The World Settlement Footprint provides five products that monitor the changing dynamics of urban areas. Such products help policy makers to take informed decisions to make cities more sustainable and resilient to future changes. The WSF combines satellite Earth observation with machine learning and information and telecommunication technologies to provide assessments and predictions, and even to enable participatory platforms to collect and share information on urban settlements.

The 7^th episode of the Eurisy Members’ Corner series was conducted by Dr Thomas Esch, Senior Scientist and leader of the “Smart Cities and Spatial Development” team at the German Aerospace Center (DLR).

83% of cities are highly vulnerable to disaster-related mortality and the number of people living in urban areas is constantly increasing. Sustainable and resilient management of our cities is of key importance for our future. The World Settlement Footprint Initiative developed by DLR wants to exploit Earth observation to provide up-to-date and area-wide insights into the status and the dynamics of the built environment.

Sentinel-1 radar and Sentinel-2 multispectral images, open and free, are the core of the WSF information system, that has the ambition of providing free services.

In addition to the information provided daily by satellites, the platform includes data generated by social media and volunteered geographic information, like OpenStreetMap.

Machine learning and artificial intelligence allow scientists at DLR to organise the data collected and to turn it into actionable information for policy makers, scientists and the industry.

The World Settlement Footprint initiative includes five products, or data layers.

The WSF is the first they created in 2015 and updated in 2019, a binary settlement map of the globe indicating where settlements are and how they interrelate with each other. The product is based on Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 satellite images. It provides very precise information on the settlements’ extent on the entire Earth.

WSF visualisation of settlements in the Bavarian area of Germany based on a Sentinel-2 image and processed by an algorithm.

The second product considers the amount of impervious surface to locate the settlements. Created in 2019, it is based on WSF and Sentinel-2 images and it provides an insight into the density of built areas within cities.

WSF Imperviousness in Laos. Here, different satellite images collected over a period of time have been analysed with the support of machine learning to mask the clouds on the final image. The product shows indexes, like the built-up areas (in red), the vegetation index (in green) and the water index (in blue).

The third product developed by DLR, WSF Population, uses satellite data and statistical data on population to provide information on the distribution of people in a certain area. These products have been used on several occasions by entities such as the World Bank, that asked them to estimate the number of people exposed to natural hazards on the whole African continent.

WSF Population showing the distribution of population in Cape Town. White areas are industrial complexes where no population is estimated.

WSF Evolution shows changes of the built-up area and trends over time. Developed in collaboration with Google, the product shows where settlements are growing and how fast.

WSF evolution allows to distinguish planned urban development from more spontaneous urban growth globally. It also allows to measure indicator 11.3.1 “Ratio of land consumption rate to population growth rate” of the Sustainable Development Goal 11 “Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable”.  Indeed, a city is supposed to be more sustainable if the settlements’ growth is higher than the population’s growth.

By combining the data on settlements’ growth coming from WSF evolution with population data provided by the UN, the experts of DLR were able to find out that in cities in low-income countries, settlements grow faster than the population, while in cities in high-income countries, buildings tend to appear at a slower pace than new inhabitants.

Evolution of settlements’ extent in Cairo from 1985 to 2015 based on Landsat satellite images from that period. The colours — from red (before 1985) to violet (2015) — indicate the years in which the buildings appeared.

The products of the World Settlement Footprint are continuously evolving. Currently, building up on the WSF Evolution, WSF Imperviousness is being fed with Landsat images from 1985 that allow for the assessment of the evolution of the impervious surface over time, while also indicating population density.

In the future, Dr Esch’s team wishes to integrate such analyses with population data, as they did for the International Red Cross in the Gaza Strip, where they mapped the distribution of the population from 2015 to 2020.

Evolution of impervious surface over population density in Gaza between 1995 and 2015.

Most population modelling activities are still made in 2D. The last product of the WSF initiative, WSF 3D, also includes information on the height of the buildings in the settlements mapped, which allows to estimate population density much more precisely.

The algorithm of the WSF 3D product estimates the location of the centres of cities based on buildings’ volume.

In the main graph: the height of buildings in Paris. Even though it is still not possible to calculate the height of each building, the algorithm of WSF 3D allowed scientists at DLR to find out that cities in high-income countries tend to concentrate high buildings in the city centre, while these are more equally distributed in the neighbourhoods of cities of low-income countries.

These data have a great potential to support decision making, especially when integrated within thematic applications. Among current activities, DLR is running the Urban Thematic Exploitation Platform project, funded by the European Space Agency. On the platform users can generate information on demand by selecting their area and time of interest. The platform also provides other data, like population data, that can be combined to produce statistics.

The World Settlement Footprint intiative’s products are largerly used for evidence-based policy advice and decision support (e.g., by the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank) and for knowledge and technology transfer (more than a thousand institutions use the WSF products).

Nevertheless, also local authorities can use such data if they have a geographic information system (GIS). In addition, the WSF can also provide data in the form of statistics or Excel tables that can be used also by municipalise without a GIS. At the moment, the DLR team is also working on technologies to transfer information machine-to-machine for users who can’t store large datasets.

To know more about the activities of DLR visit: https://www.dlr.de/EN/Home/home_node.html

The presentation of the webinar is available here: 20221104_EurisyMembersCorner_DLR-TEsch (2)

The recordings can be accessed here: https://youtu.be/R08Rq6DUAVI

Stay tuned for the next webinar of the Eurisy Members’ Corner that will be hosted by the Netherlands Space Office (NSO) on the 16th of December 2022 between 11:00 AM and 12:00 PM CET.

