Skip to content

Depending on their needs, users can obtain these data either from the Copernicus services or directly from the Copernicus satellites.

Access to Sentinel-1A data
Data from the first Copernicus satellite (Sentinel-1A) launched on 3 April 2014 are available here.

Access to Copernicus satellites data (general)
Users interested in data coming directly from the Copernicus space component (the Sentinels satellites) can access them through the Sentinel Online portal operated by the European Space Agency (A specific section is dedicated to “Data Access” on this portal).

No registration is required for discovery and view services while it is a prerequisite to download Sentinel data. Registration is free of charge.

Note:

In addition to the data produced by the Sentinels satellites, Copernicus users can also have access under certain conditions to the data produced by other satellite missions referred to as Contributing Missions. Contributing Missions have been classified into five groups that reflect the characteristics of the main types of missions.

Most data provided by the different contributing missions are distributed by the European Space Agency (ESA). They take the form of datasets and are delivered to users through data access services. The delivery process relies on an operational system called the Coordinated Data access System (CDS).

Other space-based data are provided by the French Space Agency (CNES) and the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT).

Access to Copernicus services data

Data are available through the web portals operated by the various Copernicus service lines:

Land-related data
Atmosphere-related data
Marine-related data
Emergency-related data

(Data are not yet available online for the Climate Change service and for Security applications, which are still in a development phase).

For the Land-, Atmosphere- and Marine-related services, anyone can have access to data but registration is mandatory. Registration is free-of-charge.

Source

For the time being, there is no common registration facility. Users interested in data coming from several web portals must therefore register on each web portal.

For the Emergency Management service, data production can be triggered only by “authorized users” but the maps produced by the service are available on the service web portal and can be downloaded without registering.

The Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service and the Copernicus Climate Change Service, which are operated by ECMWF on behalf of the European Commission, will be implemented by a network of providers who will be selected through open invitations to tender (ITTs).

ECMWF is calling for independent experts in a number of scientific and technical areas to evaluate the proposals sent in response to the ITTs.

Experts will evaluate proposals remotely or at premises chosen by ECMWF using an online evaluation system. To qualify, experts will have to demonstrate relevant and considerable expertise and to sign a declaration of confidentiality and absence of conflict of interest.

For full details and to apply online, please visit the Call for external evaluators page

Copernicus website © EC

For procurements related to the the Copernicus Space Component and dissemination infrastructures please refer to the EU TED portal (http://ted.europa.eu/TED/browse/browseByBO.do) and the ESA tender information public system dedicated exclusively to the Copernicus-related Invitations To Tender (http://copernicus-emits.esa.int/) or the EUMETSAT tender information public system (https://eumits.eumetsat.int/).

The following contract opportunities have been opened or are planned to be opened in the context of the Copernicus Service and In-situ activities:

(Please note that the information on this site is provided for information only. For any formal information about these procurements, please refer directly to the EU TED portal (http://ted.europa.eu/TED/browse/browseByBO.do), the Procuring Entity respectively.)

Source

Rome: Norway and FAO have signed a NOK 35m (around $4.5m) partnership agreement to improve the capacity of developing countries to monitor and report on their forest resources and changes in forest area.

The project will facilitate countries’ access to earth observation data sources, including satellite imagery, and develop an easy-to-use platform for processing and interpreting this data.

“The new platform offers countries a set of efficient tools for monitoring changes in their forest area and carbon stocks, and for developing sustainable forest management regimes”, said Eduardo Rojas-Briales, Assistant Director-General of FAO’s Forestry Department.

Efficient tools for everyone

Gaining access to satellite imagery can be difficult for users with poor internet connections, posing a serious challenge for natural resource managers in developing countries. Additionally, old, outdated computers process large-scale data very slowly. FAO’s new software aims to overcome these problems by avoiding the need to download images locally and by using a scalable, “cloud-based” supercomputer instead. All downloading and processing takes place elsewhere, in locations where connections are good and large amounts of computing power is available.

bq “One of the important components here is the creation of a user-friendly and efficient, cloud-based computing interface”, explains Tiina Vähänen, Deputy Director of FAO’s Forest Assessment, Management and Conservation Division. “The use of this interface will allow quick access to remote sensing data as well as to high-performance computing facilities, even in countries with limited access to internet.”

