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What is EOSnap?

EOSnap is a web portal dedicated to Earth Observation. Luca’s words can best summarize why the site was created:

We have been working in the field of earth observation for over 13 years. Even after all this time, I am continually surprised by how beautiful and varied our planet is. Every day, we generate photorealistic images from satellite data. I am lucky that this work puts me in the privileged position of observing the planet in great detail. EOSnap is meant to be a small window on our planet that allows all people to appreciate the Earth’s beauty and also, hopefully, a way of increasing public awareness on environmental issues so that such beauty can be preserved for future generations.

Luca Mellano (Founder and CEO of Chelys)

Source Chelys and EOSnap

St. John’s, NL – C-CORE and Kanata based Vantage Point International (VPI) announced today that they have completed the C-CORE acquisition of VPI’s assets.

C-CORE is a Canadian corporation providing applied research and engineering services to Government and natural resource industries worldwide. VPI is a privately held company that specializes in radar and satellite monitoring services to defence, space and environmental markets.

C-CORE President and CEO, Dr. Charles Randell, said VPI employees and business are an excellent fit with C CORE’s strategic plan for further expansion in the space and defence markets.

“The VPI client base is a natural fit with C-CORE’s markets in Defence R&D, satellite monitoring, and specialized radar engineering services. We’re very pleased to be in a position to make this investment. The acquisition positions C-CORE as one of the largest satellite monitoring companies in Canada, and creates new avenues for growth. Expansion in government Defence, Security and Environment sectors are a key driver. This acquisition gives C-CORE a presence right on those customers’ doorstep.” said Dr. Randell.

VPI President, Ron Saper, said “The combined capabilities and resulting corporate strength will position C-CORE to serve the growing market for radar engineering services. I’m pleased to see that VPI’s clients and personnel are in good hands with a company that understands our core business.”

Paul Adlakha, C-CORE Director of Marketing stated that a C-CORE Ottawa office will benefit many of C CORE’s existing and emerging clients. “We’ve been asked about increasing our presence in Ottawa for some time. This acquisition certainly addresses that request and helps us support our clients even better. Our growth and repeat business over the past few years has confirmed that we’re doing things right and solving our client’s problems, so this acquisition is a solid investment in that growth.”

The terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

For further information, please contact:
Paul Adlakha, P.Eng.
Director, Marketing
+1 902 448 7278
Paul.adlakha@c-core.ca

BEAM is an open-source toolbox and development platform for viewing, analysing and processing of remote sensing raster data.


(June 2009) The BEAM development team proudly presents
1. the new BEAM 4.6 release,
2. the redesigned BEAM website including
3. a new BEAM user forum!
BEAM 4.6 comes with some interesting new features, namely the new layer and session management. With the new forum we hope to establish an vivid community where BEAM users ask questions, provide solutions and share their knowledge.
The forum is moderated by the BEAM development team and our experts wont let any problem unacknowledged.

*******

Originally developed to facilitate the utilisation of image data from Envisat’s optical instruments, BEAM now supports a growing number of other raster data formats such as GeoTIFF and NetCDF as well as data formats of other EO sensors such as MODIS, AVHRR, AVNIR, PRISM and CHRIS/Proba. Various data and algorithms are supported by dedicated extension plug-ins.

Software Components

  • VISAT – An intuitive desktop application to be used for visualization, analyzing and processing of remote sensing raster data. To get an impression of how VISAT looks and feels like, please take a look at the related screenshots page.
  • A set of scientific tools running either from the command line or invoked by VISAT, also entirely written in Java.
  • A rich Java API for the development of new remote sensing applications and BEAM extension plug-ins.

Supported Instruments

This following table lists the data product formats which are supported by BEAM using the reader modules provided in the standard installation. Information about the access to these products is given on the data sources page.

Instrument Platform Formats
MERIS L1b/L2 Envisat Envisat N1
MERIS L3 Envisat NetCDF
AATSR L1b/L2 Envisat Envisat N1
ASAR Envisat Envisat N1
ATSR L1b/L2 ERS Envisat N1, ERS
SAR ERS Envisat N1
CHRIS L1 Proba HDF4
AVNIR-2 L1/L2 ALOS CEOS
PRISM L1/L2 ALOS CEOS
MODIS L2 Aqua, Terra HDF4
AVHRR/3 L1b NOAA-KLM NOAA, METOP
TM Landsat 5 FAST

Generic EO Data Formats

BEAM supports the following generic raster formats:

