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(March 2013) GRAS has always been 100% owned by DHI. The synergies between GRAS and the rest of DHI have steadily increased over the years contributing significantly to the growth we have experienced at GRAS.

More and more DHI projects and offices around the world are making use of satellite based solutions. Therefore it’s now a logical step for us to change our legal name to DHI GRAS in order to increase the visibility of our strong ties to the rest of the DHI organisation.

We have more than 1100 DHI colleagues in more than 30 countries across the globe. DHI is the expert in water environments – and satellite based mapping is particularly useful in water environments. Whether the topic is monitoring of compliance with environmental legislation during large infrastructure projects, mapping of land cover for hydrological modeling or detailed mapping of urban environments for urban storm water modeling – satellite based information can offer highly valuable information in itself or it can be used to calibrate and validate models.

DHI GRAS will remain a separate company and we will maintain our close collaboration with the Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management (IGN) at University of Copenhagen. We will remain located in the Geocenter building in central Copenhagen which has been our home since GRAS was originally founded in 2000.

We look forward to working with you under our new brand that will not only give you access to our core expertise in remote sensing but also link to the rest of DHI’s expertise in water environments.

Best regards,
Mikael Kamp Sørensen
Managing Director

Source

(Aviation Week – March 04, 2013) by Amy Svitak.

Chile has one. So do Turkey and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). By the end of April Vietnam could, too.

Over the next decade more than 280 Earth-observation-satellite systems are expected to be launched into orbit, with roughly 30% lofted for developing space programs in Asia, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East—regions where technology transfer is key to fostering fledgling industries, according to Paris-based Euroconsult.

Earth-observation satellites and the increasingly sharp imagery they produce are the fastest-growing segment of a commercial remote-sensing industry currently dominated by Western suppliers, a market that is projected to generate nearly $4 billion in annual revenue by 2021. But as emerging space economies gain technological know-how—much of it via satellite contracts with European and Asian manufacturers—established companies in the U.S. and Europe will navigate an increasingly dynamic competitive landscape.

Many of these new entrants are seeking Earth-observation satellites of their own to meet defense and civil needs—everything from military surveillance to crop monitoring and urban planning. Other countries simply buy imagery on the commercial market, which today is led by sub-meter-resolution heavyweights DigitalGlobe of Longmont, Colo., EADS-Astrium Services and Telespazio of Rome. At least one has opted to finance an entire constellation in exchange for access to its data, as Beijing-based Twenty First Century Aerospace Technology Co. did in 2011 under an agreement with British small-satellite manufacturer Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. (SSTL), a subsidiary of Astrium.

But an increasing number are seeking technology and know-how to bolster burgeoning domestic space programs, including some with the potential to sell imagery and data on the commercial market.

For example, Turkey is investing heavily in developing its domestic space program, one that already boasts several telecommunications satellites and two Earth-observation spacecraft, with plans to produce more.

In August 2011 Ankara launched a Turkish microsat equipped with an optical payload on a Russian-Ukrainian Dnepr rocket from Yasny Launch Base in Russia, followed by the mostly Turkish-built Gokturk-2 launched in December 2012 atop a Chinese Long March 2D. The 400-kg (882-lb.) satellite incorporates a German solar-generation system and Korean-built optical instrument capable of 2.5-meter (8.2-ft.) panchromatic resolution with a 20-km (12-mi.+) swath.

In January, with Gokturk-2 operating nominally in orbit, Ankara said the government was prepared to enter negotiations with Turkish industry to begin work on the country’s first synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imaging spacecraft, a development that could be enabled in part by a new satellite assembly, integration and test facility that Thales Alenia Space is building in Turkey. Capable of processing satellites weighing up to 5,000 kg, the plant’s construction is one of the terms in a 2009 contract between Turkey’s defense ministry and prime contractor Telespazio that by the end of this year will furnish Ankara with Gokturk-1, the highest-resolution optical-imaging spacecraft ever approved for export.

