisticated approach is to assimilate the new data types directly into the models as inputs. This is not a trivial problem and different approaches have been proposed, some of which will be investigated as part of the project. Once promising approaches have been identified, they must be thoroughly validated before they can be added to actual working models.

Coastal Altimetry

In recent years there has been much work done in the field of coastal altimetry, looking at recovering sea-level measurements from existing data that had previously been rejected as being too close to land. This allows us to directly measure sea level (and also wave heights) in areas where it could not be measured before, which is especially useful in regions without much infrastructure (tide gauges etc).

This has obvious applications for storm surge research, although limited by the number of available altimeter spacecraft, especially since the loss of Envisat, meaning that measurements are not always available where they are needed. However by using coastal altimetry techniques where possible, the project will validate the techniques for possible future use, especially looking forward to GMES Sentinel-3.

Where Next?

Over the coming months eSurge will be adding more historical surge events to its database, including looking in new areas. In spring 2013 eSurge-Live will be launched, this is a demonstration service to show that such data could in principle be used in near real time. There will also be a workshop and training events organised during the course of 2013.

eSurge exists to serve its users, and anyone with an interest is encouraged to contact the project and see how it can help you. Please see the project website (www.storm-surge.info) for more details, or contact Logica’s eSurge project manager Phillip Harwood at Phillip.Harwood@logica.com

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eSurge is funded by the European Space Agency (ESA) through its Data User Element (DUE) programme. It is being undertaken by a consortium consisting of Logica (UK) as prime contractor, with subcontractors NOC (UK), DMI (Denmark), CMRC (Ireland) and KNMI (NL).

Logica is now part of CGI, a leading business and technology services company focused on helping clients achieve results. With 72,000 professionals in more than 40 countries, we have the presence, expertise and complete IT services to meet clients’ business needs anywhere, anytime. Visit cgi.com and logica.com to learn more.

Source Logica

SCISYS PLC, the supplier of bespoke ICT software systems, IT based business solutions and support services to the Media Broadcast, Space, Government & Defence, Environment and Applications Management sectors, is pleased to announce the acquisition of MakaluMedia Internet & Engineering Services GmbH (‘MakaluMedia’): a provider of software engineering and consultancy to the European space industry for Euro 2.32 million (the ‘Acquisition’).

The Acquisition will enhance SCISYS’ already strong franchise in the European space sector, as it will add critical mass and depth of order book. It will also further improve our customer base and, last but not least, it will strengthen SCISYS’s ability to be a prime contractor.

MakaluMedia will be integrated into SCISYS’ pan-European Space division, as to support and enhance the existing SCISYS Darmstadt operations.

Commenting, Mike Love, Chairman of SCISYS, said:

“I am pleased that we have concluded the acquisition of MakaluMedia and welcome the employees, clients and stakeholders to SCISYS. The Acquisition is in line with our stated strategy to accelerate growth through appropriate acquisitions. The MakaluMedia business is well known by SCISYS and brings a high level of complementary technical capabilities while broadening the existing SCISYS skill set and customer base. The Board is encouraged by the pipeline of opportunities in the German space market; we look forward to integrating MakaluMedia and working together to grow our business in this sector.”

For more information, see the Space area of the SCISYS website: www.scisys.co.uk/space

On 3-4 December 2012 the Research Infrastructures Unit of Directorate General Research & Innovation hosted a workshop entitled “Towards an integrated atmospheric observing system in Europe”.

At this occasion a presentation was made by MACC-II, the project responsible for the implementation of the pre-operational version of the Copernicus atmosphere monitoring service.

The presentations made during the workshop are available here

(Source European Commission) and Copernicus website

Applications are now open for the MACC-II “Modeling and Forecasting of atmospheric composition at different scales” summer school.

The lectures will focus on issues such as the acquisition and analysis of in situ and satellite observations, the development of global and regional chemistry-transport models, the data needed as input to the models such as surface emissions, and the use of observations in data assimilation and inverse modelling. Working groups will be organized, where more advanced lectures on specific topics will be organized, and demonstrations and work on the MACC-II products will be also organized.