Format Support Description
BEAM-DIMAP read + write The standard BEAM I/O format. It comprises an XML header based on the SpotImage/CNES DIMAP schema and ENVI images for the raster data
GeoTIFF read + write A widely used EO data format, e.g. for Quickbird, LANDSAT, SPOT
NetCDF read A widely used EO data format. BEAM supports NetCDF files conforming to the NetCDF CF Metadata Convention
HDF-EOS read BEAM supports the HDF-EOS profile (HDF4) used by NASA Ocean Color data products of SeaWiFS, MODIS, OCTS, CZCS

Feature Highlights

  • Very fast image display and navigation even of giga-pixel images
  • Advanced layer management allows adding and manipulation of new overlays such as images of other bands, images from WMS servers or ESRI shapefiles
  • Rich region-of-interest definitions for statistics and various plots
  • Easy bitmask definition and overlay
  • Flexible band arithmetic using arbitrary mathematical expressions
  • Accurate reprojection and ortho-rectification to common map projections,
  • Geo-coding and rectification using ground control points
  • Store and restore the current session including all opened files, views and layers
  • A standard set of scientific data processors which includes
    -Level 3 Binning and Mosaicing (all sensors)
    -Collocation (all sensors)
    -EM and K-Means Clustering, Linear Spectral Unmixing (all sensors)
    -Radiance-to-Reflectance, Smile Effect Correction, Cloud Probability, SMAC Atmospheric Correction, Case 2 Water Constituents (MERIS)
    -Sea Surface Temperature (AATSR)
    -FLH/MCI, NDVI (all sensors)

Source

From 4-7 June, 375 million European citizens were called upon to vote for the 736 members who will represent them in the European Parliament until 2014.

Policy Summary Links

From 4-7 June, 375 million European citizens were called upon to vote for the 736 members who will represent them in the European Parliament until 2014.

The European Parliament is the only EU institution directly elected on a strictly European mandate.

Over the past 30 years, since the first EU elections, the Parliament has gained more powers, but many citizens still see the ballot as a national mid-term poll for punishing the parties in government.

Issues:

The EPP group is credited with 264 members of the European Parliament, against 161 MEPs for the Socialists, according to the European Parliament website. In the outgoing 785-member European Parliament, the former EPP-ED group had 284 MEPs to the PES’s 215.

This time, the British Conservatives left the group after their leader, David Cameron, decided to form a separate anti-Lisbon political group (EurActiv 02/06/09). Despite being deprived of some 29 British MEPs, the EPP remained by far the largest grouping in the 736-seat parliament.

The Alliance of Liberal and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) obtained 80 seats, down from 103 in the previous legislature. The Greens/European Free Alliance group won 53 MEPs, up from 42 last time around.

The Eurosceptic Independence-Democracy group, which previously had 24 members, lost seats and has now 18 MEPs, while the Union for Europe of the Nations group (UEN) also lost members and is down from 44 to 35 MEPs. Similarly, the Confederal Group of the European Left/Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL) is down from 44 to 32 MEPs.

Election_results_ok_01.jpg

For a full overview of the distribution of seats by member states and political parties, please click here

Centre-right successful in ‘big five’

In the five largest EU countries – Germany , the UK, France, Italy and Spain – the EPP did well. German MEP Hartmut Nassauer, EPP vice-president, said he was happy with the results in his country, where the conservative CDU obtained 30.7% (34 seats) against 20.8% (23 seats) for its rival, the SPD.

“It’s a good signal for 27 September,” said Nassauer, referring to his country’s upcoming national poll.

In France , President Nicolas Sarkozy’s UMP scored 27.8% (29 seats) against a dismal 16.48% (14 seats) for the Socialists, who were almost overrun by the Greens after Europe Ecologie scored 16.28% (14 seats). French MEP Joseph Daul, the EPP group chairman, said his group had won because it had spoken “about Europe” and had not got involved in controversy like its Socialist opponents (EurActiv 07/06/09)

In Italy , Berlusconi’s ‘Party of Liberty’ (PdL) scored 35.26% (29 seats), against 26.13% for its main rival, the centre-left PD (21 seats).

In Poland , the governing Civic Platform won 25 seats (44.43% of votes), 10 more than during the previous legislature. Together with the Peasants Party (PSL), this means Poland will have 28 seats in the EPP group. The conservatives of President Lech Kaczyński’s PiS (Law and Justice) party scored well with 27.4% of the vote (15 seats). The socialists lost one seat, returning seven MEPs to the EU assembly, while no liberal, independent or far-right candidates ran for election this time around (EurActiv 17/06/09)

Electors punish Socialists

In other countries, several ruling parties suffered losses and the opposition made gains. In Spain , governed by socialists, the centre-right Popular Party scored 42.23% (23 seats) against 38.51% for the socialist PSOE (21 seats).