As the newest associate member of the European Space Agency, the Slovak Space Office intends to leverage on international opportunities to boost the development and use of space-based services locally.

After the Members’ Corner webinar organised on the issue of space-based services for the transport sector in May 2022, the Slovak Space Office hosted a new webinar of the series, this time focused on their activities to stimulate the use of satellite data and services to build sustainable cities and communities.

Despite being a relatively small country, Slovakia has a vibrant space ecosystem, including private space tech companies, R&D institutions, and companies operating in spin-in technologies (such as electronics and ITC).

After becoming the newest associate member of the European Space Agency, the Slovak Space Office prepares to select new additional programmes within the organisation, and to leverage on its fast-growing downstream ecosystem to stimulate the participation of local entities to Horizon Europe projects.

Michal Brichta, leading the Industry Branch of the Slovak Space Office, introduced the audience to the activities and the mission of the newly established national space agency, created one year ago by merging the Space Policy Unit of the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sports and the Space Industry Unit of the Investment and Trade Development Agency of Slovakia (SARIO).

The SSO currently supports 20 project partnerships, resulting from inter-institutional as well as international cooperations. Both locally and internationally, the SSO also supports discussions on the democratisation of space, working to ensure that all countries and all people can benefit from space research and applications.

Furthermore, the SSO operates to raise the awareness of such benefits of private and public entities, and to build skills for the future generations.

To this end, the SSO organises the “Emerging Space” staple event, which next edition will be held on May 3^rd 2023, and it has been hosting a Cassini Hackathon in 2021. In November 2022, the SSO will also contribute to ActInSpace, an international innovation contest uniting over 100 cities across 50 countries, open to everyone.

For this 6^th webinar of the Eurisy Members’ Corner series, the Slovak Space office selected three examples of use of satellite data to increase quality of life in urban aeras.

The first example was presented by Alex Kutka, from Gospace Tech s.r.o. Initially focused on upstream space activities, since 2016 Gospace made its mission to “bring rocket science into urban challenges”.

Since then, the company developed a smart parking solution and a smart hydrometeorological station monitoring system, both using data from satellites.

This second service was developed to enable city authorities to intervene rapidly in the event of a rise of the Danube River in Bratislava. The system allows for the automatic monitoring of water levels and it includes a mobile app that alerts authorities and citizens via email and SMS.

The system is based on a small sensor (match.com), the size of a cup of tea, connected through a wireless satellite connection and equipped with a battery that can last for at least 5 years. Thanks to the satellite connection, the measurements of the sensor can be communicated to a control unit over a distance up to 700 kilometres.

This system allows for the monitoring of water pumps, water reservoirs, waste waters, and river levels also in remote locations, and even underground.

Gospace’s portfolio of customers includes the Slovak Hydrometeorological Institute, the Bratislava Water Company and the Slovak Water Management Company.

Following the presentation of the services of Gospace, the webinar showcased the experience of the University of Prešov (UNIPO) using satellite data to come up with innovative urban solutions based on citizen science.

Since 2020, Mr Miloslav Michalko is one of the two mentors of a group of self-organised students who are passionate about the potential of crowd mapping. The group is part of an international community of humanitarian mappers, that got inspired by the role played by satellites to enable mapping and post-disaster intervention in Haiti in 2010.

At UNIPO, they acknowledge the power of the crowds to use satellite imagery to map roads, trails, cafes, train stations and much more around the world, as it happens in OpenStreetMap (OSM) under an open license.

In 2022, the UNIPO team won a citython co-funded by the European Union with the “Green Parking Smart Surrounding” app. Since temperatures in cities are increasing, the team wanted to provide people with an app allowing to monitor temperatures in parking areas and to take measures to cool down the air there.

The app relies on satellite data from Sentinel-2 and Landsat to identify the hot spots. Based on the analysis of the data, the team proposed measures to cool the air around parking spots, for example by adding natural shadowing and installing solar panels, which potential output is also calculated by using satellite data.

The app wants to use citizen science as a way to actively engage people in data collection and mapping. In this sense, Citythons are not only a means to come up with new solutions, but also an occasion to train the young generation on the potential of satellite imagery to design, implement and monitor policies to make cities more liveable and sustainable.

Finally, Mr Matus Bakon presented some of the products developed by INSAR s.r.o. to monitor urban infrastructure with the support of satellites.

The stability of buildings in urban areas is threatened by events like landslides and earthquakes and collecting in-situ measurements to better prevent and manage damage is often expensive and time-consuming for local authorities.

The app developed by INSAR provides visual alerts on the conditions of roads, rails and infrastructure.

The application relies on satellite INSAR data and provides guidance to urban decision-makers in a number of cities, for example in New Delhi, in India, but also in Slovakia, where the company provides data useful to prevent and understand damage to buildings caused by undermining.

The use of satellite data allows customers to limit ground inspections and to have an historical overview of soil movements over a vast area.

Urban planners, but also companies and citizens can easily identify areas where soil movements could endanger infrastructure and buildings, verify conflicting uses of the urban space, and plan interventions (e.g. renovation works).

The solution is particularly interesting for local governments, providers of smart cities solutions, infrastructure operators, and assets managers.

To know more about the activities of the Slovak Space Office visit: https://spaceoffice.sk/ 

Presentations:

Michal Brichta, Slovak Space Office

Satellite technologies for smart cities and sustainable communities in Slovakia

Alex Kutka, Gospace Tech s.r.o.

Internet of Things: solutions for connecting in-situ measurements and satellites

Miloslav Michalko, University of Presov

From satellite data to smart solutions for cities: Experience with Citythons

Matus Bakon, INSAR s.r.o.

