W Indow on Copernicus

W INDOW ON COPERNICUS FOCUS ON COPERNICUS BENEFITS FOR LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND FOR GROWTH AND JOBS SPECIAL ISSUE W Schardt Thomas Nagler authorities Daniela Drimaco tion topublichealth cross-border cooperationinEurope sidence develops urbanplanningapplicationsatregionalandcitylevel at local,regionalandEuropeanscale SPECIAL ISSUE Discover whatCopernicuscando OPINIONS ONCOPERNICUS

Earth Observation services to improve waste management at local level for Europeanregionsandcities FOCUS ON COPERNICUS BENEFITS FOR LOCAL FOCUS ONCOPERNICUSBENEFITSFORLOCAL as theiradviceonhowtobuildabusinessaroundservices. Copernicus Four successfulentrepreneurs share theirstory, theirexperienceaswell The SMEcorner productsCopernicus andservices. Thirteen users at local or regional level recount their experience of using Portraits ofCopernicususers Committee, detailshisvisionofCopernicus. Henri Malosse,President oftheEuropean EconomicandSocial andregionsexplains whytheallianceofCopernicus ismutualbenefit Gerhard Stahl, Secretary General of the Committee of the Regions, Institutional corner GOVERNMENT ANDFORGROWTHJOBS

INDOW ONCOPERNICUS Fausto Guzzetti

Using Copernicustomapand monitorlandslidesandgroundsub Ren Capes A COPERNICUS4REGIONSPUBLICATION

Copernicus servicesforlocal forestmanagement Copernicus services monitor ground instability for local Copernicus services monitor groundinstabilityforlocal Thilo Erbertseder

Copernicus services for renewable energies Copernicus snow andlandicemonitoringservices The added-value of Copernicus for regional and The added-valueofCopernicusforregionaland

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Copernicus Urban Atlas Copernicus UrbanAtlas NATURA 2000 Tomá Lucien Wald habitats habitats ŝ Soukup Soukup Mathias - -

Editorial

Copernicus – a world of opportunities for Local and Regional Authorities

he adoption of the GMES (Global Monitoring for Environment and Security) reg- Tulation 1 marked the transition from the existence of GMES2 as an initiative to its consolidation as an official programme of the European Union. In 2012, the GMES programme was renamed Copernicus. The programme has a robust legal foundation and is now seeking to consolidate its user base at a local level across the European Union. The objective of this publication is to contribute to raising awareness of Copernicus among European Local and Regional Authorities (LRAs) as they represent the largest reservoir of potential users of Copernicus services. Whilst this edition of Window on Copernicus showcases the many benefits of Copernicus services with respect to the needs of LRAs, our ambition is also to emphasise that Copernicus will contribute to fostering growth and employment in the EU. When dealing with environment-related issues, regions, provinces and cities are at the forefront of policy-making and initiative-building. But due to the fact that European LRAs differ widely from one to another, a great variety of heterogeneous challenges stand to influence the design of such policies or initiatives. Copernicus offers solutions to efficiently address these challenges, and many of these solutions are presented in this publication. To facilitate the uptake of Copernicus services at local and regional levels, it is necessary to make LRAs aware of the solutions available on the market, for providers to understand the needs of LRAs, and for LRAs already using Copernicus services to share their experience. This is the raison d’être of this issue of Window on Copernicus, dedicated to regions and lower levels of local authorities. Through a set of portraits of users of Copernicus services and a range of detailed articles, this issue of Window on Copernicus will guide you through the diverse applications and services of Copernicus, such as urban planning, air quality, water quality, waste management, environmental monitoring, cross-border cooperation, monitoring of forest fires, road network management, and many others. Beyond these areas of benefit, Copernicus also provides a unique opportunity to create synergies amongst two goals which are often considered divergent: economic growth and sustainable development. Copernicus represents an opportunity for LRAs to use services that have a positive impact on the local economy, the environment and, ultimately, on our quality of life. The Copernicus4Regions team trusts that this immersion into the world of Copernicus from a regional and local perspective will generate interest, raise awareness and demonstrate that Local and Regional Authorities can successfully become active users of Copernicus. Finally, we hope that the copernicus4regions.eu portal will help you to connect with Copernicus! The Copernicus4Regions Team

1 Regulation 911/2010 on GMES and its Initial Operations, September 22nd, 2010. 2 GMES was renamed Copernicus in December 2012. However the term GMES appears in several places for historical reasons.

