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Remote Sensing Application Center – ReSAC, Bulgaria in a consortium with other organizations finished the project for Mapping flood hazard and flood risk in East Aegean River Basin Directorate (EARBD) in Bulgaria.

The project was a second step in implementation of the Flood Risk Directive in Bulgaria, namely preparation of the flood hazard and risk maps.

The project was focused on analyzing 31 areas with significant potential flood risk with a total length of 1078 km. in the rivers and 19 reservoirs for which a scenario for dam break and dam overflow was modeled.

The territory of the EARBD is almost 1/3 from the territory of Bulgaria. The second largest river in the country flows here – Maritsa River which is a transboundary river for Bulgaria, Turkey and Greece. The other important rivers also transboundary are Arda River, which takes the water from the East Rhodopy Mountain and Tundzha River – both of them tributaries to Maritsa.

For very short time frame from the beginning of May 2015 the project consortium performed activities on preparatory actions for analysing the areas with significant flood risk, more than 2000 cross section measurements, hydraulic (1D and 2D) and hydrologic modeling in order to assess the flood hazard.

ReSAC was involved in the aforementioned steps supporting the consortium with GIS analyses, cross section distribution, data processing for modeling, preparation of DEM from topographic maps in scale 1:5 000 and cadaster information.

The main responsibility of ReSAC was focused on assessing the flood risk within the 31 areas of the project. National data for population, economic infrastructure, land use, cadaster, critical infrastructite, cultural heritage, protected areas etc. were processed in a way to allow assessing the flood risk in accordance to the Flood Risk Directive of the EU.

As a result of the project more than 5300 maps in scale 1:10 000 and 1: 5 000 for flood hazard and flood risk were produced and delivered to the East Aegean River Basin Directorate and to the stake holders and interested users.
ReSAC was also responsible for preparation all the GIS databases containing the in-situ data, source data and final project results databases. ReSAC produced the database which the River Basin Directorate will directly report to the EC in relation to the Directive together with the GIS layers to be integrated in WISE.


Example of flood hazard map


Example of flood hazard velocity map


Example of flood risk map

The project was a continuation of the activities and professional expertise ReSAC provides to the specialized governmental authorities in the past several years related with disaster management and especially these related with the Flood Risk Directive. ReSAC as a center of excellence supports the Ministry of Environment and River Basin Directorates in the implementation of the Directive since 2011 with the Preliminary Flood Hazard and Risk Assessment for Danube Region River Basin Directorates (DRRBD), in 2012 with the Determination of the Areas with Significant Potential Flood Risk for DRRBD and participation in the Danube FloodRisk Project with preparation of Flood Hazard and Risk Maps for Bulgarian Sector of Danube River and training of the local users and stakeholders.

For more information

Remote Sensing Application Center (ReSAC)
61, Tzar Assen Str., fl. 2, 1463, Sofia, Bulgaria. Tel: +35929800731 / Fax: +35929818216. 
E-mail

Captured on March 2nd by UrtheCast’s full-color UHD video camera, Iris, the HD video reveals an increase in activity at Iran’s Imam Khomeini space launch facility. The video suggests the potential launch of the Simorgh SLV rocket, which is designed to send satellites into space.

Captured on March 2nd and delivered to the United Nations Office of Outer Space Affairs for analysis, this recent HD Iris video of Iran’s Imam Khomeini space launch facility shows increased activity in the area, suggesting that a launch of the Simorgh SLV rocket — which is designed to send satellites into space — could be fast-approaching.

The launch preparations and heightened activity were recently reported by the Arms Control Network and are corroborated by this Iris video, which reveals the spaceport’s Launch Complex 2, Mission Control, and Engine Test Facility.

The anticipated launch, which is expected to deliver a satellite into orbit, comes on the heels of controversy surrounding North Korea’s successful launch of a satellite in early February.

