24/04/2019 EMSR353 Wildfire in Lower Saxony, Germany EMS INFORMATION BULLETIN Nr 101
THE COPERNICUS EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT SERVICE
MONITORS IMPACT OF WILDFIRE IN GERMANY
On Easter Monday, 22 April 2019, a wildfire broke out in the district of Vechta, near Cloppenburg in Lower Saxony, Germany. Local media reports state that up to 400 firefighters were required to control the fire, with 150 remaining on 23 April to extinguish the remaining flames.
Saxony has experienced a very dry April receiving only 2.1 litres of precipitation per square metre, compared to the long-term average of 58.4 litres per square metre. This persistent dry weather and abundance of dry organic material following droughts in 2018 (see the Copernicus EMS European Drought Observatory reports on this drought here) have led to a heightened risk of forest fires, causing multiple regions across Germany to declare a level 5 fire risk (the highest risk level). The Copernicus EMS European Forest Fire Information System had forecasted an increased wildfire danger for north-western Europe.
The Copernicus EMS Rapid Mapping module was activated on 23 April to provide burnt area maps over one Area of Interest. The initial information was delivered by the “First Estimate Product” (an additional Rapid Mapping product available since 1 April which aims to provide a rough estimation of the disaster impacts within 2 hours from image reception). The delineation map, released shortly thereafter, is based on satellite imagery from Planet Labs acquired on 23 April 08:39 UTC, and shows a total burnt area of 101 ha (1.01 km2).
The map and vector data are available for viewing and download on the EMS Website: EMSR353: Wildfire in Lower Saxony, Germany.
For updates on our activations, follow Copernicus EMS on Twitter.
Learn more about the Copernicus Programme and its Emergency Management Service.
Copernicus Support Office
The delineation map of Vechta showing 101 ha (1.01 km2) of the area burnt at the time of satellite imagery acquisition (Copernicus EMS © 2019 EU, [EMSR353] Vechta: Delineation Product)
The Copernicus EMS European Forest Fire Information System had forecasted an increased wildfire danger for north-western Europe on 22 April
Copernicus Support Office
For more information contact [email protected] +32 495 544 844 (European CET time) Follow our Twitter feed @CopernicusEMS where maps and vector data are posted automatically in near real-time
BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON THE COPERNICUS EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT SERVICE (EMS)
Copernicus is the European Union Earth Observation and Monitoring Programme.
The Copernicus Emergency Management Service (EMS) uses satellite imagery and other geospatial data to provide free of charge mapping service in cases of large natural disasters, human-made emergency situations and humanitarian crises throughout the world. The maps are produced in two temporal modes:
● Rapid Mapping consists of the provision of geospatial information in support of emergency management activities immediately following a disaster. Different types of maps are produced, for example, to ascertain the situation before the event (reference maps), to assess the geographical extent of the event (delineation maps) or to evaluate the intensity and scope of the damage resulting from the event (grading maps). ● Risk & Recovery Mapping consists of the provision of geospatial information in support of disaster management activities that are not related to immediate emergency response but rather to pre-disaster risk assessment or post-disaster recovery monitoring. This applies to activities dealing with prevention, preparedness, disaster risk reduction and recovery phases.
The EMS can be triggered only by or through an Authorised User (AU). Authorised Users include the National Focal Points (NFPs) of the EU Member States and countries participating in the Copernicus programme, as well as European Commission services and the European External Action Service (EEAS), including the EU Delegations. Beneficiary end users of EMS include entities and organisations at regional, national, European and international level actors in the field of civil protection and humanitarian aid.
Interested Users may trigger the service by sending a Service Request Form (SRF) directly to the European Response Coordination Centre (ERCC): [email protected].
The Copernicus Programme.
Copernicus, the European Earth Observation and Monitoring Programme, is served by dedicated satellites (the Copernicus Sentinels constellation) and a set of Contributing Missions (additional satellites from existing commercial and national agencies). Since the launch of Sentinel-1A in 2014, the European Union set in motion a process to place a constellation of almost 20 more satellites in orbit before 2030. Today, 7 Sentinels are in orbit, 6 of which are fully operational to continually provide satellite information over the situation of the whole globe. This satellite data is complemented by and validated with in situ data.
Six Copernicus Services transform the full, free and open data into value-added information by processing and analysing the data to transform them into services and products such as informative maps, data sets and reports
These six services are:
● The Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service ● The Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service ● The Copernicus Land Monitoring Service
Copernicus Support Office ● The Copernicus Climate Change Service ● The Copernicus Emergency Management Service ● The Copernicus Security Service
Copernicus is coordinated and managed by DG GROW in the European Commission. It is implemented in partnership with the EU Member States, the European Space Agency (ESA), the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT), the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), EU Agencies and Mercator Ocean. The European Commission Joint Research Centre offers the technical support of the Copernicus Emergency Management Service whilst the Emergency Response Coordination Centre of DG ECHO assists civil protection actors with the handling of the EMS mapping requests in a 24/7 mode.
For more information Copernicus Website: copernicus.eu Emergency Management Website: emergency.copernicus.eu On Twitter @CopernicusEMS
Copernicus Support Office