W INDOW ON Copernicus 1 Copernicus/GMES demystified well as those from the private sector – These services allow political decision to access a great deal of information, makers and all of those whose mission such as: the occupation and condition is to be at the service of the citizen’s of our soils; the quality of the water we security, to have the necessary data at GMES: Global Monitoring for Environment and Security - Only four letters drink and the air we breathe, as well their disposal during international ne- are required to encapsulate the essence of an idea, born almost fifteen years as the nature and degree of the pol- gotiations. At the national, regional or lution affecting them; the direction of even local levels, these data will also be ago in the minds of a few pioneers. These visionaries, aware of the future marine currents and level of the ocean’s most useful to enable decision makers challenges to be met in Europe in order to preserve our environment and surface; the movement of animal popu- to fulfil their obligations more efficient- guarantee the security of all its citizens, were also mindful of the need to lations and variations of the flora; the ly, and to improve the precision of their act at the pan-European level. behaviour of airborne particles and budgetary planning. The GMES programme was renamed copernicus in 2012, in honour of the great the extent of the ozone hole; and, the European scientist and observer Nicolaus copernicus. monitoring of glaciers and polar ice Other Copernicus services will be cover. All of this is Copernicus. developed based on scientific or technological evolution and the provision ecessity knows no law. Copernicus aims to coordinate the use of Ensuring that operators are of necessary budgets. Services at the NGMES gathers, in order to share it, Earth Observation technologies with ex- prepared and equipped European level respond to the collec- all the countless pieces of data about isting and future data collection systems. tive needs of institutional agents, and our environment and Security, accumu- Such information will enable users to: address the more specific demands of One of its biggest challenges is to lated from all European countries and - organise city and regional plan- end-users at the national, regional and compile the vast number of very dif- born from years of fruitful research, that ning, with management plans that local levels. have enabled our common technologi- ferent datasets, collected from the are more attuned to our natural cal developments to reach maturity. ground, from altitude by balloons or resources; Help give Europe a leading aircraft, from the depths of the sea or - control our agricultural production role in the monitoring of our Born from years of fruitful the surface of the ocean, by networks and our fish resources effectively; environment research of probes and sensors, as well as from - monitor the factors of pandemic Space for the observation of the Earth. disasters and their evolution more Copernicus is an essential tool in the So, GMES was designed. GMES is a These data resources are then made accurately, minimise the conse- fight against the consequences of cli- huge and ambitious programme for compatible with statistical data includ- quences of natural disasters more mate change that affect our entire environmental monitoring, to be used ing, particularly, socio-economic data effectively, and even anticipate their planet, without exception. Eventually, by all players – both public and private gathered for the European Union, its occurrence and implement the nec- Copernicus is also intended to give – aiming to protect the environment as Member States and their Local and essary mitigation actions. Europe a leading role in the monitoring well as the lives of European citizens. Regional Authorities. of the global environment. In the field, Copernicus services ensure The “G” of “Global” encompasses The other great challenge is to be able that operators are better prepared Copernicus is a tool of international both the global dimension and the to deliver the data and information to and equipped to act during floods, for- cooperation, following the example set diversity of the data to be taken into those decision makers, public authori- est fires and landslides, as well as marine by meteorological services and consti- account. ties, and private companies who are pollution events and illegal dumping, tutes the contribution of the European The “M” of “Monitoring” includes assigned the task of implementing pol- and to provide more effective support for Union to the creation of a vast and the observation activities required for icies or responding to crisis situations humanitarian missions responding, for worldwide system of observation sys- monitoring. and who need such information at the example, to the impacts of earthquakes, tems, the Global Earth Observation The “E” of “Environment” and the right time. volcanic eruptions, tsunamis and famine. System of Systems (GEOSS). “S” of “Security” are precisely the two important fields benefiting from the Enabling decision makers GMES initiative. and users to access a myriad of information The GMES programme (now known as Copernicus) is a joint undertaking by The first Copernicus services have now the European Commission, its Member entered into Initial Operations on the States, the European Space Agency basis of the GIO regulation1, others are (for the Space infrastructure) and the being delivered in a pre-operational 1 GMES Initial Operations (GIO) refers to the period 2011-2013, in which the first GMES services have European Environment Agency (for the mode. They already enable decision become operational. The GIO Regulation provided a legal basis for the Initial Operations, and made in situ infrastructure). makers and end-users – institutional as available €107 million in EU funding.