Applications deadline: January 31st 2013

The school will take place on June 9-16 in Anglet in the South-West of France. More indications on how to reach this place by train and plane will be given later. The school is open to all PhD students, post-docs, users of MACC-II products, and data providers. The attendance is limited to 60 people. Applications will be reviewed by a committee, and the selection of applicants will be announced before the end of February 2013.

The cost for attending will be about 450 euros, which includes full board (from diner on June 9 to breakfast on July 16), based on 2 persons sharing a room. A few individual rooms might also be available for an extra cost of about 120 euros. At the present time, no grants are available: a very small number of grants might be available later.

Apply here

Source Copernicus website and MACC

(9 January 2013) GeoEye announced that it has received antitrust clearance from the U.S. Department of Justice in connection with its pending combination with DigitalGlobe.

As previously announced, on July 23, 2012, the boards of directors of both GeoEye and DigitalGlobe unanimously approved a definitive merger agreement under which the companies will combine. Completion of the transaction is subject to satisfaction of other customary closing conditions, including obtaining regulatory approval from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). GeoEye is working cooperatively with the FCC and NOAA, and the transaction is expected to close by January 31, 2013. Shareowners of both GeoEye and DigitalGlobe have previously voted overwhelmingly in favor of the combination. Simultaneous with the closing of the transaction, the company expects to complete a $1.2 billion refinancing, which is expected to include a combination of senior notes and senior secured credit facilities.

About GeoEye

GeoEye is a leading source of geospatial information and insight for decision makers and analysts, who need a clear understanding of our changing world to protect lives, manage risk and optimize resources. Each day, organizations in defense and intelligence, public safety, critical infrastructure, energy and online media rely on GeoEye’s imagery, tools and expertise to support important missions around the globe. Widely recognized as a pioneer in high-resolution satellite imagery, GeoEye has evolved into a complete provider of geospatial intelligence solutions. GeoEye’s ability to collect, process and analyze massive amounts of geospatial data allows our customers to quickly see precise changes on the ground and anticipate where events may occur in the future. GeoEye is a public company listed on NASDAQ as GEOY and is headquartered in Herndon, Virginia with more than 700 employees worldwide.

(source: GeoEye)

In the image acquired with the German Aerospace Center TerraSAR-X radar satellite, one thing is clear – even today, tropical rainforest proliferates on the island and the coastal cliffs continue to make life difficult for mariners. Captain William Mynors was not particularly creative as he sailed past a remote island in the Indian Ocean on the ‘Royal Mary’, a ship belonging to the British East India Company, on 25 December 1643. He named the 135-square-kilometre island, which he could not even disembark on, ‘Christmas Island’.

The island is surrounded by some 80 kilometres of cliffs. The choppy waters of the surf on the south coast are not easy to image clearly for the radar on TerraSAR-X – the waves reflect the radar signals back to the satellite very irregularly.

It looks different in the bay between the only harbour on the island, Flying Fish Cove in the northeast, and West White Beach in the northwest: “When the image was acquired on 26 November 2012, the water there was apparently calm,” explains mission manager Stefan Buckreuss from the DLR Microwaves and Radar Institute. “The smooth surface reflects the signals away from the satellite, so it appears as a dark surface.”

Radar view of manmade structures

The fact that the small villages on the island are detectable even from space, at an altitude of over 500 kilometres, is down to the numerous right angles and corners on the buildings. The radar signals from TerraSAR-X encounter the walls, are partly reflected onto the street, and only travel back towards the satellite’s receiving antenna after being deflected a number of times.

A retroreflector, such as the reflector on a bicycle, works in a similar way, consisting of numerous mirrors arranged at right angles to one another so that a large part of the incident light is always reflected back towards the source, almost independent of its position.