At about 1,000 kg, the Thales-built satellite will offer 50-cm (20-in.) resolution at nadir in black and white, according to industry sources, a capability that bests France’s new twin Pleiades Earth-observation spacecraft, which is designed to capture raw data with 70-cm resolution at nadir but can resample images to produce pictures of 50-cm-wide objects.

More than 15 years in the making, the agreement gives Turkish Aerospace Industries the opportunity to complete final integration of the spacecraft at the new test facility before it is launched early next year. Turkey also has the option to purchase a follow-on spacecraft that would undergo complete assembly, integration and test in Turkey, according to industry sources.

“Gokturk-1 is the most impressive example of a satellite with real capabilities that are not so far from the leading technologies of the top five nations in space,” says Philippe Campenon, deputy director for space and Earth observation at Euroconsult.

A similar contract with Astrium will supply two Earth-observation satellites to Kazakhstan, including the DZZ-HR 1-meter-resolution satellite slated to launch on a Vega rocket in mid-2014. The spacecraft is being built entirely by Astrium Satellites in France, based on the company’s Theos platform, which Astrium used to develop Taiwan’s Formosat-2 optical-imaging spacecraft. A separate, 200-kg satellite dubbed MRES is a collaboration between Astrium and SSTL. The 7-meter-resolution spacecraft is based on the SSTL-150 platform with heritage technologies developed for the 2.5-meter-resolution NigeriaSat-2 that launched in 2011.

The contract is part of a broader agreement under which Astrium will train Kazakh engineers, build a satellite integration center in Astana and provide access to optical and radar imagery from France’s SPOT satellites and Germany’s TerraSAR-X radar spacecraft.

Astrium is also helping Vietnam develop a domestic space capability with the first of four Earth-observation satellites Hanoi plans to build through the end of the decade. The contract with the Vietnamese Academy of Science and Technology covers development, build and launch of the 13-kg VNREDSat-1A, capable of 2.5-meter black-and-white and 10-meter multispectral resolution with a 17.5-km swath, plus ground control; an image-receiving station; and a training program for 15 Vietnamese engineers. Based on the AstroSat100 bus used for Chile’s Sistema Satelital para la Observacion de la Tierra program and the Alsat-2 satellite built with Algeria, VNREDSat-1A is slated to launch in April as a secondary payload on Vega.

Despite such assistance, however, Campenon says most emerging space programs are a long way from developing indigenous sophisticated high-resolution imaging capabilities of their own.

“From a technological point of view, the step from medium- to high-resolution is huge,” Campenon says.

For example, Taiwan has worked for years with Astrium in developing its Formosat series of satellites, with the goal of creating a domestic industrial capacity and associated service industry. After a decade spent acquiring engineering expertise through international collaboration, the country’s new 525-kg Formosat-5 will carry a Taiwan-built optical instrument capable of 2-meter resolution in black-and-white and 4 meters in multi-spectral over a 24-km swath. Formosat-5 is slated to launch in 2015, according to Taiwan National Space Organization officials, with a follow-on spacecraft planned for the same orbit, albeit in a different ground track to effect daily revisit time and global coverage.

Similarly, the Korea Aerospace Research Institute has spent almost two decades developing the Korean Multipurpose Satellite (Kompsat) series, starting with a U.S. satellite bus designed by TRW and using German optical instruments. The latest generation of the Earth-observation satellite, Kompsat-3, carries a camera built by Astrium Satellites that is capable of 70-cm panchromatic and 2.8-meter multispectral resolution. A follow-on Kompsat-3A slated to launch in September on a Dnepr rocket was also built with Astrium assistance, featuring 55-cm panchromatic and 2.2-meter multispectral resolution and an infrared camera.

“It’s very high-tech, even though they are one step behind the European and American systems in terms of technology,” Campenon says.

