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Scientists from the German Aerospace Center’s (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) Institute of Atmospheric Physics (Institut für Physik der Atmosphäre; IPA) travelled to Iceland for the last of a series of DLR-led technology demonstration campaigns for ESA’s meteorological satellite mission, ADM-Aeolus.

Scientists from the German Aerospace Center’s (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) Institute of Atmospheric Physics (Institut für Physik der Atmosphäre; IPA) travelled to Iceland for the last of a series of DLR-led technology demonstration campaigns for ESA’s meteorological satellite mission, ADM-Aeolus. Its closeness to Greenland and the Atlantic storm track region made the island a perfect base for the test flights with DLR’s Falcon research aircraft.

The DLR team spent two weeks in Iceland, performing a total of six flights over Iceland, over the ocean between Iceland and Greenland and over the Greenland glacier plateau. The aim of this DLR-led campaign with A2D was to investigate details of the instrument operations strategy and to refine the ADM-Aeolus data processors that will provide the mission’s wind products.

Two different wind lidar instruments – the ALADIN Airborne Demonstrator (A2D), a prototype version of the instrument that will fly on ADM-Aeolus, and a reference wind lidar operating at an infrared wavelength of two microns – were operated onboard DLR’s Falcon 20E aircraft, and both performed well throughout the campaign.

During the flights, spectacular measurements of very strong winds flowing off the Greenland plateau and over the northern Atlantic Ocean were made. These are referred to as katabatic winds and are narrow, strong regions of wind blowing from the cold mountain plateau of Greenland down the steep mountainsides and out over the ocean, causing large waves. The campaign also included measurements over sea-surfaces with strong surface winds and over the heart of a low-pressure region.

“The weather conditions were excellent and we obtained measurements of high wind speeds in the jet stream, as well as strong katabatic winds flowing down the Greenland ice sheet. Both of the wind lidar instruments performed very well and we achieved the ambitious objectives of the campaign. It was the first time that calibration measurements have been performed above the Greenland ice sheet, which is foreseen for the ALADIN satellite instrument. The team was very excited by the first quick look at the data,” said Oliver Reitebuch from DLR.

Iceland’s unique position, in the middle of the northern Atlantic Ocean, makes it a perfect starting-point for meteorological campaigns studying severe weather conditions as well as the effect of some of the world’s largest glaciers on weather and climate.

ESA’s ADM-Aeolus satellite will be the first space mission to directly measure wind profiles on a global scale. By doing so, the mission will improve the accuracy of weather forecasting and advance our understanding of atmospheric dynamics and processes relevant to climate variability.

In order to probe Earth’s atmosphere from space to measure wind speeds, ADM-Aeolus will carry a sophisticated instrument that utilises a phenomenon called ‘light scattering’ and the Doppler effect to acquire data. The innovative instrument is called ALADIN, short for Atmospheric Laser Doppler Instrument.

ALADIN is a lidar, which transmits light from a laser source onboard the spacecraft. Short, powerful pulses of light are emitted from the laser down into Earth’s atmosphere. As the light pulse passes through the atmosphere, it interacts with molecules of gas, dust particles and droplets in clouds. This results in some of the light being returned or ‘scattered back’ to the instrument.

The movement of the molecules of gas, particles or droplets with the local wind cause a shift in the frequency of the returned laser light. This is called the Doppler effect, which is well known from every-day phenomena like the change in the sound of a passing vehicle. By measuring the frequency shift of the returned light, the local wind speed can be calculated.

For more information click here

Source: DLR and
EOportal

ESA PR 07-2010. Europe’s first mission dedicated to studying the Earth’s ice was launched today from Kazakhstan. From its polar orbit, CryoSat-2 will send back data leading to new insights into how ice is responding to climate change and the role it plays in our ‘Earth system’.

The CryoSat-2 satellite was launched at 15:57 CEST (13:57 UTC) on a Dnepr rocket provided by the International Space Company Kosmotras from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The signal confirming that it had separated from the launcher came 17 minutes later from the Malindi ground station in Kenya.

CryoSat-2 replaces the original CryoSat satellite that was lost in 2005 owing to a launch failure. The mission objectives, however, remain the same: to measure changes in the thickness of the vast ice sheets that overlie Antarctica and Greenland, as well as variations in the thickness of the relatively thin ice floating in the polar oceans.

