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European Space imaging is happy to be a sponsor of the inaugural Arab-German Majlis organised by the German Emirati Joint Coincil for Industry and Commerce based in Dubai.

The event will take place at the Hotel Bayerischer Hof, Munich and will act as a platform for both Arabic and German companies to come together to network and expand their business relations within a relaxed and friendly majlis-like atmosphere.

The presentations of Roland Berger Consultants, European Space Imaging, SAP, Amereller Legal Consultants and Bauer Kompressoren will be followed by a dinner, hosted by H.E. Martin Zeil, Bavarian Minister of State for Economic Affairs, Infrastructure and Technology.

European Space Imaging will also have a stand at the event.

Source

(09June2011) BMT ARGOSS, a subsidiary of BMT Group, the international design, engineering and risk management consultancy, has announced its latest recruitment drive to further strengthen its ship response expertise and offer additional web-based information services using existing vessel performance monitoring capabilities.

12 new staff including naval architects, wave specialists and software engineers have recently joined the team at the company’s headquarters in the Netherlands and there are plans to recruit six more in the coming year. The new recruits have added further specialist knowledge to BMT ARGOSS’s wealth of MetOcean experience which now includes: hindcasting and forecasting, tidal and ocean current analysis, shallow water bathymetry studies, wave penetration into harbours and high resolution atmospheric modelling.

The new recruits bring experience in the simulation of moored ship response and ship manoeuvring allowing them to provide additional support to the vessel performance management activities carried out by the BMT ARGOSS team operating out of Southampton. This will be closely aligned with BMT’s PC Rembrandt software which is a real time, ship-handling and manoeuvring simulator that provides a method of assessing the safety of ship based infrastructure (e.g. ports or offshore LNG terminals) for safe arrivals and departures in a wide range of environmental conditions and scenarios.

Han Wensink, Director of BMT ARGOSS comments: “The worldwide demand for raw materials and energy is increasing. This means that ports are expanding, the transport of oil and LNG is rising and offshore energy infrastructures such as wind farms are quickly being established. Our ambition is to establish ourselves as a worldwide centre of expertise for MetOcean services and ship response simulation.

Having the highest calibre of people is critical to ensuring we can offer the best possible, specialist advice to our customers in the offshore, coastal and harbour sectors.”

Source

SPOTMAPS Australia (08/07/2011)

On going updates and high location accuracy

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New volcano eruption in Chile (01/07/2011)

SPOT 4 monitors the plume of ashes
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Astrium to Showcase End-to-End GEO-Information Services Capabilities at the 25th International Cartographic Conference (30/06/2011)

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Astrium GEO-Information Services has increased investment in i-cubed (30/06/2011)

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The 2011 Paris Air Show from space (27/06/2011)

FORMOSAT-2 satellite image of the Parc des Expositions on 24th June 2011

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Emergency Response (10/06/2011)

Service GMES in action and space-based products in SAFER Newsletter No. 1

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USGIF Announces Commercial Synthetic Aperture Radar Satellite Working Group (04/05/2011)

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Press Releases

SPOTMAPS Australia (08/07/2011)

On going updates and high location accuracy

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Astrium to Showcase End-to-End GEO-Information Services Capabilities at the 25th International Cartographic Conference (30/06/2011)

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Astrium GEO-Information Services has increased investment in i-cubed (30/06/2011)

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Source Astrium Services

During its first two years, the Deimos-1 Earth Observation system has undergone constant and significant updates in operations, mission planning and data processing. Its current capability allows the frequent cloud-free coverage of very large areas, providing high-quality data and services while remaining cost-effective.
As examples, Deimos-1 has obtained a complete coverage of the sub-Saharan Africa in the first five months of 2011, and it is currently obtaining two coverages of the US per month.

Deimos-1, the first Spanish Earth Observation satellite, was launched in July 2009, and it is right now completing its first two years of successful operations.

Deimos-1 has been designed specifically to provide high-resolution coverage of very large areas, thanks to its 640-km wide swath at 22-metre resolution. Its data are used in a wide variety of applications including agriculture, forestry and environmental mapping.