In Greece , the governing centre-right New Democracy party obtained just 32.29% of the ballot against 36.65% for the opposition PASOK. Both won eight seats.

In Bulgaria , which is governed by a socialist-led coalition (GERB and SDS-DSB), two EPP-affiliated opposition parties recorded a total of 32.31% (six seats), against 18.5% (four seats) for the socialist BSP. Despite suspicions of vote buying (EurActiv 14/05/09) and fraud, “the Bulgarian Central Electoral Commission (CEC) turned down demands for a manual recount of the vote” tabled by the Blue Coalition (formerly anti-communist) and the Lider party, according to Vihar Georgiev, writing on Blogactiv

In Hungary, a country hit hard by the economic crisis, the ruling socialists lost to the opposition FIDESZ-KDNP, which scored a remarkable 56.36% (15 seats), against only 17.37% for the ruling MSZP (four seats). Significant gains were made by the far-right Jobbik party, which scored 14.77% (three seats).

“The left-wing results are much worse than expected in the polls,” writes Dániel Antal on Blogactiv . “The Socialist party, which has received the most votes in all national elections since 1994 and was kept out of power only by a three-party right-wing coalition between 1998-2002 […] was beaten in many districts by Jobbik. Their result will sooner or later undermine the hugely unpopular Socialist minority government,” he adds.

In Belgium , “the results reflected a deepening divide in Belgian political life” and “there are no common trends,” according to Jean-Michel de Waele, a political science professor at the Unversité Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) (EurActiv 08/06/09). “In Flanders, the Christian Democrats are on the rise, in coalition with a small separatist party on the up, N-VA (8.21%), but their Walloon equivalent, cdH, lost ground. In Flanders, the Liberals scored well but plummeted in Wallonia. The rise of the Greens in Wallonia is remarkable, but their equivalent is stagnant in Flanders,” de Waele said.

Impact of far-right

The far-right won substantial support in some member states, particularly in the Netherlands and Austria. In the Netherlands , the anti-immigration Freedom Party (PVV) became the second-largest political force, with 16.97% of the ballot and four seats (EurActiv 05/06/09).

In Austria, the Freedom Party (formerly led by Jorg Haider) scored 12.71% (two seats), while another far-right party he founded, ‘The Alliance for the Future’, picked up 4.58%, not enough to get an MEP.

In Belgium , anti-immigration party Vlaams Belang, which advocates independence for Flanders, obtained 10.88%, below the 11.6% won five years ago.

In Bulgaria , ultra-nationalists Ataka scored 11.96%, less than their 14.2% in the 2007 by-elections. They party will send two MEPs, one less than before.

In Romania , the Great Romania (PRM) party of ultranationalist Cornel Vadim Tudor scored 8.65% and obtained three seats. In the 2007 by-elections after Romania’s accession, it obtained only 4.15%, failing to send an MEP to Strasbourg (EurActiv 09/06/09)

In the United Kingdom, the far-right British National Party entered the European Parliament for the first time, winning two seats. The BNP gained the seats in two regions of northern England at the expense of Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s Labour Party, which has been hurt by a scandal over politicians’ expenses (EurActiv 08/06/09)

“There has not been a surge in the [BNP] vote. It was the dip in the vote for the major parties, particularly Labour, due to the major scandal that helped them,” according to British Labour MEP Richard Corbett, who lost his seat to the BNP in these elections (EurActiv 09/06/09)

The pan-European anti-Lisbon Treaty party Libertas suffered a harrowing defeat in the European elections, electing just one MEP in the EU 27, its head of list in the west of France and sitting MEP Philippe de Villiers. Party figurehead and leader Declan Ganley failed to win a seat in Ireland (EurActiv 08/06/09)

Low turnout ‘doesn’t mean EP lacks legitimacy’

Despite fears that voter turnout would plunge, participation in these elections remained stable, with 43.08% of voters heading to the polls. In the 2004 elections, it was 45.47%.

Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) leader Graham Watson said the low turnout could be interpreted in two ways: “Either people don’t go to vote because they are perfectly satisfied, or because there must be something wrong.”