“We know from our radar satellites that sea ice extent is diminishing, but there is still an urgent need to understand how the volume of ice is changing,” said Volker Liebig, ESA’s Director of Earth Observation Programmes. “To make these calculations, scientists also need information on ice thickness, which is exactly what our new CryoSat satellite will provide. We are now very much looking forward to receiving the first data from the mission.”

The launch of CryoSat-2 marks a significant achievement for ESA’s Earth observation programme and brings to three the number of its Earth Explorer satellites placed in orbit, all having been launched within a little over 12 months. CryoSat-2 follows on from the Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer (GOCE) mission, launched in March 2009, and the Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) mission, launched last November.

Earth Explorers are launched in direct response to issues identified by the scientific community and aim to improve our understanding of how the Earth system works and the effect that human activity is having on natural processes.

In response to this need, CryoSat-2 is carrying the first radar altimeter of its kind to overcome the difficulties of measuring icy surfaces. Its primary payload, the sophisticated SAR/Interferometric Radar Altimeter (SIRAL), was developed by Thales Alenia Space to measure the thickness of ice floating in the oceans and monitor changes in the ice sheets on land, particularly around the edges where icebergs are calved.

The CryoSat-2 satellite was built by a consortium led by EADS Astrium. The satellite is in a polar orbit, reaching latitudes of 88°. This is closer to the poles than earlier Earth observation satellites, resulting in an additional area of about 4.6 million sq km being covered. This extra coverage amounts to an area larger than all 27 European Union member states put together. The combination of the technology onboard and a polar orbit will provide evidence to further our understanding of the relationship between ice and climate.

Now that CryoSat-2 is safely in orbit, the Mission Control Team at ESA’s European Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt, Germany is busy with the critical ‘Launch and Early Operations Phase’.

Source ESA

The Terrestrial Biosphere in the Earth System (TERRABITES) research network was created to provide a context that facilitates interdisciplinary cooperation for assessment of the Earth system. TERRABITES is funded by the European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) programme, financed by the European Commission and supported by ESA.

On 9-11 February 2010 TERRABITES held its first symposium in Hamburg, Germany, gathering specialists from various Earth system science disciplines to address the future of our environment. Enhanced understanding of the latter will allow managing better natural resources by defining appropriate planning and mitigation actions.

To be able to identify and analyse long-term climatic trends and changes, it is important to have access to near-continuous data of the Earth over long periods of time, which is made possible by Earth Observation (EO) satellites. However, in order to provide better model simulations of climate and the consequences of human behaviour for climate, the various communities in this field – modellers, ecologists, Earth-observation specialists and researchers – need to collaborate and merge their research and findings.

The TERRABITES network will continue to organise symposia and workshops for the next four years to provide a platform for diverse, international communities in order to achieve mutual understanding between them for a greater understanding of the Earth system and the effect of climate change.

More information at:
www.esa.int/esaEO/SEMDXK9KF6G_index_0.html
TERRABITES: www.terrabites.net/Home.541.0.html

For the past 12 years, ESA’s Eduspace website has been a window on the world for secondary students and teachers. Now the website has been completely redesigned and updated, so that it provides an even more valuable introduction to Earth observation and its applications.

(4 March 2010) The Eduspace website was developed to introduce Earth observation techniques and applications to secondary school students, although some material is more suited to university undergraduate level. Since its introduction in 1998, it has provided an invaluable educational resource by making available catalogues of Earth imagery and a sophisticated image processing software package called LEOWorks, which enables satellite imagery to be manipulated and analysed on school computers.

For many years, the website was based upon a modular structure, which included an introduction to the principles of Earth observation, an ‘Envisat for Schools’ module and examples of Earth observation applications applied to different themes or geographical areas, such as Europe from Space, Africa from Space, Disaster Monitoring and Global Change.

New structure

The new version of Eduspace is easier to navigate and use. It also provides much more flexibility, so that additional content can easily be included in future. The current modules have been retained, but they are presented in a different way.

The section dedicated to explaining the principles and techniques of Earth observation remains an important introductory part of the website. The Envisat for Schools theme continues to provide information about the mission of ESA’s largest environmental satellite, its instruments and applications, including two case studies. However, the revised website presents the various application areas as different themes – Earth from Space and Environmental Issues – that can also be searched by geographical area.

The cornerstones of the website are the case studies. They provide teachers and students with examples of in-depth studies of a selected area, within a particular theme. The background information and varied exercises are intended to provide a valuable source of ideas about how to introduce Earth observation from space into the classroom.

