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Brussels, 30 November 2011 – The European Commission has proposed to finance the GMES programme (Global Monitoring for Environment and Security) for Earth observation for the period 2014-2020 outside the EU financial framework, for which an estimated budget of €5.8 bn is deemed necessary.

The Commission proposes to set up a specific GMES fund similar to the model chosen for the European Development Fund, with financial contributions from all 27 EU Member States based on their gross national income (GNI). This will require an intergovernmental agreement between the EU Member States meeting within the Council. The programme will be coordinated by the Commission and its financial management could be delegated to the Global Navigation Satellite System Agency (GSA).

Vice President Antonio Tajani, responsible for Industry and Entrepreneurship said: “In order to respond to ever growing challenges at global level Europe needs a well-coordinated and reliable Earth observation system of its own. The GMES programme will significantly boost space related research in Europe and ultimately also support the economic recovery and address major challenges faced by European citizens nowadays”.

More information on global Monitoring for Environment and Security GMES

Background

GMES – The European tool to contribute to security, fight against climate change and to boost competitiveness

With its “Sentinel” satellites GMES provides information which allows a better understanding of how and in what way our planet may be changing while monitoring the state of the environment on land, at sea and in the atmosphere. Mitigating climate change, responding to emergencies, insuring a better border control, improving the security and alerting citizens if air quality gets bad are activities that depend on precise and timely information on our Earth. GMES is delivering the necessary data, including maps for emergency operations, monitoring of climate change parameters, of ocean and sea temperature or chemical composition of the atmosphere. GMES is also relevant for improving security for citizens, such as border surveillance and fight against piracy and organised crime.

According to a cost benefit analysis, GMES is expected to deliver benefits worth at least twice the costs of investments for the period up to 2020 and four times the costs up to 2030. It represents a huge potential for economic growth and job creation with the development of innovative services and commercial applications in the downstream sector.

The European dimension of GMES leads to economies of scale, facilitates common investment in large infrastructures, fosters coordination of efforts and observation networks, enables harmonisation and inter-calibration of data, and provides the necessary impetus for the emergence of world-class centres of excellence in Europe.

Harmonisation and standardisation of the geospatial information at EU level is a major challenge for the implementation of a wide range of Union policies. Many areas of environmental concern – such as climate change mitigation and adaptation policies – require thinking globally and acting locally. With GMES, the EU is ensuring its autonomous access to reliable, traceable and sustainable information on environment and security, contributes through the GEOSS international initiative (Global Earth Observation System of Systems) to build global observational datasets and information and increases its influence in international negotiations and treaties such as the three Rio Conventions, the post-Kyoto Treaty, and other bilateral or multilateral agreements. GMES is recognised as the European contribution to building the Global Earth Observation System of Systems, developed within the framework of the Group on Earth Observations (GEO).

The Commission indicated that given the limits of the EU budget, it was proposed to fund GMES over 2014-2020 outside the multi-annual financial framework. Nevertheless, the Commission is still committed to ensuring the success of GMES, and in this context, today’s communication will launch the debate with the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee, and the Committee of the Regions on the future of the GMES programme.

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Several contract award announced in the domains of flood alert and land monitoring

Three contract award decisions were announced on Tenders Electronic Daily during the period 24-31/12/11:

Operational computational centre of EFAS

The award decision has been taken in favour of the European Centre for Medium-range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF for a total value of 2 929 961 EUR (excluding VAT).

The aim of this framework contract placed by the JRC is to progressively integrate parts of the European flood awareness system (EFAS) into the GMES emergency management service, in part under the GMES initial operation phase (GIO).

This framework contract considers the setting-up and implementation of the computational tasks related to the European flood awareness system and operation of the system on a guaranteed 24/7 basis thereafter together with associated testing, and research and development.

EFAS dissemination centre

The award decision has been taken in favour of the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute, for a total value of 1 022 000 EUR (excluding VAT).

The aim of the framework contract placed by the JRC is to progressively integrate parts of the European flood awareness system (EFAS) into the GMES emergency management service, in collaboration with the European Monitoring and Information Centre (MIC) of DG ECHO.