DEIMOS Imaging (DMI) owns the complete Deimos-1 Earth Observation system, providing operations, mission planning and data processing, and offering an end-to-end service to customers worldwide.

Taking advantage of the large experience of ELECNOR DEIMOS in similar ESA projects, DMI has developed an advanced mission planning system (PlanEO) which allows optimising image acquisition scheduling in order to complete large coverage campaigns while avoiding clouds. PlanEO is now fully operational in DMI premises in Boecillo, Spain.

The data processing chain has been also continuously improved, increasing the productivity and the quality of the final products, through an on-going cooperation with the Remote Sensing Laboratory of the University of Valladolid and a constant feedback from the users of Deimos-1 data.

The current level of capability of the Deimos-1 system allows to image huge areas within a very short time-frame, providing the equivalent of a single cloud-free acquisition.

During its first year of operations DMI was responsible for an ambitious ESA project aimed at covering in a few months all tropical rainforests in South America and Asia, in the frame of the TropForest initiative. In 2010 Deimos-1 also contributed significantly to the DMCii coverage of the sub-Saharan Africa, acquired for the European GMES programme.

Taking advantage of the improvements in its capabilities, in the first five months of 2011 Deimos-1 has acquired a complete, and almost cloud-free coverage of the sub-Saharan Africa (see image). This dataset will be completed in 2011, and it will soon become available to all European users through the GMES Space Component Data Access (GSCDA).

DMI is also currently providing a complete and almost cloud-free coverage of the Continental US at 22m resolution every two weeks, combining Deimos-1 and UK-DMC2 data (see image), which is used to monitor the US 2011 crop season. Each image is processed and delivered within 72 hours from acquisition, allowing the prompt use of the time-sensitive data by the whole user community.

At the beginning of its third year of operations, the Deimos-1 system keeps improving, in order to provide an even better service to its customers.

About DEIMOS Imaging S.L.

DEIMOS Imaging S.L. (DMI), a Spanish private company, is the owner and operator of the Deimos-1 satellite, and markets its images and value-added products worldwide.
DMI was formed in 2006 and is the company devoted to Earth Observation within ELECNOR DEIMOS, the technology division of ELECNOR. ELECNOR is one of the largest industrial corporations in Spain, involved in engineering, renewable energy, new technologies, and the development and construction of large infrastructure projects.
For more information, please see www.deimos-imaging.com

Notes to editor:
High quality images of the coverages are available upon request from DEIMOS Imaging.

Press contacts:
Fabrizio Pirondini, Business Development Manager,
DEIMOS Imaging S.L.,
Tel: +34 91 806 3450,
Email: fabrizio.pirondini@deimos-imaging.com

U.K.-based satellite imagery provider DMC International Imaging Ltd (DMCii) signed a 110m pounds deal with Beijing-based company 21AT, to provide access to high-resolution satellite imagery for its customers during the Chinese premier’s U.K. visit. 21AT will lease capacity from three new satellites that are to be launched into a new Earth Observation constellation DMC3, which will be owned and operated by DMCii.

Twenty First Century Aerospace Technology Company Ltd. (21AT) is the first customer to adopt DMCii’s innovative new satellite services model. Traditionally, a satellite imagery provider would purchase and operate their own satellites.

However, in this case, 21AT will lease from DMCii 100 percent of the imaging capacity of the three high resolution satellites under a seven-year contract. In return, 21AT will receive timely, high resolution (1 metre GSD) satellite imagery with planning and tasking but without the complexity associated with procuring and operating a satellite constellation.

The three satellites will be built and launched for DMCii by U.K. small satellite pioneer Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. (SSTL) and are scheduled to be ready for launch in 2014. It is anticipated that more satellites will be added to the constellation as additional capacity is required for DMCii’s international customer base and other early adopters of this unique service model.

The 1m panchromatic and 4m multi-spectral imagery from the DMC3 satellites will provide 21AT’s customers with greatly enhanced data continuity from its current satellite, Beijing-1, and by leasing capacity from three satellites, the company will have the power of the new constellation at its disposal – providing both increased resolution with rapid imaging and revisit. Applications for the imaging service include monitoring China’s land use and land cover changes, and enabling regional governments to plan and monitor the phenomenal rate of urban development in China’s cities. With access to the constellation imaging capacity, 21AT will also be able to provide more rapid imaging of the affected area in the event of a disaster because the time between satellite passes over an area is dramatically reduced.