This existing material will eventually be extended so that it provides general information about all of the continents.

The latest version of the LEOWorks software is able to perform many advanced processing operations, including image classification, geometric correction and pan-sharpening.

Eduspace is currently available in eight languages: English, French, German, Danish, Dutch, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese. Other language versions are planned; for example, Greek will be available shortly.

Space Basics

For those who are unfamiliar with Earth observation and remote sensing, there is now a new introductory lesson available on the Education portal. The ‘Space Basics – Earth observation’ material gives a short explanation of the main terminology used in Earth observation. It also provides classroom exercises using satellite images and Eduspace.

Source ESA

The Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc. (OGC®) announces adoption and availability of the OGC Catalogue Services Standard Extension Package for ebRIM Application Profile: Earth Observation Products, and also the related Geography Markup Language (GML) Application Schema for EO Products.

(Wayland, Mass., 5 March 2010) Together, these standards, when implemented in services, will enable more efficient data publishing and discovery for a wide range of stakeholders who provide and use data generated by satellite-borne and aerial radar, optical and atmospheric sensors. The OASIS standard ebRIM (Electronic business Registry Information Model) is the preferred cataloguing metamodel foundation for application profiles of the OpenGIS Catalogue Service Web (CS-W) Standard.

The CS-W ebRIM EO standard describes a set of interfaces, bindings and encodings to be implemented in catalog servers so that data providers can publish descriptive information (metadata) about Earth Observation data. Developers can also implement this standard as part of Web clients that will enable data users and their applications to very efficiently search and exploit these collections of Earth Observation data.

The CS-W ebRIM EO standard was developed based on requirements from the European Space Agency and partners as part of the Heterogeneous Missions Accessibility project. The Submission Team for this standard included ERDAS, Spacebel s.a. and the European Space Agency. The Geography Markup Language (GML) Application Schema for EO products was developed by the European Space Agency, the French Space Agency, the European Satellite Center, Spacebel s.a. and Spot Image.

The CS-W ebRIM EO standard and the GML Application Schema for EO products are available at http://www.opengeospatial.org/standards/cat2eoext4ebrim.

The OGC® is an international consortium of more than 390 companies, government agencies, research organizations, and universities participating in a consensus process to develop publicly available geospatial standards. OpenGIS® Standards support interoperable solutions that “geo-enable” the Web, wireless and location-based services, and mainstream IT. OGC Standards empower technology developers to make geospatial information and services accessible and useful with any application that needs to be geospatially enabled. Visit the OGC website at http://www.opengeospatial.org.

Yaogan IX successfully in orbit

China has successfully put into orbit another remote-sensing satellite, “Yaogan IX” at 12:55 p.m.(Beijing Time) from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern Gansu Province, according to a statement from the center Friday.

The satellite was sent into space aboard a Long March 4C carrier rocket and would be used to conduct scientific experiment, carry out surveys on land resources, forecast grain output and help with natural disaster-reduction and prevention endeavor, it said.

Its predecessor, “Yaogan VIII,” was launched from Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in northern Shanxi Province last December.

Credits: Space Mart

Processing the increasing volumes of imaging data resulting from today’s aerial mapping technology can prove daunting, but object-based image analysis software can make it manageable.

Since the introduction of photogrammetrical methods in the 20th century for mapping terrain and coastlines, imaging data acquisition for surveying has evolved into more complex and highly precise techniques. As sensor technologies have increased in accuracy, higher resolutions have made aerial imaging technologies applicable to a wider range of surveying and land use analysis. And the development of stereophotogrammetry, orthography, and lidar has made it possible to gather precise estimations of an object’s three-dimensional coordinates over varying scales.

However, as the output data from aerial and satellite remote sensing technologies becomes increasingly precise and detailed, it also becomes more voluminous, and the challenge of managing and interpreting this data grows. High volumes of imaging data have exposed the limitations of traditional manual sorting and analysis methods and have encouraged the increased adoption of software tools that provide automation to image data analysis.

Rapidly improving optical sensor technologies and lidar systems have made it possible to deliver high-quality maps and models of much larger areas of land. But though these technologies are readily available, the volumes of data associated with high-resolution imaging of large areas limits their applicability. Even with the establishment of base stations and the introduction of shapefile formats that have allowed for continuous field operations, completion of the ground component of surveys and the compilation and modelling of post-flight data typically take several weeks.