2 W INDOW ON Copernicus W INDOW ON Copernicus 3 W INDOW ON COPERNICUS TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page 1 editorial Page 52 Success Stories Monitoring of soil moisture for irrigation water management in Catalonia Page 2 Copernicus/gMES DEMYSTIFIED antonio Reppucci

Page 58 Success Stories Page 7 Presentation of the copernicus4Regions initiative MS.MONINA – Monitoring NATURA 2000 Habitats of European Community Interest at the local, regional and continental scales Page 8 Presentation of the network of Regional Contact Offices Stefan Lang, Geoff Smith and Jeroen Vanden Borre

Page 66 Success Stories Page 10 INSTITUTIONAL CORNER From Space to species: Solutions for biodiversity monitoring Regions and Copernicus – a promising alliance Palma Blonda, Richard Lucas and João Pradinho Honrado Gerhard Stahl Page 74 Success Stories Page 15 INSTITUTIONAL CORNER Improved information of forest structure and damages Copernicus: a plea for a citizen-led approach Mathias Schardt and Klaus Granica Henri Malosse Page 79 Success Stories Page 18 PORTRAITS OF copernicus USERS UrbanAtlas+: Exploring Copernicus Urban Atlas data Urban planning – Puglia region potential for urban planning applications at regional and Forest fires detection - Palermo Province city level Tomas Soukup Flood forecasting River monitoring Page 86 Progress Report Dune monitoring – Aquitaine region New land use data to monitor evolution of land use Jana Hoymann Copernicus benefits for LERCs Water resources management Page 94 Success Stories Lake water quality – Lake Garda community PanGeo: monitoring ground instability for local authorities Land and Marine applications – Brittany region Ren Capes Control of subsidies for agriculture – Lombardia region Page 101 Success Stories Sustainable use of pesticides – Lombardia region Using Copernicus to map and monitor landslides and Road infrastructure monitoring – Potenza Province ground subsidence Solar Energy fausto Guzzetti, Alessandro Cesare Mondini and Michele Manunta Page 44 Success Stories Take a deep breath with Myair Services Page 107 Opinions on Copernicus Copernicus is an opportunity for regional and cross-border Thilo Erbertseder territorial cooperation in Europe Window on Copernicus staff writers

4 W INDOW ON Copernicus W INDOW ON Copernicus 5 TABL E OF CONTENTS Getting LRAs closer to Page 114 Progress Report SubCoast: Preparing services for monitoring changes in land Copernicus elevation in flood-prone coastal lowlands david Hamersley and Rob van der Krogt

Page 120 Success Stories The roots of the copernicus4Regions initiative lie in the following paradox: Copernicus services for renewable energies provide support considering their specificities and administrative prerogatives, European to Local and Regional Authorities Local and Regional Authorities (LRAs) are the largest reservoir of potential claire Thomas and Lucien Wald users of Copernicus services; and yet they have a very low awareness of Copernicus or its benefits Page 128 Success Stories Local, Regional and Governmental Authorities are supported with Earth Observation-based water quality ith the copernicus4regions.eu portal, Copernicus4Regions intends to facilitate products for implementing EU Directives Wthe matching of Service Providers with European LRAs and thus become a busi- thomas Heege and Karin Schenk ness development tool helping to enlarge the user base of Copernicus among LRAs. The industrial, economic and social structures that exist at regional and local levels in Page 134 Success Stories the European Union (EU) can strongly benefit from Copernicus tailor-made services, Wastemon – Monitoring services to improve waste which ultimately address decision makers, technical end-users and European citizens. management practices at local and regional level Daniela Drimaco The copernicus4regions.eu portal: giving Copernicus a phone number The objective of Copernicus4Regions is to raise awareness of Copernicus among LRAs Page 140 Success Stories and to foster the development of Copernicus services at local and regional levels. CryoLand – Copernicus snow and land ice monitoring Copernicus4Regions deploys several tools addressing LRAs, small and medium-sized service enterprises (SMEs), Research and Academia: Thomas Nagler • To bring the Supply and Demand sides closer and to foster the shift from a “Business to Clients” to a “Clients to Business” model, a “Matching Platform”, inspired by Page 146 regional Corner web dating services and adapted to Copernicus is available on the web portal. To The PIGMA platform: sharing geographical information in contribute to raising awareness of the benefits brought by Copernicus for LRAs, a Aquitaine MultiMedia Presentation showcases several Copernicus services. GIP ATGeRi • The business stakeholders are addressed through a section dedicated to Entrepreneurs and SMEs, which targets public or private organisations looking Page 152 Scientific Corner for a service provider as well as providers looking for partners to develop new The Long Term Ecosystem Research Network (LTER): products or services; and private companies looking for funding or new business Sensing Environmental Change through regional development opportunities. This section provides information on the various fund- monitoring ing opportunities available at European level for entrepreneurs and SMEs. It also alessandro Campanaro, Alessandro Oggioni and offers a directory of service providers identified in the EU. Alessandra Pugnetti • The Research component is addressed through the creation of the Copernicus Academy and its objective is to facilitate the effective link between private sector, Page 161 SME Corner local administration and academic communities. The “Copernicus Academy” is Interview established by Copernicus4Regions as a platform for exchange.