Satellite data as a critical asset for urban infrastructure monitoring

Stay tuned for the next webinar of the Eurisy Members’ Corner that will be hosted by the German Aerospace Center (DLR) on the World Settlement Footprint initiative on the 4th of November 2022 between 11:00 AM and 12:00 PM CET !

To register: https://bit.ly/3eJfuZy

Focusing on concrete needs and empowering local administrations are the foundational elements of the strategy of the Malta Council for Science and Technology to develop a competitive space sector.

Dr Michael Quinton, working on Space Engagement & Programmes at the MCST, opened this new episode of the Eurisy Members’ Corner series by introducing the Malta Space Research Fund, created with the support of the European Space Agency in 2018. Malta is not yet a PECS (Plan for European Cooperating States) member of  the European Space Agency, but conversations are ongoing to join the Plan, possibly by 2024. In the meanwhile, the country cooperates with ESA though mechanisms such as the Space Research Fund.

The Fund aims at providing economic and technical support for the development of space-based services that tackle societal challenges and encourages cooperation between public, private and academic institutions.

In 2018, the strong Maltese ICT sector was identified as the basis to build upon to develop a space sector in the country and since then 14 space-based services have been financed through the Space Research Fund. These serve as a knowledge base and are meant to encourage more research and investments into the downstream space sector.

Not only the Fund provides financial support, but also offers training to Maltese entities interested in exploiting the potential of Earth observation to apply for European funding.

The ambition of the Space Research Fund is to serve as a catalyst: more research in the use of EO favours the growth of the sector, which encourages the government to invest more and to make more funds available. This results in an increasing number of local entities becoming interested in EO, and in more support being provided by ESA to sustain this virtuous cycle.

In January 2022, the MCST drafted a National Space Strategy based on five pillars: attracting foreign and direct investors that will allow local companies, also not involved in the space sector, to approach this market; boosting the development of innovative uses of EO; implementing trainings for local administrations and local people; developing a legal framework for space activities; and eventually favouring the commercialisation of the space-based products and services developed in Malta.

Projects can be funded up to 150.000 euros with a duration of 20 months. At the end of the first stage of 12 months, a technical and financial reports are evaluated by experts. The second stage of eight months includes local dissemination of deliverables and the showcase of the results of the projects.

Since 2018, 14 projects have been selected through the Space Research Fund. These are related to diverse topics, all relevant to the Maltese economy, environment and society.

Among such projects, SIPOBED “Satellite Investigation to study POcket BEach Dynamics”, uses EO to study the dynamics of pocket beaches, i.e. small beaches that are isolated between two headlands.

The project, presented by Sebastiano D’Amico from the University of Malta, looks at the overall beach dynamics, both underwater and inland.

Malta is characterised by rocky and sandy beaches. In this project, satellite imagery is used to study the bathymetry (i.e. to measure the depth of the water) of sandy beaches, while drones and other techniques are used to validate the information provided by satellites. The goal of such project is to measure the volume of the sediments, to define a sediment transport model, and to eventually design planning tools to be used by coastal managers.

The system will be used on all pocket beaches in Malta, allowing for the monitoring of sediment transportation with centimetre accuracy. Furthermore, it will enable scientists to also spot other geological features that could influence the stability of the coast, such as soil displacements and earthquakes.

The project, that started over a year ago now, will provide Maltese authorities with information that they can use to proactively protect pocket beaches against coastal erosion.

Indeed, during the second year, the project will implement trainings for the coastal authorities to get acquainted with the GIS (Geographic Information System) produced, and will present a preliminary coastal erosion management plan to public authorities and other stakeholders.

Mr D’Amico also presented the Coastal SAGE project “Coastal Satellite-Assisted Governance (tools, techniques, models) for Erosion”, implemented in collaboration with the Ministry of Transport, Infrastructure and Capital projects of Malta.

This project focuses on coastal erosion on rocky beaches. EO is used in combination with Artificial Intelligence to monitor with millimetric precision ground motion that could cause rocks to fall near the beaches. The final goal of the project is to deliver to coastal authorities the information they need to prevent damage to people and properties.

On the six testbeds, SAR data from Sentinel-1 satellites allow scientists to know exactly how the ground moves. By combining satellite data with in-situ observations and socio-economic data, the project will produce a risk assessment and monitoring tool to develop a preliminary coastal erosion management plan to be presented to public authorities and stakeholders. After completion of the project, the Ministry of Transport will be immediately able to use the plan to prevent the risks associated with coastal erosion around rocky beaches.

On another topic, the “Satellite4Health” project aims at forecasting the number of hospital admissions and the length of patients’ stay in hospitals, and at understanding the impact of weather and air pollution on the spread of diseases.

The project, implemented by a multidisciplinary team, was presented by Dr Lalit Garg from the University of Malta.

Satellite imagery is analysed to measure and monitor weather variables influencing public health, to assess the impacts of such variables on hospitals, and to finally develop a tool to forecast the number of admissions in the hospitals and the length of patients’ stay.

Weather data are collected through satellites (mainly Sentinel-3) and weather ground stations, while hospital data are collected directly from the Mater Dei Hospital and the Directorate for Health Information & Research (DHIR).

The system will allow to foresee the number of hospitals’ admissions and the length of patients’ stay based on weather data. This information will be disseminated through a mobile app that will alert users of events that can impact public health, such as sandstorms.

To know more about the activities of the MCST visit: https://mcst.gov.mt/

The presentations of the webinar are below:

SIPOBED Tha Malta Space Research Fund Eurisy_Introduction_to_Coastal_SAGE

SIPOBED

Eurisy_Introduction_to_Coastal_SAGE

Satellite4Health – Eurisy Presentation

The recordings can be accessed here.