Until now, the processing of optical and lidar data has not been completely automated, which suggests that cost-intensive manual data manipulation is needed. The subsequent analysis of compiled images is a daunting proposition and requires personnel to use subjective criteria to analyze individual images. This may create inconsistencies when locating and classifying distinct features such as roads, buildings, bodies of water, or forests in a given area. The overall process compares to traditional ground-based mapping methods, which took months to years in the past.

The willingness of regional and federal governments to share digital aerial information has facilitated the development of large-scale mapping projects internationally and has made vast amounts of information available to regional entities at a reduced cost per square kilometer. However, the cost and time associated with assembling and processing detailed image data manually is significant. The feasibility of completing image analysis for projects covering large areas of land depends on implementing more streamlined processes and using automation tools. Automated image analysis software enables large volumes of imaging data to be processed objectively and rapidly. This enables geo-information professionals to contemplate larger-scale projects and tackle novel challenges previously unattainable with manual image analysis.

A Novel Approach

Recent developments in image analysis software alleviate much of the labor and cost associated with processing lidar and optical data. The employment of object-based image analysis (OBIA) software to accomplish tasks on a massive scale is a relatively novel approach in the surveying community but offers great promise. The software automates manually intensive processes, making it feasible for organizations to produce detailed analyses of larger areas of land in a cost-effective and timely manner. Definiens introduced OBIA to the remote sensing community in the early 2000s, and the latest iteration of its software, Definiens eCognition 8, enables the simultaneous, automated classification and segmentation of lidar, GIS, and optical sensor datasets.

OBIA works by either using sample objects to guide the program as it identifies similar objects or by establishing rule sets under which the software can extract objects described by specific characteristics and features. The latter method is usually applied to more demanding image analysis tasks. When using a rule-based approach, logical processes, similar to those humans use to understand images, are applied. Areas within the image are recognized based on their shape, texture, and local context, thereby standardizing OBIA processes.

Context-based principles underlie Definiens OBIA technology, and through segmentation and classification processes it renders knowledge in a semantic network. The software identifies objects rather than examining individual pixels. It then makes inferences about those objects by looking at them in context, iteratively building out an image. The analysis process that ensues can be categorized into segmentation and classification steps.

During the segmentation phase, a tiling and stitching technique is applied. Each scene is broken into pixel tiles, which are processed in parallel. Results are then stitched together and border effects removed, ensuring that images of all possible sizes can be processed. Small objects of interest are merged based on spectral information and elevation data to provide the most accurate approximation of targeted objects. This process accounts for the “fuzziness” associated with the parameters of many real-life objects in high-resolution images, employing “building generalization,” for example, to classify urban objects intuitively.

The image objects generated in the segmentation phase provide the foundation for the subsequent classification, which uses prescribed conditions such as average elevation, shadow index, and normalized differenced vegetation index.

Put to Use in Austria

The Department of Surveying and Geo-Information of the State Government of Lower Austria is currently using Definiens eCognition to develop a land-use and land-cover model of more than 20,000 square km of territory, encompassing bodies of water, forests, and urban and rural areas. Using a beta version of the newly released eCognition 8 software, the State Government developed an application to detect and quantify changes in forests, buildings, and field and water areas from airborne lidar data and orthophotos. The lidar data consist of a 1m grid size and the orthophotos of red, green, blue, and near infrared (nIR) channels and a ground sampling distance of 12.5 cm. Each individual scene has a size of 1.25km x 1km.

The land area is segmented into 2000 × 2000 pixel tiles, which are rapidly processed on eCognition Server. Objects on the tile borders are identified to guide future tessellation of the tiled segments. The rules for segmentation and classification were developed on a representative set of scenes. Within each tile segment, the software automatically classifies elevated objects and distinguishes buildings, trees, and scrub from them.

The objects are classified based on the following logic:
-Vegetation Forest:Average elevation above ground. Normalized differenced vegetation index (NDVI)
-Building:Average elevation above ground. Normalized differenced vegetation index

The initial classification provides a basis with a relatively small number of misclassifications, predominantly in shadowed transition areas between forests and built-up areas. These misclassified areas are corrected using rules leveraging the object area, standard deviation of the normalized surface model, and the local context. Other misclassifications in shadow areas next to buildings are corrected using a shadow index computed from the red, green, and nIR channel combined with the saturation of red, green, and nIR. Building generalization tools then improve the classification of the buildings before the individual tiles are merged and the data exported to create a holistic land-use model.