This framework contract deals with the outsourcing of the dissemination of EFAS results. The contractor will analyse EFAS results as provided by the EFAS computational centre twice a day on a guaranteed 7/365 basis, consult on a daily basis the situation with the other EFAS centres, investigate the ongoing flood situation in Europe and issue flood early warning information to partners of the EFAS network including MIC. Furthermore, feedback on flood forecasts and performance of the system are being collected and EFAS annual meetings organised in close collaboration with the Joint Research Centre.

EFAS hydrological data collection centre

The award decision has been taken in favour of Elimco Sistemas s.l., for a total value of 550 000 EUR (excluding VAT).

The aim of this framework contract placed by the JRC is to progressively integrate parts of the European flood awareness system (EFAS) into the GMES emergency management service, in part under the GMES initial operation phase (GIO).

This contract refers to the EFAS hydrological data collection centre. The contractor will manage an existing network of data providers for real time hydrological data, set up the data collection system for discharge and water level, implement quality control on the real time data and send the data in agreed format to the Joint Research Centre.

Land monitoring services: high resolution land cover characteristics of 5 main land cover types

The framework contract consists of six lots. The award decision has been taken in favour of:

The framework contract aims at providing high resolution land cover characteristics data complementary to the Corine land cover map 2012 that will be produced in parallel by the European environmental observation and information network (Eionet) and the EEA from the same satellite data. The 5 high resolution layers deal with artificial surfaces, forest areas, agriculture areas, wetlands, water bodies for the reference year 2012. The production of the 5 high resolution layers (HRLs) as part of the GMES initial operations (GIO) pan-European land monitoring services will be organised as a mix of centralised production by industry and decentralised delivery by EEA member and cooperating countries.

The different lots address the following areas:

  • Lot 1: Imperviousness and forest in northern Europe
  • Lot 2: Imperviousness and forest in central Europe, ‘partim’ Atlantic region
  • Lot 3: Imperviousness and forest in central Europe, ‘partim’ Alpine, continental, and Pannonian region
  • Lot 4: Imperviousness and forest in southern Europe, ‘partim’ west and central Mediterranean region
  • Lot 5: Imperviousness and forest in southern Europe, ‘partim’ east Mediterranean region
  • Lot 6: Grasslands, wetlands and water bodies in the EEA39

Source GMES.Info

On 30/11/2011, the European Commission adopted its Communication on the “European Earth monitoring programme (GMES) and its operations (from 2014 onwards) (COM 831).

This communication presents its proposals for the future funding, governance and operations of the GMES programme for the period 2014 – 2020.

As far as funding is concerned, the European Commission has made an assessment involving three different options. Based on its assessment, the Commission proposes to opt for the creation of a specific GMES fund, similar to the model chosen for the European Development Fund, with financial contributions from all Member States, based on their Gross National Income (GNI). The management of the fund would be delegated to the European Commission.

As far as governance is concerned, the European Commission proposes to remain responsible for the political supervision and the overall coordination of the GMES, on behalf of the Union. The Commission proposes to delegate certain management tasks (e.g. evaluation, negotiation and follow-up of contracts) to the European GNSS Agency (GSA). These tasks would however not include operations.

For operations, the European Commission proposes that the technical coordination of service is entrusted to several European entities, depending on their knowledge and expertise (e.g. the technical coordination of the land monitoring service could be entrusted to the European Environment Agency, the technical coordination of the atmosphere monitoring service could be entrusted to the European Centre for Medium-range Weather Forecasting, the technical coordination of the emergency management service could be entrusted to the European Emergency Response Centre, etc.).

The full text of the Communication is available here

Source

Adoption of a resolution on “Benefits of space for the security of European citizens”

The 29 ministers of the ESA-EU Space Council met in Brussels on 6 December 2011 and underlined the importance of space systems for security.

At this occasion, they reaffirmed GMES as a priority for the EU to ensure the development and exploitation of sustainable GMES services and infrastructures in the medium- and long-term, and urged the European Commission to take the necessary and timely actions to secure the continuity of the programme and to reassure GMES users and stakeholders of its commitment to the GMES programme.

The text of the resolution can be downloaded here

Source]=639&tx_ttnews[backPid]=1&cHash=f375a35b5601f1aede5706b9957ea37d

The Network of European Regions Using Space Technologies (NEREUS) has published a position paper entitled “Provisions for GMES in the Multiannual Financial Framework 2014-2020”.

In this document, NEREUS “urges the European Commission to ensure sustainable funding within the framework of the Multi Financial Framework of 2014-2020 in order to secure the timely delivery of Europe’s GMES flagship programme”.