“We need to work towards a proper policy of communication about what happens at EU level, give Euronews the status of public station broadcaster in all of our countries, and elect a percentage of the European Parliament on a pan-European list. That might help us to have a European debate, rather than help us to have 27 national debates,” he said.

“I propose that all Europeans vote on the same day in order to create a European public space,” French Commissioner Jacques Barrot told EurActiv. “These elections are too fragmented and only national views prevail,” Barrot said, adding: “The European project is complex and it is necessary to familiarise children with these complex data at school,” he added.

Asked what effect the low turnout would have on the Parliament’s legitimacy, Professor Mario Telo, president of the European Studies Institute at the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), said: “It is incorrect to talk about lack of legitimacy. A possible reading could also be that the European system is so well-established that even Eurosceptic parties want to be represented in the European Parliament.”

“The participation crisis can be blamed on national parties, which did not do their job in explaining Europe and campaigning on European issues. Europe is still perceived as boring and too complex,” Telo continued, adding: “The election results reveal a crisis of national democracy rather than at EU level. In member states, we are seeing more and more of a resurgence of populism, sadly enhanced by political scandals.”

A top European Parliament communication adviser told EurActiv the poor turnout had once again exposed “the failure of national political parties to engage citizens”.

“The European Parliament has launched an institutional campaign to raise awareness, but no political party campaigned on European manifestos,” the official said, noting that not one party mentioned that three-quarters of national legislation is produced in Brussels.

Possibly more women, but no equal representation

Once again, women will not be equally represented in the new European Parliament, despite much talk and fully-fledged legislation to ensure gender equality (EurActiv 11/06/09)

The exact distribution of men and women will only be known at the inaugural session of the new legislature in Strasbourg on 14 July, but initial data show that the number of female MEPs will not come close to equally representing the bloc’s population, of which 52% is female.

In the 2004-2009 legislature, the European Parliament was composed of 31% women and 69% men.

“It is not surprising as it is due to the slight shift to the right,” said Cécile Gréboval, policy director at the European Women’s Lobby (EWL), the largest umbrella organisation of women’s groups in the European Union.

Positions:

Hailing their victory, EPP-ED group chairman Joseph Daul and EPP president Wilfried Martens said European citizens had “decided to make the road map from the EPP manifesto for the next five years their own”. “The message that European citizens want to pass to their politicians is crystal clear: they must put ambition and political will back at the heart of European action to meet the daily concerns of citizens and to ensure Europe’s place in the world,” they said in a statement.

“This new parliamentary term will be decisive for the European Parliament. With new, improved working methods, and the statute of co-legislator strengthened by – and we hope as quickly as possible – the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, the Parliament will be in a strategic position at the heart of European decision-making,” the leaders said.

“The EPP parliamentary group will have a particular responsibility in Parliament in view of its position in this Institution and the weight of the challenges we face both internally and internationally,” they added.

Asked why the Socialists had performed badly, Belgian Green MEP Philippe Lamberts said: “The Socialists have not been able to take advantage of the problems caused by ideologies put forward by the conservatives, such as deregulation and free markets. They did not articulate a clear vision, while the Green vision was very clear: a Green New Deal with growth through green investment and transformation of lifestyles.”

“The economic crisis has deeply touched the electors. I think we all have a responsibility at European level to find solutions to this crisis. If we fall into nationalism and protectionism, we are dead,” said Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) leader Graham Watson (UK).

“The Socialists have lost many seats in these elections, while the liberal democrats maintained their position and might be a tiny bit stronger than in the previous parliament,” Watson said.

Commenting on the results, Socialist Group leader Martin Schulz (DE) said: “There are days you win and days you lose. I would have liked extra seats, but we have to take what the electors give us.”

“We will continue our fight for progressive policies. We will continue the fight for social Europe, building up on our manifesto,” he added.

European Liberal Democrats (ELDR) President Annemie Neyts told EurActiv that the result meant the Liberals’ standing in the Parliament was more or less “equal” to what it was before the poll.

“There are countries where we have lost seats. Indeed, some of our delegations have been wiped out altogether – the Alliance of Free Democrats in Hungary didn’t make the threshold,” she noted.

But gains were made elsewhere. “The Dutch Liberals-combined gain one seat, and in Germany, the FDP made a big jump,” Neyts observed.

Describing the results as a “success”, the ELDR president said: “This was our ambition, given that as the financial crisis deepened everyone was indicating that liberals were the big culprits and deserved a beating”.

“So by succeeding in keeping the same number of MEPs, we have done rather well,” she concluded.