When analysing radar images, DLR scientists can use this to determine where TerraSAR-X has imaged manmade structures, as the existence of right angles is primarily a characteristic of artificial objects. In the image of Christmas Island, the small communities appear magenta.

Anyone wanting to celebrate Christmas 350 kilometres south of Java and over 2600 kilometres northwest of Perth will have little company. Of the 1400 inhabitants, the majority are Buddhists, then Islamists and finally Christians.

The island, which belongs to Australia, has principally been of interest in the past for its phosphate deposits – hence, its ownership has shifted from Britain to Japan, then back to Britain and finally to Australia. The inhabitants today include Chinese, Australians, Europeans and Malays.

Crab migrations in the impenetrable forest

However, the most unusual inhabitants live in a place where the radar signals from the TerraSAR-X satellite are largely absorbed – in the thick tropical rainforest, which has been protected since 1980 as the Christmas Island National Park.

Since early December 2012, the start of the rainy season, millions of red Christmas Island crabs have been on a journey to the shore in order to breed there. In doing so, they abandon their habitat in the forest and travel miles to the water. However, the thickly forested island remains largely impenetrable to TerraSAR-X.

“The forest canopy reflects radar signals in only very limited amounts,” explains Buckreuss. Only routes through the forest that people have created are apparent from space, appearing as just indentations. It is easier to reach Christmas Island nowadays than it was for Captain Mynors – there is a small airport in the northeast of the island, with flights from Kuala Lumpur and Perth.

TerraSAR-X is the first German satellite manufactured under what is known as a Public-Private Partnership between the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum fur Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) and Astrium GmbH in Friedrichshafen.

The satellite travels around the Earth in a polar orbit and records unique, high-quality X-band radar data about the entire planet using its active antenna. TerraSAR-X works regardless of weather conditions, cloud cover or the absence of daylight and is able to provide radar data with a resolution down to one metre.

Source

DLR

Captain William Mynors was not particularly creative as he sailed past a remote island in the Indian Ocean on the ‘Royal Mary’, a ship belonging to the British East India Company, on 25 December 1643. He named the 135-square-kilometre island, which he could not even disembark on, ‘Christmas Island’

China’s first high-resolution, stereo mapping satellite Ziyuan III meets international standards, ridding the country of its reliance on imports of satellite images.

It was announced at a seminar reviewing the research and development of Ziyuan III held on Wednesday, one year after the satellite was launched.

China used to import over 90 percent of its remote-sensing data, according to the seminar.

The launch of Ziyuan III has enhanced the country’s capability to capture space remote-sensing images, bolstered state security and boosted the geo-information industry.

Also according to the seminar, China plans to build a remote-sensing mapping satellite system in 10 to 15 years. Three follow-up mapping satellites are already in the pipeline.

The Ziyuan III 02 satellite is likely to be launched in early 2014, allowing the two orbiters to form a network, so that real-time data on any given point on earth can be retrieved throughout the day.

The satellite, a high-resolution remote-sensing satellite for civilian use, was launched on Jan. 9, 2012. It is expected to compete with its foreign counterparts that currently dominate the country’s hi-res remote-sensing and mapping market.

The satellite is tasked with offering services to aid the country’s land-resources surveys, natural-disaster prevention, agricultural development, water-resources management and urban planning.

It has a designed life expectancy of five years.

Source: Xinhua News Agency and Spacedaily

Astrium Services and Hisdesat, the Spanish government satellite service operator, are conducting a joint technology development project with the aim of establishing a constellation approach for the radar satellites TerraSAR-X and PAZ.

The German satellite TerraSAR-X, launched in 2007, reliably delivers high-resolution radar data for versatile applications to worldwide customers. PAZ is the first Spanish radar satellite designed as a dual use (military and civilian) mission to meet operational requirements in the field of high resolution (up to 1 meter) observation. PAZ is scheduled for launch in 2013 into a polar orbit, which will be specifically optimised to improve the time to get images over key areas of interest when combining TerraSAR-X and PAZ into a constellation.

