Projects
| Project | Abstract | Prime Company | Domain | Tags | Full text |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4DATLANTIC Dust-Ocean Modelling & Observing Study (DOMOS) | The Dust-Ocean Modelling & Observing Study (DOMOS) will advance the understanding of dust and ocean interactions in a changing climate through an innovative use of model and observations. The project will develop a new retrieval of dust [...] | ECMWF (GB) | Science | Aeolus, Aerosols, Atlantic, climate, Ecosystems, marine environment, oceans, regional initiatives | The Dust-Ocean Modelling & Observing Study (DOMOS) will advance the understanding of dust and ocean interactions in a changing climate through an innovative use of model and observations. The project will develop a new retrieval of dust deposition from satellite lidar data (CALIPSO and Aeolus), will validate the dust deposition field from the CAMS reanalysis and will also provide assimilation tests of IASI and Aeolus aerosol products with the goal of providing a better description of the dust aerosols, for applications in aerosol radiative impacts and ocean biogeochemistry. An improved representation of the physical and chemical characteristics of dust deposition over the ocean is crucial to interpret the observed climatic change responses and to better describe the future ones. This includes a better understanding and quantification of the deposition of soluble iron from natural and anthropogenic dust and of its contribution relative to biomass burning and anthropogenic aerosols which will be one of the main deliverables of the project. A scientific roadmap to highlight the findings of the project and identify possible gaps in the modelling and the observing approaches will also be provided. DOMOS aims to answer the following questions. To what extent dust deposition over the Atlantic has changed over the last 20 years? Can we identify robust trends in the reanalysis and model datasets and if yes, how can we verify them? Although estimates have been attempted before, there is the need to look at longer time-series such as those provided by atmospheric composition reanalysis and climate models and develop tailor-made satellite retrievals from multiple sensors and platforms, aimed at quantifying dust deposition. This is a challenge as dust deposition is not directly observable from satellite. Observations must be complemented with model-based information. Also, independent observations of dust deposition are needed to quantify the quality of the model-based and reanalysis-based reconstructions as well as to evaluate the performance of the bespoken satellite retrievals. What is the contribution of anthropogenic and natural sources of dust compared to biomass burning and anthropogenic aerosols to soluble iron deposition over the Atlantic? While dust is the largest contributor to total iron deposition by far, it is unclear what its contribution to soluble iron deposition is. What are the impacts of changes in dust deposition on marine biogeochemistry and their potential effects on ecosystems? The connection between changes in dust deposition and the nutrients available for marine ecosystems needs further investigation with a concerted synergy of modelling and observations. |
| 4DATLANTIC EBUS PRIMUS | Primary productivity in upwelling systems (PRIMUS) aims to provide the best possible characterisation of net primary productivity (NPP) and its relationship to upwelling in Atlantic Eastern Boundary Upwelling Systems (EBUS). Funded through ESA’s [...] | Plymouth Marine Laboratory (GB) | Science | Atlantic, climate, MERIS, oceans, OLCI, regional initiatives | Primary productivity in upwelling systems (PRIMUS) aims to provide the best possible characterisation of net primary productivity (NPP) and its relationship to upwelling in Atlantic Eastern Boundary Upwelling Systems (EBUS). Funded through ESA’s Regional Initiative, PRIMUS will produce a 25-year time series of 1-km NPP in all Atlantic EBUS, and experimentally, at higher-resolution (300m) using the unique capabilities of the MERIS and OLCI sensors. These data, together with upwelling indices from different data sources, existing in-situ data, and ocean circulation modelling, will enable investigation of EBUS impacts on Earth system processes and socio-economically important activities such as: aquaculture in Galicia; fiand eutrophication in the Portuguese upwelling region; impacts on ocean carbon pools; Lagrangian estimates of NPP; and air-sea interaction and acidification impacts. Science cases will make use of EO data, in situ data as well as numerical model outputs to investigate the 4D character of EBUS, for example linking Lagrangian NPP with sediment traps samples at depth. Finally, based on the project results and wider consultations, PRIMUS will develop a scientific roadmap in the form of a peer-reviewed paper, posing scientific challenges and observations gaps that need to be addressed over the 2023 to 2027 timeframe. Project Description Primary productivity in upwelling systems (PRIMUS) will provide the best possible characterisation of net primary productivity (NPP) and its relationship to upwelling in Atlantic Eastern Boundary Upwelling Systems. We will produce a 25-year time series of 1-km NPP in all Atlantic EBUS, and experimentally, at higher-resolution (300m) using the unique capabilities of the MERIS and OLCI sensors. These data, together with upwelling indices from different data sources, existing in-situ data, and ocean circulation modelling, will address the objectives stated in the 4DAtlantic theme 1 requirements. PRIMUS will design and implement a novel research plan that aims to describe how we plan consolidate and advance the current understanding of Atlantic EBUS, specifically addressing net primary productivity, its relation to wind-induced upwelling, its impact on Earth system processes, and effects on socio-economically important activities. This plan will include a wide-ranging consultation with relevant stakeholders and early-adopters. PRIMUS will create or add to databases of relevant EO and in situ data that will be used in the project, notably as input for computation of NPP (as well as other elements of the carbon cycle impacted by EBUS). We will make use of a new 1-km version of the long-term climate quality ESA OC CCI dataset and leverage the unique resolution and spectral band capabilities of ESA MERIS and OLCI instruments. In-situ data will be mined from the scientific literature, existing databases, and be provided by our collaborators, notably in the regularly sampled Galician Sea component of the Iberian upwelling system, as well as other regions of interest (Portuguese coast, Canary current system and Benguela upwelling system. PRIMUS will investigate prototype products and perform a thorough validation of the products from two existing NPP models for Atlantic EBUS. These will be evaluated using a number of criteria including accuracy (with respect to in situ data) computational efficiency (and success in simplification though an AI/ML investigation to be conducted, and appropriateness for specific regions or science applications. Evolution of the models will be based on developments from the ESA BICEP project. We will focus attention on specific developments to input variables to the models: i.e. chl-a, considering optical water type classification and sunglint-impacted data PRIMUS will generate and validate a “4DAtlantic Experimental Dataset” of EO-based Atlantic EBUS data. These