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A review of crisis response using Earth observation techniques is now available online. The Respond Atlas outlines global events where remote sensing assisted in preparing for and responding to disasters and humanitarian crises.

The Respond project began in 2004 as a European Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) initiative. During its five years of service, hundreds of maps were produced to assist in relief efforts linked to crises such as the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis, the 2004 Asian tsunami and even Sudan’s refugee situation in Darfur.

The project has recently released a portfolio of its services, called the Respond Atlas.

“Respond has successfully demonstrated the utility and effectiveness of using satellite-derived services to support the international humanitarian community,” said Francesco Pisano, Manager of the UN Operational Satellite Applications Programme (UNOSAT).

“It was able to provide important information for crisis response operations and to open the way to the use of geospatial information in decision-making processes in humanitarian contexts.”

Respond’s users came from five main groups: EU bodies, UN organisations, international humanitarian aid organisations (like the Red Cross), donor governments and international non-governmental organisations.

Over the course of the project, more than 38 user organisations signed up to receive Respond services.

The service provided mapping far beyond the disaster response phase by supporting recovery, rehabilitation and reconstruction activities. Earth observation-derived mapping was used for years following the 2004 Asian tsunami, and the products were also used for resettlement.

The maps were produced by a network of public and private value-adding centres such as DLR ZKI (Germany), SERTIT (France) and Geneva-based UNITAR/UNOSAT. The network was led by UK-based Astrium Geo-Information Services.

Respond also worked closely with the International Charter ‘Space and Major Disasters’, an international collaboration that gives rescue and aid workers rapid access to satellite data in the event of a disaster.

Not all disasters have a rapid onset. Some, such as drought and famine, can grow for months before being recognised as a crisis needing international intervention. Once an emergency was recognised and assistance requested, Respond provided reference mapping from archived satellite imagery to compare to newly acquired satellite data specifically tasked to monitor the event.

Satellite maps also supported programmes to help internally displaced persons and refugees. Customised maps were delivered to UN refugee agency and other non-governmental organisations for the planning and placement of shelters, as well as life-line services such as power, water and sanitation. Maps were also used for rehearsing evacuation plans.

Today, the members of the Respond consortium are actively engaged in realising Earth observation capacities for crisis response with leading providers from Europe involved in the European Commission’s GMES SAFER project.

In October, the team provided crisis mapping following the Charter’s activation after the 7.2 magnitude earthquake that hit Turkey.

Continued availability of Earth observation data is prerequisite for the continuity of crisis mapping services in the long term. The upcoming Sentinel missions – developed specifically for the operational needs of the GMES programme – are essential to the supply of rapid multisensor coverage over disaster-stricken areas.

Original article Published by ESA and processed by UN-Spider

On 23 November 2011, over 30 years of archived data from the US Landsat Earth-observing satellites became available, free of charge. The majority of these products are unique to ESA’s (European Space Agency) archive and have never before been accessible anywhere else by the scientific user community.

In its archives, ESA holds around two million products that cover Europe and North Africa. The total amount of data available is worth about 450 terabytes – that’s equivalent to about 900 000 hours of audio recorded at CD quality. ESA has been acquiring Landsat data at European stations since the 1970s.

ESA has been acquiring Landsat data at European stations since the 1970s.

“The missions were the main data source for many years during the 1980s when Earth observation started at ESA’s ESRIN centre in Italy,” said Gunther Kohlhammer, Head of the Ground Segment Department.

ESA revised its Earth observation data policy in 2010 to adapt to the “Joint Principles for a Sentinel Data Policy”. This policy was approved by ESA Member States participating in the GMES Space Component Programme, and supports the concept of providing free and open access to data.

To access the data, users can submit a brief project description and request data at “EOPI”: http://eopi.esa.int/esa/esa?cmd=aodetail&aoname=landsat

ESA then assigns the project a quota based on the system’s current processing capacity. When the data are ready, the user will receive directions for online retrieval.

In order to allow improved and faster access, ESA will soon begin gradually to process all data into an online archive for users to access independently. Owing to the vast amount of data, this process will take about two years.

ESA’s ESRIN centre, Italy

The Landsat series goes back to 1972, with Landsat-5 and -7 currently in orbit. Landsat-8 is due for launch by early 2013.