The video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCe2UQrBM64 has already been featured in the leading space news site, Space.com


Fig.1: Iran’s Imam Khomeini space launch facility still frame image as pictured by UrtheCast’s Iris.

UrtheCast

With a diverse suite of sensors in space and an innovative open-API web Platform, UrtheCast is helping usher in a new era of Earth Observation (EO). Our current sensor suite — Deimos-2, Iris, Theia, and Deimos-1 — offers imagery and video at multiple resolutions to address diverse and complex requirements, marking only the first stage in our mission to democratize EO. UrtheCast’s groundbreaking 16 satellite SAR + Optical Constellation, now under development, will take that vision to new heights.
To learn more, visit www.urthecast.com

Thanks to its high revisit rate capabilities, the Very High Resolution (VHR) Deimos-2 satellite eyed the whole SES-9 campaign, starting from pre-launch operations in early February, capturing the Falcon 9 at the Launch Pad in Cape Canaveral on Feb. 23, 27, 28 and then spotting the drone ship ‘Of course I still love you’ ready to recover the first stage in the Atlantic Ocean on March 4.

SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off on March 4 and placed SES-9 satellite in orbit, while the first stage landed back hard on the drone ship off Cape Canaveral coast. SES-9 satellite is the ninth SES telecommunication satellite in the SES family and the second one launched by SpaceX.

The Falcon 9 dropped the SES-9 satellite in a Geostationary orbit, about 36000 km high in altitude. To get there the rocket needed a lot of propellant in the first stage, which meant the combustible left to attempting a return to the drone ship was limited.

The launch date was initially set up for Feb. 24, then several launch attempts were made respectively on Feb. 25, 26, 28, 29 and on March 1. Sharply changing upper level winds and a boat entering the restricted maritime zone were some of the circumstances causing the launch postponing.

Thanks to its high revisit rate, Deimos-2 Very High resolution (VHR) satellite eyed the whole SES-9 campaign, starting from pre-launch operations in early February (Fig. 1) and then capturing the Falcon 9 at the Launch Pad in Cape Canaveral on Feb. 23, 27, 28 (Fig. 2) and spotting the drone ship ‘Of course I still love you’ ready to recover the first stage in the Atlantic Ocean on March 4 (Fig. 3).

The three-hour tasking-to-delivery capabilities of Deimos-2, made possible to acquire and timely publish the barge image just a couple of hours before the launch.

The drone ship picture achieved widespread impressions in the social media, being quoted, among others, by SpaceNews , Spaceflight Now and the Planetary Society


Fig.1: SpaceX’s Launch Pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, FL, (USA) seen by Deimos-2 on February 16, 2016, during SES-9 launch preparation.


Fig.2: The Falcon 9 at the Launch Pad in Cape Canaveral on Feb. 27 captured by Deimos-2.


Fig.3: The drone ship ‘Of course I still love you’ ready to recover the first stage in the Atlantic Ocean spotted by Deimos-2 on March 4.

Deimos Imaging

Deimos Imaging based in Spain, a subsidiary of UrtheCast (Canada), is one of the world’s leading satellite imagery providers. Deimos operates the DEIMOS-1 and DEIMOS-2 satellites, and two cameras on-board the International Space Station, including a UHD video camera. Deimos also provides imagery from the satellites of its partners in the PanGeo Alliance, a fleet of 14 Earth Observation multispectral sensors, in a wide range of resolutions.

To learn more, visit http://www.deimos-imaging.com/

Demonstration of innovative ways how to visualize metadata from Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 satellites in 4D using open source libraries within the Web World Wind framework were voted Best Demo and Best Poster at the conference.

The 2016 Big Data from Space conference was jointly organised by the European Space Agency (ESA), the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission and the European Union Satellite Centre (SatCen), in collaboration with the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias (IAC). The conference took place at the Auditorio de Tenerife, in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain, from 15 to 17 March 2016.

