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EARSC will be presenting its view on Developing Engagement between GEO and the Private Sector at the Second GEO Data Providers workshop .

The First GEO Data Providers workshop was held as a side event at the GEO-XIII Plenary in St Petersburg, Russia, to strengthen dialogue with data providers and to improve the discoverability, accessibility and usability of GEOSS resources.

Given the high level of interest and success of the initial workshop, a more comprehensive event of two days will be hosted by the Italian National Research Council (CNR) in Florence, Italy, from 20th to 21st of April, 2017, in collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA).

Objectives of the workshop:

  • Grow the GEO Data Providers community and discuss key principles.
  • Embrace the GEOSS Vision: To realize a future where decisions and actions, for the benefit of humankind, are informed by coordinated, comprehensive and sustained Earth observation information and services.
  • Learnmore about GCI operations.
  • Dialogue on critical elements like metadata, data quality and GEOSS Data Management Principles.
  • Learn about GEOSS brokering agreements, how to contribute data and resources to GEOSS.
  • Learn more about how data are used by users.
  • Discuss Open Access –beyond discovery, data policy.
  • Discuss benefits and issues for GEOSS Data Providers.

Agenda

The European Ombudsman, Emily O’Reilly, celebrated the range and quality of the nominations for the Award for Good Administration in a ceremony in Brussels on Thursday 30 March 2017.

Launched in October, the Award attracted 90 nominated projects from the main EU institutions as well as many agencies and other bodies. Prizes were awarded in 7 categories.

About the European Space Expo

More than one million people visited the European Space Expo during its tour of 32 major European cities. The Expo presented key information on the European space programmes – from satellite navigation (Galileo and EGNOS) to Earth observation (Copernicus) – in an engaging and entertaining way. Highlights included an interactive hologram of the earth’s atmosphere and a model of the ‘Galileo’ satellite.

The aim of the Expo was to show citizens how European space policy and space-based technologies benefit our everyday lives on earth and also of course, their importance for the European economy and job creation.

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Besides the huge touristic potential of the area, the Romanian seaside represents a complex and vivid environment, a unique interlacing between wild and protected life, traditional rural lifestyle and economic development.

Romanian Black Sea coastal zone is represented by 240 kilometres of the western waterfront of the Black Sea, situated between the Musura Gulf (Ukrainian border) and Vama Veche village (the Bulgarian border).
From geomorphological point of view, this area has three sectors: Danube Delta in the north, Razim-Sinoe complex (an area with natural levees), both included into the UNESCO biosphere sanctuary, world heritage, and the Dobrogea coast (sea fronts, beaches and harbours) in the south. Given this particular collage of different environments, the Romanian coastal zone represents for TERRASIGNA an interesting and challenging study subject with important benefits both for private and public sector, local and worldwide.

The Danube Delta is the second largest river delta in Europe and one of the youngest and most complex ecosystems in the world. This natural open-air biodiversity museum is affected by both natural phenomena, and anthropic changes (from exploitation of natural resources to increased navigation). A wider understanding of the environment is made possible with the HydroSAR service developed by TERRASIGNA that allows mapping and monitoring activities related to hydrodynamic features of wetlands, by using optical and SAR imagery and InSAR techniques. HydroSAR service exceeds limitations like: lack of consistent time series of in-situ measurements and the remote character of the study area, which makes the acquisition of in-situ observations not an easy task. Activities related to environmental protection and risk management mitigation can reach a higher level of effectiveness by using HydroSAR products: water extent maps, water flow directions maps and water level changes maps. This technology is completely non-invasive, accurate and cost-effective and can be also used for activities related to monitoring variations of the shore line and detecting changes imposed upon the environment by storms or other anthropic events for the entirely Black Sea coast.