Page 167 PROJECT PARTNERS Finally, the copernicus4regions.eu portal is one of the entry points to the Copernicus Regional Contact Offices R( CO). Page 168 IMPRESSUM

6 W INDOW ON Copernicus W INDOW ON Copernicus 7 Bringing Regions and Copernicus closer: the network of Copernicus Region al Contact Offices (RCO)

The European network of Copernicus Regional Contact Offices exists to This Window on Copernicus issue presents several Copernicus User Portraits collected raise awareness and strengthen regional involvement in Copernicus. A by the following RCOs: Copernicus Regional Contact Office (RCO) acts as a focal point in its region RCO Lombardia hosted by CNR-IREA, a public research centre in to assist regional actors to use Copernicus-based services in their daily life: remote sensing and its applications. With its versatile economic activi- at the interface of industry (Copernicus services providers), research and de- ties of Space system development, agriculture, industry, and services, velopment actors, regional users and policy makers. Lombardy offers perfect framework conditions to promote and integrate the services of Copernicus. Priorities are: agro-food, climate change, health and envi- osted by an independent entity and mandated by its regional authority, a RCO ronment, and risks and civil protection. serves as a regional centre of Copernicus expertise. H RCO Aquitaine - Midi Pyrénées hosted by South West CETE (service from The main tasks of the RCO are to: the French Ministry in charge of the environment) has promoted Copernicus • identify potential users of Copernicus services; and satellite applications in its regions since July 2011. It works in the posi- • raise awareness of the benefits offered by Copernicus and Earth Observation based tion between actors in charge of the environment and internationally known services; actors involved in satellite applications such as CNES, Aerospace Valley, Astrium, CLS, • seek business opportunities for local Copernicus actors; Mercator, small and medium sized businesses (SMEs) and research centres (CNRS, IRD, • have an extensive and up to date knowledge of the Copernicus portfolio and new etc.). It has organised events and actions with end-users to raise their awareness on the services; benefits of Copernicus and satellite applications, especially for maritime and land seg- • assist users in the expression of their needs or in the search of services answering ments, key domains of competencies for the Midi Pyrénées and Aquitaine regions. their needs; • facilitate dialogue between users and service providers; RCO East Midlands - hosted by G-STEP at the University of Leicester. It aims • promote new services developed by regional actors; to boost the development of Copernicus applications into urban planning • support training in the field of Earth Observation. and air quality. By promoting Space technologies within the region, the RCO assists collaboration between academics, local authorities and SMEs. The Copernicus RCO network in Europe consists of actors on the Earth Observation Through the organisation of regional events to build awareness of Copernicus capabilities stage exchanging information, expertise, and good practice, on Copernicus and satel- and follow-up workshops on various application areas (thermal mapping, solar power, land lite applications and support for market opportunities, innovation, and participation management and GIS), the RCO creates networking opportunities between users and in ongoing initiatives. providers and facilitates this link to develop new applications for end-users. The idea of setting up a European network came to life out of the aim of strengthening intra-regional and inter-regional dialogue, linking regional and local authorities, service RCO Basilicata, run by TeRN - Technological Cluster of the Basilicata ”Earth providers, local R&D institutions and policy makers. Such a network is organised by Observation and Natural Hazard Technologies Consortium”. Its mission is the regions themselves. to increase the use of Space technologies for the benefit of potential us- The benefits of having an RCO in a region are manifold and arise from various possible ers and developers of innovative applications and to help create business impacts on the economy, environment and the quality of life of the citizens, but also opportunities addressing regional needs. Activities range from monitoring/ contribute to regional strategic objectives such as boosting regional competitiveness, mapping of existing Copernicus services at regional level, supporting the transformation of stimulating innovation and collaborations, and increasing the visibility of the region research results in new applications, services and patents, to the training of potential users at a European level. to foster the demand for added value products and Space applications. Since July 2011, seven RCOs have been established in the following regions that are RCO Bretagne hosted by Pole Mer Bretagne. Based in one of the all members of NEREUS (www.nereus-regions.eu): most ‘maritime’ French regions, the competitiveness cluster Pole • Aquitaine - Midi Pyrénées (FR) at CETE Mer Bretagne aims to promote the emergence of innovative pro- Sud-Ouest jects that will satisfy the demands of new markets. In this context • Azores (PT) at SRCTE and seeking to respond to the demand for ‘safety and security’ and • Basilicata (IT) at TeRN the need for ‘sustainable development’, the Pole Mer Bretagne has • Bremen (D) at CEON become an RCO. This initiative, along with the Brittany’s region implication within • East Midlands (UK) at G-STEP, University of NEREUS (Network of European Regions Using Space Technologies), will help to en- Leicester hance the already existing regional Copernicus capabilities and skills and facilitate the • Lombardia (IT) at CNR-IREA development of maritime services for end-users. • Bretagne (FR) at Pole Mer Bretagne

