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Europe’s Sentinel-5P satellite has blasted off from the northern Russian launch site of Plesetsk on a mission to monitor the world’s pollution from space.

The satellite is the part of the EU’s Copernicus Earth observation programme, and will contribute to daily forecasts of air quality, track where greenhouse gases are being released in unprecedented detail, and verify if the planet’s ozone layer is recovering after being damaged by CFCs in the 20th Century.

There’s only one instrument on board, called Tropomi, developed by scientists in the Netherlands.

“You have one satellite instrument measuring the complete globe – it means that you have one calibrated instrument measuring everywhere – it means that you can compare the pollution levels in Europe directly with those in China and United States,” says Pieternel Levelt, principal investigator for Tropomi and head of Satellite R&D at Dutch national weather service KNMI.

Sentinel-5P will fly on a polar orbit, circling the globe 40 times a day, scanning a swath 2,600 kilometres wide, with each pixel of representing 3.5 by 7 kilometres. That level of precision means the scientists and climate monitoring teams will be able to distinguish the difference between pollution from sources which are located quite close together, for example the port of Rotterdam and the city. They also hope to gain a better understanding of how pollution from some regions and cities travels with weather systems to other parts of the world – for example how pollution from the US reaches across to Ireland, or how pollution from the UK reaches Scandinavia.

Sentinel-5P will also contribute to better pollution forecasts for us Earthlings. Air pollution isn’t just a nuisance, it’s a killer – the WHO reported that 3.7 million people died in 2012 from conditions related to outdoor air pollution. The satellite will be looking for some of the key nasties like nitrogen dioxide, low level ozone, carbon monoxide and formaldehyde, all of which can be very harmful to humans. These gases are commonly produced by fossil fuels burned by vehicles and industrial processes, but also volcanic emissions.

A key question Sentinel-5P should answer is the state of the high-altitude ozone layer, a protective band of gas that allows life on Earth to thrive by absorbing harmful radiation from space. The ozone layer was damaged by mankind’s emission of CFC gases, but these were banned from January 1989 following the UN’s Montreal Protocol. However, there is still a ‘hole’ in the ozone layer above the South Pole between September and October, and globally there is still thought to be a lower level of ozone than in the 1960s.

Pieternel Levelt told Euronews how important this mission is for ozone monitoring: “The ozone layer is often looked at as something which is solved. We understand the chemistry, we understand the dynamics, we know how to improve, to get the ozone back, basically, by reducing the cooling agents (CFCs). But of course it’s important to measure it, to prove that that your measures work, and we don’t expect a complete recovery before 2050, 2060, so we need these measurements to know that the ozone layer is there, because it’s a pre-requisite for life on Earth- without the ozone layer we cannot live here.”

Sentinel-5P joins the other Sentinel satellites already in orbit, representing the space component of Copernicus, the world’s most ambitious Earth observation programme, overseen by the European Commission. Already in space are Sentinels 1 to 4. Sentinel-1A and 1B will providing all day and all night radar images, which are very useful for monitoring events like flooding; Sentinel-2A and 2B deliver high-resolution optical images of land use;
Sentinel-3A, launched on 16 February 2016, provides data for services relevant to the ocean and land; and Sentinel-4 is measuring trace gases and aerosols from a more distant geostationary orbit.

Upcoming soon is Sentinel-6, which follows on the sea surface height measurements taken by the Jason series of satellites, the missions which have been vital to quantifying global sea level height for climate studies.

Also watch Euronews video: “Can we solve the mysteries of Earth’s atmosphere?”

©Euronews
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Geospatial World Forum (GWF) is the global flagship event produced and organized by Geospatial Media and Communications. The conference will be held next 15-19 January 2018 in Hyderabad, India. EARSC is a Professional society partner of the event.

Geospatial World Forum 2018 will establish the connection between geospatial technology and the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), a technology revolution, which will transform the way the world functions. The event will transport you to the era of 4IR through informative sessions and stimulating discussions. The platform will also host four crucial events – GeoBuiz Summit, Location World, Geo4SDGs, and AI & IOT Summit.

Geoff Sawyer, EARSC Secretary general, will participate to the conference. Updates will be published on EARSC website

GWF2018 Website

VisioTerra has developed the “Sentinel Vision Portal” enabling European Space Agency (ESA) staff to get the best of Sentinel data. Since March 20, 2017 VisioTerra edits 4 times a week “stories” showing the smiles or injuries of the Earth

Summary of the 100 “Sentinel Vision” stories. The wealth of Sentinel data diversity.
Stories involve radar images (Sentinel-1), high-resolution optical images (Sentinel-2), medium-resolution optical images for ocean-colour (Sentinel-3 OLCI), medium-resolution short and thermal infrared images (Sentine-3 SLSTR) or altimeter data (Sentinel-3 SRAL).