European Commission President José Manuel Barroso described the outcome as “an undeniable victory for those parties and candidates that support the European project and want to see the European Union delivering policy responses to their everyday concerns”. “The political forces that constructively address policy challenges, and that have constructively engaged with the Commission during the past legislature, occupy the overwhelming majority of the seats in the next European Parliament,” he said.

“From today onwards, Europe owes it to the voters to show once again that it can deliver. It must continue to pave the way through the economic and financial crisis. It must do all it can to support those most vulnerable in society, especially those facing unemployment. And Europe must grasp the opportunity to build a new social market economy that puts a smarter, greener growth at its core, so as to decisively address climate change,” the Commission president continued.

“The turnout compared to 2004 shows that this is not the time for complacency. National politicians, whose debates all too often remain largely national in their focus, must acknowledge themselves more consistently as both national and European actors. The Commission will continue with its efforts to put the European Union at the centre of the political debate in all member states,” he said.

Commenting on the relative failure of the European centre-left at these elections, Jackie Davis, an analyst at the European Policy Centre, a Brussels think-tank, said the results “show how divided the centre-left forces are at the moment. Normally sitting governments are punished at European elections”.

“It is not the centre-right winning, but rather the centre-left going down, and the votes are shifting to extremist parties,” Simon Hix, a professor at the London School of Economics, told EurActiv, commenting on the results (EurActiv 09/06/09). “Mainstream centre-right parties in most places have adopted the agenda of social democrats,” Hix said, meaning that “they are now in favour of public spending as a result of the economic crisis”.

Links Policy Summary :http://www.euractiv.com/en/eu-elections/2009-2014-centre-right-european-parliament/article-183383#summary

European Union

  • European Parliament: Election results: towards the new Parliamentexternal [FR]external [DE]external
  • European Parliament: Turnout at the European elections (1979-2009)external [FR]external [DE]external
  • European Parliament: Seats by political group in each Member Stateexternal [FR]external [DE]external
  • European Parliament: Distribution of seats by Member State: parties and political groupsexternal [FR]external [DE]external
  • European Parliament: Distribution of men and womenexternal [FR]external [DE]external
  • European Parliament: Composition of Parliament since 1979external [FR]external [DE]external
  • European Parliament: EU elections results in 2004-2007external [FR]external [DE]external
  • European Parliament: Number of Members per Member State since 1979external [FR]external [DE]external

Press articles

  • EurActiv France: Elections 2009external
  • EurActiv France: Les 72 députés européens français (2009 – 2014)Pdf external
  • EurActiv France: Biographies des 72 élus français au Parlement européenexternal
  • Dnevnik Bulgaria: Избори 09external
  • EurActiv Czech Republic: Evropské volby 2009external
  • EurActiv Germany: Wahlen in Europaexternal
  • EurActiv Hungary: Európai Parlamentexternal
  • EurActiv Poland: Eurowyboryexternal
  • EurActiv Romania: Alegeri 2009external
  • EurActiv Slovakia: Slovensko v EPexternal
  • EurActiv Turkey: 2009 AP Seçimleri

Blogs

  • Blogactiv: A l’heure européenneexternal
  • Blogactiv: EuroJunkieexternal
  • Blogactiv: The new European Parliament: reflectionsexternal
  • Blogactiv: Libertas Failsexternal
  • Blogactiv: Famous Bulgarian Mobsters Will Run for Parliamentexternal
  • Blogactiv: England voted BNP, not UKexternal
  • Blogactiv: David Cameron on track to form alliance of Euroscepticsexternal
  • Blogactiv: Far right make gains in 10 member statesexternal
  • Blogactiv: ‘Law and Justice – come back to EPP!’external
  • Blogactiv: Bulgarian Electoral Commission Refuses Manual Vote Recountexternal
  • Blogactiv: A bit of a problem!external
  • Blogactiv: After the European elections, what next?external
  • Blogactiv: La droite aux commandes de l’Europe : Les citoyens en attente d’un retour aux “fondamentaux” pour les partis de gaucheexternal
  • Blogactiv: The European elections and the anti-EU case in the UKexternal
  • Blogactiv: Bulgarian EP Elections – Fair or Not?external
  • Blogactiv: Gordon ‘The Terminator’ Brownexternal
  • Blogactiv: Bulgarian EP Vote Resultsexternal
  • Blogactiv: Hungarian Results: The Left-Wing Wiped Outexternal

SOURCE EURACTIV

Two new reports examining climate change adaptation and policy making across Europe will be launched today in Brussels in the presence of Peter Gammeltoft, Head of Unit ‘Protection of Water and Marine Environment’ at the European Commission.