Stay tuned for the next webinar of the Eurisy Members’ Corner that will be hosted by the Slovak Space Office (SSO) on the 21th of October 2022 between 11:00 AM and 12:00 AM CET. To register: https://bit.ly/3dc3Aa8

Space applications can transform the maritime domains, by providing data and information that will foster a sustainable blue economy, and help protecting the ocean and preserving its resources. CNES wants to be at the forefront of the creation of a global “Sea & Space” strategy that federates public and private stakeholders to put science at the service of society.

The 4^th episode of the Eurisy Members’ Corner series was animated by Ariel Fucks, heading the maritime strategy of the Connect by CNES programme.

Mr Fucks virtually participated from Lisbon, on the last day of the UN Ocean Conference, this year dedicated to the theme “Scaling up ocean action based on science and innovation for the implementation of Goal 14: stocktaking, partnerships and solutions.”

Following the directions of the French government, CNES works with public and private actors to implement innovation strategies in some key sectors of the national economy. These include the monitoring and protection of the environment, the promotion of smart mobility and of a sustainable agriculture, and the strengthening of maritime activities that preserve the natural environment, among others.

To reach out to organisations outside the space sector, CNES has launched the Connect-by-CNES programme, which aims to open up the potential of space technologies and solutions to the entire national economy.

Targeted stakeholders represent a varied ecosystem, including ministries, public administrations at the national, regional and local levels, start-ups and SMEs, large industrial groups, research centres, innovation hubs, and civil society organisations.

At the international level, CNES collaborates on programmes aimed at enhancing the use of space applications with a number of organisations, including European institutions, other national governments (such as the USA, Singapore, India, and Australia), and international organisations.

The Space Climate Observatory is an international initiative proposed by France in 2019 to support the emergence of operational tools for climate monitoring, mitigation and adaptation, addressed to decision-makers and the wide public. CNES is the entity in charge of implementing the SCO in France and of inspiring the implementation of similar models in other countries.

The SCO France is managed by a committee made up of 22 French public entities operating in the field of climate action, including the Ministry of Higher Education and Research and the Ministry of Ecological Transition and Solidarity.

To use scientific advancements to monitor and protect the seas and the ocean, CNES has a strategy based on four pillars: smart routing, maritime surveillance, port management, and ecosystem surveillance.

Smart routing is today flourishing, with a lot of efforts being put into the development of next generation automated navigation systems. These not only rely on satellite navigation for positioning, but also on satellite remote sensing for data on sea currents, weather, and winds, to allow sailors to choose the routes that will require the least amount of energy.

Watch the video by Eurisy and CNES on the use of Copernicus data made by a French SME to reduce the carbon footprint of ships:

Maritime surveillance is profiting from scientific advancements to better monitor protected areas and fight illegal fishing, which represents a major threat to biodiversity and to the economic sustainability of fishery. Images from satellites and data collected through in-situ observations (geolocated thanks to satellite navigation) provide a big amount of reliable information on the status of our seas and environments. Coastal authorities rely on satellite navigation to monitor illegal fishery, while new apps are being created that use data from satellite imagery to know where to fish and satellite navigation signals to track the position of fishermen at sea.

Port management concerns the monitoring of vessels’ movements, for which satellite navigation systems are already widely used, and the monitoring of pollution.

Interactions between the environment and human activities can also be assessed and monitored by using satellite data. As an example, satellites provide data useful to capture and monitor environmental parameters within and around ports, which can be particularly useful during port infrastructure works.

Watch the video realised by Eurisy and CNES on the use of Copernicus data during the enlargement works in the harbour of Port-la-Nouvelle, in southern France:

CNES has a continuous dialogue with public and private organisations in the maritime domains on ways to foster the development and use of services based on satellite data and signals.

Collaboration with external entities is key for CNES to decide on its strategic orientations, to understand the needs of public and private organisations operating in the maritime sector that could benefit from satellite-based data and signals, and to create common endeavours for the development of services more and more adapted to the operational needs of those working in sectors linked to the seas and the oceans.

The Copernicus Earth observation programme plays a major role in enabling such collaborations, providing a huge amount of free and open data that we can use to monitor the oceans.

Mercator Ocean, the entity currently in charge of implementing the Copernicus Marine Monitoring Service has recently become international, to better serve the needs of the EC for data providing and data processing, also in view of the implementation of the digital twin of the ocean, a scientific tool that is really meant to meet concrete needs of actors operating in the maritime domains.

In this context, Eurisy participates to the consortium implementing the Iliad project (Integrated digital framework for comprehensive maritime data and information services), that aims to establish an interoperable, data-intensive, and cost-effective Digital Twin of the Ocean (DTO).

Freshly returned from the Euromaritime congress held in Marseille on 28-30 June, where Eurisy and CNES coorganised a roundtable on space solutions for a sustainable Blue Economy, Alessandra Vernile, from the Eurisy secretariat, confirmed the clear interest of the French space community to activate scientific discoveries to the profit of the maritime sector, and of the great interest of the maritime community towards satellite applications tracking ships and containers.

Several examples of how satellite data can sustain the blue economy while contributing to safeguarding the oceans can be found in the new edition of the Eurisy periodical publication Satellites Going Local dedicated to the maritime domains.

If you are in Paris, you might be interested in attending the 1ʳᵉ edition of the “Assises du NewSpace”, taking place on July 7 and 8 at Station F. The event has the dual objective of establishing a state of the art of the NewSpace market in France, and of drawing together growth prospects to structure and consolidate a French NewSpace, in view of promoting it internationally within five years.

