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A section of the embankment of the River Arno in central Florence collapsed on May 26, sending part of the road and several parked cars into a newly formed ditch, fortunately without harming any people. The hole is about 200m in length and 7m across.

Following the incident, TRE ALTAMIRA was requested to provide a satellite analysis of the last 2 years to verify whether ground displacement had occurred in the area prior to the catastrophic event.

Satellite measurements were analysed by the Earth Science Department of the University of Florence, representing an expertise centre for the Italian Civil Protection Department. The analysis was then delivered to the Technical Committee that has been managing the emergency.

TRE ALTAMIRA has processed over 200 satellite images since the event, quickly providing results to Authorities. As the satellite analysis has not highlighted any significant ground motion over the area, they were able to discard some initial scenarios regarding the collapse.


Figure 1: SqueeSAR™ information over the River Arno area where the incident occurred, using middle-resolution satellite images.


Figure 2: A snapshot of SqueeSAR™ measurements points over the collapsed area, using high-resolution satellite images.

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Dams and their associated elements are critical infrastructures due to the need of maintaining uninterrupted operation for ensuring business continuity. Security is a major concern that demands continuous supervision as a dam failure can cause catastrophic loss for the territory. Dam monitoring is therefore a key aspect during the design, construction and maintenance of dams.

Our methodology applies the interferometry technique (InSAR) to the terrestrial ground images obtained by a spaceborne SAR sensor. This technique can measure with milimetric accuracy ground movement with ranges from millimetric to metric over large surfaces (typically over tens of square kilometers), also in the past using historical images collected since the early 1990’s. The above image shows an example of InSAR results where motion was detected on the right slope nearby the dam.

In the design phase it is important to collect all ground related data that can help to obtain the range of geotechnical key parameters to minimize risk during constructions. Previous ground movement obtained by the use of historical image stacks can provide high value data in this phase.

In the construction phase, InSAR can help to measure motion over those slopes that are excavated or slopes that have a load transfer from the water or the wall.

During operation and maintenance, InSAR offers an entire picture of the dam wall, slopes and other related infrastructures complementing standard and discreet monitoring points.

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Deimos Space UK is delighted to be leading the KORE (Knowledge, Observation, Response, Evaluation) project, an integrated applications demonstration co-funded by the European Space Agency (ESA), with collaborators SoilEssentials and G2Way.

KORE’s aim is to provide farmers and agronomists with high resolution, cost effective field maps that provide crop health information and historic data on yield and soil characteristics.


Screenshot of EssentialsMap agriculture portal

Societal and end user benefits

The project uses EO imagery from a variety of sources including ESA’s Sentinel satellites, UAV imagery and data from tractor-mounted sensors. All of the collected data is easily accessible and managed using the EssentialsMap agriculture portal operated by Soil Essentials. Farmers and agronomists can use the information derived from these data sources to study the performance of individual fields and make decisions about which areas of a field need more or less fertiliser or targeted disease/pest management treatment.


Reviewingcrop information using EssentialsMap

Update

Implementation of the KORE project demonstration phase is well under way and a small group of farmers have taken part in training sessions on the use of UAV’s and the EssentialsMap portal. The farmers are now using the system and providing valuable feedback for final development phase of the project prior to operational services being available in 2017.

Twitter @DeimosUK

By Dr. Peter Hausknecht, Chief Scientist, Earth-i .

The SS Torrey Canyon is not a name many will remember—in the spring of 1967, this fully laden oil tanker was navigating toward the docks at Milford Haven in South Wales.

Sadly, through a combination of human error and machine failure, the ship hit rocks off the Cornish coast in South West England—approximately 32 million gallons of crude oil spilled onto extensive regions of English and French coastlines.

This incident’s devastating impact on the local environment and the subsequently unsatisfactory clean-up operation led to a number of new laws and regulations that were imposed on the oil industry. One aspect of the UK government’s response to the disaster that did work was the monitoring of the oil slick from the air.

The production technologies for the transport of oil and gas have improved since this oil spill event and so has our understanding regarding the sensitivity of coastal environments and the need to minimize all potential threats.

Remote sensing provided a wide overview of the disaster and potential spill impact sites. Today, with the much more common use of satellite images, this information can be quickly collected and distributed to the people that require these crucial observations.

Through the lessons learned and the increased efforts that followed incidents such as the Exxon Valdez and the Deepwater Horizon oil spills, the guidelines for good practice in using Earth Observation (EO) data have been developed and refined.

Documents published by the International Association of Oil & Gas Producers (OGP) and IPIECA (the global oil and gas industry association for environmental and social issues on surveillance), and the Open Geospatial Consortium guidance on the Common Operating Platform (see the references below) reflect current good practice as to how the industry responds to such events

While the current price of oil (and gas, for that matter) means that there is little impetus to spend money on anything beyond a company’s core activities and obligations; however, there is a real opportunity for the entire industry to come together and collaborate on solutions.