Web World Wind is an open source framework for displaying the 3D globe and layers and elements on top of this globe. This framework is written in JavaScript and the main contributor is NASA. Within the ESA project “Software Prototyping and Mobile App Development” Gisat participates in the activity aiming at helping NASA Web World Wind developers to add new features to the framework. Gisat is currently developing the support for the KML format.

The demonstration application built using the Web World Wind has been presented at the conference. We aimed at creating tools for transforming the metadata from various ESA data sources and at meaningful visualization of the results. Number and type of products acquired by different ESA EO missions have been selected for the practical demonstration.

In the application, the amount and spatial distribution of ESA products acquired within the defined time series are displayed together with the information about the type of products. To provide a user with an accurate overview of the data status the information is displayed using the 3D globe. The main asset which differentiates this solution from other tools is the adaptation of the choropleth to the currently visible area.

The Software Prototyping and Mobile App Development project is run by an international consortium led by Solenix Deutschland GmbH (DE) with TERRASIGNA Srl (RO), Gisat s.r.o. (CZ), Progressive Systems Srl (IT) and Qualteh JR Srl (RO) as subcontractors.

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 ESA-funded initiative of an Urban Thematic Exploitation Platform (U-TEP) aims at bridging the gap between the technology-driven Earth Observation sector and the information needs of urban and environmental science, planning, and policy.

A large-scale transformation has occurred on Earth, often ignored in headline stories on the topic of global change – for some years now, the number of people living in urban areas has exceeded that of those living in rural regions. Today, approximately 7.2 billion people inhabit our planet. By 2050, this number will have risen to nine billion, 70 percent of which will be living in cities. As a result, urban areas will account for 90 percent of population growth, 80 percent of increased prosperity and around 60 percent of energy consumption. Consequently, urban conurbations occupy a key role as centres of political, economic and cultural life. They will exemplify the future, defining how the coming generations will live and work.

How can the opportunities that urbanisation presents be put to good use? How can the negative ecological and social effects of rapid city growth be mitigated or avoided? These are central challenges that society will face over the coming decades. And it is here that Earth Observation can make a valuable contribution. Satellite-based geo-information delivers a current and comprehensive image of the built environment, while at the same time documenting its changes over time. The European Space Agency is operating Earth Observation satellites since more than 20 years and is serving the scientific, operational and commercial user community with different levels of information products. The traditional way of (single) sensor ground segments delivering physically data products to users performing their work locally and isolated, needs to be revised. While the availability of the growing volume of environmental data from space represents a unique opportunity for science, general R&D, and applications, it also poses a major challenge to achieve its full potential in terms of data exploitation.

Objectives

Urban Thematic Exploitation Platform (U-TEP) aims at bridging the gap between the technology-driven Earth Observation sector and the information needs of urban and environmental science, planning, and policy. U-TEP is using Earth Observation data and modern information technology to create and disseminate knowledge about the status, properties, cross-linking and dynamics of human settlements and their hinterland. Therefore, U-TEP provides a web-based, open and participatory platform that enables any interested user to easily exploit and generate thematic information on the status and development of the built environment.

Key component of U-TEP is the use of distributed high-level computing infrastructures providing functionalities for i) high-performance access to satellite imagery and thematic data, ii) modular and generic state-of-the art pre-processing, analysis, and visualization, iii) customized development and dissemination of algorithms, products and services, and iv) effective networking and communication. Based on these characteristics the U-TEP platform aims at opening up new opportunities to enable the creation and safeguarding of liveable cities by systematically exploring:

  • The unique EO capabilities in Europe;
  • The existing Big Data perspective;
  • The rising high-level IT-infrastructures and processing power;
  • The existing vast expert knowledge;
  • The new media and ways of communication and connecting people.