products will span over 25 years during the project, , and will make use of recently available data from Sentinel 3 for an experimental high resolution NPP product. PRIMUS will use these data to advance Earth System science analyses covering Atlantic EBUS temporal and spatial variability in NPP and its statistical relationship to upwelling and climate indices (such as the NAO). PRIMUS will also operate eight further science cases in specific science areas / regional settings, such as aquaculture in Galicia, or fisheries and eutrophication in the Portuguese upwelling region. In addition we will investigate: potential EBUS impacts on ocean carbon pools; Lagrangian estimates of NPP; and air-sea interaction and acidification impacts. Science cases will make use of EO data, in situ data as well as numerical model outputs (freely available through Copernicus and elsewhere) to investigate the 4D character of EBUS, for example linking Lagrangian NPP with sediment traps samples at depth. These will provide exemplars for science that can be conducted with 4D reconstructions In order to demonstrate wider socio-economic relevance and impact, PRIMUS will conduct demonstrations that transfers science into solutions for society, working together with scientific, agency, policy and commercial early-adopters, building on three of the science case studies (concerning EBUS and aquaculture, fisheries and eutrophication monitoring); affiliating with the Future Earth Coasts initiative; evaluating transition of data production to operational initiatives such as Copernicus and GMES and Africa; and the potential for exploitation by the European and international ecosystem modelling community. Based on the project results and wider consultations PRIMUS will develop a scientific roadmap in the form of a peer-reviewed paper, posing scientific challenges and observations gaps that need to be addressed over the 2023 to 2027 timeframe. The roadmap will focus on Atlantic EBUS, but also consider global applications of the PRIMUS results. A further aim is to collaborate on ways forward with other ESA activities (e.g. BICEP, Ocean-SODA and notably ESA Digital Twin Precursors), and other international efforts. Finally, PRIMUS will coordinate and promote international collaboration and communicate results to scientists and citizens to maximise impact of the project through cross-cutting promotion, communication, and education activities, and through peer-reviewed publications. In conclusion, PRIMUS aims to make a major contribution to the ESA 4DAtlantic research programme, 4D reconstructions and understanding of Atlantic EBUS net primary production in relation to upwelling and its socio-economic impacts. The ESA Regional Initiative 4DATLANTIC-EBUS-PRIMUS Project has been kicked-off in September 2021, for a duration of 2 years. New approach to satellite data analysis reveals unexpected patterns in biological production New PRIMUS paper using the MOving Standard deviation Saturation (MOSS) to study timescales of variability in global satellite Chl and SST Plymouth Marine Laboratory new approach to analyse the variability in satellite data (video) |
| 4DATLANTIC – OCEAN HEAT CONTENT – (OHC) | This project aims at developing, testing and implementing innovative methods able to use space geodetic data from altimetry and gravimetry to generate the regional ocean heat content (OHC) change over the Atlantic Ocean. The ESA MOHeaCAN project [...] | MAGELLIUM (FR) | Science | altimeter, Atlantic, climate, gravity and gravitational fields, oceans, regional initiatives, science | This project aims at developing, testing and implementing innovative methods able to use space geodetic data from altimetry and gravimetry to generate the regional ocean heat content (OHC) change over the Atlantic Ocean. The ESA MOHeaCAN project strategy has been pursued and refined at regional scales both for the data generation and the uncertainty estimate. In practice, we propose to develop a purely space-based product paying a careful attention to the error propagation along the processing scheme. This will enable to keep the product independent from in situ data which are the unique source of data for validation. By keeping the space-based product independent from in-situ data we ensure that we can validate properly and precisely both the space product and its uncertainty. In addition, the product will be only based on observations. With this approach there is no premature mixing with model solutions. The data and their uncertainty are driven by observations only. Thus, the space-based product fits the needs for any model validation. This is absolutely essential to ensure an efficient dissemination of the product among the climate modelling community. The official version of the 4DAtlantic-OHC product and its associated documentation is now available on the ODATIS/AVISO portal. The product has been validated against in-situ data and is now used and analysed to address the major science questions helping us to better understand the complexity of the climate system. The study is focused on the Meridional Heat Transport (MHT) in the North Atlantic with a regional heat budget. In parallel, our early adopters started to assess the strengths and limitations of the OHC product for potential new solutions for society. The ESA Regional Initiative 4DATLANTIC OHC Project has been kicked-off on 7 July 2021, for a duration of 2 years. The first phase of the project (development and validation of the product) has come to an end. The second phase relating to the scientific use case and the use of the product by early adopters is on-going. |
| 4DMED-Hydrology | 4DMED-Hydrology aims at developing an advanced, high-resolution, and consistent reconstruction of the Mediterranean terrestrial water cycle by using the latest developments of Earth Observation (EO) data as those derived from the ESA-Copernicus [...] | CNR – INSTITUTE FOR ELECTROMAGNETIC SENSING OF THE ENVIRONMENT (IREA) (IT) | Science | hydrology science cluster, Mediterranean, regional initiatives, science, terrestrial hydrosphere, water cycle and hydrology | 4DMED-Hydrology aims at developing an advanced, high-resolution, and consistent reconstruction of the Mediterranean terrestrial water cycle by using the latest developments of Earth Observation (EO) data as those derived from the ESA-Copernicus missions. In particular, by exploiting previous ESA initiatives, 4DMED-Hydrology intends: to demonstrate how this EO capacity can help to describe the interactions between complex hydrological processes and anthropogenic pressure (often difficult to model) in synergy with model-based approaches; to exploit synergies among EO data to maximize the retrieval of information of the different water cycle components (i.e., precipitation, soil moisture, evaporation, runoff, river discharge) to provide an accurate representation of our environment and advanced fit-for-purpose decision support systems in a changing climate for a more resilient society. 4DMED-Hydrology will focus on four test areas, namely the Po river basin in Italy, the Ebro River basin in Spain, the Hérault River basin in France and the Medjerda River basin in Tunisia, which are representatives of climates, topographic complexity, land use, human activities and hydrometeorological hazards of the Mediterranean Region (MR). The developed products will be then extended to the entire region. The resulting EO-based products (i.e., experimental datasets, EO products) will be made available in an Open Science catalogue hosted and operated by ESA. |