By combining the coverage from three satellites, the DMC3 constellation will be able to revisit a given area daily, which is crucial for change detection, disaster monitoring and response planning, and essential for acquiring cloud-free imagery. Like its SSTL-300 counterpart, the new 350kg satellite also features advanced avionics and optical systems that make it possible to perform several different types of imaging such as mapping terrain, strip imaging and mosaic imaging for wide areas.

UK-based satellite imagery provider DMC International Imaging Ltd (DMCii) signed a £110m deal with Beijing-based company 21AT, to provide access to high-resolution satellite imagery for its customers during the Chinese premier’s UK visit. 21AT will lease capacity from three new satellites that are to be launched into a new Earth Observation constellation “DMC3” which will be owned and operated by DMCii.

21At President Mme Wu Shuang and DMCii executive Chairman Sir Prof. Martin Sweeting sign landmark agreement

An unparalleled collection of high resolution satellite imagery covering sub-Saharan Africa in a single season is available in the DMCii image archive, providing an invaluable snapshot of more than 40 countries, including Cameroon, Congo, and Ethiopia for assessing phenomena such as deforestation, urbanisation and desertification.

The DMCii 2010 coverage, acquired for the European GMES programme, captures a moment in time – providing an irrefutable marker for urbanisation, desertification and forest cover against which future coverage can be compared.

DMCii has now almost completed its second full 2011 update of Africa at 22metre GSD cross calibrated within 1% of Landsat, providing a unique resource for resource management in the continent. Sub-Saharan Africa is a vast and diverse landscape with climatic extremes ranging from arid desert to the Congo rainforest. Satellite imagery is an invaluable tool for monitoring region-wide changes in land use and the environment.

Since the DMC satellites acquire very large images, up to 650km wide, such vast areas can be mapped quickly, and in detail using the 22metre resolution imagers on the DMC satellites. Because the DMC imagers are accurately calibrated to Landsat, they enable detailed comparison with the past 30 years of imagery for changes in crops, forests, rivers and towns. Most importantly, because huge areas can be imaged by the DMC constellation within a short time-frame, the images acquired are acquired at a similar point in time, which is vital for effective monitoring. Processing is also minimised for the end-user – large contiguous images can be assembled to produce clear and accurate continental-scale maps with minimal image analysis and manipulation.

Tropical forests present specific challenges. Because rainforests are frequently obscured by cloud, single satellites often had to acquire images for a decade to map an area. In contrast DMCii liberates forest management from this constraint by coordinating a constellation of satellites which, through daily imaging, acquire cloud-free images whenever there is a gap in the cloud. For the first time annual and seasonal tropical forest maps are available, providing vital information for REDD+ monitoring of forest carbon resources.

The DMCii 22m coverage of sub-Saharan Africa is being fully updated in 2011

(Source DMCii)

DMC International Imaging Ltd (DMCii) took over the chairmanship of the International Charter: Space and Major Disasters at the Executive Secretariat meeting in May.

The Charter is an organisation that coordinates space agencies worldwide in gathering vital satellite images of disaster-stricken regions – providing the images to civil protection authorities to inform their response efforts and save lives.

As Chair, DMCii is responsible for ensuring the operational elements of the Charter run smoothly and supporting strategy and policy decisions. It is a particularly exciting time to lead the Charter as the membership is committed to finding ways of widening national access to the Charter’s services.

Speaking ahead of his keynote address at the Charter Board Meeting in London, UK Minister for Universities and Science David Willetts said:

“The Charter is a great example of the enormous benefits space can bring to our everyday lives. It provides invaluable and immediate satellite images during times of crisis, from tracking extreme weather or to dealing with the aftermath of earthquakes and tsunamis, as we saw very recently in Japan.

“During the UK’s chairmanship we’re keen to build on the Charter’s success and open up international access to the world’s satellite resources. This means the Charter will play an even bigger role in helping countries respond effectively to emergencies, and ultimately help save lives.”