Operating these two virtually identical satellites in a constellation will afford Astrium and Hisdesat with a more flexible capacity management of their systems. The company’s customers and partners will benefit from enhanced performance and service levels thanks to improved revisit time, service reliability and increased data acquisition capabilities

The constellation approach will also provide improved system redundancy and back-up for both satellites in case of maintenance phases.

A wide range of time-critical and data-intensive applications will benefit from this constellation approach, such as precise monitoring and faster detection of surface movement activities:

  • Defence and security: reduced lead times and a reliable, faster coverage of critical areas of interest and hot spots will facilitate improved support to operational missions worldwide.
  • Surface movement monitoring: engineering and mining companies will be able to efficiently monitor and manage their operations and reduce risks to workers on the ground.
  • Maritime surveillance: applications such as ship detection, oil pollution monitoring and sea ice observation will benefit from improved revisit times and increased data acquisition capabilities.
  • Humanitarian organisations and crisis intervention: faster and assured access to data over the affected areas supporting the efficient coordination and management of rescue and relief activities.

About PAZ

The PAZ (Spanish for “peace”) satellite will be launched in 2013 into the same orbit as TerraSAR-X and TanDEM-X. PAZ is a dual use mission designed to meet operational requirements, mainly of a defence and security nature but also with civil applications in the field of high resolution observation.

The satellite structure is based on TerraSAR-X satellite and was integrated by Astrium’s Friedrichshafen site in Germany, with the radar instrument being developed and integrated at Astrium’s Barajas site in Spain, the prime contractor of the satellite. PAZ will be owned and operated by Hisdesat, who also holds the commercial exploitation rights for the mission. INTA (Spanish Aerospace Technology Institute) is commissioned to develop and operate the satellites ground segment

PAZ is the first Spanish radar satellite developed and implemented by the Spanish Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism as part of the National Earth Observation Programme (PNOT).

About TerraSAR-X

The TerraSAR-X Earth observation satellite is a joint venture carried out under a Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) between the German Aerospace Center DLR and Astrium GmbH.

At DLR, a team of four institutes is responsible for implementing the mission in collaboration with the space agency. Astrium GmbH developed, built and launched the satellite. The exclusive commercial exploitation rights are held by the German part of Astrium Services’ Geo-Information Division Infoterra GmbH.

TerraSAR-X was launched in 2007 and has been in operational service since January 2008. In June 2010 its “twin” TanDEM-X joined it in orbit. Together, the two satellites are collecting data for a global elevation model, known as the WorldDEMTM.

Source Astrium Services

Recent years have seen an unprecedented development in satellite-based Earth observation (EO): a rising number of operational satellites together with the enhanced resolution of acquired imagery resulted in a dramatic increase of data generated in space. Additionally improved and novel applications particularly in the fields of emergency services, security applications and rapid monitoring, require rapid tasking capabilities and shorter data delivery times. These developments are stretching the capabilities of current and future EO systems particularly in regards to the performance of the ground segment in charge of retrieving the data.

Providing Data at the Right Time at the Right Place

To address these challenges Astrium Services is implementing the SpaceDataHighway1, the most advanced high-performance alternative for data transfer. The SpaceDataHighway provides:

Rapid tasking: With the SpaceDataHighway satellite operators are able to stay in contact with their satellites for all orbits and for longer time during each orbit. This enables them to re-program their space assets in almost real-time in case of time-critical or unforeseen data requirements.

Near-Real-Time data: The SpaceDataHighway enables immediate broadband data transfer to the ground, reducing the delivery time of acquired data from several hours to just a few minutes.

Large data volume: The state-of-the-art laser communication technology on-board the SpaceDataHighway facilitates data transmission at an unprecedented data rate. Combining this high-speed data transfer with the increased contact time results in a significant increase of data transmission capacities available to users worldwide.

Secure and trusted infrastructure: With the SpaceDataHighway satellite operators can avoid sovereignty issues connected with routing data through foreign territory. The high availability and redundancy of the system as well as the future system extensions provide a safe, future-proof data transmission infrastructure.

