Skip to content

(10/08/2012) Recently EUROSENSE EOOD successfully completed the pilot project in Bulgaria “Aerial surveying of the terrain and preparation of digital terrain model of flood plains of the Bulgarian bank of the Danube River” for the Ministry of Environment and Water.

The project is a part of the EU Danube Region Strategy (DRS) and aims to develop a uniform methodology for calculating the risk of flooding and the level of vulnerability of territories along the Danube in the eight participating countries: Austria, Bulgaria, Hungary, Italy, Romania, Slovakia, Croatia and Serbia and to create maps of the danger and risk. The project includes the elaboration of a Digital Terrain Model and a Digital Surface Model by Airborne Laser Scanning as well as an elaboration of orthophotos with a resolution of 40 cm of the flood plains of the Bulgarian bank of the Danube River. The area of interest (2500 km2) was covered with a density of 3 points/m2.

Source Eurosense EOOD

Other News

Photogrammetry conference

This year Eurosense EOOD hosted the National Photogrammetry Conference on “Photogrammetry technologies for spatial data” which was held on Tuesday 3rd of July in Sofia in the building of the National House of Science and Technique. The event’s organizer was the “Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing” section of the Union of Surveyors and Land Managers in Bulgaria. The conference was attended by 65 people from 22 companies and several governmental institutions. The event started with an opening speech by Plamen Maldjanski, vice-rector for international relations and postgraduate qualification of the University of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Geodesy (UACEG). The first participant at the conference was Danail Evtimov – Head of the department of Photogrammetry of the Eurosense Group. He gave a presentation entitled “Eurosense technological solutions for geospatial data”. The conference was closed with a cocktail organized by Eurosense EOOD.

(18 September 2012) From the end of September 2012 on, the citizens of Tervuren can obtain an indication of the roof insulation quality of their house.

The municipality of Tervuren aims to sensitize their citizens about the efficient use of energy. Since a sufficient roof insulation has been identified as a crucial component in the battle for energy efficiency, investments in a well-installed roof insulation should be promoted. In order to come out with an interesting eye-catcher to bring this message, the municipality of Tervuren awarded EUROSENSE at the beginning of 2012 with a project for the creation of a thermographic map on the municipality.

In the cold winter night of the 8th on the 9th of March 2012, EUROSENSE flew with one of its airplanes equipped with a thermal camera over the entire territory of Tervuren, hereby capturing ca. 4500 images. At the same time, approximately 50 volunteers made a temperature measurement in the room(s) under their roof, and completed an inquiry on the composition of their building/roof, the use of the rooms under their roof, and so on. Experts from EUROSENSE processed the imagery in such a way that a georeferenced and homogeneous thermographic map of the entire municipality was created.

A correct interpretation of a thermographic map is crucial since the colours on the map depend on a variety of factors. Based upon the measurements executed by the volunteers, EUROSENSE established an interpretation key with easy-to-answer questions leading to a legend with a correct indication of the roof insulation quality. Furthermore, several people of the municipality were trained by the experts of EUROSENSE in the interpretation and possible exceptions of the thermographic map.

From the end of the month of September 2012, citizens can pass by at the municipality hall to check out the results of their own house and will also receive the necessary information on the available subsidies from the municipality officer. On the 26th of September (at 20h00), the thermographic map will be officially released during a press conference at the Administrative Centre (Markt 7A) of Tervuren.

Source Eurosense

(August 2012) Over the last few days, the Deimos-1 Earth Observation satellite, launched in space by Elecnor Deimos in July 2009, is monitoring the reactivation of the forest fire that broke out last Saturday on August the 4th, in the island of La Gomera. Fire flames have affected to a significantly important protected area of the National Park of Garajonay.

As can be seen in the image taken by Deimos-1 (Figure 1) on the 13th of August 2012 at 12:53 local time, the fire was reactivated and at least 10 smoke plumes (Figures 2 and 3) can be seen in the image. The smoke plumes imply new burned areas to be added to the surface that was significantly affected until the 9th of August. Damaged areas are easily detectable from space. The fire that broke out in La Gomera affects within part of the National Park of Garajonay, reserve of the nature declared World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1986. The reserve of the nature is located north to the already burned area. By using background satellite data, before and during the fire, two images captured on the 9th and 11th of July 2012, at 12:26 and 12:30 local time correspondingly, Elecnor Deimos Imaging shows the burned area during this fire as well as its evolution since the starting (Figures 4 and 5).