Given the economic interest of the Black Sea’s basin in the region, it became one of the most environmentally challenged areas in the world and, consequently, a subject of transnational interest. In line with the high investments made by the European countries and their international partners in Earth Science data collection and dissemination systems (e.g. satellites, in-situ networks, ICT frameworks) as well as with the European Space Agency’s policy regarding free and open access policy to data, TERRASIGNA created ESPOSS (Earth Science Data Access and Processing Service for Black Sea). ESPOSS is the first online open source platform that gathers large amounts of information for the Black Sea area and provides its users access to customizable processing and analyzing tools. Environmental issues such as: water pollution, phytoplankton bloom, sediment transport, water balance, ocean surface topography as well as marine animal’s mortality due to anoxia can be address by using ESPOSS. ESPOSS platform can also be tailored for any area of interest: ocean, lake, river or land.

The experience of developing ESPOSS was used by TERRASIGNA in relation to implementation of the Thematic Exploitation Platforms – Coastal (C-TEP). C-TEP is an online service, funded by ESA, which will provide access to an extensive archive of over 20 years of EO data, near-real-time (NRT) satellite data streams, in-situ measurements, and the tools necessary to process and extract information from said data.

Coastal fields of study, such as climate change, economic development, habitat classification and coastal research, can be addressed by users of the C-TEP through a cloud-based workspace. Common problems like managing huge amount of data, access to data or data availability are thus solved and a collaborative environment among users is promoted.

TERRASIGNA is a leading global provider of customized Geo-Information services. The company offers flexible, faster and economic solutions for deep exploration, understanding or control of highly complex systems or natural phenomena.


TERRASIGNA follows a visionary strategy for the design of new system intelligence integrating mathematical models, statistical analysis, signal and image processing with computational sciences for data, processes or phenomena understanding. The company has developed and continues to improve fully processing chains for interferometric processing of radar data and for automatic extraction of features from large time series satellite imagery databases.

The main development directions:

  • Data processing and EO monitoring services and applications based on satellite radar and optical data: since 2014, TERRASIGNA has been certified, within TERRAFIRMA project, to apply the PSInSAR technology for Earth surface monitoring. The company has successfully used the technology in customized applications for monitoring:
    • Critical infrastructure
    • Oil and gas industry
    • Mining industry
    • Natural hazards
    • Insurance
    • Environment
  • Thematic exploitation platforms for data searching, downloading, management and processing: TERRASIGNA started this line of development in 2010, and, since then, several initiatives have been implemented or are currently under implementatation.

Black Sea Geoprocessing Portal ESSPOS is a Black Sea dedicated web platform for EO data access and processing, the first online platform that gathers large amounts of information for the Black Sea area and offers to its users access to online processing and analyzing tools. Current application areas: water pollution, phytoplankton bloom, sediment transport, water balance, ocean surface topography.

Using the expertise from ESPOSS, TERRASIGNA is part of ESA’s Coastal Thematic Exploitation Platform C-TEP, an online service funded by ESA to provide access to an extensive archive of over 20 years of EO data, near-real-time (NRT) satellite data streams, in-situ measurements, and the tools necessary to process and extract information with focus on dynamic marine processes and coastal interactions. Within C-TEP, among other tasks, the company is responsible for the web interface and for the development and operation of a use case for the Black Sea.

TERRASIGNA also coordinates a consortium for a pathfinder assessment for a Regional Exploitation Platform for Earth Observation data EO4SEE (Earth Observation for South East Europe), mainly dedicated to Black Sea, that will provide high volume data access, process and information service delivery. Within this initiative, the company will be responsible for the Carpathians, Black Sea and Daube Delta region.

  • Data mining / Big Data – in-house algorithms developed by TERRASIGNA and embodied in innovative applications:

    • SITS platform for exploitation of the information contained in Satellite Image Time Series (SITS);
    • Content Based Image Retrieval (CBIR) platform for searching of similar patterns in both optic and radar high resolution satellite imagery;
    • Suitability Coverage Engine, platform for effective selection and download EO products on the basis of advanced user criteria and analytic needs;
    • Visual Data Mining, visual data exploration tools for browsing and understanding the structure of large data sets of EO imaging products.
  • Mobile Applications for Earth Observation developed by TERRASIGNA aim to increase public awareness in regards to environmental, social and health aspects of life by using satellite data. They help both scientists and casual users to have constant access to and work with complex information.
    The ESA Proba-V App provides users with a wide range of information regarding vegetation health in the surrounding environment, by associating photos taken here on Earth with relevant information from satellites above. C-Land App has been designed to present dynamic land cover changes occurring on international level at different spatial and temporal scales.
  • Development of educational softwareTERRASIGNA understands the importance of preparing new generations of specialists and provides tools for trainers to support their students education in a friendly and modern way:

