A number of further economic benefit studies were published over the last couple of months in 2022 within the Sentinels Benefits Study. Oil spill in the Mediterranean looks at how the CleanSeaNet (CSN) service operated by the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) helps national authorities monitoring their waters.CSN uses Sentinel-1 and other data to identify potential oil slicks and possible polluters and, in a matter of minutes, transfer this information to the national competent authorities such as SASEMAR in Spain and Transport Malta. The increased risk of detection and successful prosecution is deterring ship’s captains from washing out their tanks and oil spills were reduced by up to 65% in the last 10 years.
Water Quality Management in Finland looks at how Sentinel-2 and Sentinel-3 data are being used to monitor water bodies in Finland. These measurements allow the environmental institute of Finland and regional environmental agencies, known as ELY Centres, to monitor the quality of water in lakes throughout their region to a degree that is not possible using traditional in-situ water sampling and testing. Using satellite data is especially helpful in a country like Finland where the large amount of water bodies would imply enormous associated costs for authorities should they have to use traditional monitoring methods across the whole country. Sentinel data therefore helps authorities to improve water quality at a lower cost, which in turn improves the quality of life for citizens, aids in the protection of biodiversity and helps to ensure environmental sustainability.
Next to these and other in-depth case studies, we published a visual summary report that provides a great overview of the learnings and conclusions we have been able to draw from our case studies so far. The report also gives a comprehensive picture of all the associated benefits derived from the use of Copernicus Sentinel data!
Besides our case analyses, we organised three sector workshops to engage with public sector stakeholders and to better understand the uptake of Sentinel data in these areas. The targeted sectors were road infrastructure management, forest management and water quality management. The workshop results can be accessed at our SEBS website!