| ALPS APPLICATIONS PRIORITIES | This project will implement a demonstrator of a Digital Twin for the Alps looking at Disaster Risk Management and Water Resources Management. It has mandated user organizations in France, Italy and Switzerland. | SENTINEL HUB VAS GMBH (AT) | Enterprise | Alps, regional initiatives, water resources | This project will implement a demonstrator of a Digital Twin for the Alps looking at Disaster Risk Management and Water Resources Management. It has mandated user organizations in France, Italy and Switzerland. |
| Atlantic cities: smart, sustainable and secure ports and protecting the ocean | The project aims at developing and delivering to the end user communities a number of customized EO-based information services to support decision making processes in the Atlantic Region: Climate Resilience Atlantic Cities and Ports [...] | DEIMOS SPACE UK LTD (GB) | Regional Initiatives | Atlantic, oceans, ports, regional initiatives, sustainable development, urban | The project aims at developing and delivering to the end user communities a number of customized EO-based information services to support decision making processes in the Atlantic Region: Climate Resilience Atlantic Cities and Ports Protecting the Ocean The Climate Resilience Service will be focused on providing information and know-how for assessing the risks and potential socio-economic impacts of coastal processes such as erosion and flooding, to: Critical infrastructures Business activities Coastal protection elements The main service users are: environmental agencies municipalities coastal business activities The Cities and Ports Service will focus on addressing the needs identified by coastal cities with ports, supporting the social cohesion and inclusiveness while ensuring the harmonious co-existence of many economic activities and the well-being of its inhabitants and tourists. This service therefore aims to support ports, cities and related entities in: Assessing the activities in and around ports Monitoring of maritime transport Detecting port-related pollution Identifying security/safety issues for assets. The Protecting the Ocean Service will focus on: detecting emerging pollutants such as marine litter monitoring the environmental status of ocean areas, including MPAs and other marine ecosystem relevant areas. This service addresses users from national and international authorities and other entities responsible for reporting marine status and indicators. |
| Atlantic Regional Initiative – Applications: Offshore Wind Energy | Services based on Earth Observation (EO) can provide valuable information during the design stage by providing a long time series of wind data that allows a better assessment and characterization of the wind resource energy production potential [...] | Deimos Engenharia (PT) | Regional Initiatives | Atlantic, energy and natural resources, oceans, regional initiatives, renewable energy | Services based on Earth Observation (EO) can provide valuable information during the design stage by providing a long time series of wind data that allows a better assessment and characterization of the wind resource energy production potential of different possible wind farm (WF) sites, helping to select the most advantageous ones. These typical site wind characteristics can also assist in the determination of the optimal location of each individual wind turbine (WT) inside the specified site boundaries, minimizing combined WT wake influence and therefore minimizing energy production losses. Once the WF is operational, the EO based services can help establish optimal site maintenance weather windows and help foresee or determine/monitor possible rain erosion effects on the WT blades. Long time series of wind and wave data will help determine possible overall weather windows for those operations, while short term weather forecast can provide valuable information to guide the planned maintenance activities (e.g. adjust time window for the activity based on weather forecast inputs). This 2-year project focuses on the development of an integrated application covering: A planning dashboard for wind farm design and operations, including weather windows for offshore operations planning. The dashboard aims to provide a single access point to the different EO services to be developed with advanced data visualisation and download capabilities so that the user is able to trigger service runs, access easily all service outputs, compare different site locations, configurations and maintenance scenarios, and get support from a team of specialised personnel for each one of the services. The EO-based services will cover different activity areas of wind farm design and operations from wind resource and wake effect assessment to the definition of maintenance operations weather windows, provided by dedicated expert teams coming from different partners. The users will interact with those EO experts to better understand the capabilities, optimal conditions of use and possible limitations of the different presented services, therefore easing their learning curve on the usage and uptake on these products. Hopefully this process, that will be upscaled to other users in the final workshop of the project, will improve significantly the uptake of these types of products by the wind energy sector. The dashboard should integrate these new EO based services with wind industry sector standard metrics for energy production, operational costs and total cost of energy to provide more recognisable and actionable information to the end users and therefore ease the uptake of these types of services by these non-EO expert user communities. Winds for resource assessment. The main focus will be on making EO data and derived products easily accessible for end users and on the development of new applications, which can integrate the EO data seamlessly into the applications already in use by the wind energy community and in particular the wind energy industry. The aim is to fully integrate satellite wind based products with well established industry standard wind farm planning and operations software solutions (SOWFA) and indicators (AEP and LCOE), addressing the full information value chain to provide meaningful and familiar information to infrastructure managers and other interested stakeholders. Assessment of wind turbine wake effects. The work will provide access to the higher resolution SAR based EO datasets, produced by DTU, to downstream industry standard applications developed by Wavec. Those applications will use those wind satellite products as ground truth to run the required simulations to assess and minimise wake effects. As in the previous service, standard energy production and cost indicators such as AEP and LCOE will be estimated in these simulations to provide actionable and familiar information to the different stakeholders. Assessment of rain erosion of wind turbine blades. The work will use rain data from the GPM mission to characterise rain events, which, combined with wind data from satellite EO, will produce novel rain-wind data series for selected sites with operating wind farms. The work will be the first of its kind, thus in a prototype level data for initial evaluation by end users, namely, wind farm owners, wind farm operators and wind farm planners. The main partner to demonstrate the services will be EDP, through the Windfloat Atlantic wind farm project installed 20 km off the Portuguese coast at Viana do Castelo. During the user engagement the consortium team will be in contact with a series of stakeholders working in the Atlantic Region to help consolidate the technical requirements. As a result, additional service exercises for different users might be prepared. This activity corresponds to Theme 2 of the original Invitation to Tender. |