For now, countries like South Korea and Taiwan pose little threat to established commercial remote-sensing providers, though this is already starting to change. While both countries had negotiated agreements with Astrium Services to market imagery produced by Kompsat and Formosat satellites, South Korea recently switched to small-satellite manufacturer and local data distributor Satrec Initiative, and Campenon says Taiwan may do something similar.

Satrec is also working with the UAE to develop the DubaiSat series of spacecraft. Abu Dhabi is one of several Middle Eastern capitals investing in space capabilities as a response to growing instability in the region, a perceived threat from Iran and desire to foster a domestic aerospace and defense industry (see page 31). In 2009 UAE launched the 200-kg DubaiSat-1 for the Emirates Institution for Advanced Science and Technology, and UAE engineers have since taken the lead in designing a follow-on spacecraft with Satrec, dubbed DubaiSat-2, which will offer 1-meter panchromatic resolution and 4-meter multispectral with a 12.2-km swath.

The UAE air force is also shopping for a high-resolution imaging satellite among U.S. and European suppliers that according to industry sources, include Lockheed Martin, a team comprising Astrium and Thales, and DigitalGlobe, which could potentially furnish the spare ultra-high-resolution GeoEye-2 satellite it acquired in the January takeover of chief U.S. rival GeoEye.

DigitalGlobe spokesman Robert Keosheyan said Feb. 7 the company received an unsolicited inbound expression of interest from the UAE and is in the process of considering whether to engage in discussions.

Other countries in line to loft high-resolution spacecraft include Japan, where Tokyo-based NEC expects to orbit its 300-kg Advanced Satellite with New System for Observation (Asnaro) spacecraft atop a Dnepr rocket this year. Based on the modular NX-300L bus, Asnaro is advertised as offering less than 50-cm panchromatic and 2-meter multispectral resolution at 500-km altitude across a 10-km swath. NEC says a SAR observation satellite and wide-coverage optical observation spacecraft are also planned, forming an Asnaro constellation offering a range of Earth observation services.

Source Euroconsult

DMC International Imaging (DMCii) is helping The Algerian Space Agency (ASAL) to predict the spread of locust plagues across North Africa as part of a pro-active approach to tackle the destructive phenomenon using satellite imagery.

Every year, North Africa is subjected to locust plagues that threaten to decimate crops and endanger countries’ food security. The satellite imagery is used to assess vegetation conditions, which helps to predict the locations of locust breeding grounds. The imagery, from the UK-DMC2 satellite, is used in conjunction with weather data to help create locust forecasts and focus the application of pesticides to prevent the spread of swarms.

Last year, in a six-month summer campaign to fight the spread of locusts, DMCii acquired monthly images of regions in Southern Algeria, Northern Mali and Northern Niger for ASAL. Now, imagery is being acquired before the summer season starts, to predict as well as monitor the threat of locusts.

Paul Stephens, Director of Sales and Marketing at DMCii, said: “The ability to get timely imagery of large areas is vital because locust swarms can develop quickly and travel about 100km a day. Our 650km wide images allow large areas of land, spanning multiple countries, to be rapidly monitored, helping the local authorities combat locust swarms before they can migrate across the continent.”

Mr Karim Houari, International Cooperation Director of the Algerian Space Agency commented: “The use of satellite imagery has helped us in the past, during the invasion period, to identify and control areas at risk of locust swarms. This year, in terms of locust risk prediction in remission period, we used DMCii data for the ecological assessment of locust breeding areas (biotopes). It is an important contribution for the rationalisation of local response and to reduce damage of this destructive phenomenon.”