To know more about the activities of CNES visit: https://cnes.fr/en

The presentation of the webinar is available here: Presentation-ConnectbyCNES eurisy

Stay tuned for the next webinar of the Eurisy Members’ Corner that will be hosted by the Malta Council for Science and Technology (MCST) on the 16th of September 2022 between 11:00 AM and 12:00 AM CET.

The session was chaired and organised with the support of Stefano Ferretti from ESA and Jolanda Patruno from the RHEA Group. The audience nurtured an intense discussion on the capacity of satellite images to serve as a means to deliver educational, political and social messages, while influencing arts and our relationship with the environment.

“Satellite technologies have proven invaluable in addressing emergencies, with an enormous potential to further contribute to effective response and adequate recovery” said Minister for Climate Crisis  and Protection in his opening remarks  at the Satellite-based Services for Disaster Risk Management Workshop organised in Athens, Greece. ‘’ EU programmes like Copernicus and Galileo help us build an efficient disaster risk management cycle – prevent and prepare, respond, and recover” he concluded.

“Last summer was a case study in the importance of having innovative tools and solutions for effective disaster risk management and response,” said Rodrigo da Costa, Executive Director of the EU Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA). “The key to building these potentially life-saving tools and solutions is the EU Space Programme.”

According to da Costa, each component of the EU Space Programme brings added value to different phases of the disaster risk management and mitigation chain. For example, the Copernicus EMS service provides on-demand, detailed information for selected emergency situations, including fires and flooding.

The service also offers continuous observations and forecasting for flood, drought and fire risks, providing decision makers with the critical geospatial information they need to, for example, issue an evacuation order or early warning alert.

The power of synergy

Although Galileo, EGNOS and Copernicus each offer emergency responders with a unique tool set, EU Space offers even more benefits when used in synergy.

“When the Greek central region of Thessaly has been affected by floods in 2020 trapping hundreds of people and rendered transportation and communication infrastructure useless, satellite communication, working in synergy with Copernicus (CEMS activation) and European GNSS (EGNSS), provided rescue teams with the spatial awareness, connectivity and highly accurate positioning and navigation they needed to save lives,” da Costa told the Hellenic Parliament in Greece.

As part of his visit to Athens, da Costa addressed the Parliament’s Special Permanent Committee on Environmental Protection during a dedicated discussion on using the EU Space Programme to prevent and respond to natural disasters.

This synergy between GNSS and Earth Observation is particularly beneficial to drone operations, which emergency response teams use for everything from inspecting flooded areas to post-earthquake search and rescue operations and monitoring remote wildfires.

As to the later, firefighting teams are replacing traditional ground-based systems supported by manned aircraft with more cost-effective drones. Equipped with a wide-range of sensors for capturing Earth Observation data and navigated using GNSS positioning, advanced drones can now provide firefighters with another layer of information – and protection.

Secure satellite communications for security and safety-critical missions 

But what happens when a disaster occurs where there are no ground stations, either because they were destroyed, such as during an earthquake, or because they never existed in the first place? Or what if the end users require secure communication?

For emergency situations like these, there’s GOVSATCOM.

As the fourth pillar of the EU Space Programme, GOVSATCOM will provide secure, cost-efficient communication capabilities to security and safety-critical missions, operations and infrastructure. Its users will include border and maritime authorities, law enforcement agencies, civil protection forces, search and rescue services, disaster relief and humanitarian missions, authorised infrastructure operators and military forces.

By working in synergy with Galileo, EGNOS and Copernicus, GOVSATCOM will further enhance the EU Space Programme’s ability to keep European citizens safe and secure.  While Copernicus and EGNSS provide the necessary data and positioning, some security incidents also require a means of communication that is robustly protected against interference, interception, intrusion and other risks. GOVSATCOM bridges this gap between the need for assured and secure communication and the capabilities already offered by Copernicus, Galileo and EGNOS.

Climate change has become the biggest challenge of our time. Temperatures and sea levels are rising, and natural disasters occur more frequently and ferociously. Scientists and governments are looking for solutions to stop the deterioration of the environment. Space, and in particular satellite remote sensing, has a vital and often unique role to play in this context. Over the course of 2021, Eurisy has been working to promote the contribution of space to understand and potentially mitigate climate change effects. Within the Space4Environment initiative, Eurisy aims to continue contributing to climate action on different levels. For now, let’s dive back in 2021 one last time.

Cold start

In January 2021, storm Filomena covered a large part of Spain in thick snow. In Molina de Aragón and Teruel, mountains east of Madrid, the temperature plunged to –25°C during the country’s coldest night in at least 20 years! This Copernicus Sentinel-3 satellite image captured the heaviest snowfall the country has had in 50 years.

Madrid was brought to a standstill with the airport having to be closed, trains cancelled and roads blocked. Notice how the runways at the airport were covered in snow in the top-right of this Copernicus Sentinel-2 image.

With the polar vortex sending extreme icy blasts of Arctic weather in February 2021, King Winter continued to reign in some parts of the northern hemisphere. The polar vortex is a huge mass of frigid air high above the North Pole in the polar stratosphere surrounded by a strong jet of air swirling counter-clockwise. Changes in the wind around the edge of the polar vortex triggered extreme weather events in Europe and North America, as seen in the images above with events of cold air reaching as far as Spain.

ESA’s Aeolus satellite is the first in orbit to profile directly Earth’s winds from space. In the future, Aeolus data can help us to understand whether sudden stratospheric warming events might become more frequent owing to climate change. Aeolus wind data will also be very important to better understand the mechanisms triggering weather events, thus supporting scientists and climatologists to predict consequences and prevent most hazardous effects.