The entire oil & gas industry, in collaboration with the respective regulators, could jointly develop their high resolution base line mapping and subsequent monitoring methodologies using as much EO data and technology as required to reach a fundamentally improved knowledge base of the coastal zones around the globe that could be affected by an oil spill disaster

By working together, familiar guidelines could be created, common analysis methods and reporting developed, prevalent data acquisition strategies generated and a unified industry voice developed to communicate with regulators and to ensure the acceptance of these new methodologies, all based upon the implementation of Earth Observation images

The industry has already created a body through which such activities could be coordinated:The Sub-committee on Earth-Observation under the IOGP—Geomatics committee—together with the geospatial subcommittee and members from the Environmental committee, they are certainly up for such a task.

Any new disaster will hurt the entire oil & gas industry, not just the individual company or companies who are unfortunate enough to be in charge of and operating the failed asset, all at a time when the industry can least afford such a blow. From a balance sheet perspective, a Joint Industry Project (JIP) to address the coastal mapping and monitoring needs required by each company and the relative costs shared according to their stakes in exploration and production makes a great deal of sense.

Most oil & gas development projects these days are operated as joint ventures, with two, three or even six participating companies reducing the business risk—sharing the efforts required to address any incident and to work together in JIPs makes for more than simply economic sense.

These partnerships will include EO service providers, research and development teams and the oil industry under the guidance of, and with expertise from, the environmental agencies. They would all work together to develop ‘state of the art’ data models and implementation scenarios that will allow the regular use of EO images. Such joined efforts will obtain the approval and acceptance of the regulators as best practice monitoring methods and, hence, minimize the efforts required for EIAs (Environmental Impact Assessment) in new development projects.

The European Sentinel program is providing their data sets at no charge, as is the United States LandSat mission. These are excellent sources of regular, free data at medium spatial resolution, ideal for timeline monitoring programs, be such on a monthly, quarterly or yearly basis.

When used in combination with high spatial resolution baseline data, they provide an excellent opportunity to use EO methods via a manageable budget. Only if material change or sudden events are detected or if a new baseline is needed will new high resolution data be necessary.

Shared efforts in JIPs would minimize the amount of work required, as the same satellite images will be used only once. As for commercial data, multi-client license agreements are quite common these days at reasonable up-lift costs for multi-user data sets.

This process does require a certain visionary level among environmental management teams in the oil and gas industry—without a vision, many new technologies would not be implemented and firms would not be where they are today.

Coastal environments are the most vulnerable ecosystems affected by any offshore oil and gas incident, even if such cannot immediately be defined as a disaster. The slightest oil contamination, for example, on a coastline with mangroves will dramatically affect such an ecosystem.

Coastal areas are the breeding grounds for the majority of marine life on Earth, whether turtle nesting beaches, coral reefs or flat water estuaries. In light of new incidents, the oil & gas industry must have the best possible baseline maps and monitoring methods in place to minimize any potential impact on these sensitive areas of our planet—to be aware of such methods after the next spill disaster event is definitely too late.

The satellite images on this page—taken recently by Earth-i’s high resolution DMC3 constellation—show recent examples of different mangrove coverage along the northern coastline of Australia, some of them close to large oil and gas fields. These areas are isolated and can only be realistically monitored by remote sensing; hence, EO methodologies provide an optimal solution for initial mapping and subsequent monitoring.

Spatial detail, such as individual trees, coastal damage, debris fields, contaminated areas, access tracks or shallow water obstacles just to name a few can be identified. Such detailed information would be very useful both for the preparedness teams and response teams in case of any incident.
earthi.space/

References

  • IOGP/IPIECA
    http://www.ipieca.org/publication/assessment-surface-surveillance-capabilities-oil-spill-response-using-airborne-remote-se
  • OGC

Dr. Peter Hausknecht is a seasoned subject matter expert in Earth Observation and worked with a multitude of sensors and data sets, both airborne and spaceborne instruments during his 25+ years career. He holds a PhD in Geoscience from Munich University with a thesis on an active thermal infrared laser remote sensing system.
Starting in 1986 as a student research assistant at DLR, German Aerospace Centre, he held a position as a research scientist from 1991 to 1997. Subsequently moving to Australia, he was a project manager for a new unique airborne hyperspectral optical and thermal sensor at Fugro Airborne Surveys
in Perth.
In 2002, he joined HyVista Corp. as their Senior Scientist working again mostly with airborne hyperspectral data, transforming the operational data processing chain and expanding the international customer base. In early 2007 Peter joined Woodside, Australia’s leading oil & gas company, where he stayed until 2015 as the subject matter expert on Earth Observation and remote sensing for the company. For a number of years he was leading the GIS, Mapping and Modelling team and successfully supervised quite a number of remote sensing projects within the company.
At an international level, Peter was a founding member of the OGEO (Oil & Gas Earth Observation) interest group in 2010 and later was elected chairman of the IOGP (Int. Association of Oil and Gas Producers) subcommittee on Earth Observation. After leaving Woodside, Peter is further pursuing his career in Earth Observation and currently working with EARTH-I, a newly formed UK satellite data company, as their Chief Scientist.