RCOs are in preparation in another fifteen European For more information on the Regional Contact Offices network: [email protected] regions (see map on left of the RCO network). Useful link: www.copernicus4Regions.eu – “Access your Regional Contact Office”

8 W INDOW ON Copernicus W INDOW ON Copernicus 9 Institutional Corner

Regions and Copernicus – a promising alliance

by Gerhard Stahl, Secretary General of the Committee of the Regions

The two European flagships – the Copernicus/GMES and the Galileo satellite navigation programmeS – have both reached significant stages in terms of economic, social and security development. Very soon, just like mobile phones or the internet, navigation systems will become an integral part of our lives. As a tool for emergency management, Copernicus is becoming more and more of a topical issue for the wider public. One of its main aims will be to pro- Citizens, heritage sites and buildings are exposed to man-made and natural disasters. In Prague, the duce data that help to forecast both natural disasters (storms, forest fires, Vltava river has caused several dramatic floods. Copernicus provides services to mitigate natural dis- floods, tsunamis) and man-made ones (urban fires, chemical accidents). These asters and improve disaster management (Credits: Ricardo Liberato). data can then be used to prevent or mitigate damage caused by such events. So far, valuable use of this information has been made in the areas of oil valuable facilitators of Copernicus im- development. In this regard the system spill/discharge detection and monitoring, land use and services to farmers, plementation: not only do they host is important for European regions in civil protection, and environment and public health (such as ozone and UV the ground-segment infrastructure of combating climate change and mitigat- exposure monitoring). the Space chain, but they also promote ing its impact. As well as a wide range of applications, Copernicus also reinforces Europe’s clusters to spread knowledge on a re- competitiveness in cutting-edge technology, promoting innovative business- gional scale, often in cooperation with The CoR believes that Galileo and es and creating highly-skilled jobs. However, the challenge is to produce research centres. As frontline users of Copernicus will both become new concrete results which allow citizens to see the added value of these renew technologies and applications, they instruments for encouraging further source-intensive new technologies. could create a favourable environment growth and increasing European re- for industry-led innovation by initiat- gions’ competitiveness.1 ing and stimulating interest in research and development. Copernicus would “Copernicus reinforces What this technology means for Local information according to the needs also considerably improve Local and Europe’s competitiveness and Regional authorities and the role of on the ground. The Committee of the Regional Authorities’ access to data and in cutting-edge technol- the Committee of the Regions Regions (CoR) sees the Copernicus pro- contribute to their harmonisation. ogy, promoting innovative It is clear that the development of gramme as an indispensable EU tool businesses and creating Copernicus has a very concrete territo- for providing vitally-needed data, in Local and Regional Authorities are also highly-skilled jobs” rial dimension which can be divided into particular for environmental monitoring end-users of environmental information two aspects. and civil security, which makes it signifi- services. They have a particular demand The local and regional level should also cantly important for Local and Regional for tailor-made data in order to better be able to benefit from Copernicus, and Firstly, the inclusion of local and re- Authorities. manage all forms of transport in towns this should be taken into consideration gional governments can, on the one and regions, accurately prepare for when developing the initiative and its hand, help in explaining the value of “Copernicus is important for flooding, improve general crisis man- applications. In particular, any additional Copernicus to citizens and thereby European regions in com- agement, coordinate rescue operations costs for Local and Regional Authorities strengthen the acceptance of these new bating climate change and and monitor environmental change. In arising from necessary adaptations of technologies. Since regional and local mitigating its impact” combination with infrastructure and existing databases, for example in order authorities are strongly concerned with underground mapping, Copernicus the everyday lives of citizens, they are Secondly, Local and Regional would facilitate planning for territorial best placed to communicate tailor-made Authoritiescould themselves be 1 Cfr. CoR Opinion 96/2007