With the objectives and functionalities described above, U-TEP is supposed to initiate a step change in the use of Earth Observation data and modern information and communication technology for the societal benefit. The new platform and its pool data and services help to acquire a better understanding of the urban environment and hence, in future, to respond appropriately to the immense social challenges of mushrooming cities, population explosion, climate change and the erosion of biodiversity. By improving the quality of spatial analysis and modelling, scientists benefit from the increase in the precision of data relating to settlement structures. Planning agencies and development banks are also important users of these new data and technologies. For instance, uniform data – applicable worldwide – on the location of settlements and including important parameters on their sizes and shapes, and also their compactness, help with the derivation of important information of a kind urgently needed in infrastructure planning. This is a crucial advantage, especially in remote and underdeveloped regions of Earth, where suitable geographical data are frequently scarce.

Technological Advances

By exploiting the new opportunities in the Earth Observation and Information and Communication sector, U-TEP Urban will contribute to initiate step changes regarding:

  • Remote processing, by bringing users and functionalities to big data inventories.
  • Enabling technology, by supporting large-scale and complex data exploitation.
  • Market place of ideas and driver of innovation, by facilitating the sharing of data, technology, and knowledge.
  • Community stimulation and outreach, by following an open, participatory, and collaborative policy.

The U-TEP technical concept is based on a generic, modular, multi-purpose design facilitating maximum flexibility with respect to the adaptation to and integration of user requirements, application scenarios, processing and analysis technologies, and IT infrastructures. Nevertheless, the U-TEP platform is not designed to provide direct access or distribute Earth Observation data.

Users

Users whom the platform is designed to benefit, therefore, are scientific users, public authorities and governmental organisations, non-governmental and non-institutional communities, and commercial communities from all levels relevant to the urban domain (global, European, national, regional, local).
The main user community groups involved in U-TEP are the World Bank Group, Group on Earth Observation, European Environment Agency, DG Regio, International Society of City and Regional Planners, and City of Prague.

The Team

The Urban Thematic Exploitation Platform is being developed by a consortium led by the German Aerospace Center (DE), and involving Brockmann Consult GmbH (DE), Gisat s.r.o. (CZ), IT4Innovations (CZ), and Terradue Srl (IT).

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

For the 2nd time in 6 years, EUROSENSE acquired recently several thousands of thermal images covering the city of Antwerp and some neighboring municipalities. Similar to 2009, these images will be processed into a thermographic map focusing on heat losses through roofs. An easy-to-use interpretation key with corresponding legends, established by means of volunteer measurements on the ground, will help the citizens to check the status of the roof insulation quality of their building. The city actively will use the map to sensitize its citizens about efficient energy use, reducing CO2 exhaust and the fight against climate change.


In the month of February 2016, EUROSENSE acquired several thousands of thermal images covering the city of Antwerp and some neighboring municipalities. The flights, executed during cold and clear winter nights, were executed upon request of the city of Antwerp and aim to identify the heat losses occurring through the roofs of the buildings. Simultaneously with the flights, several hundreds of volunteers measured the temperature in the rooms under the roof. Afterwards they submitted their measurements, together with other information about their roof, via an online form and hereby provided EUROSENSE with ground truth data. In the coming weeks EUROSENSE will process the thermal images into a homogeneous thermographic map and elaborate an easy-to-use interpretation key and corresponding legends. The city of Antwerp will integrate the map and the interpretation key into an updated version of the website http://zoominopuwdak.antwerpen.be. Through this website, citizens can consult the thermographic map and interpret the colors on the map in terms of roof insulation quality. They furthermore will also find more information about the different types of support which can be obtained when investing in a new roof insulation.

In 2009, EUROSENSE created a similar thermographic map for the city of Antwerp and 20 surrounding municipalities (currently still consultable through http://zoominopuwdak.antwerpen.be). Seen the large success of this sensitization campaign, the city of Antwerp launched a procedure for an update which was won by EUROSENSE. This time 6 neighboring municipalities decided to participate to the project. In comparison with 2009, the acquired thermal data now has a resolution of 50cm instead of 1m allowing to see much more details on the roofs.