The preliminary conclusions of the research were used in the European Commission’s White Paper on climate change, published in April 2009.

The reports are published by the Partnership for European Environmental Research (PEER), a grouping of seven of the biggest European environmental research institutes. PEER is chaired by Professor Pat Nuttall, Director of the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology.

Speakers at the Brussels event include Prof. Nuttall, the lead authors of the two reports, Rob Swart, from Alterra in the Netherlands and Per Mickwitz, from Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE), Ellen Margrethe Basse from Aarhus University, and Katherine Richardson, Vice Dean, University of Copenhagen, Denmark, who organised the recent Climate Change Conference in Denmark held in March 2009

Peter Gammeltoft said, “I greatly welcome the publication of these two new reports from the Partnership for European Environmental Research. It is this sort of dialogue between the research institutes across Europe and national and European policymakers that is essential if we are to successfully deal with the many threats that climate change poses.”

The first new report from PEER, ‘Europe Adapts to Climate Change: Comparing National Adaptation Strategies’, critically analyzes the current status of national adaptation strategies in EU member states, and identifies a variety of opportunities to strengthen their further development and implementation, including timely and targeted scientific research.

The second report, ‘Climate Policy Integration, Coherence and Governance’, concludes that specific measures to tackle climate change, such as emissions trading, will only be successful if they are coherently supported by other government policies addressing economic and social issues.

Professor Pat Nuttall, Director, Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, UK, said, “As PEER chair, I know how important it is to work together within Europe to ensure that future decisions will be based on the best information available, minimizing risks and, in some cases, turning threats into opportunities. There is a huge need for increased policy and programme evaluation from a climate change perspective, and these reports are a contribution towards achieving this goal.”

The new reports deal with several aspects of implementing climate policy in Europe. The first report analyses the adaptation strategies of the EU member states, identifying a number of common strengths and weaknesses of the current strategies in the countries studied. The second report assesses the degree of climate policy integration in six different European countries, at national and local levels, as well as within key policy sectors such as energy and transport. It analyses measures and means to enhance climate policy integration and improve policy coherence.

Rob Swart, from Alterra in the Netherlands, the lead author of report 1 on ‘Europe Adapts to Climate Change: Comparing National Adaptation Strategies’ said, “We note that communication and awareness raising is going to be important to get public support for adaptation measures, and to help stakeholders to adapt. Since adaptation is very different from mitigation, communication should be designed specifically for that purpose, including exchange of experiences on adaptation practices. It could well be that breaking down institutional barriers will actually be more important than the technical feasibility of adaptation options.”

Dr. Per Mickwitz, from the Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE), lead author of report 2 on ‘Climate Policy Integration, Coherence and Governance’, said, “Although the inclusion of climate change mitigation and adaptation in general governmental programmes and strategies has substantially increased in recent years, much more is needed in terms of integrating climate issues into specific policy measures. Annual budgets, environmental impact assessments and spatial planning procedures are three examples of existing measures which we believe have significant potential to be climate policy instruments.”

TerraDaily

The image, taken by the German radar satellite TerraSAR-X, shows the volcano ‘Piton de la Fournaise’ (Furnace Peak) in the south of the island of La Reunion (Indian Ocean). This is the last active volcano on the island and is 2631 metres high.

By means of very precise repeat-pass interferometric measurements, TerraSAR-X is able to detect even small movements of the Earth’s surface, thus supporting volcano monitoring.

The image was taken on 5 June 2008. It was acquired in spotlight mode with a resolution of two metres. It covers an area of 11�10 kilometres.

The TerraSAR-X mission

TerraSAR-X is the first German satellite that has been manufactured under what is known as a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) 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 absence of daylight, and is able to provide radar data with a resolution of down to one metre per pixel.

DLR is responsible for using TerraSAR-X data for scientific purposes. It is also responsible for planning and implementing the mission as well as controlling the satellite. Astrium built the satellite and shares the costs of developing and using it.

Infoterra GmbH, a subsidiary company founded specifically for this purpose by Astrium, is responsible for marketing the data commercially.

Source Spacemart

Government and industry team to look at opportunities in, and barriers to, innovation and growth in the UK Space sector

The future challenges and opportunities for the UK Space industry will be assessed by a new expert group charged with producing a report for Government, Science Minister Lord Drayson announced today.