10 W INDOW ON Copernicus W INDOW ON Copernicus 11 Institutional Corner

to harmonise data, or changes to data Copernicus could also enhance existing interfaces, should be offset by appropri- local and regional cooperation net- ate financial mechanisms so as to avoid works, such as the Covenant of Mayors. the local and regional level, which is in This initiative is a commitment by sig- possession of much of these data, being natory towns and cities to go beyond left to bear the costs alone. the objectives of EU energy policy in

terms of reduction in CO2 emissions The Committee of the Regions is the through enhanced energy efficiency voice of Europe’s Local and Regional and cleaner energy production and Authorities and is ready to assume the use. Cooperation could be significantly role of intermediary and coordinator be- improved by the Copernicus’s remote tween Local and Regional Authorities, sensing satellite systems. Together with the European Commission and the rel- land-, air- and sea-based techniques, evant bodies of the Copernicus system. they will provide cities with geo-spatial Coordinated action within the frame- information in support of many different work of the CoR is ever more important policies from civil protection to climate as these new technologies could sig- change. Equipped with the same qual- nificantly contribute to the creation of ity of data, local authorities’ common Gerhard Stahl, Secretary General of the Committee of the Regions, during a conference of the NEREUS growth and jobs under the Europe 2020 initiatives would be facilitated and best- - Network of European Regions Using Space Technologies (Credits: Committee of the Regions). strategy and, in so doing, enhance ter- practice approaches would be more ritorial cohesion. To achieve this aim the easily accessible. CoR provides a platform for cooperation application in every region. Information perspective, Copernicus has meant and communication between local and Political support for a common and communications technologies play environmental monitoring rather than regional actors and other stakeholders. implementation of spatial technologies a key role in improving the quality of management of energy grids. However, at regional and local level life of citizens and their social and eco- Local and Regional Authorities must not Copernicus and spatial technologies The CoR believes that the strong po- nomic opportunities, stimulating more lose sight of the cutting edge of tech- will not only benefit the regions direct- litical engagement of local and regional efficient and personalised public ser- nological development and innovation. ly involved in such industry (likely the players will be one of the key elements vices and promoting local businesses. “richest regions”), but potentially also needed for the success of Copernicus Last but not least, in order to develop other regions which will use the services and spatial technologies in general. A In furthering recent energy market lib- new applications and technologies for and products of this industry. recent example, supported by the CoR, eralisation measures, the European present and future Space programmes, has been the creation of the “NEREUS” Council has called for improved access current knowledge must be improved. network of European regions using to and use of cross-border transmis- Research centres and universities in Space technologies. sion networks across Europe. Given Europe are able to meet this challenge the necessity of ensuring the security of supporting industry activities in a Many sectors managed by regional of supply, the use of satellite projects competitive world and regional admin- administrations are affected by the to verify EU networks in real time be- istrations should involve themselves in development of Earth Observation comes particularly relevant. The Council the education and research-support capacity, information and services e.g. has also highlighted the potential for processes at all appropriate levels. For transport and communication, land applying the technologies offered in these reasons, we need an ambitious survey, agriculture, fisheries and wa- the framework of Galileo/Copernicus and clear EU Space policy, backed up terways, tourism, waste disposal and to the intelligent management of grids with an appropriate level of funding logistics. in real time and developing instru- from the EU budget. ments that could help prevent the loss Signatories of the Covenant of Mayors voluntar- Tools for distance learning, remote of biodiversity, such as spatial planning Concluding remarks ily commit to increasing energy efficiency and medicine, remote health and remote and sustainable forest management. Satellite and Earth Observation technol- the use of renewable energy sources on their administration are key fields of future Until now, from a local and regional ogies represent an important step for territories.

12 W INDOW ON Copernicus W INDOW ON Copernicus 13 Institutional Corner Institutional Corner

the development of European regions. congestion for all forms of transport, im- A strong alliance of these projects with proved monitoring of the environment, Copernicus: a plea for a citizen-led local and regional governments would better prevention and management of approach significantly improve the development crisis situations, and better targeted, of Earth Observation services and ap- quicker and more effective intervention plications on the ground while at the can be achieved, thereby improving the by Henri Malosse same time fostering their implemen- everyday lives of citizens. These goals tation. Thanks to Earth Observation deserve coordinated action by local, re- technologies and services, benefits gional, national and European partners, Henri Malosse has been President of the European Economic and Social such as greater security and reduced in a multi-level governance approach. Committee, since April 2013. In this article he presents his vision of the Copernicus programme.