Moving from Mapping to Monitoring

By providing unparalleled data transmission the SpaceDataHighway has the potential to enhance a wide range of time-critical applications:

  • Humanitarian organisations and crisis intervention teams will benefit from timely provision of EO data over disaster areas helping them to manage and coordinate rescue activities more efficiently.
  • Military and security operations will benefit from timely and substantiated ground knowledge to plan and conduct missions more effectively and safely.
  • Near-real-time delivery of vast quantities of data will support governmental bodies, public authorities and international organisations in charge of maritime surveillance.
  • Authorities and organisations in charge of managing and protecting our environment will be able to observe developments and changes over large areas as well identify hotspots (e.g. illegal logging, water pollution) even in remote areas in a more timely and effective manner.

Ultimately the SpaceDataHighway supports a paradigm shift from the current quasi-static observation mode of operation to a much more dynamic real-time monitoring and surveillance of the Earth.

Novel Technology Solution

The SpaceDataHighway uses geostationary satellites to provide two-way broadband data relay services between Low-Earth-Orbit (LEO) satellites, spacecrafts or UAVs and fixed ground stations. The novel Laser Communication Terminal (LCT) that enables the high-speed, high-volume data transfer has been developed by the Astrium subsidiary TESAT and provides an exceptional data rate of up to 1.8 Gigabits per second.

Operations of the system commence with the launch of the first payload embarked on-board a commercial telecommunication satellite at the end of 2014. The system will then be enhanced with a second, dedicated satellite in 2015, providing an increased field of coverage and system redundancy. The enhancement of the system with further spacecrafts is already under planning affording a complete coverage of the Earth and providing long-term system redundancy.

A Landmark Partnership

The SpaceDataHighway is developed and implemented within a Public Private Partnership (PPP) program between the European Space Agency (ESA) and Astrium Services. As prime Astrium builds, owns, operates and co-finances the system’s infrastructure. Astrium also implements and provides the data transmission services to ESA and customers worldwide.

ESA funds the infrastructure development and is the anchor customer through the Sentinel satellite missions. The SpaceDataHighway provides data relay services for the Sentinel satellites within the European initiative Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES), facilitating a rapid downlink of large volumes of imagery.

More Information on www.edrs-spacedatahighway.com

EDRS (European Data Relay System) – the SpaceDataHighway is developed and implemented within a Public Private Partnership (PPP) between the European Space Agency (ESA) and Astrium Services. Astrium holds the exclusive rights to sell data relay services to customers worldwide.

Source Astrium Services

After 8 years of GMES land research projects and the start of the initial GMES Services (GIO) in 2011, two important events signaled the transition from prototype development to operational implementation of land services: (1) the 8th and last “geoland forum2:http://www.gmes-geoland.info/news-events/geoland-forums.html in Copenhagen and (2) the final review meeting in Brussels.

The geoland2 project with 57 partners from 20 European nations developed the GMES Land Service and demonstrated an impressive portfolio consisting of 200 different products and applications. The continental and local component of geoland2 were transferred to the European Environment Agency and the global component to the JRC and implemented as part of GIO. Thus GMES Land leads – based on geoland2 results – to operational geo-information services that provide accurate, reliable and harmonised information across borders.

The 8th geoland forum took place in Copenhagen on 18th and 19th October 2012. 150 GMES Land stakeholders were invited to discuss the status and results of the GMES Land Services with the project consortium.

On 11th and 12th December 2012 the geoland2 project completed its final review meeting at the European Commission in Brussels. The project’s Executive Board presented the various results that have been achieved in the previous 4 years to the project officer and the review panel. During the two days intense meeting the team convinced the review panel that geoland2 has done a great job, in fact the European Commission was very impressed by what geoland2 has delivered.

An executive summary outlines detailed information about the geoland2 project and can be accessed here

Source Astrium Services