Since it was set up in 1999, the Charter has provided images during more than 300 disasters in more than 100 countries – most recently following the earthquake in Japan and the recent severe tornadoes in the southern United States.

Membership of the Charter is open to all space agencies able to contribute satellite images. Uniquely, the UK is a member on a public-private basis that makes optimal use of the available government and commercial expertise. The UK Space Agency holds a seat on the Charter’s Board, providing direction and examining ways to improve Charter performance in future. DMCii coordinates the Disaster Monitoring Constellation (DMC), currently a five-strong international satellite constellation made available as part of the Charter satellite fleet, and implements the day-to-day Charter process as a member of the Charter’s Executive Secretariat.

David Hodgson, DMCii’s member of the Charter’s Executive Secretariat said:

“The Charter is still being run in much the same way as when it began in 2000 with three members. Now, with the German Aerospace Center (DLR) joining last year, membership is up to 14. We need to address the practical implications of this growth to keep the Charter operating in the same efficient and streamlined manner.”

So far this year, the Charter has been activated for the flooding in Australia, Brazil, Mozambique, Namibia and most recently in central Midwest America, as well as hurricane Yasi, earthquakes in Pakistan and New Zealand and Japan, and a volcanic eruption in Argentina.


UK-DMC2 satellite image© [2011] SSTL, all rights reserved, supplied by DMCii

(Source DMCii)

GRAS is involved in mapping of water quality of Danish lakes using WorldView-2, Landsat and MERIS.

With the implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive there is a need for better knowledge on water quality in all larger lakes in Denmark by 2015. Currently, the national monitoring programme in Denmark (NOVANA) is based on traditional in-situ sampling and an extension of this monitoring programme would be a very expensive and time consuming task.

Activities related to monitoring of the marine environment by use of satellite (for examples see http://www.grasdk.com/Solutions/MarineApplications )
have proven to be a cost-efficient addition to the in-situ based monitoring programme. Monitoring of water quality through remote sensing is one of the core competences at GRAS and the thorough knowledge gained in this field will be applied in this project to investigate the potential of very high resolution satellite images for water quality monitoring. In order to test the possibilities of transferring the methods and experiences from the marine monitoring activities in Denmark to the monitoring of lakes a research project funded by the EcoInnovation sector of the Danish Ministry of Environment has been initiated with the aim of optimizing monitoring of the freshwater lakes in Denmark.


Example of Chl-A mapping based on 8 band WorldView2 data

The project will focus on chlorophyll mapping using time series of both the newest very high resolution satellite data (2m resolution) and the traditional medium resolution satellite data (300 m resolution). Furthermore, it will be investigated how the integration of satellite data into ecological lake models can be improved and extended. The DK Lake Monitoring Project is a partnership between GRAS, DHI Water and Environment, the National Environmental Research Institute (NERI) – Department of Freshwater Ecology and TBJ Consult. GRAS’ competences in satellite based monitoring of the environment in general and the marine environment in particular will be a key part of the project that will run from 2010 – 2012.

Satellite data to be used in the study includes Landsat, WorldView-2 and MERIS Full Resolution data.

Further information at GRAS

(May 2011) GAF AG, an internationally active geo-information technology and consulting company, announces that it has been awarded by World Bank (WB) and European Space Agency (ESA) with Service Production in Bolivia. In the framework of eoworld, which is a partnership program of WB and ESA, together with its partner EOMAP GAF will provide dedicated state of the art Earth Observation products regarding Water Quality, Land Use and Land Use change for the Lake Titicaca sub-basin in Bolivia and Peru.

International financial institutions (IFI) provide financial support and professional advice for development activities on local to regional scale in developing countries. Their activities are generally organized in dedicated projects financed by long-term loans or grants covering social and economical development aspects in a wide range of fields. For certain fields Earth Observation (EO) products and services have been identified as a useful tool to support the monitoring and management of IFI projects, to improve the efficiency of the investments made and finally to assess the impact and social benefits of the financed development activity.

ESA, as part of its Value Adding Element (VAE) programme, has been interacting with the IFI and their stakeholders to understand their working environment and information requirements in particular for EO services. Especially with WB, ESA started a partnership program named eoworld in 2010. Within this programme, first dozen of Bank teams from across a variety of sectors and representing all regions were selected through a competitive process to receive assistance of ESA to apply Earth Observation services in selected operations.