The 40-year-old Landsat programme is jointly managed by NASA and the US Geological Survey. ESA supports the Landsat series as a Third Party Mission, meaning it uses its ground infrastructure and expertise to acquire, process and distribute Landsat data to users.

“It is great finally to open the archives. We are keen to get the data to the users – especially in preparation for Sentinel-2, which is built on the heritage and knowledge of 40 years of Landsat,” says Bianca Hoersch, Third Party Mission Manager.

Source GMES.Info]=631&tx_ttnews[backPid]=1&cHash=e005486b755807faa11bb02364489d8f

Requirements and examples of products for analysis at a European and regional level. The video and slides available.

Has been held last november during ASITA 2011, the main Italian geospatial event, the first of a series of workshops dedicated to the dissemination of some of the Geoland2 activities. Promoted by Planetek Italia and ISPRA the event has also focused on related projects legacy over the Italian territory.

Geoland2 project aims at developing and demonstrating a range of reliable, affordable and cost efficient European geo-information services, supporting the implementation of European Directives and their National implementation, as well as European and International policies.

Invited Speakers:

  • GMES Initial Operation on Land Monitoring 2011-2013
    Ana Maria Ribeiro de Sousa – EEA European Environmental Agency
  • GMES as an opportunity for the development of Geomatics in Italy
    Valter Sambucini – ISPRA – Italian Representative at GMES Regulation USER FORUM
  • GMES downstream products at a regional level. The Land use map of Veneto Region
    Massimo Foccardi – Regione del Veneto – Unità di Progetto SIT e Cartografia
  • Geoland2 products for land monitoring and analysis: the Urban Atlas and the 5 thematic HR layers for the CORINE LAND COVER programme
    Daniela Iasillo – Planetek Italia – Geospatial Application Unit manager

At the following links:

It’s 2002 and, following the launch of the first Very High Resolution (VHR) earth observation satellites, European Space Imaging (EUSI) is established in Munich, Germany. The company was founded with two goals: To become the leading provider of imagery throughout Europe & North Africa and to provide the unique service of locally tasking VHR satellites over these regions. Ten years later and EUSI continues to lead the way.

EUSI is the only European satellite data provider to operate a multi-mission capable, dedicated VHR satellite ground station and in January 2010 signed a strategic partnership with DigitalGlobe – the world’s leading commercial high resolution imagery provider and owner of the most powerful commercial VHR satellite constellation.

Over the past decade EUSI has been involved in some of the largest pan European projects in both the commercial and governmental sectors. These include the Agricultural Controls with Remote Sensing program of the European Commission, where EUSI have been the highest contributing VHR data provider to the project since its activation. This is reflected in the recent 2011 campaign statistics which show EUSI collecting 67% of the total project area with a 100% success rate.

EUSI have built strong links with national mapping and security agencies across Europe and North Africa and continue to serve urgent mapping requirements with their rapid tasking capabilities and rush order deliveries.

Looking ahead, EUSI have recently signed a three-year contract with the European Space Agency (ESA) for the provision of VHR satellite imageryinto the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) program and look forward to supporting this exciting, European wide program.

Throughout the coming year a series of celebrations are planned to mark 10 years of leadership in Europe and the company plans to share their success and provide an update on latest developments at their annual User Conference held in Munich in early summer.


Oktoberfest, Munich. 21st September 2011. ©DigitalGlobe, provided by European Space Imaging

More information at www.euspaceimaging.com/

December 2011, Rome, Italy – UNOSAT and the Emergency Preparedness and Response Branch of the World Food Programme have decided to increase their cooperation in the area of geospatial information for crisis preparedness and response.

WFP, the largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger and bringing relief to millions of people during crisis and emergencies, makes use of geographic information systems and solutions to optimise its work and efficiency. The work of UNOSAT in satellite derived analysis and advanced applied research in GIS solutions is a natural match for WFP geo-information requirements.

Since 2003 WFP operational staff in the field have access to the mapping products released by UNOSAT’s Humanitarian Rapid Mapping service. The implementation of UNOSAT new strategy dubbed “data in hand” has been the opportunity to review and strengthen the working relationship between UNOSAT and WFP. In this framework, UNOSAT extended to WFP free access to FirstLook, a commercial on-line service giving access to very high-resolution satellite imagery over crisis areas. This was done in a move to provide WFP for a few months with a free trial of this technology that UNOSAT analysts use daily to produce humanitarian and human security information products.