All hands on deck

Who would not remember the images of the Ever Given container ship blocking the Suez Canal, one of world’s busiest waterways. Numerous remote sensing companies turned it into an opportunity to showcase their capabilities. Here are just a few examples:

Top left: Maxar, top right: Capella Space, bottom left: European Space Imaging, bottom right: Airbus

The Copernicus Sentinel 1 joined the fleet of earth observation imagery and was able to show a comparison between the canal on a ‘normal’ day and the traffic jam caused by the incident.

The Mediterranean covered in smoke & dust

Europe’s most active volcano, Mount Etna, was on explosive form throughout the first few months of 2021. In less than three months it erupted 17 times. During these events, gases and aerosols were released in volcanic clouds. The presence of these clouds in the atmosphere affect air quality, environment, climate, human health, and can be extremely dangerous for aviation safety. Atmospheric sensors on satellites can identify the gases and aerosols released, as well as quantify their wider environmental impact. The image below, captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-5P satellite, shows the sulphur dioxide concentrations visible travelling southwards towards Libya.

From one Italian volcano to another! Stromboli a volcano in the Aeolian Islands north of Sicily, erupted on 19 May. The eruption caused a high column of ash and a strong outflow of lava. The lava flow poured down towards the sea on the Sciara del Fuoco, a desertic area of the island. As shown in this image acquired by Sentinel-2, the lava flow was still flowing three days after the start of this new eruptive phase.

Just a few weeks later a Saharan dust plume crossed the Mediterranean en route towards Northern Europe. The dust cloud, which was swept off Africa by strong winds swirling across the deserts of Mali and Mauritania, reached all the way to Scandinavia and the Baltic States.

This image was acquired by one of the Copernicus Sentinel-3 satellites on 22 June 2021. The Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) monitors and forecasts air quality on a global scale, assessing the concentration and dispersion of atmospheric pollutants and aerosols.

Torrential rainfall over western Europe

Record rainfall caused swollen rivers to burst their banks and wash away homes and other buildings in western Europe. The radar image below uses information from two separate acquisitions captured by the Sentinel-1 mission on 3 July and 15 July 2021, and it shows the extent of the flooding in red.

Radar images acquired before and after flooding disasters offer immediate information on the extent of inundation and have proved useful in monitoring floods, thanks to Sentinel-1’s ability to ‘see’ through clouds and rain. The mission has been supplying imagery through the Copernicus Emergency Mapping Service to aid relief efforts. The devastating floods triggered four activations in the Copernicus Emergency Mapping Service, in Western Germany, Belgium, Switzerland and the Netherlands.

Mediterranean heatwave

Parts of the Mediterranean and central Europe experienced extreme temperatures last summer with wildfires causing devastation in both Turkey and Greece.

The map above, generated using data from Copernicus Sentinel-3’s Sea and Land Surface Temperature Radiometer, shows the temperature of the land surface on 2 August 2021. In some parts of Turkey and Cyprus, the surface temperature reached over 50°C. The image here on the right is a false-colour Copernicus Sentinel-2 image of Evia, Greece’s second-largest island, captured on 11 August 2021. It has been processed in a way that includes the near-infrared channel which is usually used to highlight vegetation (visible in bright red). The image shows the extent of the burned area (visible in shades of brown and green) in the northern part of the island.

La Palma lava delta

The images below, captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission on 30 September and 10 October 2021, show the flow of lava from the volcano erupting on the Spanish island of La Palma. The cascade of lava can be seen spilling into the Atlantic Ocean, extending the size of the coastline.

Washington under state of emergency

In November 2021, severe wind and rain led to extensive flooding in parts of the United States. The extreme weather was caused by an atmospheric river, a huge plume of moisture extending over the Pacific and into Washington.

The first image captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission shows the extent of the floods in the Nooksack River, which spilled over its banks and washed out several roads in the process. The radar image on the right uses information from two separate acquisitions captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-1 mission on 4 November and 16 November 2021 and shows the extent of the flooding of the Nooksack River in dark blue. Radar images acquired before and after flooding events offer immediate information on the extent of inundation, thanks to Sentinel-1’s ability to ‘see’ through clouds and rain.

Ice & fire

On 6 December 2021, a “Kona Low” storm system landed on Hawaii’s shores. During the storm, the lowest temperatures in 56 years were recorded in the archipelago, as well as heavy rain and snowfall.

This false-colour image, acquired on 18 December by one of the Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellites, shows the Mauna Loa volcano’s summit covered in snow, all set for a white Christmas!

e-shape is organised as a suite of support packages to Pilots, designed to bring most impact to user communities and ensure the Pilot’s sustainability on the long run. e-shape brings the latest advances in the EO domain, the strength of a vast international network, and tailor-made market penetration and business model support services. e-shape’s methodology is scalable and replicable and is deployed operationally across domains and applications.

The e-shape General Assembly concluded a successful onboarding process. 33 applications from private entities, research institutes, and academia from all over Europe and beyond, showcasing added-value and on-the-edge services to foster the awareness of EU Earth Observation capabilities were received.

“The number of applications received for this second onboarding, shows the great interest to develop and raise awareness on the European EO capabilities, by delivering EO-based benefits to users and supporting the EuroGEO vision. This testifies the strong willingness of all these entities to cooperate and showcase the strengths and the tremendous contributions of Europe for and with users”, said Emmanuel Pajot, Secretary General of the European Association of Remote Sensing Companies (EARSC).