NEREUS considers that whereas GMES is both an opportunity for economic growth and a vital tool for territorial management for the regions, the European Commission’s proposal to exclude GMES from the Multi Financial Framework for 2014-2020 will increase inequalities between EU countries.

The position paper also examines through a series of concrete examples the impacts that the European Commission’s proposal would have on regionally-specific applications.

The position paper can be downloaded here

NEREUS is an initiative by regions from all over Europe. Emphasis is placed on the use of space technologies. The network aims to explore the benefits of space technologies for Regions and their citizens and to spread their applications. To know more about NEREUS, please visit www.nereus-regions.eu

The remote-sensing applications supported provide useful information to the European Commission, to interested Member States, to research institutes and to other users, through the dissemination of different products.

Since its creation, the system has been continuously improved. Additionally to the primary objective of producing yield and harvest forecasts, the system also provides useful insights into other fields relevant to EU agriculture such as climate change. This second interim report is drawn up in view of a continuation of these measures within the framework of the CAP beyond 31 December 2013. The report elaborates on a possible scenario for continuation of the existing MARS Crop Yield Forecasting System for the EU and of an extension to a wider global coverage with the objectives of further improving yield forecasts for the EU and of contributing to the international initiatives launched by G20 agricultural ministers.

CAP- Implementation remote sensing applications.pdf

HOUSTON — The U.S. is preparing to launch a developmental spacecraft designed to preview a long-delayed network of satellites for weather forecasting, storm tracking and climate-change studies.

The satellite was developed as a pathfinder for the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (Npoess) program, an effort to marry civil and military weather satellite requirements into a single system. After years of delay and ballooning cost estimates, that program was scrapped in 2010 and split once again into separate civil and military efforts, led by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the U.S. Air Force.

Launch of the $1.5 billion Npoess Preparatory Project (NPP) spacecraft from Vandenberg AFB, Calif., on board a Delta II rocket is scheduled for Oct. 27 at 2:48 a.m. PDT (5:48 a.m. EDT). The current schedule represents a two-day slip in the original launch campaign to address a small hydraulic system leak and a damaged flexible exhaust system collar.

NPP carries five Earth-observing instruments, each destined for operational assignments crucial to the future of NOAA’s rechristened Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) network, into a Sun-synchronous orbit with a 512-mi. altitude. The spacecraft’s life is estimated at five years, although Ken Schwer, NPP project manager from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, warns that the operational lives of the developmental instruments may vary from that figure.

Though intended to provide the advanced sensor suite with a trial period, NPP is also expected to serve as a single-platform bridge between NASA’s aging Earth Observing System spacecraft Terra, Aqua and Aura — launched, respectively in 1999, 2002 and 2004 — and the JPSS for continuous profiles of the atmosphere, clouds, oceans, ice cover and vegetation. Initial NPP instrument calibration could take as long as six months.

“The timing of this NPP launch could hardly be more appropriate,” said Louis Uccellini, director of NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Prediction, during an Oct. 12 NASA news briefing. In the U.S. alone, this year has already been marked by 10 major weather events that have produced at least $1 billion in damage each, he notes.

“With NPP we expect to improve and extend our forecast skills out to five to seven days in advance for hurricanes and other extreme weather events,” Uccellini says. “We expect the advanced instruments on NPP to become a foundation for the global observing system that will be absolutely essential for NOAA’s prediction models.”

NPP observations will also improve NOAA’s ability to track ash plumes from volcanic eruptions to enhance aviation safety; monitor the potential for drought and wild fires; measure variations in arctic sea ice; and detect harmful algae blooms and other hazards to fisheries and fragile ocean/sea coast systems, Uccellini says.

The 2010 restructuring preserved the Air Force, NOAA and NASA partnership, especially in shared ground systems, but split procurement responsibilities between the JPSS and the Air Force’s Defense Weather Satellite System.

Source

(12 October 2011) NASA is planning an Oct. 27 launch of the first Earth-observing satellite to measure both global climate changes and key weather variables.

The National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System Preparatory Project (NPP) is the first mission designed to collect critical data to improve weather forecasts in the short-term and increase our understanding of long-term climate change. NPP continues observations of Earth from space that NASA has pioneered for more than 40 years.