| Black Sea and Danube Regional Initiative – Applications: Environmental Risk Management in the Danube Catchment | The Environmental Risk Management in the Danube Catchment (The Danube Environmental Risk Assessment Platform, DEAP) project aims to create a platform of applications based on Earth Observation (EO) to support Environmental Risk Management within [...] | The Icon Group (IE) | Applications | Black Sea and Danube, regional initiatives | The Environmental Risk Management in the Danube Catchment (The Danube Environmental Risk Assessment Platform, DEAP) project aims to create a platform of applications based on Earth Observation (EO) to support Environmental Risk Management within the Danube catchment. The purpose of the project is to provide regional stakeholders, who currently do not regularly use EO data, with access to dynamic environmental assessments using such datasets. The service will comprise a suite of cloud-based applications which will detect, monitor, analyse and characterise the sources of environmental problems using available EO data in conjunction with in-situ inputs and other reference data. Service applications will be developed for deployment in the cloud and shall employ advanced dispersion modelling techniques in conjunction with EO Data to deliver meaningful (actionable) maps, statistics and other data across 20 countries. The project includes engagement with regional stakeholders, the definition of the service portfolio and data processing chains, and the provision of the operational service to stakeholders. The service will benefit from existing ESA/EC DIAS infrastructures to support the delivery of environmental risk assessments in a fully automated way. At an operational level, the service will identify industrial waste discharge, transport waste discharge, agricultural run-off, and ecosystem degradation in near real time, and shall represent a unique tool to regional agencies. Stakeholders include environmental protection agencies, port authorities, fisheries management agencies, the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube, various development agencies, etc. This activity corresponds to Priority Application Domain C of the original Invitation to Tender. |
| Black Sea and Danube Regional Initiative – Black Sea Environmental Protection | The Black sea is located in the north-eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea. It is a semi-closed basin that communicates with the Planetary Ocean through the Bosporus and Dardanelles Straits. The water balance is highly imposed by the freshwater [...] | NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR MARINE RES.R (RO) | Enterprise | applications, Black Sea and Danube, carbon cycle, enterprise, regional initiatives | The Black sea is located in the north-eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea. It is a semi-closed basin that communicates with the Planetary Ocean through the Bosporus and Dardanelles Straits. The water balance is highly imposed by the freshwater inputs from some of the biggest rivers in Europe in terms of solid and liquid discharge: (e.g. Danube). As an endorheic system, the main characteristics that make Black Sea a special study place are the input of significant freshwater, the lack of strong vertical currents, and the limited water exchange with the Mediterranean Sea. Earth observation services for Black Sea Protection (EO4BSP) overlap the entire area of the Black Sea and propose a holistic approach that covers different elements with potential environmental impact.The project will implement six services that are going to be delivered to a number of 13 stakeholders from the Black Sea riparian countries and one International organization – The Black Sea Commission. S1 – Land Use – Land Cover coastal changes. Economic development is associated with land-use changes, transforming the natural green zones into exclusive anthropogenic areas. Analysis and modeling of land-use change trends and urbanization allow us to evaluate the spatial development patterns providing a key for effective planning practices in the context of Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) and MaritimeSpatial Planning (MSP) implementation. S2 – Eutrophication. Eutrophication represents one of the most severe and widespread environmental problems for coastal zone managers (IOCCG Report Number 3, 2000). In the “Black Sea region briefing – The European environment — state and outlook 2015” published by European Environmental Agency, eutrophication is considered one of the main four key transboundary challenges of the Black Sea. S3 – Marin Front Identification and mesoscale circulation. This service will include data fusion, satellite observations, numerical modeling, and data assimilation, as well as skill assessment and metrics with a focus on sea state, temperature, turbidity, and SPM, identification of ocean fronts. EO4BSP will provide services, based on numerical simulation and data assimilation, of currents, salinity and temperature, and distribution, height and period of wind waves, ocean colour, sediment transport dynamics, and biogeochemical component as well as the forecast of these parameters. S4 – Oil Tankers path identification.This service will make use of historical AIS data. Provided by EMODnet, the present data can be used in many ways, not only for oil tankers’ path identification but also for illegal trafficking in the Black Sea. S.4 will be used as decision tool for stakeholders. This application will be intimately linked with the Oil spill monitoring service. S5 – Oil spills identification and monitoring.Maritime surveillance activities are traditionally carried out by patrol ships or aircraft. However, in recent years the use of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and optical satellite imagery has proved highly effective in ship traffic and oil spill monitoring. The capability of observing wide areas in almost all-weather and light conditions makes SAR sensors the most suitable tool formaritime surveillance purposes. S6 – High-resolution water quality monitoring in anchorage areas. Monitoring water quality parameters through remote sensing techniques may offer a comprehensive overview of water bodies due to the spatial and spectral capabilities of the sensors. The spatial and temporal distribution of these indicators will reveal the improvement or alteration of the surface water health status. This may be a consequence of nutrients or organic pollution or contamination of waters with hazardous substances. The service will focus on: chlorophyll a (chl_a), turbidity, and total suspended matter (TSM). Monitoringthe evolution of this parameter at several moments would reveal the anchorage areas aquatic ecosystem’s health status. |