Each one of the 25 lines corresponds to one week.

_Source Visioterra

EARSC is participating in the GEO Week 2017

The GEO Week consists of side events starting Monday, 23 October, an exhibition opening on Tuesday, 24 October and running through Thursday, 26 October, the ExCom on Friday and the plenary itself from 25 to 26 October 2017 in Washington D.C. EARSC as GEO Participation Organisation has been invited to bring delegates to the Plenary, but will also be present at the Exhibition area and co-organise with NOOA a side event to foster discussion, develop and expose case studies to demonstrate the value to society coming from the use of EO data.

EARSC will bring as part of its delegation some European services providers (Airbus, Consultingwhere, e-geos, GIM, GMV, IABG, Sinergise, Terrasigna and Visioterra).

The Exhibition represents a key component of a successful GEO Week by providing tangible examples of the use of Earth observation to inform decision-making. EARSC promotes its members in the EC booth (#209) Panels 13/14.

More info on GEO-XIV

EARSC presence at a glance

Monday, 23rd Tuesday, 24th Wednesday, 25th Thursday, 26th Friday, 27th
EARSC: Exhibition Stand (E.C. booth (#209) - Panels 13/14) EARSC: Exhibition Stand (E.C. booth (#209) - Panels 13/14) EARSC: Exhibition Stand (E.C. booth (#209) - Panels 13/14)
[09h00-16h30] Geoff Sawyer: GEO Side Event” Demonstrating the Value of Earth Observations: Methods, Practical Applications, & Solutions”  [08h30-12h30] Mónica Miguel-Lago: SDGs “Earth Observations in Service of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” EARSC delegation: GEO-XIV Plenary Session EARSC delegation: GEO-XIV Plenary Session Massimo Comparini (EARSC Director) & Geoff Sawyer: 42nd Executive Committee meeting
Geoff Sawyer: 41st Executive Committee meeting [09h00-16h00] Geoff Sawyer: GEO Side Event Workshop “Demonstrating the Value of Earth Observations: Methods, Practical Applications, & Solutions”  EARSC delegation: GEO-XIV Plenary Session EARSC delegation: GEO-XIV Plenary Session Mónica Miguel-Lago: eo4sdg meeting
[13h00-15h00] Mónica Miguel-Lago: “From Data to Decisions to Impact—New Practices in Capacity Building for Earth Observations” EARSC delegation: GEO-XIV Plenary Session EARSC delegation: GEO-XIV Plenary Session
[13h45-15h30] EARSC: GEO-XIV – Session 3 “Earth Observations in the Commercial Sector” EARSC delegation: GEO-XIV Plenary Session EARSC delegation: GEO-XIV Plenary Session

Partners’ participation

  • EuroGEOSS launch event is taking place on Monday 23 October 2017 from 16:30 – 18:30 in Washington DC as part of GEO-XIV Plenary Side Events. EuroGEOSS is a new regional initiative in the GEO Work Programme 2017-2019.
  • GEO-CRADLE will participate in the GEO-XIV Plenary in several sessions. Read more here
  • The NextGEOSS project will organise demos and live broadcasts at 22:00 CEST/16:00 EDT

Training session on integrating GIS and remote sensing data into Web portals

Presentation of PACe

Project coordinator : Annukka PEKARINEN

Summary
The main issues PACe project is responding to is the lack of knowledge concerning the cetacean populations of the world and specifically the lack of spatial data for ecosystem based management initiatives. The movements and status of regional and seasonal populations and the factors that direct the population distribution in Sri Lankan waters are largely unknown. A few scientific visual surveys have been undertaken in Sri Lanka during last ten years but comprehensive mapping of whale populations in this area is missing.

Objectives

To produce basic data on cetacean populations to improve knowledge on cetacean biodiversity, abundance and important habitats, to be used for management purposes.
In addition to regular scientific reports and articles, spatial data on cetacean populations and their important habitats is produced and distributed among general public and professionals in ocean management.
Management procedures suitable for the study area will also be proposed.

Project timeline

  • 03.12.2013 – Kick-off meeting in University of Ruhuna.
  • March 2014 to May 2016 – Field works (passive acoustic monitoring, visual survey and oceanography works).
  • 07.11.2014 – 1st steering committee in VisioTerra, Champs-sur-Marne, France.
  • 26.11.2015 – 2nd steering committee in WMU, Malmö, Sweden
  • 13.01.2017 – Final steering committee in WMU, Malmö, Sweden
  • 02-06.10.2017 – Training VtPace – Extension until end 2017.