Furthermore, WFP and UNOSAT have agreed to work together to expand their cooperation in information exchange, data sharing, and joint geospatial products. The Chief of WFP Emergency Preparedness and Response Branch and the Manager of UNOSAT agreed to develop these areas of collaboration further in 2012 with the view of establishing a formal agreement during the same year.

Photo: courtesy of WFP / copyright WFP/David Gross

Source

Gisat responded to the request of United Nations’ Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affars (UN OCHA) to provide mapping service for agriculture change assessment in the Sa’ada governorate in the northern Yemen.

Since early 2004, the militant rebels Al-Houthi are in armed conflict with the Yemeni army and government-backed tribal fighters in the governorate. Up to now, six rounds of armed conflicts took place whereas the 6th and latest one lasted from August 2009 until February 2010. Only 2006 could be considered as normal year without fighting with respect to the conflict time scale. In consequence, several inhabitants have been internally displaced from their homes. Continuous fighting and population displacement have had severe impacts on local economy and in particular to agriculture, which is the main source of livelihood in the governorate.

Humanitarian community requires information on development of agriculture production to plan the contingency and humanitarian relief actions. However, insecure situation, extent and remoteness of the governorate area make the field survey infeasible. Moreover, historical information on agriculture state was needed to assess its development.

13 of 15 Sa’ada districts (6,800 km2 in total) comprising more then 95% of governorate’s agriculture land have been mapped using high resolution multispectral imagery. Accurate extent of agriculture land in the governorate including classification into managed/fallow classes was extracted from the imagery together with the key infrastructure and natural features such as road network, settlements and hydrography. By means of automated image classification and computer assisted expert interpretation the status of seeding of fields was then identified for two time horizons: 2006 and 2010/2011. Based on satellite image classification results and auxiliary data such as digital elevation model (DEM) and district boundaries the agriculture change assessment and synthetic analysis had been carried out. GIS-ready vector layers facilitate further analysis and integration in GIS environment. The thematic outputs provide comprehensive, synoptic and coherent information in form of tables, graphs and maps. Thematic maps at scales spanning from 1:40,000 to 1:200,000, vector data and assessment report were provided to the user. They are helpful for understanding and interpretation of agriculture development in the governorate. Utilization of state-of-the-art EO based technology including automation of processing procedures in the framework of proven processing chains and methodologies ensures repeatability and operability of the service.

The service has been appreciated by UN OCHA experts as it clearly showed the benefits of utilization of EO data and EO-based products for agriculture change assessment application. Utilization of the mapping products will return in practical consequences of the fact that activities of humanitarian community could be supported by accurate and up-to-date information.

The service has been provided in the frame of the SAFER (FP7 EU-funded project responsible for the development of the pre-operational GMES emergency management service). Mappings in non-rush mode (emergency support services) serve to support preparedness and prevention as well as recovery activities and long-term development projects of humanitarian community.

More information at Gisat

Brussels, 30 November 2011 – The European Commission has proposed to finance the GMES programme (Global Monitoring for Environment and Security) for Earth observation for the period 2014-2020 outside the EU financial framework, for which an estimated budget of €5.8 bn is deemed necessary.

The Commission proposes to set up a specific GMES fund similar to the model chosen for the European Development Fund, with financial contributions from all 27 EU Member States based on their gross national income (GNI). This will require an intergovernmental agreement between the EU Member States meeting within the Council. The programme will be coordinated by the Commission and its financial management could be delegated to the Global Navigation Satellite System Agency (GSA).

Vice President Antonio Tajani, responsible for Industry and Entrepreneurship said: “In order to respond to ever growing challenges at global level Europe needs a well-coordinated and reliable Earth observation system of its own. The GMES programme will significantly boost space related research in Europe and ultimately also support the economic recovery and address major challenges faced by European citizens nowadays”.

