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Discover the Earth observation satellites and their applications for environment and security of the citizens.

Propose ideas for a pedagogical exploitation in the classrooms. These are the two main objective of the blog “Another look at the Earth” (Un autre regard sur la Terre) created and hosted by Planète Sciences Midi-Pyrénées. Combining images acquired by satellites, didactic explanations and possible exploitation in classroom, the articles are aimed at both public and teachers.

All environmental domains are addressed: management of natural resources, climate change, crisis and natural disasters, deforestation, agriculture, urbanization, etc. Each article addresses an environmental theme, an image acquisition or processing technique f and the scientific concepts involved.

200 papers have been published and the blog is now well ranked in the search engines.

The blog “Another Look at the Earth” is an initiative of the association Planète Sciences Midi-Pyrenees and its volunteers. Its content is derived from information provided by its scientific and industrial partners. All inputs from EARSC members are welcome.


Fig. An impressive algal bloom in atlantic ocean near Aquitaine coast. This Envisat image acquired on the 6 of April is a good opportunity to explain the role of ocean color sensors. Credit:European Space Agency (ESA)

Even is the contributions are published in French, visitors from 140 countries read it. First countries are France, Canada, Belgium, Switzerland, Morroco, Algeria and Tunisia but also Germany, United States, Spain and even Japan, Israel or Vietnam

The address of the website

Discover the Earth observation satellites and their applications for environment and security of the citizens.

Propose ideas for a pedagogical exploitation in the classrooms. These are the two main objective of the blog “Another look at the Earth” (Un autre regard sur la Terre) created and hosted by Planète Sciences Midi-Pyrénées. Combining images acquired by satellites, didactic explanations and possible exploitation in classroom, the articles are aimed at both public and teachers.

All environmental domains are addressed: management of natural resources, climate change, crisis and natural disasters, deforestation, agriculture, urbanization, etc. Each article addresses an environmental theme, an image acquisition or processing technique f and the scientific concepts involved.

200 papers have been published and the blog is now well ranked in the search engines.

The blog “Another Look at the Earth” is an initiative of the association Planète Sciences Midi-Pyrenees and its volunteers. Its content is derived from information provided by its scientific and industrial partners. All inputs from EARSC members are welcome.


Fig. An impressive algal bloom in atlantic ocean near Aquitaine coast. This Envisat image acquired on the 6 of April is a good opportunity to explain the role of ocean color sensors. Credit:European Space Agency (ESA)

Even is the contributions are published in French, visitors from 140 countries read it. First countries are France, Canada, Belgium, Switzerland, Morroco, Algeria and Tunisia but also Germany, United States, Spain and even Japan, Israel or Vietnam

The address of the website

SPOT 1, launched in 1986, was designed to observe cities, roads, farmlands, natural disasters and other features on Earth’s surface. The first major evolution came with SPOT 4, launched in 1998 helping foresters and farmers to assess and better manage forest and crop health. The second major evolution came in 2002 with SPOT 5, which acquires Earth imagery at a resolution of 2.5 m., a key advantage for close observation of vast territories.

Since February 22, 1986, SPOT satellites have been keeping a watchful eye on the Earth. For over 25 years, this series of optical observation satellites has been providing images of our planet for an extensive range of applications, such as cartography, crop forecasts, geological exploration, and disaster management.

All five of the SPOT satellites were developed and built by Astrium as prime contractor, responsible for the platform and high-resolution imaging system. Currently, the SPOT satellites are operated by Astrium GEO-Information Services, formerly Spot Image.

The multi-mission SPOT platform series, initially designed for the French space agency CNES, is recognized as an industry standard. Today, a similar platform is in use for nearly all the European low Earth orbit observation satellites, including the Helios military surveillance satellites, the ERS radar satellites, the environmental monitoring Envisat, and the MetOp weather satellites.

The success of the SPOT series dates back to its earliest days with SPOT-1, launched February 22, 1986 on board the last Ariane 1 rocket. It had been projected to have a three-year lifetime, but actually served 18 active years, providing nearly three million images before being conscientiously de-orbited and then disintegrated to best respect the space environment in November 2003.