EUROSENSE has a large and long-lasting experience in aerial thermography with a long list of projects in Belgium (image at the left: extract from Leuven, BE), Germany, The Netherlands, GD of Luxembourg and France. Our global approach with a high number of volunteer measurements and a specific interpretation key, designed for the rendering of the thermal values in terms of roof insulation quality, is unique in Europe, and probably even in the world.

For more than 50 years now, EUROSENSE is your partner in all services related to geographical information. From data collection, treatment and provision to value-added applications, EUROSENSE offers a broad variety of geographical information made according to your specific requirements and needs. Our company is known to provide high-quality end products created on the latest technologies on the market. More info

How can various aspects of plant trait phenology (such as trait-trait covariance, spatial and temporal variances, andintraspecific variances) be analyzed through remote sensing to create priors for robust vegetation products and analysis?

Short abstract

The main objective of this research is to better understand and define typical behaviours of phenological plant responses by their functional traits, so that their representation and boundaries are able to be better represented in modelling, RTMs, and earth observation products.

Project description

MULTIscale SENTINEL land surface information retrieval PLatform (MULTIPLY) is a data assimilation platform for land surface products is currently being developed. As a part of the schematic framework, priors for consistent and reliable information are required as a check to bring comparable data to a variety of users. This project aims to focus on vegetation priors through RTMs, mainly focusing on plant traits and phenology. This will be conducted through large meta-analysis to create several priors to add to a data assimilation platform MULTIPLY in relation to several aspects of vegetation phenology. This includes an exploration of covariance, spatial and temporal scales, hyperspectral and multi-spectral outputs, as well as intraspecific variation.

Partners

  • 1 University Leiden (UL) NL
  • 2 University of Munich (LMU) Germany
  • 3 University College London (UCL) UK
  • 4 Brockmann Consultant Gmb (BC) Germany
  • 5 Tartu Observatory (TO) Estonia
  • 6 University of Alcala (UAH) Spain
  • 7 Assimila UK
  • 8 ADAS UK
  • 9 UVSQ-LSCE France

MULTIPLYMULTIscale SENTINEL land surface information retrieval Platform

Improving vegetation representation in Multi-sensor Earth Observation Products through phenology and trait-based priors

Time: 2016 – 2020
Contact: Amie Corbin
Project: EU Horizon 2020EU Horizon 2020
Source

The agricultural sector is crucial to South Africa’s socio-economic stability. The sector is sensitive to key issues including climate change, population growth, changes in consumer needs and shifts in the global economy and related markets. Volatility in these key issues is increasing. The result is lowering investment incentives in agriculture and increasing uncertainty within the sector.

Project overview

Monitoring of crops is thus an important activity. Challenges in this context include the wide areas over which crops are produced and the variabilities that exist within the growing cycles for different crops. Successful monitoring thus requires reliable, wide area observations that are closely spaced during growing seasons to adequately observe different trends and potential anomalies. For such monitoring to be sustainable, cost effectiveness is mandatory.

Monitoring crops from space benefits from several key strengths of satellite-enabled observations including objectivity, wide area coverage and rapid temporal revisit. Recent developments in instrument capabilities offer further encouragement enabling wide area, frequent observations to be made with improving spatial and spectral resolutions.

Challenge

The underlying challenges for CropWatch are both economic and societal. In South Africa the agricultural sector contributes only 3% to national GDP, which is far below the capacity of the sector. Nevertheless, its potential impact on empowerment and poverty relief is substantial since it is one of the most employment-intensive sectors – responsible for approximately 7% of formal employment. Consequently there is significant interest in improving monitoring capabilities in the agricultural sector to enhance GDP contribution and drive still larger impacts on empowerment and poverty relief.