    • LEOWorksESA main tool for teaching remote sensing and GIS to upper level secondary school students;
    • Interactive Meteosat – Meteorological Application (ESA main tool for teaching meteorology to students);
  • Complementary ground based data acquisition sensors (radar) for different monitoring applications and services – TERRASIGNA developed its own ground based SAR technology that the team can use to tailor better, faster and cost efficient services for the clients.

The aim of the portal is to support analyses and assessment of the usability of different types of optical satellite imagery for the snow monitoring purposes.

The use of optical remote sensing for operational snow monitoring at European scale is strongly limited by the cloud cover presence. The compositing of more acquisitions from pre-defined time interval and the integration of optical imagery acquired by different satellites may help to overcome this problem but serious analysis is needed to assess the usability of these approaches.

The Snow portal aims to provide tools to support such analysis. It is developed within the user friendly environment where the user can choose desired type of analysis and define additional parameters: area of interest, satellite mission and time interval.

The list of possible analyses which could be run within the portal includes:

  • Composite – Create a composite for a selected AOI, made of scenes from selected sensors and time period. A single value will be assigned to each pixel based on rules/frequency of appearance. Pixels covered by cloud cover can thus be replaced by valid pixel value of Snow/NoSnow. This analysis can show what the optimal time period for a composite creation can be, i.e. long enough to have valid pixel values for most of the area but short enough to ensure timely real situation update.
  • Temporal coverage – For a selected AOI, sensor, time period and certain pixel value (i.e. Snow/NoSnow/Cloud/NoData) create a map which will show how many times each pixel was assigned that value.
  • Information per pixel – For a selected AOI, sensor and time period show the information about all the values each pixel was assigned. E.g. after clicking on a certain pixel a table appears which will show all the values from all the sensors that pixel was assigned during chosen time period.
  • Thresholding – The user can set a set of thresholds and based on that obtain a map of selected AOI which will assign each pixel into certain class depending on the threshold.

All the above and similar analyses may be used to demonstrate and verify the proposed options related to the snow monitoring service and help specifying its characteristics. The portal shall support the European Environment Agency (EEA) in its decisions related to the future European snow & ice cover monitoring service within the Copernicus programme.

EartH2Observe “Global Earth Observation for Integrated Water Resource Assessment” (www.earth2observe.eu) is a collaborative project funded under the DG Research FP7 programme. The project begun in January 2014 and will run for 4 years, until the end of 2017. The overall objective is to contribute to the assessment of global water resources through the use of new Earth Observation datasets and techniques. The project consortium consists of 27 partners (23 EU and 4 non-EU partners) including institutes, universities, SMEs and stakeholders. The project coordinator is Deltares – Dutch institute for applied research and development on issues related to living and working in delta areas.

Gisat provides wide range of geoinformation services based on Earth Observation technology. It focuses on operational application of satellite mapping to monitor various aspects of our environment and development of dedicated web based platforms for geoinformation analysis and assessment
Web // E-mail // Tel:+420 271741935 // Fax: +420 271741936

The AgriCLASS Sectoral Information System (SIS) is a proof of concept study lead by Telespazio VEGA UK for the Copernicus Climate Change service.

Introduction

Climate change will affect agriculture and forestry, changing the conditions for crop and plant growth, causing significant social and economic impacts. The AgriCLASS Sectoral Information System (SIS) is a proof of concept study lead by Telespazio VEGA UK for the Copernicus Climate Change service. It takes climate data and transforms them into products that can be used with agricultural data and crop models to assess the impact of climate change on agriculture. The principal products will be Europe-wide gridded bioclimatic indicators based on selected climate projections from Climate Model Inter-comparison Project phase 5 (CMIP5). These products will be freely accessible as a public service.

This work has been performed under a contract for the Copernicus Climate Change Service. ECMWF implements this Service and the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service on behalf of the European Commission.