The application was tested for transferability on an area of 200 square km. An accuracy assessment of the resulting shapefiles showed that the built-up area was correctly classified for 94.3 percent of the area while forested areas were classified correctly for 96.1 percent of the area. The Department of Geo-Information will use the software application for urban planning initiatives and as part of a European Union higher-traffic network project to develop soundwave propagation models of traffic noise. The initiative represents the inaugural project of a planned five-yearly periodic land use analysis. Producing a land-use model of such a large area has been made feasible by minimizing manual image data processing.

As advances in optical sensors and aerial lidar produce ever-increasing volumes of high-quality data describing vast areas of land, software developers must create tools that realize the potential of this data in remote sensing and surveying applications. With image analysis software, companies like Definiens enable organizations to automatically process imaging data from all remote sensing acquisition modalities rapidly and objectively, alleviating the labor and cost barriers associated with large-scale land-use modelling. These developments in automated image analysis technology now allow organizations to engage in novel and ambitious projects, from the development of land-use models for entire regions and countries to the establishment of models for cellular phone network providers to optimally place their reception towers to the creation of maps identifying the most viable rooftop orientations for solar panel installation in towns, cities, and regions.

Gregor Willhauck is product marketing manager in the Earth Science business unit of Definiens.
Christian Weise is a senior consultant at Definiens and has a graduate diploma in geography from Friedrich-Schiller-University of Jena.
Michael Pregesbauer is the deputy head of the Geo-Information Department of the State Government of Lower Austria, overseeing photogrammetry, remote sensing data acquisition and processing, and aids in image interpretation.

By Michael Pregesbauer, Christian Weise, and Gregor Wilhauck

Source

The past three years have been very demanding as well as successful ones for the HUMBOLDT project which has now entered its final phase. Much has been achieved and a very good basis has finally been created for integrated development and application work.

The EC Review in December 2009 was very positive. As a result, the Commission has selected the HUMBODLT project as a representative success story.

This HUMBOLDT Newsletter contains information about the current Open Source releases, HUMBOLDT meetings, User Involvement activities, and the activation of the HUMBOLDT Training Platform, as well as on further ongoing activities and upcoming events.

Enjoy reading and please do not hesitate to give us your feedback. The HUMBOLDT consortium also invites developers and users to test the design and expandability of the framework. Suggestions and contributions are highly welcome.

Dr. Eva Klien, Co-ordinator of the HUMBOLDT Project
Fraunhofer Institute for Computer Graphics Research, Darmstadt, Germany

Project News

HUMBOLDT Framework for Data Harmonisation

In December 2009 new releases of the HUMBOLDT framework tools and services have been published.

The main novelty is the Workflow Design and Construction Service component. It enables users to register and compose geoprocessing functionality into service chains. These service chains can either be encapsulated as OGC WPS or directly implemented on the platform on which the HUMBOLDT Mediator Service is deployed. Furthermore, it provides the functionality to support automated harmonisation.

Since the first public release of HUMBOLDT tools and services there has been an active interest by developers with various backgrounds. Numerous bug reports, feature requests, and further suggestions and contributions have been conceived. Developers and users with an interest in data harmonisation are invited at any time to further test the design and expandability of the framework. The components as well as full specifications are available for free download on the Community Website, which also provides a forum, wiki and issue tracker.

In addition, an easy to understand introduction to all tools and services has been made available to facilitate the understanding and use of the framework.

HUMBOLDT Winter of Code 2010

To follow up on the success of the first Winter of Code in February 2009, a second Winter of Code event took place in February 2010.

Located in Darmstadt, more than 15 developers representing the HUMBOLDT consortium partners jointly worked on several implementation projects. The major goal was to kick off the developments of Milestone 3 of the HUMBOLDT Framework. To follow the developments made by the technical teams, please visit our Community Website

Annual Report 2009

The Annual Report 2009 is available for download at the HUMBOLDT Project Website. It contains the major activities of the HUMBOLDT consortium as well as the technical and scientific results achieved within the third project year. Furthermore, the representative HUMBOLDT Application Scenarios Atmosphere, European Risk Atlas, and Forest are presented as hands-on examples for the use of HUMBOLDT components. Another topic is the development and promotion of the HUMBOLDT User Community.