SPOT-1 represented a technological leap in the field of Earth observation, in that it could produce images of unprecedented precision with a resolution of 10 meters, hitherto unparalleled for a civil satellite. Just three days after its launch, the satellite returned its first images, proof of remarkable performance.

SPOT-2 was launched in January 1990, and SPOT-3 In September 1993. As in the case of its big brother SPOT-1, the decision was also taken to deorbit SPOT-2, and after 19 years of successful operation, the mission finally came to an end in July 2009. SPOT-3 was withdrawn from service in 1996 following a technical problem.

Two SPOT satellites are currently in operational use, allowing daily observation of virtually any point on the globe: SPOT-4, launched in March 1998, produces 10-meter resolution images and SPOT-5, launched in May 2002, delivers a resolution of up to 2.5 meters over an extended observation swath.

SPOT-5 is a major force in the satellite imagery domain, with an impressive 80% share of the world market for two-meter-range imagery. To ensure long-term continuity in high-resolution data while competition gets ever tougher, Astrium decided, in March 2009 to launch a new project with private financing, AstroTerra. This aims to put the SPOT-6 and SPOT-7 satellites into orbit in September 2012 and the end of 2013, respectively, guaranteeing smooth transition for the SPOT family.

Jean Dauphin, Astrium’s Head of Earth Observation & Science, France, applauds SPOT’s success: “The first SPOT satellite was a true pioneer in making space-based imagery of our globe available on a commercial basis. The SPOT series has gone from strength to strength and is recognition of both the engineering savoir-faire of Astrium Satellites and the marketing expertise of Spot Image – now part of the Astrium Services fold. With Astrium Satellites already well advanced on the design and build of the next-generation SPOT-6 and SPOT-7 – an ambitious program with challenging technological objectives, offering a more efficient and competitive solution as part of a wholly EADS-funded approach – we are looking forward to continuing this hugely successful partnership.”

Gérard Brachet, Spot Image’s CEO from 1982 to 1994, is also full of praise for the ground-breaking SPOT adventure: “Created in 1982 and fully up and running with the launch of the first SPOT satellite exactly 25 years ago, Spot Image was the first commercial company in the world to operate Earth observation satellites. It was down to its extensive global network and the quality and enthusiasm of its personnel in Toulouse, Washington, Sydney, Singapore and Beijing that it well and truly cracked this new market. The excellent performance of the five successive SPOT satellites, all of which were primed by Matra Marconi Space – later to become Astrium – played a major role in this success.”

Patrick Le Roch, head of Astrium Services GEO Division, concludes “As a newcomer to Astrium, I am very impressed by the SPOT legacy and could not be happier to have taken over the reigns of such a successful business. We have an exciting future ahead of us as we enter a new era with SPOT-6 and SPOT-7 operational just a few years from now.”

Further information can be found at CNES

(Source Astrium Services)_

An unparalleled collection of high-resolution satellite imagery covering sub-Saharan Africa in a single season is now available in the DMCii image archive, providing an invaluable snapshot of more than 40 countries, including Cameroon, Congo, and Ethiopia for assessing phenomena such as deforestation, urbanisation and desertification.

Sub-Saharan Africa is a vast and diverse landscape with climatic extremes ranging from arid Ethiopian desert to the Congo rainforest. Satellite imagery is an invaluable tool for monitoring region-wide changes in land use and the environment. The DMCii coverage, acquired for the European GMES programme, captures a moment in time – providing an irrefutable marker for changes in the landscape against which future coverage can be compared. A second annual coverage of the Northern half of Africa including the Maghreb countries was also completed during the first three months of 2011.

Since the DMC satellites acquire very large images, up to 650km wide, such vast areas can be mapped quickly and in detail, using 22metre resolution imagers. Because the DMC imagers are accurately calibrated to Landsat, they enable detailed comparison with the past 30 years of imagery to identify changes in crops, forests, rivers and towns. Most importantly, because huge areas can be imaged by the DMC constellation within a short time-frame the images are acquired at a similar point in time, which is vital for effective change detection and monitoring. Processing is also minimised for the end-user – large contiguous images can be assembled to produce clear and accurate continental-scale maps with minimal image analysis and manipulation.