Figure1. The DMC images enable regular monitoring of very large areas at high resolution, allowing detection of small areas of new vegetation after any rainfall. These show up as false colour red patches in the desert, and are where locusts can hatch and grow rapidly before they head off to look for more food

About DMC International Imaging Ltd
DMC International Imaging Ltd (DMCii) is a UK-based supplier of remote sensing data products and services for international Earth Observation (EO) markets. DMCii supplies programmed and archived optical satellite imagery provided by the multi-satellite Disaster Monitoring Constellation (DMC). DMCii’s data is primarily used in a wide variety of commercial and government applications including agriculture, forestry and environmental mapping, which benefit from reliable high temporal resolution optical imagery.
In partnership with the UK Space Agency and the other DMC member nations (Algeria, China, Nigeria, Turkey and Spain), DMCii works with the International Charter ‘Space and Major Disasters’ to provide free satellite imagery for humanitarian use in the event of major international disasters such as tsunamis, hurricanes, fires and flooding.
DMCii was formed in October 2004 and is a subsidiary of Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL), the world leader in small satellite technology. SSTL designed and built the DMC with the support of the UK Space Agency and in conjunction with the other DMC Consortium member nations listed above.
DMC International Imaging Ltd is not affiliated in any way with Intergraph Corp., Z/I Imaging Corp., or their registered trademark DMC.

This press release can be downloaded from http://tinyurl.com/dmciipr
Paul Stephens, Sales & Marketing Director, DMC International Imaging Ltd., www.dmcii.com
Tel: +44 (0)1483 804299 Email: p.stephens@dmcii.com

DMCii is offering ISPRS Student Consortium members the chance to get their hands on free DMCii archive imagery scenes as part of an ISPRS competition.

The ISPRS is an organisation devoted to the development of international cooperation for the advancement of remote sensing and its applications and the ISPRS Student Consortium is an important connection between academic research and the industry.

Winners of the competition will benefit from the wide area coverage of 22m resolution DMC data and the increased temporal resolution of the DMC constellation. Our data is used for all sorts of applications from forestry to urban planning and we look forward to seeing how the winners use this data.

To be in with a chance of winning, students must put together a presentation on their proposed use of the imagery and why they think it’s worthy of study. Competition winners will be selected by an ISPRS committee and awarded up to 10 tiles each from the DMCii catalogue.

The deadline is almost upon us (31st April), so if you’re an ISPRS Student Consortium member and interested, get you entry in now by submitting a 1-2 page proposal by e-mail to elenastudent (at) hotmail (dot) com.

Make sure you read the full list of T&Cs at the following address:
http://www.isprs.org/news/announcements/130318-DMCii4SC.pdf

Good luck with the entries!

About DMC International Imaging Ltd
DMC International Imaging Ltd (DMCii) is a UK-based supplier of remote sensing data products and services for international Earth Observation (EO) markets. DMCii supplies programmed and archived optical satellite imagery provided by the multi-satellite Disaster Monitoring Constellation (DMC). DMCii’s data is primarily used in a wide variety of commercial and government applications including agriculture, forestry and environmental mapping, which benefit from reliable high temporal resolution optical imagery.
In partnership with the UK Space Agency and the other DMC member nations (Algeria, China, Nigeria, Turkey and Spain), DMCii works with the International Charter ‘Space and Major Disasters’ to provide free satellite imagery for humanitarian use in the event of major international disasters such as tsunamis, hurricanes, fires and flooding.
DMCii was formed in October 2004 and is a subsidiary of Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL), the world leader in small satellite technology. SSTL designed and built the DMC with the support of the UK Space Agency and in conjunction with the other DMC Consortium member nations listed above.
DMC International Imaging Ltd is not affiliated in any way with Intergraph Corp., Z/I Imaging Corp., or their registered trademark DMC.

The G-NEXT (GMES pre-operational security services for supporting external actions) is a project in the Copernicus security context under the Seventh Framework Programme.

G-NEXT follows on its GMES security and emergency precursors G-MOSAIC and SAFER. The service will provide geospatial products supporting intelligence, early warning and crisis management operations responding to man-made or natural disasters. The target user community will include main actors and stakeholders involved in the context of EU Missions and Operations in support of EU External Actions: European External Actions Service (EEAS), national ministries and institutions and international institutions such as UN bodies.