The Innovation Growth Team for Space will be chaired by Andy Green (CEO of Logica) and has been formed to create a 20 year strategy for British leadership in space. It will seek views from the entire space industry, and industries such as entertainment, navigation and climate change that rely on space technology. It will set out the challenges and opportunities that govern future value creation, competitiveness and growth in the space sector.

Our world relies on space technology for a wide range of services, from monitoring the effects of climate change and weather forecasting to telecoms services and satellite navigation. Space creates high value R&D, manufacturing and skills for the UK economy that the Government’s recent strategy on New Industry New Jobs outlined as the foundation for future UK success. New Industry New Jobs called for a more strategic approach to UK industrial policy in the future – focusing on those industries that will drive discovery and economic growth in this century.

The Space IGT’s work will contribute to that strategic approach, with industry and Government working together to shape the future success of the sector.

The Space IGT will draw on leadership experience from some of Britain’s top space companies. It will identify the future innovation, technology and investment priorities for the sector and other enablers of growth. The group will also seek to create a “space aware” culture in the UK with a space career path being defined for students wishing to enter the sector. In addition it will consider how to ensure that government policy is better aligned to meet the future needs of the industry.

Science and Innovation Minister Lord Drayson said, “Britain is a global leader in space. This initiative will help to keep us there”

Andy Green, CEO of Logica and Chairman of the Space Innovation and Growth Team added, “Space is one of the few sectors in the UK economy that is enjoying almost double digit growth and has the potential to do so for decades to come. We will set out ways to help the sector on its upwards trajectory, by ensuring that Britain has the necessary skills and policy framework, and a climate that fosters innovation.”

The Space IGT is expected to announce preliminary findings at the end of the year with the full report being published in early 2010.

Notes:

* The Space IGT has a website and an email contact where comments and suggestions can be sent (SpaceIGT@bis.gov.uk)
* Current membership of the IGT is: Avanti PLC; British Association of Remote Sensing Companies; British National Space Centre; Comdev; Cobham; Department for Business, Innovation and Skills; EADS Astrium; EEDA, EMDA, European Space Agency, e-skills UK; Imperial College of London; Inmarsat; Intellect; Logica PLC; Ministry of Defence; National Space Centre; NPL; Permira; QinetiQ; Reaction Engines; Rutherford Appleton Laboratories; SBAC; SciSys; SEA; SEEDA; Surrey Satellites Technology Limited; Technology Strategy Board; Thales; UKspace; VEGA; Virgin Galactic. Membership of the IGT is expected to grow as working structures become established.

Rocketeer comments: It’s very hard not to be cynical about yet another Whitehall review. I’ve had experience of the things in astronomy, and they uniformly seem to consist of civil servants asking the same questions over and over again (in different ways) until they get the answer they want (which inevitably is “cut funding for X”).

Still, I suppose there are some grounds for optimism here. We have a “Science Minister who “gets it, and UK NewSpace has a seat at the table in the form of Reaction Engines, SSTL and Virgin. I’ll put in my tuppence-worth, and wait and see…

(Source British National Space Centre)

[update] BBC coverage:

UK ‘space jewel’ set for polishBBC News

Nearly 200 scientists from Europe and China have gathered in Barcelona last week to report on the progress of ongoing Dragon 2 research projects using data from ESA and Chinese Earth observation satellites.

Dragon 2 – a joint undertaking between ESA and the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) of China – encourages scientists to use Earth observation (EO) data to monitor and understand environmental phenomena in China.

The symposium, held in Barcelona’s World Trade Centre, was opened by the Spanish Delegate to ESA’s EO Program Board, Dr Emilio Vez, on behalf of Spain’s Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology.

Addressing the symposium, ESA’s Peter Hulsroj, Director of Legal Affairs and External Relations, praised the accomplishments of the program, saying it is an example of “good cooperation, trust and shared interests.”

The first phase of Dragon developed the exploitation of ESA EO data in China via joint projects led by Chinese and European scientists. Dragon 2 expanded this by adding new scientific themes and including the joint exploitation of ESA and Chinese EO data. Hulsroj noted that this expansion has increased the value of the program for both partners.

Zhang Guocheng, Director-General of the National Remote Sensing Centre of China (NRSCC) said: “The Dragon 2 program has greatly enhanced EO capabilities within China and has cultivated an extensive team of young scientists working in remote sensing for China.”

ESA’s Dr Stephen Briggs, Head of the Earth Observation Science, Applications and Future Technologies Department spoke about recent developments in ESA’s growing EO program and emphasized the success of Dragon in drawing together scientific exploitation of ESA and Chinese EO data in an unprecedented collaboration.