“We are glad to welcome five new sharp EO-based services. The new Pilots will expand the range of applications to new end-user communities. The continuous additions to the consortium demonstrates the scalability and agility of e-shape as a portfolio of services that bring value to European Citizens and the EO industry. We see e-shape as a backbone to the European Regional GEO (EuroGEO) and as a flagship of GEO. “ Thierry Ranchin, e-shape Scientific Coordinator, ARMINES/Mines ParisTech

The 5 new Pilots are and are led by:

1. FRIEND Flood Risk & Impact assEssment through automatic chaNge Detection of S-1+S-2 images, MEEO, Italy (Showcase Disasters)

2. DynaCrop – unlocking EO services for the food production value chain, World from Space, Czech Republic (Showcase Agriculture)

3. EYWA (EarlY WArning System for Mosquito-Borne Diseases), National Observatory of Athens, Greece (Showcase Health)

4. Super resolution air quality monitoring service, Murmuration SAS, France (Showcase Climate)

5. MountaiNow, One Earth Sarl, Switzerland (Showcase disasters)

The newly onboarded Pilots will benefit from e-shape project support including co-design methodologies, deployment support, user uptake, capacity building & liaison, sustainability & upscaling, communication, dissemination & Help Desk.

About e-shape
e-shape (EuroGEO Showcases: Applications Powered by Europe) is a project coordinated by ARMINES, launched on May 2019. e-shape develops and promotes European Earth Observation capabilities with and for the users. By leveraging Copernicus, e-shape opens new opportunities to develop and expand its use, through existing European capacities, and develop research to business activities.

More information

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Tourism currently accounts directly for the 4% of the EU GDP expanding to 10% including all the indirect links with other sectors, supporting a consistent share of job creation, social development, and economic growth for the region.

Over the last decades improvements in communications – road, rail and air travel and the consequent decrease of costs coupled with a general enhanced standard of living and more disposable income, among others favored the phenomenon of mass tourism. Together with increased human activities and climate-derived degradation, cultural and natural heritages are at risk affecting the attractiveness of these destinations and reducing economic opportunities for local communities. Sea level rising, acidification, warmer temperatures, and extreme weather events can endanger seasonal tourism, which sometimes represents the only source of revenues for inhabitants.

According to the UNWTO/International Transport Forum (ITF) research “Transport-related CO2 emissions from the tourism sector”, CO2 emissions will tend to increase worldwide by 25% by 2030. At the COP25 held in 2019 in Madrid, international tourism stakeholders called global leaders to support the sector to become more climate resilient by proposing to scale up climate action in tourism to limit the consequences on the industry.

Innovation and digital resources can play a key role in monitoring climate indicators to take informed decision. High-tech solutions have been already adopted in tourism to improve tourists’ experiences and to ease logistics. Space data could integrate a set of arrays providing a cost-effective tool to monitor tourism flows, to track new tourist paths, to facilitate mobility, or to better manage extreme weather events.

In 2018, Eurisy started to explore how space data and solutions can help city managers, public authorities, touristic operators, and tourists themselves. The focus of Space4Culture is on how satellite data can assists to manage historical cities, monitoring and safeguarding cultural heritage, and how it enables creative minds to generate new ways to experience the culture.  In the “Satellites Going Local- Culture edition” report, Eurisy collected use cases dedicated to the topic that can provide an overview of the existing satellite-based solutions in the sector.

Safeguarding the Green and Blue Open Spaces of Malta’s Grand Harbour

Dirk De Ketelaere, Senior Researcher at Integrated Resources Management Company Ltd (IRMCo), shared the outcomes of the EU-interreg funded project Mare Nostrum, in which IRMCo encouraged citizens and local authorities residing in the Malta’s Grand Harbour to present action plans to protect and safeguard green areas and blue open spaces. IRMCo invited local communities in Malta’s Grand Harbour to come up with action plans to protect and safeguard the areas green and blue open spaces. Considering the attractiveness of the Grand Harbour area known for its historical and natural sites, locals have been invited to map the places of interest (cultural, historical, archaeological, and ecological) and to create eco-heritage trails to connect these places by using satellite imagery and open crowdsourced data.

The eco-heritage trails are available online and can be downloaded by any tourist looking to discover the Grand Harbour.

Green-tech for Sustainable tourism

Tarek Habib, CEO, and co-founder of Murmuration, presented the importance of green-tech for a more sustainable tourism and how  it can support professionals in the sector.

Murmuration’s mission is to use satellite data and green technology to address several major issues facing sustainable tourism professionals: enabling tourism destinations to operate and grow, reducing the pressure of urban centres, and bringing economic benefits to communities beyond tourist hotspots. To do so, Murmuration developed a dashboard for decision makers and tourists professionals where environmental impacts indicators can be continuously monitored.

The platform Flockeo, encourages sustainable tourism by offering travelers a map of the world to know the environmental impact on destinations. It facilitates tourists to travel more responsibly by mapping different environmental indicators.

Using Space Technologies to Innovate Tourism

The last two speakers of the day were Elena Cholakova, Head of Innovation Project at the World Tourism Forum Lucerne (WTFL), and Davide Coppola, Business Development Manager at the European Space Agency Business Applications.

The WTFL is the leading interactive platform of the tourism industry, where CEOs, ministers, academia, investors, start-ups, and young talents exchange and discuss how to collectively address future challenges of the sector to shape a more sustainable future.

The experts highlighted how space technology is currently getting a momentum. For instance, during the Covid-19 pandemic satellite communication and its anywhere anytime connectivity allowed museums and cultural sites to keep their virtual doors open.