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ACRI-ST is a member of the ACRI Group established in 1989, comprising companies that provide services the scope of which spans from satellite remote sensing, ocean & land surveys to hydraulic civil engineering through environmental research Computational Fluid Dynamics and dynamic similitude. The ACRI group consists of a hundred people spread across all office sites.

ACRI-ST, through its subsidiaries established in France and worldwide, is a supplier to space agencies (simulation of space-based sensors; operational chains development; processing, archiving and mission performance centres) and develops/operates environmental Copernicus services to end users.

Born from a research company, ACRI-ST sustains a strong R&D in satellite remote sensing of the ocean, coastal waters, shoreline, continental waters, land cover and land use, as well as features and dynamics modelling and data assimilation in models. Innovation feeds the services in data collection, processing, archiving and distribution, in information design including environmental risk assessment, health changes and ecological mitigations (e.g. air quality, water quality, storm water collection – drainage – sewage, rivers restoration), as well as support to economic activities (e.g. aquaculture and shellfish farming, shipping and off-shore activities, insurance).

In the group, ACRI-ST specializes in

  • Earth Observation (EO) mission specifications and End-to-End simulations; design of sensing equations, algorithm and data processor development; operation of components of EO mission Ground Segments
  • Environmental monitoring – the so-called EO Mission user segments
  • ITC research and data services for EO missions’ ground segments and environmental engineering

ACRI-ST

This ambitious plan is beginning to take form, now that the three companies have been named to begin work on building the 900 satellites.

OneWeb Satellites, a joint venture equally owned by Airbus Defence and Space and OneWeb, has selected the first three top-tier subcontractors. The supply contracts have been signed with:

  • MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. (MDA) from Canada
  • Sodern from France
  • Teledyne Defence (a business unit of Teledyne Microwave Solutions) from the United Kingdom.

To equip each of the 900 satellites forming the OneWeb fleet, MDA will provide on board antenna systems, Sodern has customized to constellation its star tracker technology, while Teledyne Defence has designed communications repeater equipment derived from its high volume manufacturing heritage.

With this milestone OneWeb Satellites is pursuing its industrial development and rapidly moving forward. In April it was announced that Florida is the site for its high volume satellite manufacturing factory.

The space segment of OneWeb will initially comprise a constellation of 648 operational satellites and replacement satellites, all of which will be identical. Each satellite will weigh approximately 150 kg and will operate in low Earth orbit. Arianespace and Virgin Galactic will begin launching the spacecraft in 2018 after which the satellites will be moved to their operational orbits using electrical propulsion.

OneWeb Satellites was set up following the selection in June 2015 of Airbus Defence and Space as the industrial partner of OneWeb to design and build OneWeb’s satellites. The constellation to be operated by OneWeb will provide high-speed Internet services with global coverage. The joint venture will also be able to produce satellites, platforms or equipment to be marketed by Airbus Defence and Space for the benefit of other operators of future constellations.

http://airbusdefenceandspace.com
http://oneweb.world

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SANSA, together with Airbus Defence and Space, hosted a World Café at The Innovation Hub in Pretoria, the culmination of an OpenIX open innovation challenge through which over two dozen small companies, entrepreneurs and scientists developed innovative technologies and applications using earth observation data.

These respondent organisations developed a range of solutions across various industries including in forestry and agriculture, urban planning, insurance and computer gaming.

The World Café directly assisted the entrepreneurs in further commercialising their ideas by creating relationships between these entrepreneurs and representatives of almost 40 different client and investor groups. In total, 74 stakeholders from organisations including Hollard, Absa Capital, Eskom, Tom Tom and the South African Maritime Safety Authority were on hand to discuss the merits and opportunities presented by a select group of entrepreneurs.

The World Café approach itself allowed direct, conversational exchanges between parties, much in the same way “speed dating” introduces individuals to each other.

As an outcome, the organising team has helped to empower and support multiple new entrants to the earth observation industry in South Africa, with the potential for bringing to life new innovations, new products and new companies that can create lasting change in society.

The winners of the original OpenIX open innovation were also announced at the event.

The main prize – site visits to Airbus Defence and Space’s operations in Toulouse, France as well as introductions to Airbus Defence and Space’s global organisation – was won by Drone Clouds, which provides farmers with data and insights about plant stress to increase crop yields.