“The main aim of the eoworld initiative is to demonstrate the value of European and Canadian satellites, both ESA and national missions, and the capabilities of specialised value-adding companies that can provide information services to benefit the World Bank’s operations,” said Stephen Coulson, ESA’s Head of Industry Section.

This process has resulted in dedicated service specifications for World Bank, which have been put out for tender. GAF has been awarded with the MONITORING OF WATER QUALITY AND LAND USE CHANGES IN THE LAKE TITICACA BASIN project, which is directly driven by the requirements of the supported WB project and its local stakeholders in Bolivia.

During a 2 days meeting in April at WB’s headquarters in Washington DC, together with ESA, WB and EOMAP, all service products have been finalised. For an area of about 47 000 km² in Bolivia and Peru (Lake Titicaca sub-basin), together with EOMAP GAF will provide dedicated state of the art EO products which have been customised to meet the specific user requirements of WB best possible. Including Water Quality products such as information on Turbidity, Suspended Matter and Chlorophyll-A as well as mapping products on Land Use/Land Cover and Land Use/Land Cover Change, the service will deliver products for environmental monitoring of Lake Titicaca between the years 2003 and 2010. All delivered products will be validated together with the service performance by WB and local stakeholders. The benefit of the information service will be assessed relatively to the objectives of the project as well.

Project activities started in April 2011 and will be concluded in February 2012.

For more detailed information, please consult the news section of ESA’s website or the EOWORLD project website from WB

About World Bank – Washington DC/USA

The World Bank is a vital source of financial and technical assistance to developing countries around the world. Our mission is to fight poverty with passion and professionalism for lasting results and to help people help themselves and their environment by providing resources, sharing knowledge, building capacity and forging partnerships in the public and private sectors.

We are not a bank in the common sense; we are made up of two unique development institutions owned by 187 member countries: the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Development Association (IDA).

Each institution plays a different but collaborative role in advancing the vision of inclusive and sustainable globalization. The IBRD aims to reduce poverty in middle-income and creditworthy poorer countries, while IDA focuses on the world’s poorest countries.

Their work is complemented by that of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) and the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID).

Together, we provide low-interest loans, interest-free credits and grants to developing countries for a wide array of purposes that include investments in education, health, public administration, infrastructure, financial and private sector development, agriculture and environmental and natural resource management.

The World Bank, established in 1944, is headquartered in Washington, D.C. We have more than 10,000 employees in more than 100 offices worldwide.

About ESA / ESRIN – Frascati/Italy

ESRIN, known as the ESA Centre for Earth Observation, is one of the five ESA specialised centres situated in Europe. Located in Frascati, a small town 20 km south of Rome in Italy, ESRIN was established in 1966 and first began acquiring data from environmental satellites in the 1970s. Since 2004, ESRIN has been the headquarters for ESA’s Earth Observation activities.

ESRIN acts as an interface between ESA and those who use its services. The centre has close links with European industry, the European Union and the civil protection, agriculture and environment ministries within ESA Member States. ESRIN also cooperates with international organisations including UN agencies and the European Commission, and plays an important role in many international projects. More on the ESA programme Value Adding Element

About GAF AG – Munich/Germany

GAF AG, an e-GEOS, Telespazio company, is globally active and has an international reputation as a competent provider of project design, management and implementation services in the fields of geo-information, satellite remote sensing and GIS consultancy to private and public clients. Within the past 25 years, GAF has been active in more than 100 countries throughout Europe, Africa, South-America and Asia. More on GAF

To obtain more information, please contact:
GAF AG | Tel. +49 (0) 89 12 15 28 0 | www.gaf.de | info@gaf.de |

About EOMAP GmbH&Co.KG – Gilching/Germany

EOMAP is a private enterprise and worldwide active for the offshore industry, environmental agencies and research organizations. EOMAP is specialized in coastal and inland water monitoring services, e.g. high resolution water quality monitoring and water depth mapping. Using an operational physical based processing approach, EOMAP offers the best possible temporal and spatial resolution with manifold sensors. More on EOMAP