Tropical forests present specific challenges. Because rainforests are frequently obscured by cloud, single satellites often have to acquire images for a decade to map an area. In contrast, DMCii liberates forest management from this constraint by coordinating a constellation of satellites which, through daily imaging, acquire cloud-free images whenever there is a gap in the cloud. For the first time, annual and seasonal tropical forest maps are available, providing vital information for REDD+ monitoring of forest carbon resources.

About DMC International Imaging Ltd

DMC International Imaging Ltd (DMCii) is a UK based supplier of remote sensing data products and services for international Earth Observation (EO) markets. DMCii supplies programmed and archived optical satellite imagery provided by the multi-satellite Disaster Monitoring Constellation. DMCii’s data is now used in a wide variety of commercial and government applications including agriculture, forestry and environmental mapping.

In partnership with the UK Space Agency and the other Disaster Monitoring Constellation member nations (Algeria, China, Nigeria, Turkey and Spain), DMCii works with the International Charter ‘Space and Major Disasters’ to provide free satellite imagery for humanitarian use in the event of major international disasters such as tsunamis, hurricanes, fires and flooding.

DMCii was formed in October 2004 and is a subsidiary of Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL), the world leader in small satellite technology. SSTL designed and built the Disaster Monitoring Constellation with the support of the then British National Space Centre and in conjunction with the other Disaster Monitoring Constellation member nations listed above.

For more information, please see www.dmcii.com

Notes to editor:
This press release can be downloaded from http://fwd4.me/vKM
High quality JPEG images of coverage are also available upon request from Robin Wolstenholme.

DMC International Imaging Ltd is not affiliated in any way with Intergraph Corp., Z/I Imaging Corp., or their registered trade mark DMC.

Press contacts:
Robin Wolstenholme, bcm public relations, www.bcmpublicrelations.com
Tel: +44 (0)1306 882288 Email: r.wolstenholme@bcmpublicrelations.com
Paul Stephens, Sales & Marketing Director, DMC International Imaging Ltd.
Tel: +44 (0)1483 804299 Email: p.stephens@dmcii.com

In this issue of EOMAG, EARSC had the opportunity to discuss with Mr. David Stevens, United Nations Platform for Space-base Information for Disaster Management and Emergency Response (UNSPIDER) Programme Coordinator.


UN-SPIDER
In its resolution 61/110 of 14 December 2006 the United Nations General Assembly agreed to establish the “United Nations Platform for Space-based Information for Disaster Management and Emergency Response – UN-SPIDER” as a programme within the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs. UN-SPIDER focuses on the need to ensure that all countries as well as international and regional organisations can access and use of space-based solutions during all phases of the disaster management cycle.

How is the daily work of the UN-SPIDER Team?

UN-SPIDER is a global programme being implemented by a team of 14 professional and administrative staff distributed in three offices: Vienna, which is where the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs is located, and also Bonn, Germany and Beijing, China. This team works closely with a network of ten UN-SPIDER Regional Support Offices in the implementation of a plan-of-work which is considered and endorsed by the United Nations General Assembly every two years.

Currently UN-SPIDER Regional Support Offices are being hosted by the following national organisations: the Algerian Space Agency (ASAL), the Iranian Space Agency (ISA), the Nigerian National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA), the Pakistan Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO), the Romanian Space Agency (ROSA) and the National Space Agency of Ukraine (SRI NASU-NSAU) and by the following regional organisations: Asian Disaster Reduction Center (ADRC), based in Kobe, Japan, the Regional Center for Mapping of Resources for Development (RCMRD) based in Nairobi, the University of the West Indies (UWI) based in St. Augustine, Trinidad and the Water Center for the Humid Tropics of Latin America and the Caribbean (CATHALAC) based in Panama City.