Solution

CropWatch seeks to stimulate both economic and societal benefits in South Africa (and indeed across southern Africa). The main goal is to develop and demonstrate a set of crop stress assessment tools that use satellite data and agronomical information to optimise the monitoring of field crop areas in both irrigated and dry-land production systems in South Africa. Project activities thus include:

  • Acquisition of dense time series of optical images over two AOIs in South Africa (imagery includes DMC, SPOT and Landsat, but intention is to move to a Sentinel-2 input data stream).
  • Implementation of an operational production workflow to enable the routine generation of a range of biophysical parameters from the time series observations.
  • Development and implementation of an integrated crop stress model which combines the biophysical parameters with ancillary datasets to enable the monitoring of crop stress.
  • The project retains a user focus through routine engagement with the relevant stakeholder community.

Outcomes and next steps

To date CropWatch has been successful in developing and implementing the operational production workflow for the generation of the biophysical parameters. The integrated crop condition model is also able to generate the required crop condition products. The key next step is to address the dissemination component to enable effective distribution of the derived products within the stakeholder community.

Supplier: Airbus Defence and Space Ltd
Partner: South African National Space Agency

Source ADS

Subject matter expert on Earth Observation in the oil & gas industry and Chief Scientist Dr. Peter Hausknecht from Earth-i comments on the trends and benefits high-resolution imaging and data services offer to the oil & gas industry

The use of advanced technology can help improve planning, efficiency, safety and profitability for oil companies, and through its effective use significant competitive benefits can be achieved. Earth Observation (EO) data in general and images from remote sensing satellites in particular have been used for geological and environmental mapping since the 70 ́s. Today, ever-higher resolution images and derived data sets are available on a more frequent and dependable basis.

The pace of growth in EO is accelerating. According to the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), in January 2014 there were 192 EO satellites in space. China and the USA account for approximately half of the satellites deployed with the remaining satellites belonging to a total of 43 nations including India, France, Germany and Russia.

Over 80% are deployed for government or military use, while around 10% are listed as being for civil or commercial purposes. The remaining 10% have dual use.

Since the list was updated, the numbers have grown dramatically. A significant proportion of the growth is attributed to nanosatellites often also called ‘Cubesats’. Cubesats are lower-cost miniature spacecraft and the significantly lower cost of this class of satellite is shrinking the barriers to entry and allowing more countries and commercial organisations to enter space. It’s inevitable that this will result in dedicated applications for particular industries and specific issues, which the oil & gas industry and for example oil spill response is one of many.

The 2012 World Energy Outlook from the International Energy Agency (IEA) predicts that primary energy demand will more than treble in the next 20 years with oil and gas remaining dominant at around 50% of the world’s energy supply. Even though energy prices have fallen considerably, the worldwide demand is still high but maybe at a slightly lower growth rate. Intense exploration efforts to find new oil & gas reserves are still being pursued on a global scale to meet future demands. In general the oil & gas industry is not cutting exploration budgets, but looking for more efficient ways to spend their exploration dollars. Hence they are looking to EO as a means of supplementing other data sources, or pre-qualifying an area of interest before traditional and very expensive methods such as seismic are utilised for locating new reserves. One day of seismic surveys saved could finance the entire EO programme for a medium sized oil and gas company. Hence using EO data in an intelligent way will save valuable exploration expenses. The oil & gas industry is already a significant user of satellite technology for EO across their entire business portfolio and the acceptance of EO as a beneficial technology is continuing at a fast pace. As existing reserves are reducing oil & gas companies are continuing their search in extreme and ever more remote areas. Exploration in such areas will often be hampered by extreme temperatures and weather conditions.

Hydrocarbon-storage-near-Istanbul-overview.jpg. DMC3/Triplesat satellite data over a hydrocarbon storage facility near Istanbul, Turkey. Displayed is a 4m multispectral image; RGB = ch 3,2,1

Initially, the uptake of applications for EO in oil and gas exploration was fairly limited and mainly supported the traditional data. As the data is becoming more available, the industry is finding more and more new ways to use this data, not only in the exploration phase but also through the entire operation of an oil/gas field from development to production and finally abandonment.