The products are pre-operationally delivered either in rush (rapid), non-rush or monitoring mode. Thus wide range of crisis phases are covered by rich service products portfolio: pre-crisis phase and prevention (contingency plans, reference mapping), phase immediately after the event (event mapping, crisis area mapping, critical assets), and the post-event phase (damage assessment, monitoring mode). The project started on January 1st, 2013 and will run for 27 months. The project consortium involves 15 partners under the lead of e-GEOS.

Gisat contributes both in rush and non-rush mode by its proven capacity in EO data processing, semi-automatic feature extraction and satellite image interpretation. It follows up and build-ups on previous mapping activities carried out within emergency response RESPOND, SAFER and security G-MOSAIC projects.

More information at Gisat

ReSAC experts are actively involved the development of common resources for a territorial planning for the cross-border area between Bulgaria and Romanian, which comprises large part of Lower Danube. The work is in the scope of a Cross-Border Cooperation (CBC) Project “Common Strategy for Sustainable Territorial Development of the cross-border area Romania-Bulgaria”, funded by the European Regional Development Fund.

The Bulgarian Agency for Sustainable Development and Eurointegration (ASDE) is the leading partner of the work package, related to the development of a comprehensive spatial database for the cross-border area for the needs of the elaboration of common strategy for sustainable territorial development. The project started in February 2012 and will end in February 2014.

The detailed technical activities comprise a setting-up and development of systems and information services allowing the integration of the new, harmonized spatial databases and services with the existing information systems at county/district level. The database will ensure the necessary data for a comprehensive set of indicators at NUTS 3, 2 and LAU (local administration unit) level.

A particular output of the project will be the generation of detailed common land cover database for the cross-border area, built-up on the base of the philosophy of the Land Cover Meta Language (ISO 19144-2) and fully in compliance with INSPIRE principles. Common specification will ensure efficient cross-border analysis and reporting.

In parallel to that, ASDE and ReSAC initiated a technical collaboration with the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission (JRC) in Ispra within the scope of the Danube Strategy, and in relation to the CBC project. The MARS Unit of JRC currently prepares a set of activities, aiming to provide a methodological support in various land monitoring aspects of the project, such as:

  • Use of the CAP management tools (LPIS, CwRS …) as a successful example of ‘project’ development and good governance practice of EU fund expenditure
  • Land cover classification and harmonization approaches (TEGON concept, test-bed of INSPIRE data specification for land cover – Annexes F and G).
  • Tool to extract land cover information from IACS data (land cover/land use, indicators, geo-referenced statistics).
  • Selection of relevant indicators (agri environment indicators, urban indicators).


Fig. 1: Reference Land cover and Land Use (LC/LU) Layer for the Danube border area of Bulgaria, scale 1:50 000

Source ReSAC

Neustrelitz, Germany, April 5, 2013: Euromap GmbH, the exclusive supplier of Indian Remote Sensing data in Europe, introduces Euro-Maps 3D, an innovative DSM product developed in close co-operation with DLR’s Remote Sensing Technology Institute (IMF), offering a unique combination of 5 m DSM and 2.5 m ortho layers in a very good vertical (LE90) and horizontal accuracy (CE90) between 5 and 10 m.


Euro-Maps 3D is a brand new, homogeneous 5 m resolution digital surface model (DSM) of unique quality derived by Euromap from the 2.5 m in-flight stereo data provided by the Indian IRS-P5 Cartosat-1 satellite. This new and innovative product has been developed in close co-operation with the Remote Sensing Technology Institute (IMF) of the German Aerospace Center (DLR). The very detailed and accurate representation of the surface is achieved by using a sophisticated and tailored algorithm implemented on the basis of the Semi-Global Matching approach. A comparison of the surface representation provided by Euro-Maps 3D and by other available elevation models, such as DTED2 or SRTM Level1 data, is shown in 1. This highlights the very accurate mapping of buildings (red circle), roads (red arrow) and even slight differences in height (black arrow) in the Euro-Maps 3D product.