My ambition as the President of Let’s have a closer look at Copernicus. European Economic and Social Without becoming too technical, Committee is clear: we have to Copernicus aims at providing continu- strengthen the link between Europe ous and independent information to and its citizens. We must learn from European policy makers, to the business the different messages that the citizens community and to the general public. send us on the occasion of the various Copernicus consists of three compo- referenda and “Eurobarometers”. If we nents: a satellite constellation for the want the European Union to succeed, collection of Earth Observation (EO) data then we must ensure that citizens feel from Space; an Earth-based observation Gerhard Stahl was born in Ludwigsburg, on December 2nd, 1950. more European and dream again about infrastructure (ground, airborne, ship He graduated in Economics at the Technical University in Berlin, a more integrated Europe. or buoy-based sensors) and a network where he had his first professional post as an assistant to the chair It is from that perspective that I want to of service providers producing and de- of Public Finance. He then spent three years working as an econo- look at the Copernicus programme. We livering EO information relevant for six mist at the Federal Ministry of Finance in Bonn. He also worked in the European Parliament and on the regional need to be realistic. The programme is different domains: Atmosphere, Climate level in Schleswig-Holstein at the Ministry for Economics, Transport ambitious and costs a lot of money. The Change, Land Monitoring, Emergency and Research and later on as Director-General for European and International investment must be put into perspec- Management, Marine and Security. Affairs at the Ministry for European and Federal Affairs. In this role, he special- tive with what it brings to citizens. So, ised in EU policy preparation for the Bundesrat, the German second legislative in the end, the only question is the fol- “Copernicus has a significant chamber, and inter-regional cooperation projects. lowing: do we really need a global Earth impact on jobs, employment From 1995 to 1999, Mr Stahl was a Member of the Cabinet of the European Observation system? and innovation” Commissioner for Regional Policy, Dr Monika Wulf-Mathies. Economic studies have been conduct- From 1999 to 2002, he was Deputy Head of Cabinet for Pedro Solbes, the European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs. ed showing that the societal benefits Today, Copernicus is a reality although In September 2002, Mr Stahl was appointed Director for Consultative Work of Copernicus exceed, by up to ten not all of the six services are operational at the Committee of the Regions; he has been Secretary-General of the CoR times, the costs. So, in a nutshell, it is yet. With the implementation of the since April 1st, 2004. good value for public money. But these GMES Initial Operations (GIO) 2011- Mr Stahl is a Member of the Advisory Committee (Kuratorium) of the IFO- studies, as important as they are, don’t 2013, Copernicus moved from research Research Institute in Munich and the author of several publications on eco- convince the average citizen that invest- to operations. Two services are now run- nomic, regional and European policy issues. He is married and has two children. ing money in such a long term project ning under an operational mode: The is a priority. The current context makes Land Monitoring Service for which the it all the more difficult. The crisis con- European Environment Agency (EEA) tinues to hit the EU hard, particularly at ensures the technical coordination; and regional level, and many needs remain the Emergency Management Service unfulfilled in the short term. (EMS). The other services continue to be