  • Environmental baseline mapping and subsequent monitoring (including change detection analysis)
  • Asset monitoring (including shipping, pipelines, production facilities)
  • Infrastructure development mapping and monitoring (onshore and offshore)
  • Operational environmental impact assessment
  • Remote area intelligence compilation
  • Security assessment and monitoring
  • Supporting social licence to operate
  • Routine and on-demand ocean monitoring services
  • Statistical analysis and historical comparison of areas of interest
  • Corporate assessments and insurance verification
  • Health and safety assessment for staff deployed
  • Oil spill response and preparedness
  • Disaster prevention, event assessment and general situational awareness
  • Ice and polar monitoring for safe and sustainable developments
  • Exploration (marine and terrestrial) including mapping in support of survey planning and site evaluation

Clearly there are many ways EO can support the oil & gas industry. The real drivers behind this fast adoption are the key benefits EO brings.

When identifying new reservoirs, EO facilitates improved geological studies over wide areas and especially in harsh or difficult-to-access regions allowing costs and potential negative impacts to be reduced. Examples include reducing risk of unexpected reservoir compaction and monitoring reservoir pressure through ground motion monitoring, or minimising risk of accidents in natural gas storage sites by monitoring uplift and subsidence. All of this allows for improved quality and safety procedures with lower operational costs. Managing assets, understanding and monitoring any environmental impact are very important factors for the facility operators and EO has a significant role to play here too. It can be used to support offshore platforms by monitoring sea levels, forecasting extreme weather, ocean wave height and direction and even spotting icebergs.

Hydrocarbon-storage-near-Istanbul-fullres-subset.jpg. Subset of the image above showing the close proximity of the storage tanks to a bordering nature strip. Displayed is a 1m pan-sharpened multispectral image; RGB = ch 3,2,1

EO derived products also allow companies to develop mapping and models of spills before they happen. This enables them to understand and mitigate the impact on vulnerable or sensitive areas. Should the worst ever happen, continuous oil spill monitoring and guidance of any response activity is readily supported by EO.
Although the applications are growing rapidly, during this early technology adoption stage, the methods of use of EO data remain somewhat fragmented and, due to the commercially-sensitive nature of this information, very little has been shared within the industry.

As an example, there are several different methods of data management within the service providers. Some companies have a single team that manages the process from the initial ‘Can EO help?’ and determining what data could or should be used, right the way through to managing the collection request, data storage and application supervision. Other companies manage this on a ‘by project’ basis and data is infrequently shared between projects. There is also a model whereby the whole process is outsourced and then the data is provided to support decision-making in one particular area of the company.

However, through the establishment of some fairly informal industry groups (notably the Oil & Gas Earth Observation interest group – OGEO) this ‘silo’ mentality is shifting. We are seeing better communication between oil & gas companies and service providers, especially the sharing of success stories and cross-application data exchange, which will benefit the industry as a whole.

Iceberg and coastal monitoring-Greenland—overview.jpg. DMC3/Triplesat satellite data over a coastal area for iceberg monitoring and coastal mapping in Greenland. Displayed is a 4m multispectral image; RGB = ch 4,3,2

One of the leading companies in the EO industry is the UK satellite data company Earth-i , which is utilising the recently launched DMC3 TripleSat constellation to offer previously unachievable levels of imaging opportunity frequency with sector-leading levels of resolution. This unique set of 3 identical high resolution optical satellites, each with four multispectral (4 metre) and one panchromatic (1 metre) sensors, has the capability to image any location on Earth every day. Highly dynamic tasking capabilities and fast delivery options make it an ideal sensor for not only emergency response activities, but also larger scale monitoring projects, where regular coverage and reliable data supply is essential.

One of the main challenges for Earth-i is to ensure that the data quality and product reliability is sustained and new products and applications can be supported with this new satellite constellation.