NPP’s five science instruments, including four new state-of-the-art sensors, will provide scientists with data to extend more than 30 key long-term datasets. These records, which range from the ozone layer and land cover to atmospheric temperatures and ice cover, are critical for global change science.

NPP’s observations of a wide range of interconnected Earth properties and processes will give us the big picture of how our planet changes,” said Jim Gleason, NPP project scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. “That will help us improve our computer models that predict future environmental conditions. Better predictions will let us make better decisions, whether it is as simple as taking an umbrella to work today or as complex as responding to a changing climate.”

NPP serves as a bridge between NASA’s Earth Observing System of satellites and the planned Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS), which will collect climate and weather data. JPSS will be developed by NASA for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

NOAA meteorologists will incorporate NPP data into their weather prediction models to produce forecasts and warnings that will help emergency responders anticipate, monitor and react to many types of natural disasters.

“The timing of the NPP launch could hardly be more appropriate,” said Louis W. Uccellini, director of NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Prediction in Camp Springs, Md. “With the many billion dollar weather disasters in 2011, NPP data is critical for accurate weather forecasts into the future.”

A Delta II rocket will carry NPP into an orbit 512 miles above Earth’s surface. Roughly the size of a mini-van, the spacecraft will orbit Earth’s poles about 14 times a day. It will transmit data once each orbit to a ground station in Svalbard, Norway, and to direct broadcast receivers around the world.

NPP is set to launch from Space Launch Complex 2 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on Oct. 27. The launch window extends from 5:48 a.m. to 5:57 a.m. EDT. The launch recently was delayed two days due to the repair of the Delta II’s hydraulic system. The NPP spacecraft is scheduled to be transported to the launch pad for attachment to the Delta II on Oct. 12.

NPP’s Delta II launch vehicle also will carry several auxiliary payloads into orbit, which together comprise NASA’s third Educational Launch of Nanosatellite, or ELaNa, mission. This mission will put five small research payloads, or CubeSats, into orbit: two for the University of Michigan; and one each for Auburn University, Montana State University and Utah State University.

Goddard manages the NPP mission for the Earth Science Division of the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. The JPSS program is providing the ground system for NPP. NOAA will provide operational support for the mission. Launch management is the responsibility of the NASA Launch Services Program at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

(source: NASA)

The aim of the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) programme is to provide accurate, timely and easily accessible information. This will improve the management of the environment, understand and mitigate the effects of climate change and support decision-making in emergency and crisis situations.

To achieve these goals, the EU-led initiative relies on a wide range of satellite data from over 40 European and international space missions, along with other environmental datasets, provided through the Data Access system of the GMES Space Component.

With this GMES Space Component Data Access scheme, Earth observation data are made available in a unified manner to European service providers on Earth’s land, oceans and atmosphere, climate, security and emergency response management.Europe Coverage

Since the beginning of the data access initiative in 2007, this scheme has provided a wide range of Earth observation data to GMES services.

This included high-resolution images for the European Urban Atlas, images and data for monitoring land use at European level and delivering validated biophysical products across Europe.

It also provided radar and optical images for emergency mapping during crises and made many other on-demand products based on available satellite imagery.

Now, the initiative is entering a new phase that will last until 2014.

Data will be available faster and easier to a larger community of users through a dedicated web-based portal.

The portal will be used for all data requests and transactions, and integrates all elements into a comprehensive online catalogue.

This new system aims to improve upon the existing service performance and reduce the response time to data requests, especially when dealing with situations like natural and man-made disasters.

ESA and the European Commission have already invested over €50 million into this system and will, in this new phase, invest close to €90 million more.

With the launch of the first Sentinel mission scheduled for mid-2013, even more datasets will be available for the GMES Space Component.

Related links
Global Monitoring for Environment and Security
GMES Space Component Data Access
European Commission and GMES

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The Space Research & Development Unit of DG Enterprise & Industry of the European Commission has taken Space Research to the smart phone platform (iPhone & Android).

The “Embrace Space” Space Research app is the first EU-funded FP7 initiative that allows the user to discover the FP7 Space projects in one convenient and easy-to-use mobile application. The contents are labeled under 3 themes: ISS, Earth & Space. In addition, the app offers a media-rich experience with a video, images and the people behind the scenes. This new version keeps you posted on the latest news regarding the FP7 Space Research projects and allows you to bookmark your favourite subjects.

Read more…

Source GMES.Info