User Involvement

HUMBOLDT Training Platform

The HUMBOLDT Training Platform and courses are available for free registration. It embraces different course levels targeted at users with different backgrounds and previous knowledge. Beside an optional entrance test on GIS theory and technical issues there are Level 1 courses on GMES, web services, metadata, concepts and standards as well as on data harmonisation in general. Level 2 courses embrace the HUMBOLDT framework components and data harmonisation in HUMBOLDT.

Please feel free to register, review and test the available courses and the platform itself. Any kind of constructive criticism and suggestions are highly welcome.
Call for Participation

The integration of user requirements from various application areas has been an essential part of the HUMBOLDT development process from the very beginning of the project. User requirements have been identified and integrated. In order to amplify the user involvement the project is launching an official call for participation targeted at developers and potential users of HUMBOLDT tools and services. Please feel free to explore the following areas:

  • HUMBOLDT Tools and Services
  • HUMBOLDT Training Platform and Modules
  • Scenario Demonstrators (available soon)

HUMBOLDT Meetings

HUMBOLDT Review Meeting December 2009

The EC Review in December 2009 was very positive for the project. On this basis the Commission has selected the HUMBODLT project as a success story that will receive special attention in EC journals, events and communications.

HUMBOLDT Consortium Meeting March 2010

From the 3rd to 5th March the first HUMBOLDT consortium meeting of 2010 took place in Gävle, Sweden. The meeting was hosted by the GIS Institute of the University in Gävle.

The focus of this HUMBOLDT meeting was again set on the scenario work since the development of demonstrators as well as the testing and evaluation of the framework components will be of major importance in the upcoming months. Another important emphasis was set on HUMBOLDT training together with dissemination and exploitation activities, especially addressing the long-term sustainability of the HUMBOLDT results.

Upcoming HUMBOLDT Events

INSPIRE Conference 2010

This year’s INSPIRE Conference 2010 will take place from 22nd to 25th June 2010 in Krakow, Poland. The theme is “INSPIRE as a Framework for Cooperation”.

HUMBOLDT Tools and Services as well as their application in different HUMBOLDT scenarios will be presented in a workshop at the INSPIRE conference. Furthermore, the subsequent papers have been submitted and accepted: “Data Harmonisation Put into Practice by the HUMBOLDT Project,” and “Integrating spatial data integration – An Architecture for Complex Transformation Services.”

6th GIScience

Zurich, Switzerland will be the host city of the 6th GIScience conference from September 14th-17th, 2010. Thorsten Reitz (Fraunhofer IGD, Darmstadt, Germany) will present his paper “A Mismatch Description Language for Conceptual Schema Mapping and its Cartographic Representation.”

AGILE 2010

The 13th AGILE International Conference on Geographic Information Science: “Geospatial Thinking” will take place from 10th-14th May 2010 in Guimarães, Portugal. A paper by Thorsten Reitz, Daniel Fitzner (both Fraunhofer IGD, Darmstadt, Germany) and Ulrich Schäffler (Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany) on the execution of conceptual schema mappings was accepted for presentation.

Further Events

Beside the above mentioned conferences HUMBOLDT will be represented by workshops or papers at the following events:

  • IMDIS 2010 – International Conference on Marine Data and Information Systems, March 29th – 31st in Paris, France
  • Kartdagar – Kartografiska Sällskapet, April 14th – 16th in Jönköping, Sweden
  • Digital Earth Summit – June 12th – 14th in Nessebar, Bulgaria
  • SDH 2010 – 14th International Symposium on Spatial Data Handling, May 16th – 28th in Hong Kong, China

The HUMBOLDT Project in brief

The four-year EU project HUMBOLDT contributes to the implementation of a European Spatial Data Infrastructure (ESDI) that integrates the diversity of spatial data available for a multitude of European organisations. It is the aim of this project to manage and advance important parts of the implementation process of this ESDI. The main goal of the HUMBOLDT project is to enable organisations to document, publish and harmonise their spatial information. The software tools and processes created will demonstrate the feasibility and advantages of an Infrastructure for Spatial Information in Europe as planned by the INSPIRE initiative, meeting the goals of Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES).

Learn more about HUMBOLDT by visiting our Website.

Contact

HUMBOLDT Project Office

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Responsible editor: Dr. Eva Klien

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We are now entering an era in earth observation characterised by a new generation of spaceborne sensors.