Figure 1: Comparison of surface representation provided by Euro-Maps 3D, DTED2 and SRTM Level 1 data; buildings (red circle), roads (red arrow), slight differences in height (black arrow)

The final product also includes detailed additional information consisting of several pixel based quality and traceability layers also including an ortho layer. This combination provides maximum accuracy, reliability and transparency.

The pan-European, off-the-shelf DSM product will be continuously made available by Euromap till the end of 2013 and offers transnational, homogenous quality covering most parts of Europe and North Africa. The first countries, including Kosovo, Macedonia and Albania, have already been processed and are available yet off-the shelf. Thanks to the good worldwide archive situation for IRS-P5 Cartosat-1 stereo data, other areas in regions such as the Middle East, Asia and America will be processed on request. Examples of DSM products can be seen in Figure 2. The preliminary prices for the DSM product are 4.50 €/km² for areas larger than 50,000 km² and 7.50 €/km² for smaller areas.


Figure 2: 2D view of Turin, Italy, and surroundings (left) and 3D view of Bandar Abbas, Iran, including the ortho layer (right)

The product is highly accurate and offers reliable vertical (LE90) and horizontal accuracy (CE90) of between 5 and 10 m. Accuracy tests, with kinematic GPS tracks being used as independent ground control, have been carried out at 22 selected test sites featuring different terrain and vegetation types in Europe and North Africa, and these show a mean horizontal accuracy (CE90) of 6.7 m and a mean vertical accuracy (LE90) of 5 m.

The combination of a 5 m DSM and a 2.5 m ortho image layer, processed in exactly the same geometry from the same data source, make Euro-Maps 3D an outstanding and unique product. The ortho image is useful for verifying height information and can also be used as an accurate geometric reference for other geo-data layers.

The characteristics of the Euro-Maps 3D product enable usage for a wide range of geo-applications that depend on the input or processing of elevation data. Basically, the DSM product can provide ideal elevation reference information for any satellite image orthorectification procedure. Also, its corresponding 2.5 m Cartosat-1 ortho image layer makes Euro-Maps 3D an excellent geo-reference data set for VHR and HR satellite image orthorectification. Other proven fields of application include 2D/3D visualisation and fly throughs, infrastructure and urban planning/monitoring, checking and monitoring of open cast mining, flood modelling, volume calculations, radiation and wave propagation, line-off sight analysis and risk analysis.

For further information regarding prices and availability of the DSM product please contact the Euromap customer support at data@euromap.de.

About Euromap
Euromap Satellitendaten-Vertriebsgesellschaft mbH was founded in 1996 as a 100% owned subsidiary of GAF AG in order to create an efficient commercial structure to receive, archive and market Earth observation satellite data in Germany. Experience and expertise in data reception and processing is optimally combined in the company with marketing and distribution activities – thus providing the essential conditions for supporting a growing user-market for remote sensing data. Euromap GmbH is located in Neustrelitz, Germany.

About IMF
The Remote Sensing Technology Institute (IMF) is an institute of the German Aerospace Centre (DLR). Together with the centre’s German Remote Sensing Data Center (DFD), it comprises DLR’s Earth Observation Center (EOC). IMF focuses on the development of algorithms and methods for the extraction of geoinformation from remote sensing data.

For more information, please contact:
Euromap GmbH
Phone +49 3981 4883 0.
info@euromap.de
German Aerospace Centre, Remote Sensing Technology Institute
Phone +49 8153 28 2757.
Peter.Reinartz@dlr.de|

Latest since large scale oil spill events, such as BP’s Deepwater Horizon accident, it became clear that technology for effectively monitoring, documenting and analysing oil spill dynamics is urgently needed. Moreover, the techniques shall allow a spatiotemporal explicit identification and quantitative assessment of the interaction with terrestrial and marine habitats of natural and economic value.