More information on global Monitoring for Environment and Security GMES

Background

GMES – The European tool to contribute to security, fight against climate change and to boost competitiveness

With its “Sentinel” satellites GMES provides information which allows a better understanding of how and in what way our planet may be changing while monitoring the state of the environment on land, at sea and in the atmosphere. Mitigating climate change, responding to emergencies, insuring a better border control, improving the security and alerting citizens if air quality gets bad are activities that depend on precise and timely information on our Earth. GMES is delivering the necessary data, including maps for emergency operations, monitoring of climate change parameters, of ocean and sea temperature or chemical composition of the atmosphere. GMES is also relevant for improving security for citizens, such as border surveillance and fight against piracy and organised crime.

According to a cost benefit analysis, GMES is expected to deliver benefits worth at least twice the costs of investments for the period up to 2020 and four times the costs up to 2030. It represents a huge potential for economic growth and job creation with the development of innovative services and commercial applications in the downstream sector.

The European dimension of GMES leads to economies of scale, facilitates common investment in large infrastructures, fosters coordination of efforts and observation networks, enables harmonisation and inter-calibration of data, and provides the necessary impetus for the emergence of world-class centres of excellence in Europe.

Harmonisation and standardisation of the geospatial information at EU level is a major challenge for the implementation of a wide range of Union policies. Many areas of environmental concern – such as climate change mitigation and adaptation policies – require thinking globally and acting locally. With GMES, the EU is ensuring its autonomous access to reliable, traceable and sustainable information on environment and security, contributes through the GEOSS international initiative (Global Earth Observation System of Systems) to build global observational datasets and information and increases its influence in international negotiations and treaties such as the three Rio Conventions, the post-Kyoto Treaty, and other bilateral or multilateral agreements. GMES is recognised as the European contribution to building the Global Earth Observation System of Systems, developed within the framework of the Group on Earth Observations (GEO).

The Commission indicated that given the limits of the EU budget, it was proposed to fund GMES over 2014-2020 outside the multi-annual financial framework. Nevertheless, the Commission is still committed to ensuring the success of GMES, and in this context, today’s communication will launch the debate with the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee, and the Committee of the Regions on the future of the GMES programme.

Source

From 28 November to 9 December 2011, the COP 17 conference will be held in the city of Durban, South Africa.

In the framework of this conference, ESA will hold a side event along with the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) and the South African Space Agency (SANSA) on sustaining systematic climate observations from space. The Agency’s Climate Change Initiative and the Sentinel satellite series will be one of the key points on the agenda. Furthermore, ESA is running an exhibit entitled “Global Monitoring of our Climate” during the two weeks of COP 17.

In addition, one of the side events will focus also on the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+) scheme. REDD+ uses satellite observations of forests and involves developed and developing countries working together for carbon offsetting. The scheme is currently implementing the GMES Service Element on Forest Monitoring services in Gabon and the Republic of Congo.

More information is available at “COP17”: http://www.cop17-cmp7durban.com/

Source GMES.Info

Booz & Company was commissioned by the European Commission to undertake a cost-benefit analysis of the GMES programme.

The main focus of this study was the assessment of four broad funding options for GMES and its operational services:

  • Baseline Option with no on-going commitment to replace infrastructure or investing significantly in services (Option A);
  • Baseline Option Extended, but still with no ongoing commitment to replace infrastructure over the longer term and invest significantly in services (Option B);
  • Partial Continuity1, with commitment to provide Sentinel infrastructure and invest considerably in services, with limited support to ensuring continuity of data from Contributing Missions (Option C);
  • Full Continuity with commitment to provide Sentinel infrastructure and enhanced support for the continuity of data from Contributing Mission with full investment in services (Option D).

The final version II of the study report was issued on 19 September 2011.

The document is now available for download on the EC DG ENTR portal by clicking on the following link

Source GMES.info

Since 25 November 2011 the study report published by the European Space Policy Institute (ESPI) and dealing with the socio-economic benefits of GMES is available online.

The report, which is based on a comprehensive analysis of previous third-party results, is focusing on disaster management.

The report addresses the following areas:

  • Disasters in Europe with focus on flooding and fires;
  • Public opinion on civil protection;
  • Overview and analysis of past socio-economic benefits studies on GMES;
  • Analysis of quantifiable and non quantifiable economic, strategic and political benefits.

The study shows that GMES can produce significant socio-economic benefits and can offer significant strategic and political benefits for Europe.

The report can be downloaded here