Figure 1. Burned area in the island of La Gomera (Canary Islands), captured on the 13th of August 2012 by the satellite Deimos-1. (Archive: Fig_1_2012-08-13_Deimos1_True_Colour.jpg)
Figure 2. Smoke plumes over the new burned area in the island of La Gomera (Canary Islands), captured on the 13th of August 2012 by the satellite Deimos-1. (Archive: Fig_2_2012-08-13_Deimos1_Penachos.jpg)
Figure 3. Recount summarizing the number of smoke plumes over the new burned area in the island of La Gomera (Canary Islands), captured on the 13th of August 2012 by the satellite Deimos-1. The ellipse in blue shows a flame front and the circles in red show the smoke plumes detected. (Archive: Fig_3_2012-08-13_Deimos1_Resumen_Penachos.jpg)
Figure 4.Multitemporal composition that identifies the burned area from the beginning of the fire that broke out in the island of La Gomera (Canary Islands), to the 9th of August. As well as its evolution between the 9th and the 13th of August as detected by Deimos-1 images. (Archive: Fig_4_2012-08-13_Deimos1_Fire.jpg)
Figure 5. Multitemporal composition that identifies the burned area from the beginning of the fire that broke out in the island of La Gomera (Canary Islands), to the 9th of August. As well as its evolution between the 9th and the 13th of August as detected by Deimos-1 images (Greater detail). (Archive: Fig_5_2012-08-13_Detalle_Deimos1_Fire.jpg)

The Deimos-1 Earth Observation system, comprising the satellite and its whole ground segment, is fully owned by Elecnor Deimos, the technology division of Elecnor. Elecnor Deimos Imaging, the Remote Sensing branch of Elecnor Deimos, operates and manages all the assets of the mission in order to generate and market high-resolution images and derived products characterising Earth’s surface. Their use covers various applications, such as agriculture, environment monitoring, climate change, security, deforestation and water resources control, and the support to relief activities during natural disasters.

The imaging instrument on-board the Deimos-1 satellite produces images of the Earth surface in three different spectral bands with a detail of 22 metres, and a large swath that covers up to 620 km. The satellite circles the Earth 15 times per day, and is capable of acquiring an image of any area of the world every three days.

Copyright Notice
The publicly released Elecnor Deimos images may be reproduced without fee for educational or informational purposes, on the condition of crediting Elecnor Deimos as the source of the images. Examples: Photo: Elecnor Deimos; Photo: Elecnor Deimos / Deimos-1
Source

(11/09/12) British satellite imaging company DMC International Imaging Ltd (DMCii) has launched launching a ground-breaking project with support from the UK’s innovation agency, the Technology Strategy Board to provide more accurate and reliable information about land carbon storage and how it changes over time.

By building on established carbon modelling and satellite remote sensing techniques, this initiative will provide scientifically validated carbon market intelligence and an automated Monitoring, Verification and Reporting (MRV) system to help organisations in their efforts to reduce deforestation and degradation. This system is designed for use in supporting REDD+ initiatives and aims to significantly reduce the transaction costs incurred in trading forest based carbon.

An important differentiator for this project is that the team will conduct rigorous scientific analysis of the carbon intelligence from the data sources (satellite images and ground samples) throughout the processing chain and will use carbon models to quantify the uncertainties involved and supply users with valuable quality assurance information.

Head of DMCii Product Development, Adina Gillespie, explains: “Earth observation-based carbon models are proven effective for MRV, but we have to accept that we don’t yet have a perfect system. We set out by asking ourselves: How can policy makers and carbon markets put their trust in an MRV system without knowing the uncertainties involved? With this in mind, we will employ end-to-end quality assurance and make the accuracy of the carbon market intelligence from this system available to the user.”

The system will use high–resolution satellite images to produce detailed carbon inventory maps, and will incorporate frequently updated images from Earth observation satellites to determine changes (deforestation, degradation) in forest cover or land use – and therefore the carbon flux – over time.

This innovative project was made possible with investment from the Technology Strategy Board, and brings together carbon intelligence provider Carbon Associates Limited and world renowned remote sensing and carbon sequestration researchers from University College London (UCL) under the leadership of satellite operator and remote sensing solution provider DMCii. The resulting carbon market intelligence products address a market estimated at £16 billion for which the UK has a strong base of skills, experience, research and technology.

Patrick Newton, acting Chief Executive Officer of Carbon Associates, commented, “we are very pleased to have been selected as a consortium partner alongside DMCii and UCL in this Technology Strategy Board backed project. We look forward to delivering increasingly accurate carbon stock accounting data to project developers, financiers and forest owners as they look to trade forest based carbon credits in the voluntary markets and take advantage of the enhanced Carbon Market Intelligence this project will deliver”.