To further promote and stimulate the interest of start-ups and SMEs with ideas and projects for the tourism industry, the WTFL in cooperation with ESA joined forces to support innovative tourism business projects leveraging on space technologies to help the sector in digitalising and becoming more sustainable. The funding opportunity will be opened in October 2021 and will address ESA Member States. More information about their joint initiative can be found here, or join the Space for Tourism Working Group.

Funding and Innovation Opportunities

In the frame of the Horizon Europe funding scheme, multiple funding calls are indirectly addressing tourism by looking at topics as food security, bioeconomy, natural resources, agriculture and environment. Space technology can be a key enabler to develop innovative solution in all the above sectors.

Besides the Horizon Europe open calls, the UNWTO launched a call on an equal and sustainable future for tourism Global Rural Tourism Start-Up Competition. The mission is to accelerate rural development through a slower tourism whilst achieving the SDGs.

With this session, the Space Opportunities for Climate Challenges webinar series has come to a conclusion. All previous sessions are available at our website, and much more is yet to come. Stay tuned for future webinars and subscribe to our Newsletter to stay up-to-date with Eurisy’s activities.

For all the presentations and recordings visit the Open Campus Forum, or find an overview of every session in the Related Activities section on the top right of this page.

Within the Space4Cities Initiative, Eurisy aims at raising awareness of available geospatial services for cities. In recent years, the “Smart City” topic has emerged as a major policy area in most European countries, and also the space community has been promoting programmes and activities to foster the use of satellite applications to increase quality of life in cities. In October 2020, Eurisy organised a full-day workshop dedicated to the use of satellite data and services to support cities. The full report is accessible here, for a quick overview visit this link. The Space for Cities Brochure also provides an overview of different examples of satellite applications in urban areas. For more success stories on operational satellite services for cities have a look at our database, or read our publication “Ten Success Stories of Satellite Applications in Cities”.

Monitoring heat islands & optimising urban spaces

The first speaker of the webinar, Otto Fabius, R&D software engineer at Sobolt, talked about various innovations on the intersection of data, artificial intelligence (AI), and sustainable impact, as well as Earth observation (EO) data. Coupled with AI, EO can be used to gather all kinds of useful information on the environment and human landscape and can be used, as an example, to assess the potential for green energy, hence improving climate resilience in cities. The company combines the two technologies in different areas, such as in nature monitoring, but also in urban areas. With regard to the latter, Sobolt monitors heat islands. This phenomenon typically occurs where a densely built urban environment lacks green spaces, and when temperatures rise during spring and summer. Monitoring these areas where heat is trapped, can help urban planners to identify better locations for hospitals, nursing homes, or other places housing vulnerable groups. Finally, Otto also talked about optimising the use of urban spaces. One of the largest unused spaces in cities are rooftops. The most straightforward use of them is to host solar panels. By analysing rooftops and calculating the potential for solar power, Sobolt provides insights on the return of investment, for instance for the development of solar carports.

Air quality & smart infrastructure

Thomas Crone, Downstream Applications Marketing Specialist, presented various projects of the ESA Downstream Gateway. With regard to air quality monitoring, the Air Quality Platform is an educational initiative targeting schools and students to establish their own air monitoring sensors, showcasing how citizens can contribute to keeping an eye on different air quality parameters and what different variations can be observed within the city. The purpose of this platform is to educate students on the importance of air quality and on how satellite data, together with in-situ sensors, can help in mapping air quality. Another example that was showcased is uTRAQ: it combines air quality and weather data for traffic modeling and forecasting. This can help local administrations to understand which areas of a city are worse in terms of air quality. Furthermore, Thomas presented satellite applications to enable smart infrastructure, such as 3D motion monitoring of buildings, landslides, pipelines, bridges, and an ongoing feasibility study around green buildings including thermal imaging to identify heat losses and to assess electrical consumption. For more ideas on the subject, find the open Invitation to Tender: Circular urban life.

Urban vegetation

Antoine Lefebvre, co-founder and CEO of KERMAP, demonstrated how satellite imagery can be a scalable solution. On a local level (at the city scale), he presented the use case of high-resolution vegetation data in Montpelier, France. By mapping both public and private land, the city administration knows exactly its carbon storage capacity. As for the relation between temperature and land cover, the urban heat island effect was a hot topic again. By combining vegetation and temperature data, it becomes possible to distinguish districts according to their vulnerability to heat. This information  can help city planners to set their priorities straight and focus interventions in the  districts where change is most needed. For any city in France, the platform nosvillesvertes.fr provides freely available information on green spaces. A similar project on a global scale, currently for about 25 cities across the world, is Klover. The platform is still under development, but will soon become available. A concrete example of how a city administration can make use of these data was about the subsidies for Parisians for planting trees in their gardens. With the available satellite data, the city was able to find out whether people really planted more trees, and if this really had an effect on the environment.

Funding & Innovation Opportunities

The EU and the Commission provide support to local and regional administrations through a wide range of funding programmes. Among the list of funding calls for local administrations, is the Call for proposals for town-twinning and networks of towns. Although it is not specifically targeting space applications, satellite-based services could be included in the proposals responding to these calls, for example by enabling  GIS mapping or citizen engagement. One forthcoming call, which is targeting directly space data, is the Global Human Settlement Layer in the Copernicus Emergency Management System. The contract aims at collecting new high-quality standardised data about the status of human settlements and their dynamics both in terms of built-up areas and population.

Stay tuned!

With the holiday season coming up we are heading towards our final session on the 7^th of July. We close the series with the seasonal topic of sustainable tourism.

In the meantime, join us on the Open Campus networking platform where you will find more information about the previous sessions, including the presentations and recordings.