Methodology

Bioclimatic indicators (e.g. mean summer temperature, Degree Days, etc.) are computed from simulated daily weather data derived from climate projections. These products may then be used as input to crop models to generate future projections of crop indicators. A schematic diagram is presented in Figure 1.


Figure 1. Use of AgriCLASS products (white box) in crop modelling

Here we present a proof-of-concept study, demonstrating climate change impact on two permanent crops: grapevines in southwest France and olives in Tuscany region, central Italy. To consider the range of plausible climate projections within the full CMIP5 ensemble, a representative subset of 8 models was selected. Two standard IPCC emission scenarios were considered: RCP4.5 and RCP8.5. For each case study, crop indicators were projected over the time period from 2011 to 2090.

Olives
Population dynamics of insect pests can be significantly altered by temperature change, through modification of developmental rate, reproduction, and mortality (Marchi et al. 2016). In the case of olives, we were interested in assessment of olive infestation by Bactrocera oleae fruit fly in early summer. Figure 2 shows an example of impact of B. oleae infestation on olive fruits.


Figure 2. Olive Infestation by Fruit-fly

A correlation model was developed, using a combination of bioclimatic indicators to predict the percentage of infested fruits. The results are shown in Figure 3, projecting increasing levels of infestation over the period 2011 to 2090 under both scenarios.


Figure 3. Projected olive infestation by fruit fly in early summer under two emission scenarios. Projected infestation rates from all models are represented by circles and the average of 8 models for each year are shown by filled circles. Fitted polynomial spline and ±1SD of the data are presented by solid line and shadowed area respectively.

The olives case study was developed in response to surveys and interviews with prospective users, including olive growers (38%), agronomists or agricultural experts (37%) and technical public administration bodies (19%).

Vines

Vine phenology, like many other cultivated plants, is highly determined by temperature variables (Santibáñez et al. 2014). A key bioclimatic indicator is the integration of temperature over time, commonly expressed in Degree Days. Changes in this indicator directly affect the vine phenology, hence the wine quality, taste and yield. We investigated the climate change impact on four key phenological stages of interest to viticulture: Budbreak, Flowering, Veraison and Maturity (Figure 4).


Figure 4. Four phenological stages of grape, from left to right: Budbreak, Flowering, Veraison and Maturity.

A correlation model was developed, using accumulated Degree Days to predict day of year (DOY) of each phenological stage. The results are shown in Figure 5, projecting advancing DOY for the later stages and harvest dates over the period 2011 to 2090 under both scenarios.


Figure 5. Projected phenological stages of vine. Symbology is the same as Figure 3.

Future Work

The AgriCLASS proof of concept contract is ongoing through 2017, with dataset releases planned through the year. The preliminary results presented here are without validation and the subject of ongoing research.

Project Partners: Telespazio VEGA UK Ltd (Prime), University of Reading, UK Met Office, Telespazio France, University of Molise, e-GEOS, CGI

References
Marchi, S., Guidotti, D., Ricciolini, M. and Petacchi, R., 2016. Towards understanding temporal and spatial dynamics of Bactrocera oleae (Rossi) infestations using decade-long agrometeorological time series. International journal of biometeorology, 60(11), pp.1681-1694.
Santibáñez, F., Sierra, H. and Santibanez, P., 2014. Degree Day Model of Table Grape (Vitis Vinifera L.) Phenology in Mediterranean Temperate Climates. International Journal of Science, Environment and Technology, 3(1), pp.10-22.

Oil spills, such as those from the Erika (1999) and the Prestige (2002) tankers, result in huge environmental and economic damage to our coastlines.

The European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA), based in Lisbon, provides technical assistance and support to the European Commission and Member States, amongst others, in the development and implementation of EU maritime legislation. Its mission is to ensure a high, uniform and effective level of maritime safety, maritime security, prevention of and response to pollution from ships, as well as response to marine pollution caused by oil and gas installations.

Satellites, with their sophisticated sensors, provide routine, cost-effective, wide-area surveillance over maritime zones. Furthermore, they can be pointed to a targeted location for monitoring specific operations and gather material in response to intelligence information.