A workshop is planned to explore the application of these satellite sensors to the oil and gas sector and to find ways of ensuring that these applications are fully developed.

The workshop will take place from 14-15 September 2010 at ESA/ESRIN

Objectives

The workshop aims will be:

  • To ensure that key oil and gas industry personnel are aware of the capabilities of the current and new generation of earth observation sensors in relation to new technical operating challenges, obligations relating to legislation and new geographical areas of activity .
  • To provide a forum where the combination of key personnel from both the oil and gas and space industries can exchange ideas and develop new approaches and possibilities for the enhanced use of earth observation within the oil and gas industry.
  • To provide insight to ESA and other data providers on how the use of earth observation data and products may be assisted by changes to procedures and policies.
  • To communicate evolving oil and gas industry requirements to satellite operators and service providers so that the space sector can work to meet these requirements.

Our expectation is that the workshop would help develop the following:

  • A move towards identification of best practises/guidelines for use of earth observation in the industry.
  • Identified requirements for demonstrations in order to consolidate newly developed application capabilities.
  • Identified R&D with respect to new sensors/products to develop/enhance applications.
  • Future studies related to requirements for new sensors, constellations etc.

More info at: http://earth.esa.int/workshops/gasoil2010/index.html

Workshop Co-Ordination by Earth Observation R&D Team
E-mail: envmail (at) esa.int

Please be informed that in case a member subscribe it will be a pre registration. The organizing committee will review submission individually and they will be informed whether their pre registration will be accepted or not.

In this Issue

1. Highlight: Proposal for a Regulation on the GMES Programme and its Initial Operations (2011-2013) – follow-up
2. Highlight: GMES Workshop in Bulgaria
3. Good Progress of the SMOS Mission
4. EU Green Paper on Forest Protection and Climate Change
5. EU 2020 Strategy – a Significant Breakthrough for Galileo and GMES
6. EU Strategy to Reinvigorate Global Action after Copenhagen
7. European Parliament’s Resolution on Natural Disasters that Occurred in Madeira and Europe
8. A Major Step Forward in the Development of the GMES Sentinel Satellites
9. Post-2010 EU Biodiversity Strategy
GMES Project Corner:
10. Geoland2 Spatial Data Infrastructure
11. Upcoming LIMES Workshops

***

1. Proposal for a regulation on the GMES programme and its initial operations (2011-2013) – follow-up

The draft report on the Commission’s proposal of 20 May 2009 for a Regulation on a GMES programme and the rules for the implementation of GMES initial operations (2011 2013), prepared by the MEP rapporteur Norbert Glante (S&D), was voted by the Parliament’s Industry, Research and Energy Committee on 18 March 2010. Prior to this vote, the Presidency of the Council presented a progress report on the proposal for a GMES regulation to the Competitiveness Council that met on 1-2 March 2010. The report identifies budget, governance, and data policy as the main outstanding issues. Finally, the Commission’s proposal is expected to be voted by the whole European Parliament in June this year.

Read More…

2. GMES workshop in Bulgaria

The 25-26 March 2010 GMES workshop in Bulgaria, which was organised by the Bulgarian Information Office for GMES, under the aegis of the Bulgarian government, and with the support of the European Commission, aimed to raise awareness on GMES and increase involvement of the new EU Member States. In addition to the Bulgarian Commissioner, Kristalina Georgieva, high level representatives of the Commission, ESA, EUMETSAT and the European Environment Agency gave speeches during the first day of the event, followed by numerous other presentations from national representatives and EU funded projects, addressing specific GMES activities or services.

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3. Good progress of the SMOS mission

Since its launch on 2 November 2009, ESA’s SMOS mission has been commissioned, showing recently first promising calibrated images of ‘brightness temperature’, which after substantial processing can give information about soil moisture and ocean salinity. Although the in-orbit commissioning phase of SMOS will continue until the end of April 2010, the quality of the SMOS data products will be assessed throughout the lifetime of the mission.

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4. EU Green Paper on forest protection and climate change

By publishing a Green Paper on 1 March 2010 the European Commission launched a public consultation on protecting Europe’s forests against climate change. The outcome of this consultation will guide the Commission to explore what value action at EU level can be added to national efforts for forests protection. As regards existing forest information systems, the Green Paper underlines that the European Forest Data Centre builds on several initiatives, including GMES. As next steps, the Commission will organise in the first half of this year a workshop and stakeholder meeting as well as a forest protection conference.