Carbon market intelligence is continuously developing as the science matures and new techniques are developed. By employing rigorous quality assurance throughout its system, the team will be able to test how future improvements influence the reliability of data as the science and techniques of carbon modelling and remote sensing evolve.

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 used extensively in a wide variety of commercial and government applications including agriculture, forestry and environmental mapping.

In partnership with the UK Space Agency and the other Disaster Monitoring Constellation 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 Disaster Monitoring Constellation with the support of the UK Space Agency and in conjunction with the other Disaster Monitoring Constellation 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 trade mark DMC.

About Carbon Associates Limited (CAL)

CAL is a value added processor of remote sensing and ground collected data. CAL applies its proprietary algorithms and statistical analysis to big data sets in order to calculate carbon stock values – and changes in those values over time – for forested and agricultural land. CAL provides processed data sets and index based products to users as a managed service for the delivery of Carbon Market Intelligence.

Carbon Associates Limited is UK based and private equity backed.

About the Technology Strategy Board

The Technology Strategy Board is the UK’s innovation agency; its goal is to accelerate economic growth by stimulating and supporting business-led innovation. Sponsored by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), the Technology Strategy Board brings together business, research and the public sector, supporting and accelerating the development of innovative products and services to meet market needs, tackle major societal challenges and help build the future economy. For more information please visit: www.innovateuk.org

Source

(August 2012) BMT ARGOSS, a subsidiary of BMT Group Ltd, recently started producing weather forecasts for the Dutch North Sea for TAQA Energy B.V. TAQA Energy B.V. is a subsidiary of TAQA (Abu Dhabi National Energy Company PJSC), a global energy company majority owned by the Abu Dhabi Government. TAQA Energy B.V. is involved in the exploration, production, transportation and storage of oil and natural gas in the Netherlands.

With the information provided by BMT ARGOSS, TAQA Energy B.V can optimise operability and minimise risks due to unexpected and unfavourable weather conditions during drilling operations. In addition, the weather forecasts are used to safely transfer crews going offshore by helicopters.

Jean-Paul Lindeboom, Senior Meteorologist and heading the Centre at BMT ARGOSS comments: “Servicing clients like TAQA is bringing BMT ARGOSS right in the middle of our core business, Metocean and Weather forecasting. We will be using all off our in-house capabilities, like our extensive database, our experienced
oceanographers and maritime forecasters”.

The BMT ARGOSS MetOcean Weather Forecast and Emergency Response Centre provides weather forecasts and emergency response services globally. The dedicated forecasts, issued by a team of experienced Maritime Meteorologists, are designed to help minimise weather-related downtime and risk. The Weather Support Desk is available 24/7 by phone or email. In addition, the Meteorologists of BMT ARGOSS are qualified to provide on-site support of offshore operations.

BMT ARGOSS BV

BMT ARGOSS is a consulting company monitoring, analysing and forecasting environmental conditions with a focus on providing innovative meteorological and oceanographic solutions to the offshore, coastal and port sectors, and rban
management authorities.

Using in-house resources and expertise on MetOcean conditions, ocean & atmospheric modelling, meteorology, remote sensing and data assimilation we support numerous projects and operations around the world. The services that BMT ARGOSS offers are used, amongst others, for design of offshore structures, downtime analysis, operations planning and the execution of maritime operations.

Source

(07/06/12) TRE has produced a c-band co-seismic interferogram and deformation map of the recent earthquakes that occurred on 20th and 29th May 2012 in Emilia-Romagna, Italy with magnitudes 5.9 and 5.8 respectively.

The analyses were performed using two Radarsat-1 synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images acquired over the area affected by the seismic swarms, both before and after the two earthquakes.

TRE has been continuously acquiring Radarsat images over the entire Italian territory since 2003, which has allowed a complete archive of imagery to be immediately available for such analyses.

The results of the analyses have been delivered to the Italian Civil Protection Authorities and the National Geological Survey for further analysis and interpretation.


Displacement map: shows the extent of ground movement that occurred between the acquisition of the two SAR images used for the analysis (learn more).


Displacement map: shows the extent of ground movement that occurred between the acquisition of the two SAR images used for the analysis (learn more).

More information

Images used in the analysis:
Date (UTC+0): Satellite: Track: Geometry
12/05/2012 (05:23): RSAT-1: 54: D
05/06/2012 (05:23): RSAT-1: 54: D

(Munich, May 23rd, 2012) GAF AG announced today that it has made a successful contribution to Ambatovy’s biodiversity programme by applying Earth observation technology to the monitoring of forest habitats. The information derived contributes significantly to knowledge about prevailing deforestation rates along Madagascar’s eastern rainforest corridor, parts of which have World Heritage status. The investigation clearly demonstrated the utility of Earth observation technology for monitoring losses and gains in biodiversity associated with large mining projects.