How does UN-SPIDER raise awareness about the importance of satellite technology in disaster management, saving lives and ensuring faster and more efficient recovery

The activities UN-SPIDER carries out focus on providing support to countries more specifically to the national institutions that are responsible for disaster management. Activities include workshops, expert meetings, technical advisory missions and also the UN-SPIDER Knowledge Portal (http://www.un-spider.org) which is one-stop shop for all the information available on the topic space-based information for disaster management and emergency response. This Knowledge Portal is recognised as the place to go for anyone needing information.

One of the several main tasks of the UN-SPIDER Programme is to ensure that satellite imagery is available and used to support efficient and effective humanitarian assistance on the ground, but how do you prioritize this specific key objective of the UN-SPIDER in short and long term?

There has been an increase in the number of mechanisms and initiatives that make satellite imagery available to support emergency and humanitarian response, namely the International Charter: Space and Major Disasters, Sentinel Asia, GMES SAFER and SERVIR, but also a number of commercial initiatives being structured by the private sector. UN-SPIDER’s focuses on bringing together these providers of space-based information for emergency response and the end users responding to an emergency. Ultimately if the information doesn’t reach the decision-maker or the emergency responders then all the effort put in benefits no one.

How does the United Nations coordinate the use of existing mechanisms that make satellite imagery available to support emergency and humanitarian response?

Several United Nations agencies already take advantage of the above leading mechanisms, as well as others such as G-MOSAIC, to support their mandates. There is a need for a closer coordination within the United Nations system particularly in areas where the above mechanisms do not provide what is needed. To deal with this specific need the United Nations Geographic Information Working Group (UNGIWG) agreed recently, at the suggestion of UNOOSA, on the establishment of an ad hoc Task Group focusing on Geospatial Information for Humanitarian and Emergency Response which will focus on ensuring the United Nations agencies take better advantage of what is available and build together additional opportunities.

Could you explain how your team is assisting the disaster management response?

UN-SPIDER staff together with the UN-SPIDER Regional Support Offices are working to ensure that all end users can access and have the capacity to use all space-based information made available to support emergency events by existing mechanisms and initiatives; to provide guidance to existing mechanisms and initiatives on how they could improve and extend their support, as well as establish new opportunities and ensure that providers of space-based information and expertise know who to provide support to.

If we talk about the disaster management cycle, could you please comment on the prevention phase and lessons learnt form previous disasters, how these are integrated? How do you coordinate the stakeholders playing a role in the different phases?

The long term impact in saving lives, livelihoods and property will only happen if we manage to make a difference at the prevention phase. We have to use available space-based information and solutions to understand better exposure to hazards, underlying risks and vulnerability of populations. There is a disproportionate focus on emergency response when in fact we should be collectively focusing on preventing disasters before they happen. UN-SPIDER works with national governments focusing more on prevention through an established network of UN-SPIDER National Focal Points. A National Focal Point is a national institution nominated by the Government of the respective country, representing the disaster management and space application communities. The role of national focal points is to work with UN-SPIDER as well as with UN-SPIDER Regional Support Offices to strengthen national disaster management planning and policies and implement specific national activities that incorporate space-based technology solutions in support of disaster management. Through the National Focal Points we ensure that there is a collective and targeted effort, channelling support to the real needs of each country.

How can EARSC work with UN-SPIDER to improve programme’s operations and get industry more involved? Would a joint initiative be appropriate to raise awareness and improve performance?

Several EARSC members are already involved in the UN-SPIDER activities. UN-SPIDER is a programme that ensures that providers of solutions are working with those that need the support. The industry sector always leads when it comes to innovation and optimisation of what is available and it is imperative that we take advantage of the comparative advantage the industry sector brings with it for the benefit of those that need the technology, more specifically the developing countries. I would personally welcome being contacted by additional EARSC members and help guide them in their involvement with the disaster management community taking advantage of the network of UN-SPIDER Regional Support Offices and the established National Focal Points.

What in your opinion is a suitable level of resources for this programme?