In summary, it is an exciting and fast moving time for the EO sector which is already delivering valuable information and benefits to the oil & gas industry with speed and accuracy of providing data over a wide area. This will potentially allow companies to develop new reservoirs faster, and the convenience of obtaining data in remote areas without deploying personnel will increase safety as large areas can be continuously monitored for small changes and corrective actions taken. Overall operational cost reductions in many areas of the exploration and production processes, alongside reduced HSE risks for the companies, will justify any sensible expenditure on EO data and its applications.

About Dr. Peter Hausknecht
Dr. Hausknecht holds a PhD in Geoscience from Munich University. Prior to joining Earth-i, he spent more than eight years at Woodside – Australia’s leading Oil & Gas company. Whilst working for the Perth based, but internationally operating, organisation Peter fulfilled different roles and was the subject matter expert on Earth Observation and remote sensing.
At an international level, Peter Hausknecht was a founding member of the Oil & Gas Earth Observation (OGEO) interest group and also Chairman of the International Association for Oil & Gas Producers (IOGP) sub-committee on Earth Observation. In addition to presenting at international conferences and workshops, he has also given regular lectures at different universities and professional organisations, in particular on hyper-spectral remote sensing and the general applications of remote sensing in the Oil & Gas industry.

About Earth-i Ltd:
Earth-i is a British company dedicated to facilitating the distribution of data from the DMC3/TripleSat Constellation. As the master distributor appointed by 21AT, Earth-i provides a portal for data users wishing to take advantage of the advanced data and services made possible by this uniquely capable Earth Observation satellite constellation.
Earth-i is co-located on the Surrey Research Park in the UK with Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd, the manufacturer of the DMC3/Triplesat constellation. www.earthi.space 
 
For further information, please contact:

  • Richard Blain
    Chief Executive, Earth-i Ltd
    Phone (24hrs): +44 (0)333 433 0015
    7 Huxley Road, Surrey Research Park, Guildford, GU2 7RE, United Kingdom
    E-mail: richard.blain@earthi.co.uk

- Qatar Armed Forces will receive and process satellite data through a multi-mission Direct Receiving Station
- This ground infrastructure will be specifically equipped with all necessary tools to support military operations, crisis monitoring or environment studies

Airbus Defence and Space has been awarded a contract to provide Qatar Armed Forces (QAF) with a multi-mission Direct Receiving Station and image analysis capabilities.

This complete infrastructure will allow QAF to receive and process satellite data and give them the capacity to produce value added data and situation reports for military operations and various government applications. A comprehensive set of services is also part of the agreement, including a comprehensive training and knowledge transfer plan.

QAF will be provided with all the tools and knowledge necessary to satellite data acquisition and derived-products generation, especially in the fields of image analysis, cartography and a range of other applications. Thus, the QAF command and control capabilities will be significantly enhanced.

This success is the result of a long experience in the field of Direct Receiving Stations, cartography and image analysis systems and services, combined to the wide range of Airbus Defence and Space’s satellite imagery.

“This contract is part of the Capability Enhancement that has been approved by His Highness the Commander in Chief. The project shall enhance QAF command and control capability and support to military operations. We have selected Airbus Defence and Space after a rigorous evaluation process which lasted more than one year. We trust the Airbus technical and project management capabilities to ensure the delivery of the project at the highest standard”, said Brigadier Eng. Abdulaziz Falah Al-Dosari, Assistant for Technology to the Minister of State for Defence Affairs.

“This contract is the materialization of a relationship built on mutual trust that has been developed with QAF for a long time. It confirms, once again, the Airbus Defence and Space expertise in ground segment services, through its Direct Receiving Stations and images processing tools tailored for the Defence sector”, said Bernhard Brenner, Head of Intelligence Business Cluster at Airbus Defence and Space.

Intelligence is the new Business Cluster within Airbus Defence and Space that brings together two successful and established businesses, Defence Systems and Geo-Intelligence, with strong national & international Defence market synergies.

Contact
Fabienne GRAZZINI + 33 5 62 19 41 19
fabienne.grazzini@eads.astrium.net