Vähänen also stressed that many users in developing countries had limited resources to buy licenses of proprietary software. “They often simply do not have access to the tools they need. Open source software which was developed under the FAO’s Open Foris Initiative and used in this project is available for everyone without license costs and allows the end user to modify the program to suit their purposes”, she added.

Tracking changes in forest carbon emissions

At the initial stage FAO will start implementing the new system in 13 countries over the next 3 years in support of activities under the United Nations Collaborative Programme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries (UN-REDD). The system will be mainly used by forestry technicians to monitor and assess how much carbon forest areas stock, enabling countries to report on and receive compensation for verified emission reductions.

“Satellite imagery and other earth observation data are important for countries working to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation”, said Lars Andreas Lunde, State Secretary in the Norwegian Ministry of Climate and Environment. “Improved forest monitoring systems enable better informed decision making and policy development, and enable tracking of performance in reducing forest based emissions. This is why Norway is supporting this project through its International Climate and Forest Initiative.”

“The outcome we are looking for here is to help countries produce and access satellite-generated forest maps and related information products in an easier, faster and more sustainable way. This will allow them to gather better information for their own needs and for REDD+ implementation,” added Vähänen.

Source

Filipinos may heave a sigh of relief over news that one of two microsatellites slated for launch into space in 2016 may play a crucial role in improving weather forecasting, managing disasters, and protecting forests, among other benefits. It will also be a boon in terms of the preservation of natural and cultural heritage sites.

It’s a known fact that the Philippines has had its share of super typhoons, landslides, and flash floods attributed to denuded forests. It is geographically situated at the frontline of typhoons coming from the Pacific Ocean. With better scientific devices and updated facilities, the country can alleviate suffering and poverty created by destruction of crops and other natural resources due to natural disasters. It’s a big step forward, then, for the Philippines and neighboring countries.

The Philippines’ first satellite, named Diwata (which means fairy), will showcase the ingenuity of Filipino students taking up masteral studies in Japan. It is an amazing feat not just for the Filipino scientists involved, but for the entire Philippine scientific community. The students who will build the first Philippine satellite have obtained a government scholarship and have been in Japan since the last quarter of 2014. The important project spearheaded by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) Philippine Council for Industry, Energy and Emerging Technology Research will have state-of-the-art components. There will be a telescope that can assess damage extent from natural disasters. Reports say that once the first Pinoy-made satellite is launched into space, it will hover for about six minutes every time it passes (possibly four times) over the Philippines. The estimated number of images that the satellite can capture each day 3,600. The images will be conveyed to the ground receiving station in Subic.

The University of the Philippines in Diliman, which is where a research laboratory will be set up, has been delegated the responsibility of developing enhancements to the program.

A second satellite is in the works and is timed for a 2017 launch. For now, all eyes & ears are on “Diwata” which is touted as a breakthrough as far as predicting/evaluating environmental changes and counteracting the threatening effects of the changing climate are concerned.

Read more

(March 2015) China’s most advanced earth observation satellite, the Gaofen-2, was put into service after being launched in August.

The Gaofen-2 is the second of seven satellites that will be launched for the Gaofen mission, China’s high-definition observation project, before 2020. The project was initiated in May 2010 and Gaofen-1 was launched in April 2013.

The new satellite is able to see 0.8-meter-long objects from space in full color and collect multispectral images of objects 3.2 meters or longer, according to the Chinese State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense.

The main goal of the Gaofen series is to provide all-weather, 24-hour services covering the globe. The data will be provided for more than ten Chinese government departments as well as for Non-governmental organizations, including private enterprises, in developing value-added services.

Read full story Ecns

(05/03/2015) Delegates in the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted a consensus resolution last week, by which they addressed global geospatial information management.

The document entitled “A global geodetic reference frame for sustainable development” (A/RES/69/266) urges States to voluntarily implement open sharing of geodetic data, standards and conventions, inviting them to improve national geodetic infrastructure and engage in multilateral cooperation that addressed infrastructure gaps and duplications, towards the development of a more sustainable geodetic reference frame.