Ambatovy in Madagascar is one of the largest mining and processing projects in Sub-Saharan Africa. With a planned production of 60,000 tonnes of refined nickel and 5,600 tonnes of refined cobalt per year, Ambatovy will soon rank among the largest lateritic nickel mining entities in the world. The mine is located 80 km east of Madagascar’s capital Antananarivo at the southern end of the eastern rainforest corridor, an area of humid forest with unique flora and fauna. A large and complex mosaic of forest and agricultural land surrounds the mine, including the Torotorofotsy Ramsar Wetland, the Analamazoatra Special Reserve and the Mantadia National Park – all of which feature high biodiversity. The project’s industrial sites (plant, tailings management facility and harbour extension) are located 130 km to the northeast of the mine site, at the port city of Toamasina. A pipeline connects the mine to the processing plant, which transports the slurry, a mixture of ore and water. Several forest conservation areas are situated within the Ambatovy Project region. These are located around the mine site, on the pipeline corridor and in the Ankerana forest, an off-site offset area located northeast of the mine and linked to the eastern rainforest corridor.

In order to preserve the biodiversity of this unique environment, the Ambatovy Project has developed a comprehensive biodiversity mitigation and conservation plan. This includes the establishment of on-site and off-site conservation areas or “offsets”, thereby ensuring that impacts of the mining are minimised. Residual losses are offset resulting in no net loss and preferably a net gain in biodiversity over the operating time of the project.

In support of Ambatoy’s ambitious and innovative biodiversity offsets program, GAF performed a land cover analysis using recent and historic satellite data. The focus of GAF´s intervention was to evaluate prevailing forest change between 2006 and 2011 in the Ambatovy Project region and at target conservation sites. Analogue and digital land cover and land cover change maps were produced for the mine site, the pipeline corridor and the forest conservation areas. This information was then utilised to identify forest change, quantify the amount of forest loss, specify the land use classes to which forest was transformed and report on the success of conservation efforts. Data collected on-site were used for training and verification purposes.

“The investigation based on Earth observation data is a really valuable asset for our work”, said Andrew Cooke, environmental manager of the Ambatovy Project. “The data provide objective and reproducible information and enable a quantification of the results of conservation efforts. In particular for our off-site offset area, which is difficult to access, Earth observation data are the only means available for demonstrating achievement of the required biodiversity gains.”

About EIB – Luxembourg

The European Investment Bank (EIB) is the financing arm of the European Union. All member states are shareholders and have jointly subscribed its capital. The aim of the institution is to provide long-term financing for investment projects inside and outside the EU that support the EU’s policy objectives. EIB is an institutional lender to the Ambatovy Project and has provided start-up financing for the monitoring programme described in this announcement under a tri-partite MoU between EIB, LuxSpace and Ambatovy.
More information is available at: www.eib.org

About LuxSpace – Luxembourg

LuxSpace is a daughter company of OHB AG of Bremen, Germany and located at Betzdorf in Luxembourg. The company provides expertise, products and services to the European and global institutional and industrial market in the fields of space and defence system engineering and application development. In the frame of the project, LuxSpace operated as the interface between the EIB, the Ambatovy Project and GAF, assisting EIB in the control and quality assurance of the service implemented.
More information is available at: www.luxspace.lu

About the Ambatovy Project/Madagascar

Ambatovy is a multi-national mining and processing enterprise with four joint-venture partners: Sherritt International Corporation of Canada, Sumitomo Corporation of Japan, Korea Resources Corporation and SNC-Lavalin Incorporated of Canada. The project is supported financially by 14 lenders including government-sponsored export credit agencies, international development banks (including the EIB) and commercial banks from around the world, several of which are Equator Banks and require compliance with IFC performance standards on social and environmental sustainability. The Project’s aim is to develop and operate a nickel and cobalt mine and simultaneously adhere to stringent environmental and social requirements. Ambatovy has provided in-country logistical and technical support for GAF’s assignment and is committed to maintaining the forest monitoring program initiated by the EIB and LuxSpace.

More information is available at: www.ambatovy.com

About GAF – Munich/Germany

GAF AG, an e-GEOS-Telespazio company, is a globally active business with an international reputation as a skilled service provider. GAF designs, manages and implements projects and services in the fields of geo-information, satellite remote sensing and GIS consultancy for public and private clients. Over the past 26 years, GAF has been active in more than 100 countries throughout Europe, Africa, South-America and Asia.