Earth observation contributes to maritime surveillance to help manage the actions and events that can have an impact on maritime safety and security, including marine pollution, accident and disaster response, search and rescue, as well as fisheries control.

Data from satellites are downlinked to a network of ground stations, processed into images, and analysed. The images and results are then sent to the Earth Observation Data Centre at EMSA for data fusion and distribution to end users.

EMSA also operates CleanSeaNet, a satellite-based oil spill surveillance and vessel detection service, which analyses Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images from satellites to detect possible oil spills on the sea surface.

SAR satellite images cannot provide information on the nature of a spill (for instance whether it is mineral oil, fish or vegetable oil, or other), but spills from vessels often appear as long, linear dark lines (indicating a substance discharging as the vessel is moving), with a bright spot (the vessel) at the tip. Vessel detection is also available through the CleanSeaNet service. If a vessel is detected in a satellite image, its identity can often be determined by correlating the satellite data with vessel positioning reports from the European monitoring systems operated at EMSA, such as SafeSeaNet.

When a spill is detected, a pollution alert is sent to national authorities. The alerts are available within 30 minutes of the satellite acquiring the image.

The national authority then chooses how to react to the alert. A patrol aircraft or vessel may be sent to monitor the area and check the oil spill detection, or an inspection of the vessel may be requested in the next port of call.

But where does Europe’s Copernicus Sentinel-1 satellite come in?

The satellite carries an advanced radar instrument to provide an all-weather, day-and-night supply of imagery of Earth’s surface.

The C-band SAR builds on ESA’s and Canada’s heritage systems on ERS-1, ERS-2, Envisat and RADARSAT.

As a constellation of two satellites orbiting 180° apart, the mission images Earth with a high coverage frequency. As well as transmitting data to a number of ground stations in Europe, Sentinel-1 also carries a laser to transmit data through the geostationary European Data Relay System. This offers fast data access to support, among others, operational maritime surveillance activities in remote areas. EMSA services are set to benefit from this additional capability.

The spatial resolution of Sentinel-1 also allows the detection of much smaller spills than could be provided by earlier radar satellites.

In 2016, the proportion of image acquisitions by Sentinel-1 for the service (1506 out of 3057 acquisitions) was considerable, and this is expected to grow even further in 2017.

On 2 January 2017, the CleanSeaNet service detected spills in Portugal’s Algarve Ria Formosa area thanks to the Sentinel-1 satellite. The satellite image displayed four small spills. The spill closest to the shore, just 2.24 km from land, covered an area of 1.64 sq km.

As soon as the Portuguese National Maritime Authority received the CleanSeaNet alert, the drift of the spills were calculated and a pollution alert was sent to relevant national authorities. Correlation of vessel detections with other vessel position information presented a close match, providing authorities with valuable information about the potential polluter.

The National Environmental Agency (APA) was contacted and when the pollutants washed up on the shores, samples were collected for analysis. Palm oil was identified and preparations for cleaning of beaches with volunteers and local maritime authorities started.

By 10 January, the cleaning was complete and an APA report confirmed that the substance was palm oil.

Leendert Bal, Head of Operations at EMSA, confirmed that: “The addition of Sentinel-1A and -1B improves significantly the availability of satellite imagery for the CleanSeaNet service. Sentinel-1 offers good quality imagery, which is very much appreciated by our users.”

About the Sentinels

The Sentinels are a fleet of dedicated EU-owned satellites, designed to deliver the wealth of data and imagery that are central to Europe’s Copernicus environmental programme.

In partnership with EU Member States, the European Commission leads and coordinates this programme, to improve the management of the environment, safeguarding lives every day. ESA is in charge of the space component, responsible for developing the family of Copernicus Sentinel satellites and ensuring the flow of data for the Copernicus services, while the operations of the Sentinels have been entrusted to ESA and EUMETSAT.

Source

Climate change, with all its ecological and economic implications, is one of society’s greatest challenges.

It is imperative that we develop efficient strategies and derive measures to protect our sensitive climate system on a global scale. In order to do this, we must gain a profound understanding of the complex environmental processes that contribute to climate change. Atmospheric researchers from the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) have recently made an important contribution to this.