Presentation of VtPace portal

VtPace (http://visioterra.net/VtPace) derives from VtWeb (http://visioterra.org/VtWeb)

More information

22 August 2017. The European Environment Agency (EEA) has commissioned a consortium made up of EFTAS, GAF and GeoVille to map additional grassland-rich Natura 2000 sites across Europe.

This extends the coverage of the existing Copernicus Natura 2000 Local Land Component service. Telespazio Ibérica, as subcontractor of the Consortium, performs a visual interpretation of land cover and land use from very-high-resolution satellite imagery of the reference years 2006 and 2012. The first delivery unit containing around 22,000 km2 has been delivered to the EEA.

The Natura 2000 network of protected sites covers about 18% of the EU’s land area and is the main policy strategy to address biodiversity conservation in Europe. It is the world’s largest coordinated ecological network of protected areas, set up based on the legal requirements of the European Habitats Directive and the Birds Directive. Specifically, grassland habitats are an important component of biodiversity in Europe. Agricultural intensification and abandonment of traditional management practices have put these habitats under increasing pressure. Although protective legislation has been put in place, it has not yet been possible to stop the regional decline of important grassland habitat types.

The current survey is intended to complement and continue the previous mapping under the Copernicus Initial Operation phase (GIO) to a maximum area of around 470,000 km² until mid-2019.

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EU-Japan Centre for Industrial Cooperation and Japan Space Systems organised the EU-Japan Space Business Week- Link & Launch in Tokyo, Sapporo and Obihiro in Hokkaido from 5th to 8th September 2017. 4 EARSC members participated.

The event welcomed 5 European SMEs and 1 Italian industry cluster involved in Space Industries both upstream and downstream with a central focus on Earth Observation industries and applications. The European participants were – ACRI-ST, Astro- und Feinwerktechnik Adlershof GmbH, Deimos Imaging, Planetek and Sinergise.

This four days long mission was co-organised with EU-Japan Centre for Industrial Cooperation and Japan Space Systems (JSS) with the support of the National Space Policy Secretariat, Cabinet Office of Japan (CAO), the Japanese Ministry of Economy Trade and Industry (METI), as well as the Hokkaido Prefectural Government. The mission consisted of a mix of keynote speeches from stakeholders, presentation of Japanese case studies and success stories, pitch presentations from selected European participants, networking and best practice sharing events in Tokyo and Hokkaido, as well as field visits in Hokkaido to space-related companies
including Interstellar Technologies, Michishita Hironaga Nojo and Space-Agri.

Interstellar Technologies is a private, space venture-capital company developing a small launch system for sub-orbital flights and dedicated smallsat launch. Space-Agri is an SME offering Earth-Observation data service for agricultural applications, such as crop growth map and fertilizer map in Hokkaido’s Tokachi region. Lastly, Michishita Hironaga Nojo is a Farming company that has been utilising satellite remote-sensing data to support their farming practices and production.

Through this four days mission, the mission participants and Japanese industries found some interesting cooperation areas, and EU-Japan Centre for Industrial Cooperation and Japan Space Systems will continue to support them in fostering future partnerships.

More information

With the launch last Friday of the latest Sentinel, the range of data and services available from Copernicus increases further. Sentinel 5P will provide data on atmospheric chemistry and promises new products on air quality in the near future.

Copernicus is a wonderful success story for Europe. It is the foremost, operational satellite system in the world and through the 6 Copernicus Services is providing not just satellite data but information services to meet the needs of European policy makers.

Thoughts are now turning to the next generation of satellites and how Copernicus can evolve. EARSC has provided views on behalf of the industry based around 3 core elements; providing sustained access to data, developing demand especially in the public sector, and unleashing the potential of the downstream sector by creating an environment where private investment can be mobilised. Our position paper on the subject can be found on our web-site. Recently, a presentation was made to the EU Council space working party on the views of the EO services industry.

But increasingly we hear how the value-added industry is going to disappear as machine learning and automatic algorithms create new interpretations of satellite imagery. Indeed, we foresaw this trend 2 years ago and reacted through two key steps. Firstly, to ask for improved access to the existing data and information which should be combined with other data sources to broaden the scope. Secondly, we set out our vision for a Marketplace for EO services and called for support to set it up. The first was manifest with the Copernicus DIAS (Data and Information Access Service) and the second through our own initiative; eoMALL. The DIAS tender has been decided and negotiations are nearing completion with the selected winners. For eoMALL, the tender has also closed and evaluations proceeding. Both platforms are intended to become operational in the first quarter of 2018.