Currently UN-SPIDER resources are channelled from both the United Nations regular budget and also from cash and in-kind contributions from several countries with the main donors being Austria, China, Germany and Turkey. The team will grow to 18 staff once the UN-SPIDER Office in Beijing is fully staffed. The level of available resources is sufficient for the planned activities to be carried out in 2011, and although 2012 will probably see a reduction in the amount of resources to be made available to the programme, the programme itself will increase its delivery output due to the increasing role the UN-SPIDER Regional Support Offices will have in carrying out programme activities within their respective regions.

At the end of the interview, we would like to ask you for your overall recommendations on the future development of the geo-information service sector, and would like to ask to give some hopefully positive messages to the members of EARSC

Recent mega disasters such as the earthquake in Haiti, the floods in Pakistan and the more recent earthquake-tsunami that hit Japan have light-lighted the universality and the seriousness of the issue. All sectors of society have to be involved supporting a coordinated approach: governments, academia, private sector and the non-government organisations have to pitch in and get involved. UN-SPIDER ultimately focuses on strengthening the work carried out at the community level as we all know that prevention and first response is done at this level. UN-SPIDER welcomes working with the industry sector to ensure that their effort and involvement directly benefits those that will be impacted by an increasing number of disasters, helping to reduce the vulnerability of these communities to these disasters.

More info at http://www.un-spider.org

Short Biography
David Stevens (UN-SPIDER Programme Coordinator) was born in Brazil where he graduated first in Civil Engineering (BSc) and then Environmental Planning (MSc). He has worked internationally for nearly twenty years, including for the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank, before joining the United Nations in 1999. He was assigned to his current Office in 2001.
E-mail: david.stevens@unoosa.org

TerraSAR-X Data available following Japan Earthquake / Astrium recognised for its pioneering work in the commercialisation of radar imagery / Marine and coastal geospatial data now available to download from Geostore …


TerraSAR-X Data available for Research following Japan Earthquake (24 March 2011)

The German radar satellite TerraSAR-X is collecting data stacks of the area of Sendai, severely affected by the devastating Earthquake that hit Japan on 13. Mar 2011.

This data will be made available free of charge via the GEO Supersites mechanism by DLR and Astrium GEO-Information Services in a joint effort. First datasets are now accessible, additional datasets will be uploaded regularly.

Read more

Astrium’s Satellite Imagery Expertise for Japan (18 March 2011)

Astrium GEO-Information Services makes its satellite imagery experts available to the international community: Astrium GEO-Information Services is the sole distributor of the Formosat-2 satellite’s imagery. This high resolution satellite is the only satellite, due to its atypical orbit, capable of taking images of the same point every day. This unique ability enables the international community to follow the evolution of the Japanese earthquake disaster day by day. This is why Astrium is making its satellite imagery experts available to provide analysis reports regarding the affected areas.

Read more

TerraSAR-X Acquires Imagery of Japan (15 March 2011)

Since the first news of the severe Earthquake and following Tsunami in Japan and the Pacific, the German radar satellite TerraSAR-X has reliably been acquiring data of the affected areas. This data is being downlinked regularly to ground stations both in Japan and Europe.

Read more

Astrium recognised for its pioneering work in the commercialisation of radar imagery (10 March 2011)

Astrium’s GEO-Information Services Division through its German operation, Infoterra has been recognised for its outstanding achievement in successfully commercialising space-based radar imagery at Aviation Week’s 54th Annual Laureate Awards.

Read more

Marine and coastal geospatial data now available to download from Geostore (8 March 2011)

Astrium GEO-Information Services has introduced new marine and coastal geospatial data that is now downloadable from its www.geostore.com store. The new data includes the Admiralty Raster Charts, and a new generation of vector data known as Marine Themes that is based on information sourced from the UK Hydrographic Office.