All finalists, with solutions ranging from insurance for emerging farmers, and artisanal mining to data analytics are being considered for incubation with The Innovation Hub in Pretoria.

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Milan, June 21, 2016. Tele-Rilevamento Europa – TRE, a CLS group company since 2015, with a subsidiary in Vancouver (TRE Canada) and ALTAMIRA INFORMATION, formerly acquired by CLS, with a subsidiary in Calgary, officially become TRE ALTAMIRA.

This merger has created the foremost group of companies focusing on satellite InSAR services, with offices in Milan, Barcelona and Vancouver. The office in Calgary has been merged into the Vancouver office.

The new TRE ALTAMIRA group is headed by Alessandro Ferretti.

The companies have changed their names to TRE ALTAMIRA s.r.l. in Milan, TRE ALTAMIRA S.L. in Barcelona and TRE ALTAMIRA Inc. in Vancouver.

TRE ALTAMIRA is the largest InSAR group worldwide. With over 15 years’ experience, it is globally recognized as the world leader in millimetre-precision ground displacement measurements from satellite radar data, which are used in a variety of sectors, including oil & gas, mining, civil engineering and geohazard monitoring.

The new website for the group is www.tre-altamira.com.

  • MILAN: Ripa di Porta Ticinese, 79 20143 Milan Italy Tel: +39 02 4343 121
  • BARCELONA: C/ Corsega, 381-387 E-08037 Barcelona Spain Tel: +34 93 183 57 50
  • VANCOUVER: Suite #410 – 475 West Georgia Street, Vancouver, BC V6B 4M9 Canada Tel: +1 604 331 2512

American Reliance, Inc. (AMREL) and Airbus Defense and Space have partnered to integrate GATOR (Geospatial Appliance Targeted for Operational Response) into a rugged, one-box laptop solution called the GATOR Rugged Geospatial Laptop.

In the most difficult and demanding areas of the world, this encapsulated geospatial server enables easy access to geospatial data even when the Internet isn’t available.

In remote locations with uncertain connectivity or unavailable networks, operators now have geospatial intelligence at their fingertips. This integrated rugged hardware/geospatial software solution streams imagery and GIS (Geographic Information System) data into software environments such as Google Earth, FalconView, ArcGIS for Desktop, and GAME Fugitive. Data is viewable with an internet browser. The geospatial server GATOR is a useful tool for warfighters, first responders, exploratory crew, researchers, field workers, oil & mining crews, humanitarian/disaster relief, and utility staff.

The GATOR Rugged Geospatial Laptop is built on AMREL’s durable mobile computer platform. AMREL leverages their patented Flexbay technology, providing seamless connectivity between the GATOR module and the rugged laptop. The battle-grade laptop incorporates 30 years of AMREL rugged expertise, and is designed for quick customization and integration.

To learn more about the GATOR Rugged Geospatial Laptop, visit the Airbus Defense and Space booth, #325, at the Esri UC in San Diego, California, from June 27 – June 30.

computers.amrel.com/gator
airbusdefenceandspace.com/

Spacemetric has won an open procurement to build and operate a Copernicus data hub for Sweden’s space agency, the Swedish National Space Board. The so­called “SWEA” system is being implemented over the coming months with operations commencing already in early 2017.


“We are very pleased to have won the competitive process to provide the Copernicus data hub” says Mikael Stern, Spacemetric CEO, “clearly showing the technical and commercial credibility of our satellite data solutions”.

The SWEA data archive is the long­term solution for the storage and distribution of imagery from the Sentinel satellites of the European Copernicus programme for Earth observation. It will host imagery from the the various microwave and optical sensors of the Sentinel satellites, providing automated access, visualisation, processing and delivery of products from these data to users in Sweden. In addition, the data hub will provide a service interface, making it possible for users from the public sector and commercial companies to deploy their own algorithms, workflows and services. This will leverage the data and infrastructure resources of the hub, enabling the creation of new products and services based on satellite imagery.

“SWEA is a key component in our continuing investments in Earth observation and secures Copernicus data for Swedish users” commented Karin Holmquist of the Swedish National Space Board.


Full-swath Sentinel 2 data over Sweden in false colours

About Spacemetric:

Spacemetric is a leading provider of image management solutions for satellite and airborne sensors, delivering enhanced data access and streamlined processing from image acquisition to analysis. Solutions are built around the company’s Keystone Image Management System which forms the core of our engagements with sensor operators, data providers and solution integrators to meet demanding operational needs.

Contact:
Ian Spence, Marketing Director, Spacemetric AB Tel: +44 7727 448821 Email:i s@spacemetric.com
Web: w ww.spacemetric.com