But the pace of change seems to be getting even faster and new trends need to be considered. Firstly, I do not believe the value-added sector will disappear. I do agree that more and more of the services will become automatic and hence open new markets to operators. I think that we shall see a shift towards vertical markets where specific services are targeted. Recently, BayWa, an agriculture supplies company took a 51% stake in Vista, a German VA company specialising in agriculture services using EO. We may see more of this type of venture, or we may see more consolidation amongst the VA companies – as recently where CLS has bought out SIRS another French service provider specialised in land products.. Alternatively, the new satellite operators may push downstream to secure services based on their own data. This would lead to integrated offers and could result in another wave of industry mergers.

Either move could be good news for VA companies which continue to be the gateway to the end user market. The rich diversity of skills and competences developed over nearly 30 years of research should become even more effective as the amount and type of data increases and new processing techniques become readily available to take away some of the hard number-crunching needed for today’s products. This should lead to new services, of higher quality, more affordable and open to a new-wider market.

On the other hand, maybe those saying the VA industry will disappear are right. Squeezed between satellite operators seeking whatever markets they can find for their data and large IT companies, throwing resources at machine learning and automated processing, will the middle part of the value chain be able to survive? They could be absorbed by those even closer to the end-user ie the IT players, and seamlessly integrated into vertical businesses as a small part of a much wider offer. Today, the IT players are very effective in the B2C market but less so in B2B. Will this be a factor in the evolution of the sector?

What will these trends mean for the VA industry, or the EO services industry, as it is today? How should the VA industry react and re-position in face of these technology and market forces? To seek answers to these questions, we propose to organise a workshop in the new year to consider these questions and how industry leaders view the future. Planning has just started and we’ll make announcements as soon as details are available; watch this space! In the meantime, if you wish to comment then we should be delighted to hear from you.

This editorial is also published under Geoff’s blog and you are welcome to either contact us or to leave comments there.

Geoff Sawyer
EARSC Secretary General

The European Commission and the European External Action Service organised two regional workshops on Space Applications in Latin America early September in Santiago,Chile and La Paz, Bolivia.

The purpose of these workshops was to explore cooperation opportunities with Latin American countries by sharing information on the use of Space applications, mainly on Earth observation and satellite navigation, through regional workshops for a group of Latin American countries.

The key aim of the Space Applications workshops was the implementation of the ‘Space Strategy for Europe’s adopted in October 2017, as well as the promotion of activities from EU Member States and ESA. Moreover, the workshops raised awareness about European space actors showing how space data can be used for policy making, academia, operations and to support SMEs and start-ups.

EARSC was invited by the European Commission to participate in both missions in two ways :

  • Presentation given by EARSC Secretariat
  • Presentations given by EARSC members focused on local cases (or Latin America) related to their priority areas which are: precision agriculture, mining, forestry, disaster.

This was a great opportunity to open the doors to the EO market in Latin America, implement EARSC’s internationalisation strategy, as well as present members’ solutions and how they could contribute to the Latin American User needs.

The workshops have been funded by the Partnership Instrument (PI) and organised under the Technical Assistance Information Exchange Instrument (TAIEX) of the European Commission.

Download workshop materials here

EUMETSAT, together with ECMWF and Mercator Ocean, will hold an Information Day on the Copernicus Data Information and Access Service on 10 November in Darmstadt, Germany

EUMETSAT, together with the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring (CAMS) and Climate Change Monitoring (C3S) Services operated by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) and with the Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service (CMEMS), operated by Mercator Océan, will hold an information day for European industry, representatives of other Copernicus service providers and future users on their upcoming Copernicus Data and Information Access Services (DIAS) platform, at its Darmstadt headquarters on 10 November.

The DIAS platform will be one of the functional elements of the Copernicus Integrated Ground Segment, funded by the EU.

The aim of the information day is to provide attendees with information about how EUMETSAT, ECMWF and Mercator Océan will design their DIAS and to explain its development and its implementation logic.

The targeted audience are entities interested in cooperating with or using the DIAS, i.e. from other Copernicus services, from entities interested in making their data accessible through or processed on the DIAS or from industry.

EUMETSAT will present the planned approach to procurements, including the tentative schedule for the release of invitations to tender after their approval by the EC. They will also provide information on the functionalities foreseen in the DIAS. There will also be ample time for questions and feedback.

For those interested in attending the information day, please click here to register

Registration will close on 31 October 2017.

Attendance will be limited to 200 persons, and confirmation will be sent on a first come, first served basis.

The agenda of the Information Day will follow soon here