| Black Sea and Danube RI – Applications | This activity is part of the EO (Earth Observation) Exploitation Platforms element of ESA’s Earth Observation Envelope Programme (EOEP-5) aiming to establish regional information services for Black Sea Region in the agriculture and forestry [...] | GISAT S.R.O. (CZ) | Enterprise | applications, Black Sea and Danube, enterprise, regional initiatives | This activity is part of the EO (Earth Observation) Exploitation Platforms element of ESA’s Earth Observation Envelope Programme (EOEP-5) aiming to establish regional information services for Black Sea Region in the agriculture and forestry domains. It is intended to develop a suite of service cases demonstrating the monitoring services to CAP paying agencies, precision agriculture, monitoring of agriculture production and forest resource management (forest area, type and deforestation mapping) with users in Czech Republic, Georgia, Romania and Hungary. |
| Blue economy: innovation clusters, Atlantic natural resources management and maritime spatial planning | The 2-years Blue Economy project aims at developing and demonstrating EO driven data solutions, which deliver actionable information to key coastal stakeholders. Applications will focus on the areas of coastal monitoring, ocean renewable energy, [...] | GMVIS SKYSOFT S.A. (PT) | Regional Initiatives | Atlantic, blue economy, coastal zone, marine environment, maritime spatial planning, oceans, regional initiatives, renewable energy | The 2-years Blue Economy project aims at developing and demonstrating EO driven data solutions, which deliver actionable information to key coastal stakeholders. Applications will focus on the areas of coastal monitoring, ocean renewable energy, and marine litter. It is being implemented through the European Space Agency’s Atlantic Regional Initiative. In parallel, a range of Atlantic-focused recommendations will be developed from engaged stakeholder inputs, and community development activities. These perspectives will (i) inform and enhance the roadmap being developed by the European Space Agency for the Atlantic Region, and (ii) find a seed Community of Practice of maritime-EO technology innovators for the Atlantic, focused on developing EO solutions to address Marine Strategy Framework, and Marine Spatial Planning ambitions. Rationale: As the Maritime Spatial Planning (MSPD) and Marine Strategy Framework (MSFD) directives are implemented across Europe, EU member states and aligning nations need innovative information gathering tools to monitor progress towards the goals of these two directives. Information from satellites can satisfy a number of these monitoring needs. The EO sector needs to demonstrate technological viability, and while doing so engage with policy makers and legislators to ensure information products are acceptable for monitoring and legal purposes. The Blue Economy project is a demonstration of this potential for Atlantic coastal states. A synthesis of products/services being developed is available in these slides. |
| DIGITAL TWIN EARTH PRECURSORS – OCEANS | Considering the long-term goal for Digital Twin Ocean (DTO) of being a virtual representation of the marine environment including all its known features and dynamics, the DTO-p project proposes to:Define a concept of a DTO, implement and [...] | IFREMER (FR) | Science | marine environment, oceans, regional initiatives, science | Considering the long-term goal for Digital Twin Ocean (DTO) of being a virtual representation of the marine environment including all its known features and dynamics, the DTO-p project proposes to: Define a concept of a DTO, implement and demonstrate to a relevant stakeholder community and ESA; Create a solid scientific and technical basis upon which the Destination Earth vision proposed by the EU can be realized Explain and simulate two very distinct ocean phenomena in two very contrasting marine basins: marine heatwaves in the Mediterranean Sea and sea ice breaking in the Arctic Ocean. |
| DryPan: Novel EO data for improved agricultural drought impact forecasting in the Pannonian basin | The Pannonian basin is a sheltered region, with relatively low levels of precipitation (< 600 mm/year), therefore its surrounding mountains are considered a key water source. Over the last decades several drought episodes took place. [...] | EODC EARTH OBSERVATION DATA CENTRE FOR WATER RESOURCES MONITORING (AT) | Science | agriculture, applications, Black Sea and Danube, climate, climate adaptation flagship, regional initiatives, science, water resources | The Pannonian basin is a sheltered region, with relatively low levels of precipitation (< 600 mm/year), therefore its surrounding mountains are considered a key water source. Over the last decades several drought episodes took place. Scientific research groups with cross-border cooperation on drought monitoring and management were established including the Drought Management Centre for South-Eastern Europe (DMCSEE) (hwww.dmcsee.org) and the Pannonian Basin Experiment (PannEx). These act as a response to combat the increased frequency and intensity of dry spells and heat waves under climate change and the need to increase the capacity of the relevant stakeholders to manage drought events and their impacts. The DryPan project is funded by ESA and builds upon the experiences of the Interreg funded DriDanube products. DryPan’s objectives include: i) to develop and validate a set of novel Earth Observation products and enhanced data sets dedicated to characterise Drought processes in the Pannonian basin; ii) to foster new scientific results addressing some of the main priority areas of research in the region, where space technology may provide a valuable input; iii) to promote the use of advanced EO datasets for Drought Early Warning in the region by facilitating access to the developed products and results through a professional project web site exploiting advanced data access and visualisation tools; and iv) to develop a roadmap identifying additional science priorities as a driver for launching potential new development activities addressing the priorities of the Danube science communities in the timeframe 2020-2021. |
| Earth Observation data For Science and Innovation in the Black Sea (EO4SIBS) | In the frame of the ESA Regional Initiatives, a set of coordinated activities between science, public sector, industry growth and infrastructure components focussing on regional priorities with high interest for Member States, a number of [...] | UNIVERSITY OF LIEGE (BE) | Science | Black Sea and Danube, carbon science cluster, ocean science cluster, oceans, regional initiatives, science, Sentinel-2, Sentinel-3 | In the frame of the ESA Regional Initiatives, a set of coordinated activities between science, public sector, industry growth and infrastructure components focussing on regional priorities with high interest for Member States, a number of Science and Application projects are being runned for the Black Sea and Danube region. In this context, the EO4SIBS (Earth Observation data For Science and Innovation in the Black Sea) project is dedicated to Ocean Science. The objectives of this project are: To develop a new generation of algorithms that can ingest the wealth of spatial, temporal and spectral information provided by recent sensors providing high quality reference products for the blue and green ocean. In particular, regarding Ocean Colour derived products, innovative, high quality reference products of Chl-a, Total Suspended Matter (TSM) and turbidity products will be generated for the whole Black Sea geographical area, with a special focus on the western part directly influenced by the Danube River plume. Merged products will be generated to combine the high temporal resolution of S-3 OLCI and high spatial resolution of S-2 MSI satellite products and capture the optimal