GeoVille Group, specialized in the development and application of state of the art satellite remote sensing and Geographic Information System(GIS) based spatial analysis techniques, was contracted to establish the first full spatial chronology of the Deepwater Horizon accident oil spill evolution and the identification as well as quantification of its site impacts. The coupled multi-source satellite monitoring and GIS approaches, with the involvement of world class institutions, allowed documenting the temporal evolution and dimensions. This provided accurate information on the location, extent, and temporal evolution of the oil spill and delivering means for a quantitative assessment of the impact on marine/coastal habitats affected.

Project Background

On April 20, 2010, catastrophe struck the Gulf of Mexico with the explosion and sinking of BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil rig, which left the drilling hole open. Crude oil has been expelled, affecting the marine and onshore environment, as well as the marine dependent economy throughout the Gulf. Not until September 19, 2010, a relief well successfully closed the original drilling hole. Meanwhile the controversy over the use of dispersants, the fate of the oil and the impact on the marine environment as well as economy in the Gulf has made clear that technology for effectively monitoring, documenting and analysing the oil spill dynamics as well as an assessment of its interaction with natural habitats is needed.

To be able to fully respond to such events on all levels of solution management, a multi-source satellite based documentation of the geographical and temporal impact of an oil spill on a variety of coastal and marine is required. Specifically, a standardized documentation in digital map and statistical form featuring:

  • Daily and weekly maps documenting the maximum extent of the oil spill and identifying site impacts of critical terrestrial and marine habitats of natural and economic value
  • Summary statistics and graphs quantifying area and sequences of oil interaction with terrestrial and marine habitats of natural and economic value
  • High resolution assessments for “hotspot” impact areas

Issues and Needs

The dynamic nature of oil spills due to the ocean’s changing environment is a huge challenge for management authorities, institutions involved in habitat protection as well as the full range of marine economic operators – from hotels to fishermen to local communities.

The specific needs were:

  • the geospatial explicit assessment on the extent and location of the oil spill, identifying also areas that were most frequently affected, for the entire duration of the oil spill.
  • an assessment of the oil spill interaction with natural habitats, in particular seagrass and turtle nesting beaches. A focus was placed on where and how often the oil occurred and which habitats were affected.
  • Detailed information for sites most impacted by the oil spill.
  • the geospatial and temporal interaction between the oil spill and the spawning habitat of the endangered Atlantic Bluefin Tuna (ABFT) that was located in the GOM during the time of the oil spill.
  • a detailed documentation of the oil spill interaction with the various habitats and a quantification of the affected areas and habitat types.
  • digital data for further analytical studies as well as communication material summarizing the impact of the oil spill in the GOM.

The geographic and temporal focus of this particular assessment was the north-eastern part of the Gulf of Mexico (GOM), including Florida and Cuba, for the time period from the start of the accident on 20th of April until 30th of September.

Solution

The coupled approach of employing multi-source optical and radar satellite data (i.e. from various satellite systems) allowed for a timely, synoptic, consistent and precise mapping of the oil spill extent in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM). Radar satellite data in particular is very suitable for water surface oil slick mapping due to the strong absorbance of the radar signal by the oil slick. To derive a consistent chronology of the oil spill the custom mapping productions were combined with oil spill delineations made available through public identities to accumulate a complete database of the temporal oil slick coverage’s. These were analysed through a GIS to produce daily and weekly summary frequency maps depicting how often an area was covered by oil from the beginning to the end of the drilling hole opening. The accumulation of satellite derived oil spill extents allows identification and quantification of areas that have been affected hardest, on the ocean as well as on the coast.

To determine the oil interaction within coastal habitats, the cumulative weekly maps were intersected coastal land cover data classified into habitats of particular interest. In this way, the length of the shoreline affected by the oil spill was identified for each land cover class, indicating also the frequency of oil contact. The resulting GIS database provided the basis for statistical analyses that were carried out for the affected shorelines in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and western Florida.

Sea turtle nesting sites and Atlantic Bluefin Tuna spawning habitat spawning index grids were intersected with the cumulative weekly oil spill maps to identify affected sites of this marine species of particular interest.