Under Dragon 2, which officially began in April 2008, more than 400 scientists from 165 research institutions in Europe and China are involved in 25 joint research projects.

The ongoing projects cover the following themes: land environment, geology, renewable resources, oceanography, hazards, atmospheric studies, topographic mapping, hydrology, sea-ice monitoring, coastal-zones monitoring, large sports events and the calibration and validation of satellite data.

Like Dragon 1, Dragon 2 pairs lead scientists with young researchers so that know-how can be transferred to the next generation. To this end, training seminars and advanced courses are organized routinely. The second advanced training course in atmospheric remote sensing will be held at China’s Nanjing University in October this year.

The Dragon Program formally began in 2004 and was slated to end in 2008. Based on the success of the first phase, the program was extended until 2012.

Source

*On the net”:

Dragon Program
Dragon 2 Program
Ministry of Science and Technology of China
EnvironmentalResearch
FirstScience
Spacenewsfeed

Aurensis SLU, the Telespazio – Finmeccanica/Thales company in Spain, has signed a partnership agreement with Google, to become an Enterprise partner for the enterprise versions of Google Earth and Google Maps.

Aurensis is a leading company providing geospatial services in Spain and also in Telespazio Group markets across Europe and South America. The company will target the enterprise markets in Spain for geospatial solutions with the Google Earth Enterprise product that allows professional customers to build advanced 2D and 3D mapping applications, integrating their own business information with the same back-end technology that Google uses for the public Google Earth and Google Maps.

Aurensis has all the geospatial expertise in house, including consultancy, imagery and cartography provisioning, data conversion and GIS development. The company will provide professional services to set up and integrate the full portfolio of Google Geospatial technologies. Typical customers for these solutions range from government agencies and large corporations to small-medium-businesses seeking to gain competitive advantage through incorporating a geospatial insight in their business strategy, decision making and operations processes.

About Aurensis

Aurensis is a well-known company in Europe applying new Technologies to territory management. Aurensis global approach to asset management enables us to offer services which cover the whole cycle: from digital mapping data production using the latest technologies, the development of IT-based solutions which combine Geographic Information Systems (GIS), telecommunications and mobile devices, to the provision of telecommunication satellite services.

Aurensis belongs to Telespazio Group, a European leading company providing satellite services and geospatial solutions. Telespazio employs around 1,700 staff and 25 sites spread all over the world and has generated in 2007 sales EUR 395 million.

For more information, visit
AURENSIS
TELESPZIO

WALPHOT is working on a project called BROWNFIELDS. Within this project WALPHOT aims to assess how remote sensing-based services can support the responsible governmental institutions in the monitoring and management of brownfields. A test-case is developed in Andenne (Belgium).

Brownfields are abandoned, idle, or under-used industrial or commercial properties where expansion or redevelopment is hindered by actual or suspected soil contamination.

The purpose of this project is to analyse brownfield sites, their environment and evolution throughout history, with a focus on the possible redevelopment of the site.

This analysis will be supported by the creation of products & services based on very high resolution remote sensing data. Some examples are:

  • detection & delineation of brownfields,
  • land use/land cover maps,
  • population density maps,
  • historical maps,
  • indicators & statistics.


Figure 1: Remote sensing-based products for a specific brownfield site (delineated in red) located in Andenne (Belgium)

The BROWNFIELDS project is part of the ERA-STAR Regions program which is coordinated by the Walloon Region (Belgium). ERA-STAR Regions is a network of public funding organisations which support programmes in the field of Space Applications (GMES, GALILEO & Technology Applications). The ERA-STAR Regions network unites European regions and medium-sized countries that have developed particular competences in space research. These space-based clusters, often including both industrial and academic players, are important knowledge-based networks that help drive regional economic growth and prosperity.

WALPHOT is a Belgian company specialized in the production and the use of geographical data from both airborne and spaceborne sensors since 1973.
All services offered by WALPHOT are fully integrated within the company: aerial photography, photo interpretation, processing and interpretation of digital satellite images, cartography, environmental studies, Geographic Information Systems, and lots of other geo-related activities.
For more information on these services, we refer to the following contact information:

Walphot s.a.
Adress: Rue Van Opré 97 ; 5100 Namur, BELGIUM
Phone: + 32 (0) 81 30 24 01
Fax: +32 (0) 81 30 41 67
E-mail: walphot@skynet.be
Website: http://www.walphot.com