The resolution specifically recognizes the “economic and scientific importance of and the growing demand for an accurate and stable global geodetic reference frame for the Earth that allows the interrelationship of measurements taken anywhere on the Earth and in space, combining geometric positioning and gravity field-related observations, as the basis and reference in location and height for geospatial information, which is used in many Earth science and societal applications, including sea-level and climate change monitoring, natural hazard and disaster management.”

United Nations

Source

(Russia, March 27, 2015). KOMPSAT-3A was recently deployed in space from Yasny Launch Base, Russia. The major goal of the KOMPSAT-3A programme is to obtain imagery for GIS applications related to environment, agriculture, oceanographic studies as well as natural disasters using its 5.5m resolution IR (Infrared) sensor and 0.55m very high resolution EO (Electro-Optical).

KOMPSAT-3A has been designed and built by Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI), a government-funded research institute located in Daejeon, South Korea. In addition, The KOMPSAT-3A programme is devoted to industrialisation of the bus system development by the domestic companies. Its two imaging payloads were made with technical support from Airbus Defense and Space and German Aerospace Center (DLR). The mission orbit is a sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of 528 km and life span is 4 years.

Known specifications of the Kompsat-3A satellite:

  • Liftoff mass: 1,000 kilograms
  • Power supply: 1.4 kilowatts
  • Operational life span: 4 years
  • Orbital altitude: 528 kilometers
  • Orbital period: 98.5 minutes
  • Imaging area revisit cycle: 28 days
  • Pan-chromatic resolution: 0.55 meters
  • Multi-spectral resolution: 2.2 meters
  • Infrared resolution: 5.5 meters

The KARI is responsible for the operation and public use of the KOMPSAT-3A data, and SI imaging-services is in charge of commercial marketing of KOMPSAT constellation, a unique combination of VHR optical data and SAR data, currently including KOMPSAT-2, KOMPSAT-3 and KOMPSAT-5.

Source: KARI

(3 April 2015). Having orbited Earth more than 5300 times while providing radar vision for Europe’s Copernicus programme, the Sentinel-1A satellite has completed a successful first year.

The satellite carries an advanced radar to provide an all-weather, day-and-night supply of images of Earth’s surface.

Just weeks after its launch from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, its imagery was already being used to assist in emergency responses. Some of its first images were crucial in helping authorities in Namibia and the Balkans decide how to respond to a serious floods – both while the satellite was still in its early commissioning phase.

Sentinel-1A’s began supplying data operationally in October. Within days, experts began using the data to monitor the marine environment. This included the production of ice charts, showing the details of ice conditions in a variety of regions, including the warnings of icebergs drifting in shipping routes to alert vessels.

Over the year, Sentinel-1A has also been used to monitor ice loss from ice caps and ice sheets, such as the Austfonna ice cap in Norway’s Svalbard archipelago. The first dedicated campaign observing the Greenland ice sheet was completed in March 2015.

Additionally, its data have been used to map ground movements related to earthquakes in the US’s Napa Valley, as well as movements from the Fogo and Villarrica volcanoes.

The plethora of results that make Sentinel-1A’s first year such a success wouldn’t be possible without the rapid data dissemination and the Copernicus open access policy.

To date, more than 6000 users have registered to access the 83 000 online data products. Since the data became available in October, over half a million downloads have been made so far – the equivalent of about 680 terabytes of data.

To assist with data processing, product reading and analysis, the Sentinel-1 Toolbox is being used by over 1000 users in 70 countries.

“During this first year in orbit, Sentinel-1A has already achieved a lot for end users and demonstrated its strong assets for various application domains,” said Pierre Potin, the Sentinel-1 Mission Manager.

“This is just the start. The expectations from Copernicus services, scientific and commercial user communities are very high.”

“Source”: http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Observing_the_Earth/Copernicus/Sentinel-1/Happy_birthday_Sentinel-1A

Belgium, March 13, 2015: To engage with people and explain to them what Europe’s Copernicus environment monitoring programme is, European Space Agency (ESA) recently released an informative animated documentary: Meet Mr Copernicus.

The video takes viewers through the journey of Copernicus programme, educating them about its history, mission and objectives.

link