Results and Perspectives

The oil slick summary frequency maps derived from satellite data depict for each area how often it was affected by the oil spill between 20 April and 29 August 2010. The continuous monitoring of the oil spill extent from space allowed the area covered by the oil spill to be estimated and the sites of landfall to be identified from the first week of the accident until the oil could no longer be monitored from space 19 weeks later.

Analysis of the satellite data and the shoreline land cover revealed that mainly unconsolidated shores, bare areas (i.e. beaches) and estuarine wetlands were affected by oil landfall in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and western Florida. For example, in Louisiana, the percentage of affected wetland shorelines exceeded 15%. These habitats are home for many species and include important breeding sites and nursery grounds of marine animals, such as fishes, shrimps, sea turtles and birds.

Common straight-line distance assessments of the affected coastline, revealed that approximately 167 km of Gulf Coast shoreline experienced moderate to heavy oil impacts. Satellite technology allows assessing the exact length of the affected shoreline, defined as the length of the edge of a body of water, thereby including all water boundaries of inlets, estuaries etc. This methodology reveals the fine scale impact and was used to gather the oil spill interaction information. To allow comparability of results with other impact assessments, the summaries of the presented key results were therefore provided in proportions of the affected shoreline versus the total length of the shoreline.

To understand how far sea turtles were affected by the oil landfall, a detailed map of sea turtle nesting sites was intersected with the cumulative weekly maps. The number of weeks the oil spill was present at the nesting site is an important indicator for the state of the sea turtle population. Besides the impact on the coasts, marine species, such as the Atlantic Bluefin Tuna, were also affected by the oil spill. Using various satellite data and models it was possible to get a preliminary estimate of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill impact on the ABFT spawning habitat and larvae survival.

The study demonstrated well how large scale disasters can be efficiently monitored from space to identify most impacted areas. Multi-source satellite data provided valuable input for models and for the direct mapping of oil slick extents, allowing a timely, synoptic, continuous and precise mapping of the oil spill extent in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM). The intersection of satellite derived oil spill extents with various GIS datasets on valuable coastal and maritime habitats allows providing detailed information on the impacts of the oil spill on natural habitats, on the shoreline and in the GOM. The results derived in this study also highlight hot spot areas where increased restoration efforts are needed.

Necessary tools and processing chains to derive products for almost near real time and historical oils spill status and impact assessments were developed and are ready for operational applications or refinement for other oil related monitoring tasks.

Key Words

  • Year: 2010
  • Location: Gulf of Mexico
  • Market sector: Earth Observation, oil spill monitoring and impact assessment
  • Service: Weekly oil spill maps, oil spill chronology, oil spill statistics, land fall identification, coastal and pelagic habitat impact assessment, coastal land cover mapping

About


Tel: +43 (0)512 56 20 21-0
Fax: +43 (0)512 56 20 21-22
Email:info@geoville.com
Web: www.geoville.com
GeoVille Group is a private sector enterprise located in Austria and Luxembourg. GeoVille Group specialises in products and services related to Earth Observation (EO) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) applications.
GeoVille is Europe’s leading company in using satellite data for land monitoring and spatial planning applications.
Our services provide the bridge from user needs to technical implementation – merging geospatial explicit data with statistics – to the analysis of what on-going processes and trends mean for real world applications.

SPOT-VEGETATION turns 15 in May 2013!

After a long and successful career as Europe’s first truly operational system for global monitoring of vegetation, the mission is now nearing the end of its life cycle.

But the story continues! The role of SPOT-VEGETATION will be taken over by ESA’s technologically advanced PROBA-V mission from the summer of 2013 onwards.

To celebrate with us the operational and scientific achievements of SPOT-VEGETATION and to look forward to the intriguing perspectives that will offered to the user’s community by PROBA-V,

BELSPO and VITO are delighted to invite you to the conference “PROBING VEGETATION”

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