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5. EU 2020 Strategy – a significant breakthrough for Galileo and GMES

As a response to the global economic crisis and built upon the experience of the EU Lisbon Strategy, the European Commission set up on 3 March 2010 the new EU 10-year plan for growth and jobs. Based on three interlinked priorities for action, the EU 2020 Strategy seeks to strengthen, among others, the EU industrial policy. One of the actions that the Commission will undertake in this field is the development of an effective EU space policy able to deliver Galileo and GMES which acknowledges the important role these two space programmes will play for the future of the Union. The new economic roadmap was discussed by the whole European Parliament on 10 March and the European Council on 25-26 March, while its final adoption is foreseen for the June European summit.

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6. EU Strategy to reinvigorate global action after Copenhagen

In its Communication of 9 March 2010 the European Commission demonstrates determination to keep up the momentum for global action on climate change after the December 2009 Copenhagen conference. The Communication proposes thus a set of actions to be undertaken by the EU such as swift implementation of the Copenhagen Accord, EU leadership and active outreach to support the UN climate talks. The Environment Council meeting of 15 March and the Economic and Financial Affairs Council meeting of 16 March adopted conclusions on climate change that are in line with the proposed Commission’s strategy. Lastly, the European summit of 25-26 March affirmed the necessity to bring a new dynamic to the international climate negotiation process and to set up an appropriate roadmap.

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7. European Parliament’s resolution on natural disasters that occurred in Madeira and Europe

Following the natural disasters that hit the autonomous region of Madeira and Europe in February 2010, the European Parliament adopted a resolution at its plenary meeting of 11 March 2010. Highlighting that extreme weather phenomena are likely to be increasingly frequent in recent years, the resolution urges a set of actions to be undertaken at all levels to prevent future natural disasters and help the affected regions. Regarding prevention the Parliament calls for appropriate measures for land use, water and efficient risk management as well as for long term investment in prevention policies.

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8. A major step forward in the development of the GMES Sentinel satellites

After having signed a contract with ESA in December 2009, on 12 March 2010 Thales Alenia Space started the construction of the Sentinel-1B and -3B satellites (the company is the prime contractor for the Sentinel-1 and -3 constellations). Later, on 31 March 2010 ESA signed a contract with Astrium for the development of the Sentinel-2B satellite (the contract to build the Sentinel-2A was signed with Astrium in 2008). These realisations will ensure that the first three of the series of five Sentinel missions will fly as pairs to achieve fast coverage of Earth’s land surface.

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9. Post-2010 EU Biodiversity strategy

Worrying about the failure of the EU efforts to tackle efficiently biodiversity loss, the Commission proposed on 19 January 2010 a post-2010 EU Biodiversity Strategy with options for new biodiversity targets and a long-term vision by 2050. At the Environment Council meeting of 15 March 2010, Ministers agreed on the strategy, but stressed, among others, the need for appropriate targets and integration into other relevant EU policies and strategies. Finally, the European summit of 25-26 March underlined the urgency of the matter and committed to the long term biodiversity 2050 vision and the 2020 target set out in the Environment Council’s conclusions of 15 March 2010.

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GMES Projects’ Corner

10. Geoland2 Spatial Data Infrastructure

The FP7 geoland2 project, which provides the pre-operational land service of GMES, is composed of two different geo-information service layers- the Core Mapping Services (CMS) and the Core Information Services (CIS). The Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) is mandatory for the access to input data, the internal data flows and processing chains, and the dissemination and provision to users. Currently, a baseline version of this SDI is released, where the identification and viewing clients are operational and provide access to datasets from different Service Providers. The full functionality of the SDI will become available within only a few months and from that time the geoland2 Expert Portal will provide the user community with a convenient access to GMES Land data.

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11. Upcoming LIMES workshops

Given that the FP6 project LIMES, providing the pre-operational security service of GMES, will end this year, two final workshops will be held in the coming months. Firstly, on 15 April a Final End User Workshop will be organised in Farnborough, United Kingdom with the main objective to present the GMES Maritime Surveillance element to established and potential new users and get their feedback on it. Secondly, the Workshop “Space Monitoring for Complex Crisis Management” will take place on 6-7 May in Rome, Italy. The event will seek to raise awareness on existing European satellite services for Safety and Security as well as to present final results and recommendation of the LIMES project and the FP7 ongoing Security and Emergency initiatives.

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