spatio-temporal coverage over the Black Sea waters. Concerning altimeter datasets, Level-3 Sentinel-3A [2016, 2018] and Cryosat-2 [2011, 2018] along-track product will be generated and their impact for coastal sea level trend study in the Black Sea assessed, and Level-4 multi-mission gridded products over the [2011, 2018] for improved mesoscale studies. Finally, 10 year (2010-2020) of improved gap-free high resolution salinity products will be generated. To collect new data to support the development of novel algorithms and to propose laboratory analyses of the highest quality To build novel composite products that integrate the satellite information with that from robotic platforms and numerical ocean models; To assess how the use of EO data improves our knowledge of good environmental status (GES) and climate change in the Black Sea. In particular three scientific use cases will be assessed : Physical oceanography and biochemical ecosystems; Black Sea level dynamics and trends; Deoxygenation. To disseminate the developed tools and products to the regional and international scientific and end-user community through the setting of a web platform, the organization of dissemination events, the participation to conferences. |
| Earth Observation for Air Quality and Health ‘AlpAirEO’ – Alps regional initiative | Recently, the European Environmental Agency (EEA) reported that air pollution contributed to 400.000 annual deaths in the EU. The Alps are special. They host 14 million people and attract many tourists and businesses. Due to the diverse [...] | DLR – GERMAN AEROSPACE CENTER (DE) | Regional Initiatives | air quality, Alps, atmosphere science cluster, climate, health, regional initiatives, Sentinel-3, Sentinel-5P | Recently, the European Environmental Agency (EEA) reported that air pollution contributed to 400.000 annual deaths in the EU. The Alps are special. They host 14 million people and attract many tourists and businesses. Due to the diverse landscape and climate, pollution hotspots can develop in certain areas while pristine environments prevail throughout most of the high Alpine regions. As part of the “eo4alps” initiative ESA held a workshop in June 2018 with leading scientists to discuss the potential benefits of earth observation of the Alpine region. “Air quality & health” was identified as one of four priority actions. The project “AlpAirEO” will use state-of-the-art technology to deliver innovative science and information services to support expert and non-expert stakeholders and thereby help to improve the general quality of life in the Alps. By approach of co-design, the needs of the health community will be addressed. Satellites EO in conjunction with atmospheric models and surface observations can deliver the spatial coverage and quality needed. The project will look into the available data from operational instruments like MODIS and GOME-2 and especially the new Sentinel mission instruments starting with Sentinel 3 SLSTR for aerosols and Sentinel 5P TropOMI covering NO2. Additionally, the Copernicus Atmospheric Monitoring Service (CAMS) and Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) will provide important information on atmospheric constituents and climate indicators. For reference, surface-based data from observation networks for the Alpine region will also be taken into consideration. The unprecedented capabilities of the new Sentinels and the Copernicus services will be combined with available environmental information and demographic data, e.g. population density. By following the recommendations of WMO-CCI and WHO, the findings of epidemiological studies and evidence of regional health statistics, daily information on health risk due to environmental stress can be derived.Results will be made freely available based on the Bioclimatic Information System hosted by AlpEnDAC as part of the Virtual Alpine Observatory. Project lead: German Aerospace Center (DLR) Project Duration: 2020 – 2022 Discover more projects, activities and resources on the Alps regional initiative (EO4ALPS) page. |
| Earth Observation for Alpine ecosystems ‘eco4alps’ – Alps regional initiative | The project is an Application element of EO4ALPS Regional Initiative. It will develop 6 EO services on ecosystem mapping and monitoring in the alpine region, addressing the specific requirements of national and regional stakeholders and being [...] | Solenix Schweiz GmbH (CH) | Regional Initiatives | Alps, ecosystems/vegetation, forestry, platforms, regional initiatives | The project is an Application element of EO4ALPS Regional Initiative. It will develop 6 EO services on ecosystem mapping and monitoring in the alpine region, addressing the specific requirements of national and regional stakeholders and being sufficiently large in scope and content to strengthen regional cooperation across alpine countries: ecosystem mapping, forest disturbance, forest phenology, forest fire recovery, grassland management and grassland abandonment. A 2nd objective of the project is to demonstrate the added value of an open and federated network of platforms to provide these services at regional scale. A proof of concept on a transboundary area of 50,000 km2 will demonstrate the adequacy and usefulness of the proposed services. Discover more projects, activities and resources on the Alps regional initiative (EO4ALPS) page. |
| Earth Observation for Landslides ‘eo4alps landslides’ – Alps regional initiative | The project focuses on implementing regional geoinformation services and products for landslide risk assessment over the Alpine mountain range. EO4ALPS-landslides will set the basis for the creation of harmonized and advanced landslide [...] | SATT CONECTUS ALSACE (FR) | Regional Initiatives | Alps, disaster risk, land, regional initiatives, thematic exploitation platform | The project focuses on implementing regional geoinformation services and products for landslide risk assessment over the Alpine mountain range. EO4ALPS-landslides will set the basis for the creation of harmonized and advanced landslide inventories and susceptibility/hazard maps based on EO ground motion services linked to advanced modelling capabilities all embedded in the user-driven GeoHazard Exploitation Platform (GEP). The project is user-driven with the engagement of more than 20 authorities and other stakeholders responsible for landslide disaster risk management involved in all project phases. An online survey was conducted among more than 100 potential end-users of the eo4alps-landslides geoinformation system. Fifty-four survey answers representing 49 stakeholders were collected. These respondents are mostly active at national or regional level with operational mandates in landslide hazard and risk management, monitoring, mapping, mitigation, disaster intervention and land-use planning. |
| Earth Observation for operational hydrology ‘eo4alps snow’ – Alps regional initiative | The project focuses on implementing a high-resolution quasi real-time snow monitoring to improve water resource management. It is taking advantage of the recent developments in physically-based snow modelling and is based on high-resolution [...] | MobyGIS Srl (IT) | Regional Initiatives | Alps, regional initiatives, Sentinel-1, Sentinel-2, snow and ice, water cycle and hydrology | The project focuses on implementing a high-resolution quasi real-time snow monitoring to improve water resource management. It is taking advantage of the recent developments in physically-based snow modelling and is based on high-resolution optical and radar EO missions such as Sentinel-1 and 2. The core service is a snow water equivalent (SWE) product generated using a cloud based processing environment to be delivered over the entire Alpine arc region. The eo4alps team is planning to engage users from public and private sectors, such as public agencies, research centers, associations and hydropower companies. |