Read more

Astrium GEO-Information Services – North America Kickoff Meeting (1 Marc 2011)

more info
(Source Astrium Services)

COSMO-SkyMed images and maps of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, e-GEOS provides maps and updated data of Libya, GeoEye-1 Imagery of Cairo…


(14/3/2011) COSMO-SkyMed images and maps of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan more>>

COSMO-SkyMed images and Maps of the areas of Japan hit by the earthquake and tsunami on 11 March are now available from e-GEOS. In the wake of the disaster, e-GEOS acted immediately to document the situation in the areas affected using satellite images and maps.

(14/3/2011) Very-high-resolution imagery of the Fukushima Nuclear reactor more>>

GeoEye-1 50 cm imagery of the damaged nuclear reactor at Fukushima, Japan

(14/3/2011) Very-high-resolution imagery of damage from the Japanese Tsunami more>>

e‑GEOS provides COSMO-SkyMed derived maps to Google Crisis Response to help track the progress of the disaster.

(7/3/2011 e-GEOS provides maps and updated data of Libya more>>

Following the Libyan crisis, the Emergency Team of e-GEOS was rapidly activated, at the request of the Italian Ministry of Defense, to provide satellite images and maps of towns in the North African country.

The initiative is being carried out under the G-MOSAIC project (GMES services for Management of Operations, Situation Awareness and Intelligence for regional Crises) of the European Union, coordinated by e-GEOS.

e-GEOS is providing Italian authorities with updated data and maps of critical points such as ports, airports, embassies, hospitals and main roads. In addition, e-GEOS is engaged in the monitoring of some Libyan border crossings.

(4/2/2011) Unrest in Egypt GeoEye-1 Imagery of Cairo from January 29 more >>

On 29 January 2011, the e-GEOS emergency team worked around the clock to make available to our key customers in the security and defense sectors a GeoEye-1 image of the Egyptian city of Cairo in the early days of the uprising.

(Source e-geos)

ITT has released a new ENVI toolkit for DEIMOS-1 satellite.

(Feb 2011) The toolkit is able to read, ingest and process the DEIMOS-1’s products levels L1R and L1T.

In addition the toolkit is able to calibrate files to radiance or sensor reflectance, using the information extract from the DIMAP file associate with the image file.

The reflectance estimation can be calculated by means of two methods; the fast method (an unique sun zenit angle for the entire image) and the accurate method (an unique sun zenit angle for every pixel).

For further information, please visit ITTVIS

(Source Deimos Imaging)

(Chelys) ESA has signed the Miravi upgrade contract

The new version, installed 28 February 2011, now includes support for processing ASAR Level1 products as well as a renewed MERIS Level0 processor, which has improved geolocation accuracy that reaches sub-pixel resolution.

The Miravi web interface has also been redesigned, and now offers support for the Google Earth browser plugin. The performance is still first rate: between 4 and 20 seconds for generating an ASAR image.

Miravi can be accessed through the following link miravi.eo.esa.int

Source Chelys

Spring Bloom Kattegat, ESA-MOST dragon cooperation programme, ESOV-NG….


(31.03.2011) Spring Bloom in the Kattegat and western Baltic Sea

This year’s spring bloom in the Kattegat and western Baltic Sea can be clearly detected with satellite data (here: MERIS sensor onboard ENVISAT satellite). Chlorophyll concentrations and extent of the spring bloom can be seen here

(17.03.2011) Brockmann Consult to be presented on the ESA-MOST dragon cooperation programme.

BC runs the BEAM training as a part of the Advance Training Cource in Ocean Remote Sensing in the State Key Laboratory of Estuarine and Coastal Research, East China Normal University, Shanghai, P.R. China Within the framework of the ESA-MOST dragon cooperation programme

(03.02.2011) ESOV-NG 2.0 released.

The version 2.0 of the ESOV NG application has been released and it can be downloaded from the Esov distribution web site

ESOV NG allows users to visualize and print Instrument swaths, Ground tracks, Zone coverages, Ground Station Visibility and to generate overpass table for generic Earth Observation LEO satellites. Support for Envisat, ERS-1, ERS-2, Cryosat, ADM, SMOS, Metop is built in, more satellites can be added easily.

Source