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How degraded is the soil in Mediterranean coasts?

The updated soil sealing maps 2018-2022 in the coastal areas of the Mediterranean have been officially released. ESA’s Ulysses project was carried out by Planetek Italia, ISPRA and CLS.

The updated soil sealing maps 2018-2022 in the coastal areas of the Mediterranean have been officially released. 

The results of the Ulysses project, promoted by the European Space Agency (ESA) and carried out by Planetek Italia (prime contractor) in collaboration with the Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA) and the French company CLS, were presented at ESA on April 11, 2024.

What is soil sealing?

Soil sealing is defined as a change in the nature of the soil due to covering with artificial impermeable materials, such as asphalt and concrete, which leads to the loss of its natural functions. Soil sealing has several impacts on the environment, particularly in urban areas and on the local climate, affecting heat exchange and soil permeability; Therefore, monitoring soil sealing is crucial especially for Mediterranean coastal areas, where soil degradation combined with periods of drought and fires contributes to the risk of desertification.

The Ulysses project

The objective of the Ulysses project is to contribute to the assessment and monitoring of soil sealing, providing specific products related to the presence and degree of soil sealing in coastal areas of the Mediterranean using Earth observation (EO) satellite data with an innovative methodology capable of optimizing and scaling their use with other non-EO data. 

Such products shall be designed to allow, in relation to current practices and existing services, a better characterisation, quantification and monitoring over time of soil sealing in the Mediterranean basin, supporting users and stakeholders involved in monitoring and preventing soil degradation.

The Soil Sealing Maps produced

The target products are high-resolution maps of soil sealing in coastal areas of the Mediterranean (within 20 km of the coast) for the period 2018-2022, at annual time resolution with a targeted spatial resolution of 10 m. The team, led by Planetek Italia and supported by CLS and ISPRA, generated maps covering the period 2018-2022. The maps, produced with Copernicus Sentinel-2 data, made it possible to quantify and monitor soil sealing in the Mediterranean basin, supporting users and stakeholders involved in monitoring and preventing soil degradation. 

Interaction with users is led by ISPRA, which has a dual role. ISPRA acts as a “sample user”, being institutionally strongly involved on the issue of soil degradation in international and regional organizations and being the national body responsible for this issue in Italy where it also interacts with local authorities.

Ulysses Website and Soil Sealing data

Discover the project, watch the video presentation, download the maps, explore the geoportal, and discover the indicators on https://www.ulysses-project.org/ 

The future

Following the demonstration activities involving a first group of users at European level, ESA has decided to extend the mapping activity of the coastal regions of the Mediterranean to include the years 2023 and 2024 by creating a complete and homogeneous dataset that offers an unprecedented snapshot of urban evolution throughout the Mediterranean basin.

In addition, the production of soil sealing maps will be extended to the national level in Spain, France, Italy, and Greece. These activities will go hand in hand with an intense promotional campaign that will have the four countries mentioned as its main target. 

In Italy, the working group is organizing a round table where national and regional representatives involved in the issue of land consumption will be able to discuss the situation in Italy. The event will be held on November 6, 2024, at the Ecomondo fair in Rimini, Italy.

The work team

The industrial structure of the project is composed of two companies and a research center, from Italy and France, grouped in a consortium for the purpose and objectives of the project. The project is led by Planetek Italia, with the participation of ISPRA and CLS S.A.

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