The EMAC (ECHAM/MESSy Atmospheric Chemistry) simulation system was used to reconstruct respectively forecast the chemical composition of our atmosphere from 1950 to 2100. Exact knowledge of this development is important, as there is a connection between atmospheric chemistry and the climate. Among other things, the data obtained from the model allow scientists to draw conclusions on the influences of individual atmospheric variations on climate change. A detailed description of atmospheric composition is a particular feature of the climate-chemistry model. Moreover, the modular EMAC system was linked to an ocean model to also enable comprehensive consideration of oceanic influences.

Source

DLR is looking for the best application ideas in the fields of satellite navigation and Earth observation for the European Satellite Navigation Competition (ESNC) and the Copernicus Masters. The deadline for applications is 30 June 2017.

The new season has begun: DLR is once again looking for the best application ideas in the fields of satellite navigation and Earth observation for the European Satellite Navigation Competition (ESNC) and the Copernicus Masters. Now, the possibilities are greater. The European satellite navigation system Galileo has been providing services since the end of 2016. Previously, an Ariane rocket delivered four Galileo satellites into their orbits simultaneously, bringing the Galileo system to 18 satellites. The European Earth Observation Programme Copernicus is now ready for action: with the launch of Sentinel-2B at the beginning of March 2017, five satellites are now on their ‘guardian’ mission, delivering valuable data on Earth’s surface, oceans, atmosphere, disaster management, climate change and security.

Robust Means Trust – Galileo for Reliable Positioning

The DLR Special Prize has been awarded as part of the European Satellite Navigation Competition (ESNC) for many years now. This year, approaches and ideas that contribute to the reliability of Galileo services and exploit opportunities for further development are sought.

Galileo is a driver for various new coming applications targeting a broad field from mass market to professional, governmental and safety-critical applications. Along with the applications new challenging requirements have to be fulfilled, especially targeting a robust, resilient and ubiquitous provision of navigation information. This includes positioning in challenging environmental conditions such as dense urban scenarios and in areas with potential radio interference or other types of radio propagation. It is therefore the aim of the DLR Special Topic Prize to maximise the benefits for the user community by supporting new applications and solutions to meet the needs of the real world.

Topic 1: Resilient GNSS

Wide usage of GNSS requires reliable provision of positioning services with sufficient accuracy and availability, and in case of safety-critical applications also integrity and continuity.

Challenge: Hardening PNT with robust designs or backup.

Areas of search:

  • Making GNSS receivers robust in challenging conditions
  • Fusing GNSS data with information from other sensors for Resilient PNT
  • Making the Galileo System itself even more robust against various sources of influences
  • Complementing PNT by Non-GNSS (…)

Scope: Identify the problem – create a solution – overcome current limitations – prepare for the future.

Topic 2: Early Services and Applications

Challenge: Utilising Galileo Early Services as standalone system and/or in a Multi Constellation Environment

Areas of search:

  • Applications using Early Services of Galileo especially in challenging environments
  • Using Galileo in a Multi Constellation Context (…)

Wanted:

  • Technical and application oriented solutions
  • From space to spatial
  • Ready & robust
    For the best usage of GNSS with top-grade trust

The call for proposals is geared towards companies, research institutions, organisations as well as individuals. The winner of the special prize will be awarded a DLR voucher as a prize for further development and targeted implementation of the idea — for example in the form of feasibility studies, design studies or prototype developments. The consultancy and development services at the DLR will cover five person months; conversion to a cash prize is not permitted. The ESNC competition offers the possibility to apply in several categories. The jury will nominate a total winner from the group of finalists – the ‘GALILEO Master 2017’. Since 2004, the competition has been organised by AZO GmbH in Oberpfaffenhofen. More information can be found here: www.esnc.eu

Copernicus Masters 2017

The DLR Environment, Energy & Health Challenge

DLR is looking for new applications in Earth observation that address climate change and environmental issues. Sustainable energy management and human health aspects are often related to environmental conditions. In addition to general environmental management, ideas for the generation, distribution or consumption of energy – as well as monitoring or management of health and welfare using remote sensing data – will thus be especially welcome.