SAFER fire services, based on EO data and led by INSA, cover all phases of crisis management in order to provide a complete support to authorities for the prevention, correct management of resources and analysis of effect of fire events

INSA leads the European fires platform of SAFER (www.emergencyresponse.eu), coordinating the activities of Spain, Portugal, France, Italy and Greece. (www.insageoservices.com)

Forest fires can be a major ecological disturbance agent that modifies landscapes, especially when normal fire frequencies and /or intensities are modified. The main negative fire effects are vegetation biomass loss, soil degradation, greenhouse gas emissions and, in the worst cases, the loss of lives.

A comprehensive study of a fire event requires prevention, early warning, crisis monitoring and, after the fire occurs, the interpretation of causal factors, fire effects and ecosystem responses, in a wide range of spatial (local to regional) and temporal (short to long term) scales. Often, this assessment is incomplete due to economic reasons, the lack of data or the use of standard methodologies that are not efficient.

SAFER project proposed several fire services in order to support all phases of crisis management:

  • Preparedness/Prevention: Global Fire Risk Service (GRF) provides fire danger forecast on the basis of meteorological weather forecasts. Information content includes the identification of the area that can be under risk classified into 5 classes (from very low to very high risk).
  • Emergency Response: Fire monitoring (FMM-1) – They contain the continuous near-real time monitoring of active fires. This product includes fire location and several associated parameters: estimated fire power, fire temperature, size of burning area and background temperature. In addition, cloud cover is provided per each satellite image- and Rapid burned area mapping (FMM-2) – fire perimeters at medium resolution by the daily MODIS acquisition and processing can be provided, between 1 and 7 days after fire extinction.
  • Recovery: Recovery products are intended for an in-depth analysis of fire event, e.g. damage assessment or a synthesis of the fire event. High resolution fire perimeter (BSM-1) can be provided at the end of the fire season, for fire inventory. Fire severity (BSM-2) product is the estimation of damage levels in the different vegetation strata.

Example of FMM-1 product provided through the dedicated GeoPortal by INSA (with the collaboration of LATUV, ©INSA)

A detailed and rapid knowledge of the level of damage and its spatial distribution is essential to:

• quantify the impact of fire on landscape;
• select and prioritize treatments applied on site;
• plan and monitor restoration and recovery activities;
• provide baseline information for future monitoring.

Between all these services proposed by SAFER, INSA is service provider of FMM-1, FMM-2, BSM-1 and BSM-2. (www.insageoservices.com)

Example of FMM-2 kmz-product (Fire in Kalmthout NationalPark, Belgium, May 2011, © INSA)

SAFER fire products have a strong scientific base, demonstrated by the number of scientific papers published in high impact journals and PhD thesis related to their development and testing. On the other hand, the methodologies developed are automatic or semi-automatic, what confirms the operational generation of fire products.

SAFER fire services were selected among the most mature products provided in previous GMES projects. During 18 months, the products were tested and improved, taking into account both the validation results and users’ feedback. In 2010, all products, except for GFR, were independently validated and checked by other partners and users of the project in order to evaluate their incorporation in the portfolio of operational services. User feedback results quantified the overall agreement with an average value of 4.15 over 5 (where 1 corresponds to “very low” and 5 to “very high” agreement), with a homogeneous trend for all products.

After all this validation process, the SAFER fire services have been considered fully operational and have been included to the core SAFER services (since July 2011). Any authorized user can now activate SAFER and ask for our products in case of natural disaster. (www.insageoservices.com)

Example of BSM-1 product (Fire in Kalmthout NationalPark, Belgium, June 2011, © INSA & ASTRIUM)

Active fire location and rapid burned area mapping (FMM-1 and FMM-2 products) will be provided in “emergency” mode within 8 hours from the receipt of the first suitable satellite image of the disaster, whereas detailed burned area mapping and fire severity will be delivered within 45 days (“emergency support” mode).

The distribution of these products to a wide number of users will contribute to better understand and forecast fire behavior, to manage the crisis in a more cost-effective way, to reduce the impacts and to plan and monitoring the mitigation and recovery activities.

(Source INSA)