More information is available at: www.gaf.de

Contact details:
GAF AG | Tel. +49 (0) 89 12 15 28 0 | www.gaf.de | info@gaf.de

(1June2012) The launch is expected to occur upon the conclusion of current negotiations between Russian and Kazakh officials over drop zone issues.


“We are confident that the authorities of both countries involved will resolve their remaining issues in the near term and that the launch will proceed with minimal delay,” said Peter Mabson, President of exactEarth. “We are excited about strengthening our constellation with EV1, which will be the highest performance commercial AIS satellite ever launched.”

EV1 is one of two exactEarth satellites expected to be launched in 2012, with two additional launches scheduled for 2013. exactEarth also continues to pursue other options and initiatives to further enhance overall system capacity and data service quality.

About exactEarth Ltd.

Based in Cambridge, ON, exactEarth Ltd. is a data services company that leverages advanced microsatellite technology to deliver monitoring solutions characterized by high performance, reliability, security, and simplicity. exactEarth’s service, exactAIS, is a global vessel tracking and monitoring system based on world leading satellite-based advanced AIS detection technology. exactEarth is jointly owned by Com Dev International Ltd (TSX: CDV) and Hisdesat Servicios Estratégicos S.A.

(source: exactEarth)

News on Oil traces on satellite images, Satellite-based monitoring, Space imagery realities and prospects, Space crowdsourcing… etc

(2012-07-13) Oil traces on satellite images of the Novorossiysk bay

(2012-07-13) Symbols of the millennium are painted on the building roofs in near Moscow

(2012-07-12) Satellite-based monitoring: no serious changes in Neberjaevskoye water reservoir surface area detected

(2012-07-12) “Space imagery realities and prospects: materials of the “Earth from Space…” magazine, issue #12, are available now”:http://www.scanex.ru/en/news/News_Preview.asp?id=n15313781

(2012-07-09) Internet and information openness symbols are being painted on the roofs of the Rumyantsevo business-park in Moscow Region

(2012-07-04) Space crowdsourcing: search for An-2 plane is ongoing

(2012-06-30) ScanEx RDC – the GeoEye’s Top International Performer for the second year in a row

(2012-06-01) Symbols of the millennium festival: final composition for the roof is ready

(2012-06-01) Blooming Black Sea. Satellite data

Remote Sensing Application Center – ReSAC participation in BALWOIS 2012 and participation on several scientific activities

Remote Sensing Application Center – ReSAC participation in BALWOIS 2012 06.2012

Remote Sensing Application Center – ReSAC participated in the 5th Conference on Water, Climate and Environment – BALWOIS 2012, which was held in Ohrid (Republic of Macedonia) in the period 28th May – 2nd June 2012. http://www.balwois.com/2012/

The main significance of BALWOIS is synthesis, introduction and exchange of scientific information, methods, analyzes and results, achieved by various scientific institutions, organizations and researchers in the field of climate monitoring and analysis, the impact of climate changes on individual elements of the environment, research on water resources and application of different ecohydrological approaches to water management systems at local and transnational level. Special attention is paid to the monitoring of water resources in the Balkan countries and the creation of a united community in the Balkans by shareholders in the field of water conservation and management – scientists, experts, NGOs, society.

BALWOIS 2012 was organized by IB2E, METEO MAK, Hydrobiological Institute of Ohrid, Faculty of Civil Engineering at “Sts. Cyril and Methodius” University in Skopje, the Macedonian Hydrometeorological Service, as well as supported by the Ministry of Environment and Physical Planning, Republic of Macedonia, the French Embassy in Skopje, International Association of Hydrological Sciences (IAHS) and other private organizations.

ReSAC experts participated in a plenary scientific session in one of the conference topics: “Integrated Water Resources Management” with a report, entitled “Mapping, passportization and creation of national database of standing water bodies and wetlands within the territory of Republic of Bulgaria. DB Multipurpose Use: Case study EUFODOS Project – FP7 for scientific research of the European Commission.http://balwois.com/2012/USB/papers/1055.pdf

ReSAC participated on several scientific activities. 04 – 05.2012
ReSAC participated in „Professional realisation and perspectives of the young surveyors in Bulgaria”

On 03 of May 2012, a youth seminar entitled „Professional realisation and perspectives of the young surveyors in Bulgaria“ was held at the House of Science and Technique, Sofia. It was organised by Federation of the Scientific Engineering Unions (FSEU) and the Union of Surveyors and Land Managers in Bulgaria (USLMB). The seminar aimed to inform and inspire young scientists and students about their professional practice in geodesy and related fields. ReSAC participated with the presentation about “Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) program – Bulgarian operational Earth observation capacity”.

Source