Proposals must be based on existing or imminent Earth observation data – preferably from Copernicus Sentinels. They may be supplemented by any kind of ancillary geo-information, such as crowdsourced data or in-situ measurements, for further information enrichment, validation or application. The proposed products or services derived from the ideas submitted should either support professionals in environmental assessment and energy and health management, or empower the general public and consumer-oriented markets. The applications can range from a local to a global scale.

Participants are encouraged to submit innovative ways to link remote-sensing-based products and services with user needs. The ideas can also describe a real-world implementation scenario that includes the general public and/or potential commercial benefits.

Prize 2017:

  • The winner will be awarded a cash prize of 5000 euro.
  • The winner will benefit from a substantial satellite data quota worth 5000 euro made possible with financial support by the European Commission.
  • Finalists will be automatically granted access to the Copernicus Accelerator programme (if eligible).

Copernicus Masters: overall competition

The international competition ‘Copernicus Masters’ offers the possibility to participate in several ‘Challenges’. The winners of each challenge are selected by experts from industry and research. The grand winner – the ‘Copernicus Master 2017’ – is given the opportunity to be present at the launch of an Earth observation satellite in Kourou, French Guiana, and receives a cash prize. The competition will be organised by AZO. Information on all individual tenders, partners and terms of participation can also be found here: www.copernicus-masters.com

Source

ReSAC together with partners from Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem research (Bulgarian Academy of Sciences), Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe (REC) Bulgaria and Club “Economika 2000” are finalizing the project “Freshwater ecosystem services mapping and assessment in Bulgaria (FEMA), Contr. Д-33-87/27.08.2015”.

The project duration is 20 months (with extensions) and started in Sep. 2015. The projects is financed by Program BG03 “Biodiversity and Ecosystems” and co-financed by the Financial Mechanism of the European Economic Area (EEA FM 2009-2014)

The project final international conference was held at 31st of March 2017 in Hotel Metropolitan, Sofia, Bulgaria. The aim of the conference was to present the progress and results of the project and to identify best practices in evaluation of ecosystem services.


Pic. 1 Vassil Vassilev, Project manager in ReSAC, is presenting the project results


Pic. 2 Overview of the conference room

The specific goal of the project is assessment of the freshwater ecosystems in Bulgaria, following the national methodology, which comply with the technical specifications of the National Information Network for Biodiversity.

As an additional activity the project is extended with Mapping and assessment of the marine ecosystems and their services in Bulgarian Black Sea aquatory. The main goal of the additional activity (sub project) is to identify and map the marine ecosystem types in the EEZ of the Republic of Bulgaria according to the requirements of Action 5 of the EU 2020 Biodiversity Strategy, using currently available public data, and applying the developed specialized methodology for the marine ecosystems.

The area covered by the project: 100% of all freshwater ecosystems outside Natura 2000, and Bulgarian Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) in the Black Sea.

Final results of the project:

  • 7 200 standing water bodies: lakes, dams, reservoirs etc. (scale 1:10 000), 3400 out of which larger than 1ha; with defined eco type;
  • 32 000 river segments, with total length of 50 000km, mapped (scale 1:10 000 and outside NATURA 2000), and ecotype defined for all rivers in Bulgaria (scale 1:100 000)
  • Mapping 14 ecosystem types;
  • Analyses of:
    • 43 indicators for ecosystem condition
    • 31 parameters for ecosystem services


Fig. 1 Example – Map of freshwater ecosystem types

  • 37’742 sq. km area coverage of marine ecosystem types (in EEZ)
  • Analyses of:
    • 15 indicators for marine ecosystem condition
    • 36 indicators for marine ecosystem services


Fig. 2 Example – Map of marine ecosystem types

  • Comprehensive, common database for freshwater and marine ecosystem types, ecosystem conditions and ecosystem services. Every river segment or standing water body is one object in the database.

More information for the two projects on:
Freshwater – freshwater-ecoservices-bg.eu
Marine – marine.freshwater-ecoservices-bg.eu
or resac-bg.org/en/news.html