| Earth Observation services for the Black Sea Coastal Zone Management (EO4CZM) | The Black Sea is a region of particular interest in terms of its past and present level of ecological degradation by anthropogenic influences among the European Seas and highly dynamic and complex eddy-driven circulation system. The Black Sea [...] | TERRASIGNA (RO) | Enterprise | Black Sea and Danube, coastal zone, enterprise, generic platform service, regional initiatives, Sentinel-2 | The Black Sea is a region of particular interest in terms of its past and present level of ecological degradation by anthropogenic influences among the European Seas and highly dynamic and complex eddy-driven circulation system. The Black Sea receives drainage from almost one-third of the continental Europe (five times its surface area) which, it is relatively isolated from the world ocean and is highly vulnerable to external environmental stresses. Its coastal areas are at the forefront of these pressures. Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) should be used as a long term management tool, in order to protect the population, sustain exploitation of coastal resources and mitigate the effects of climate change and coastal hazards. A crucial element of the restoration and rehabilitation initiatives is the implementation of a continuous monitoring and operational observing system in the region. Earth Observation (EO) data can significantly contribute to the advance of oceanographic knowledge in the area. Services proposed to be developed will act as a multi-thematic information collection and analysis tool to support the decision-makers responsible for integrated coastal management implementation in the Black Sea coastal areas. It will also support the strategy concerning the Blue Growth in the region, by facilitating the access to key environmental variables related to aquaculture, pollution and habitat management. It will help develop sectors that have a high potential for sustainable jobs and growth, such as mussels farming, fisheries or coastal tourism.The following 5 thematic services are envisaged to be developed under the EO4CZM project: S1. Provision of a Sentinel-2 atmospheric corrected seamless mosaic, which will be available on-demand, for user defined regions and time periods. It will be produced taking full advantage of the high spatial resolution (10 m) and the multiple spectral wavelengths offered by the MSI sensor. S2. Thematic adapted remote sensing indices. This service will address particular, less complex needs and will include two categories of indices: i) general, well known indices, from an extensive list of pre-defined ones, such as Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and ii) new custom defined indices (e.g. ice detection on the Danube main branches and water bodies extent). S3. High-resolution products for water quality monitoring in Danube Delta – high resolution, high quality datasets related to deltaic environments will be produces. The service will address several water related indicators, such as turbidity, Suspended Particulate Matter (SPM) or Chlorophyll (Chl-a) concentrations. S4. Aquaculture resources management – improved EO based products will be developed in order to assist aquaculture activities in the coastal region of the Black Sea. Of prime interest are coastal SPM and Chl-a concentration datasets, improved in terms of regional algorithms and spatial resolution (300 m and better). Such products can help stakeholders, using long time series of EO data, to better assess the potential of specific sites and to analyze the occurrence of negative effects of nutrient pollution that can trigger eutrophication processes. These essential water quality indicators will be afterwards integrated into an added value product, in the form of an aquaculture suitability index. S5. Mapping of coastal geomorphological features – anthropic modifications of sedimentary budget in the coastal region, together with other engineering works have led to an increased pressure on the coastal area and development of multiple erosion sectors, with important impacts on the economic activities (loss of beach areas for touristic purposes) or biodiversity (through habitat degradation). Thus, the current service will develop tools to analyze and monitor, based on time series of high resolution satellite data (Sentinel-2), the evolution of submerged sandbars, which are natural bathymetric features with significant role in coastal protection. |
| EO for a Resilient Society: Intertidal Topography Mapping in the temporal domain (SAR-TWL), towards operationalisation of a global monitoring tool. | Intertidal zones form an interface between land and sea. They are important features of the coastal landscape providing a multitude of ecosystem services and forming a critical habitat for a wide range of species. Satellite Earth Observation [...] | National Oceanography Centre (NOC) (GB) | Regional Initiatives | Atlantic, Ecosystems, ocean, permanently open call, regional initiatives, SAR, Sentinel-1 | Intertidal zones form an interface between land and sea. They are important features of the coastal landscape providing a multitude of ecosystem services and forming a critical habitat for a wide range of species. Satellite Earth Observation (EO) unlocks new capabilities for monitoring intertidal zones, which are under significant pressure from multiple sources including coastal development, impacts from upstream land use and changes in sea level. The unique capabilities of EO for intertidal mapping have been demonstrated by research groups such as Murray et al. who, using optical data from the Landsat archive, have shown a declining trend in the global extent of intertidal flats. To meet the higher spatial and temporal monitoring needs of regional and local authorities the UK National Oceanography Centre (NOC) have developed a new approach based on S1 SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar), making use of temporal waterline methods (TWL). This time domain, or per pixel approach, reduces the manual interpolation steps inherent in optical methods and unlocks a new and unique way of observing intertidal dynamics. The work builds on nearly two decades of research into environmental monitoring with X-Band Marine Radar , complementing the synoptic and temporal frequencies that in-situ radar monitoring provides .Following two years of development and demonstration carried out in partnership with the Channel Coastal Observatory, the Environment Agency, Wales Coastal Monitoring Centre and local authority programmes, this new project will enable further development of the methods and the processing software. The objective is to enable more widespread access to this innovative method, with inherent potential for long term monitoring of intertidal dynamics at local to national scales. Previous development work was carried out as part of the Atlantic Region Initiative, under the Blue Economy, Marine Spatial Planning and Innovation Clusters project. https://eo4society.esa.int/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/MorecambeBay_TWL_POLPRED_MSL_filt.mp4 Video shows intertidal elevations for Morecambe Bay, from January 2017 to August 2022. At 310km2 Morecambe Bay is the largest intertidal area in the UK. ————————————————————————————– Murray N. J., Phinn S. R., DeWitt M., Ferrari R., Johnston R., Lyons M. B., Clinton N., Thau D. & Fuller R. A. “The global distribution and trajectory of tidal flats” Nature. 565:222-225. (2019). See Bell, Bird & Plater “A temporal waterline approach to mapping intertidal areas using X-band marine radar” Coastal Engineering (2016), & Bird, Bell & Plater “Application of marine radar to monitoring seasonal and event-based changes in intertidal morphology” Geomorphology https://marlan-tech.co.uk/ |
| Grassland cutting detection for agriculture | The main objective is to provide an operational methodologies and software components that combines the data from remote sensing satellites (in particular Sentinel‐1 and Sentinel‐2) that will allow to detect and monitor the grassland cutting and [...] | KAPPAZETA LTD (EE) | Enterprise | agriculture, regional initiatives, Sentinel-1, Sentinel-2 | The main objective is to provide an operational methodologies and software components that combines the data from remote sensing satellites (in particular Sentinel‐1 and Sentinel‐2) that will allow to detect and monitor the grassland cutting and grazing. This tool is intended to be deployed by the National Paying Agencies (NPAs) which have the role to control the owners of permanent and agricultural land to insure they adhere to certain management policies of the EU Common Agriculture Policy resulting in 90% accuracy of grassland cutting detection rates, fewer in situ inspections, and decrease wrongly allocated funds due to fraudulent farmers. The system was demonstrated to the Paying Agencies of Estonia, Denmark and Sweden and further extended to develop the service trial in Poland – Agency for Restructuring and Modernisation of Agriculture (ARMA). |
| HeatAdapt: Heat stress monitoring supporting Austrian climate change adaptation strategies | Most of the largest cities experience profound changes due to urbanization and hence, city administrations are facing challenges in order to safeguard high quality urban growth despite increasingly tight spatial resources. Modifications in the [...] | GeoVille (AT) | Enterprise | Alps, Ecosystems, generic platform service, regional initiatives, Sentinel-2 | Most of the largest cities experience profound changes due to urbanization and hence, city administrations are facing challenges in order to safeguard high quality urban growth despite increasingly tight spatial resources. Modifications in the built up environment increase the temperature of cities compared to their surroundings and are more prone to excess heat. Moreover, climate change in general and the increasing temperatures in particular pose a particular risk for mountainous areas affecting alpine communities and their economy. In July 2023, Europe experienced record breaking air temperatures, making it the hottest in the ERA5 data record, which goes back to 1940 (source: Copernicus Climate Change Service). This increase in temperature has far reaching consequences , with issues related to i.e.: Health Heat induces stress on the human body, particularly dangerous for infants and elders Urban planning : Urban heat island effect, Heat related health issues; energy systems strain (e.g. more air conditioning) Infrastructure : increased cost & environmental burden , street and pavement lifetime (cracks, softening, etc.) etc.), maintenance and repair Agriculture : Irrigation crop health issues ,act. Taking action in terms of adaptation is not only the focus of larger cities but also of any growing built up or settlement area as well as mountain region. Understanding how land use and climate trends lead to changes to the local climate is essential for decision makers to find optimally cost effective, evidence based, and consistent solutions for sustainable cities but also for communities in rural or mountainous areas. The project HeatAdapt combines Land use and Land Cover (LULC) and climate data to demonstrate the effect of urbanization or other LULC changes on ambient temperatures and supports the location of other heat related hotspot areas in rural and mountainous regions at high spatial resolution. Making use of regional clim ate model (RCM) based scenario data will further allow to assess future expected areas for which adaptation actions will be required (e.g., greening activities) allowing city administrations and municipalities to plan ahead (e.g., demonstrate effect of additional soil sealing). HeatAdapt uses artificial intelligence (AI) and multi sensor data fusion methodologies to develop a prototype algorithm for monitoring land surface temperature (LST). Further, climate scenarios are fused with the model, enabling AOI based scenario analysis factoring in LULC changes. HeadAdapt will provide statistical outputs of proposed indicators per administrative unit (province, district, municipalities, census units) and will allow for a statistical evaluation of relation between LULC composition and temperature indicators and potential demonstration of effects changing LULC composition . The project is part of the GTIF demonstrator (Green Transition Information Factory), focusing on Austria to explore Green Transition pathways. For further information, please contact sammer@geoville.com |
| MedEOS – Mediterranean coastal water monitoring | This activity is part of the ESA Regional Initiatives programme. Its objective is to support the implementation of regional priorities in the Mediterranean region by i) developing and delivering a customized set of EO based products that fully [...] | Deimos Engineering and Systems (ES) | Regional Initiatives | bathymetry and seafloor topography, Mediterranean, regional initiatives, sea surface topography, Sentinel-1, Sentinel-2, Sentinel-3 | This activity is part of the ESA Regional Initiatives programme. Its objective is to support the implementation of regional priorities in the Mediterranean region by i) developing and delivering a customized set of EO based products that fully exploit the large volumes of EO data from the Sentinel missions and other EO missions and ii) achieving measurable progresses in embedding this EO-derived information into the strategies and cooperation actions within the Mediterranean region. The specific objective of the Sea Application project is to improve the characterisation, quantification and monitoring of land-based pollution in the Mediterranean coastal waters by optimizing the use of the Sentinel missions and other relevant space and in-situ datasets to develop multi-mission high resolution gap-free maps of water quality parameters (e.g. Chl-a, turbidity, TSM, nutrients, bacteriological concentration,…) and added-value innovative products (e.g. river plumes contour,…) over the period 2015-present. |
| Mediterranean Regional Initiative Land Project | Objectives: to develop product, method and algorithm to infer the soil sealing within the 20 km of the coast all along the med basin usig S1 and S2 constellation at 10 meters resolution. | Planetek Italia (IT) | Regional Initiatives | applications, land, Mediterranean, regional initiatives, Sentinel-1, Sentinel-2 | Objectives: to develop product, method and algorithm to infer the soil sealing within the 20 km of the coast all along the med basin usig S1 and S2 constellation at 10 meters resolution. |