14 W INDOW ON Copernicus W INDOW ON Copernicus 15 Institutional Corner

financed under the EU’s th7 Framework More Europe, not less the investments in the upstream sec- 30,000 Space-based applications avail- Programme (FP7), i.e. marine environ- The same reasoning holds if Copernicus tor. Copernicus, together with Galileo, able and in use to improve our daily life. ment, atmosphere monitoring, climate is used for instance in the case of the represents a very significant part of the We clearly don’t realise how important change, and Security-related services. monitoring of deforestation or de- upstream sector. Space is. In Helsinki, 25,000 citizens vis- The six services should be fully opera- sertification. Without monitoring, no ited the Space Expo in three days. The tional by 2014. adequate political action is possible. Closing the gap between Europe and European Space Expo certainly contrib- To illustrate the benefits of Copernicus for Therefore, monitoring tools are crucial. its citizens utes to bringing citizens closer to what the citizens let’s look at one of the servic- Besides, Copernicus is a good exam- We all know that European institutions we are doing. The fact that this Space es. The EMS has been operational since ple of European countries and regions are not always good communicators. Expo visits another 25 European cities the April 1st, 2012. In its first six months working together. At this stage, there This is also true for the Copernicus pro- in the next two years is, in my view, a of operations, the EMS was activated is almost unanimity about the fact that gramme which can be seen, for instance, very good example of what “good com- nine times. Let me give one example. the best way out of the crisis is not less in the very complicated articles it pub- munication” is. During the earthquake that hit the Italian Europe, but more Europe. Even Joseph lishes. But, I agree that Copernicus is not It will be my role, as President of Emilia region the Copernicus Emergency Stiglitz, the Nobel prize winner in eco- easy to explain. Galileo, the other Space the European Economic and Social Management Service had produced new nomics, pleads for more Europe despite flagship, is easier: it is the European GPS Committee to look at programmes such reference maps within six hours. These his euro-scepticism. system, though it is more sophisticated as Copernicus from a stakeholders’ per- maps showed with great precision where The fact that Copernicus “europeanises” and more accurate than the current GPS. spective. In this context one should not the damage was, which roads could still the many national Earth Observation Further efforts must be made to explain forget that the most important European be used and what the fastest ways were and in situ systems is a good example how Copernicus can eventually improve stakeholder is represented by the citizens. for ambulances and other emergency of what more Europe brings. The Space our quality of life. In that regard, the Representing the citizens is a key role actors to reach damaged areas and re- component of Copernicus is fully in line European Space Expo is a very interest- for the European Economic and Social turn. These maps facilitated the work with the Space competence that Europe ing initiative as it explains what Space, Committee. During my Presidency my pri- of those people helping and working has acquired since the Lisbon Treaty. and Copernicus in particular, means ority will be to close the gap as much as on the spot considerably. If it helps to Copernicus, as one of the flagship pro- for our daily lives. When I was at the possible between the European citizens hasten relief and support operations to grammes, finally has a significant impact Space Expo in Toulouse I was amazed and the European institutions, to make help people in danger, or even to save on jobs, employment and innovation. to discover that there are currently about Europeans dream again about Europe. lives, there is no doubt that Copernicus The Earth Observation industry is made is worth the investment. Of course, such up of distinct segments. First there is the benefit in terms of life is not reflected in upstream sector, which concerns Space- Henri MALOSSE has been President of the European Economic the economic studies I mentioned ear- based and Earth-based infrastructure and Social Committee (EESC) since April 2013. Before becoming lier. Indeed, how much is a life worth? It providers, including the building of satel- President of the same institution in 2006, he was President of the is inestimable. lites. This sector is highly innovative. This EESC’s SOC and ECO sections, and was Co-President of the EU- Bulgaria Joint Consultative Committee. He is currently Institutional is especially true for Copernicus where, Advisor to the French Assembly of Chambers of Commerce and in contradiction to Galileo, every satellite Industry, in charge of European Affairs. He is the creator of the is different. Then there is the down- network of Euro Info Centres (with over 250 offices now and with over 600 stream sector, which consists of services employees) that provide information to small businesses in all parts of Europe. and products that can be developed He is Vice-President and founding member of the European Association of thanks to the availability of continuous SMEs, SME Union in the European Parliament. Henri Malosse graduated from and accurate Earth Observation-based the Institute of political studies in Paris, is Knight of the national Merit Order, Member of the Advisory Council of the Jean Monnet Association. He gives information. Finally, in between, we have lectures on Europe at several European universities (Strasbourg, Paris, Moscow, the midstream sector represented by Wroclaw) and has written several books including “ Building Europe: The History those operators exploiting Space-based and Future of a Europe of the People”, “Europe at your door”, “Europe from A and Earth-based systems to produce to Z”, “Reuniting the Greater Europe “, “ Saving the European citizen”. and sell data. Studies show that midstream and downstream sectors can be This map shows a delineation of building affected by the May 2012 earthquake in Emilia Romagna eight times bigger than the upstream (Credits: European Commission). sector. So there is a gearing effect on

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The Contexts Map, obtained by merg- URBAN CONTEXTS Copernicus service in support of ing Urban Atlas classes according to • Suburban urban planning for the municipalities thematic aggregation criteria, has the • Building scope of providing a “segmented land • Sprawl of North Bari, in the Puglia Region use map” to be used as a support to territorial analysis. RURAL CONTEXTS • Peri-urban WITHIN THE EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY- • Multifunctional FUNDED GSE1 LAND PROJECT, THE • Borderline ENVIRONMENTAL TERRITORIAL AGENCY OF • Agrarian THE TERRITORIAL PACT FOR NORTH BARI/ • Landscape OFANTINO OCCUPATION, IN THE REGION OF PUGLIA (ITALY), USED CONTEXT MAPS AS SUPPORT TOOLS FOR MUNICIPALITIES TO IDENTIFY URBAN AND RURAL CONTEXTS FOR NEW URBAN PLANS.

Mauro Iacoviello during an Urban Planning Conference

Overview of Contexts Map (2009) (Credits: Urban Atlas of the Territorial Pact for North Bari/ “In 2008 the new Regional Document The context maps were integrated into Planetek Italia s.r.l.). Ofantino Occupation (2006) (Credits: Planetek for the General Structure of the Puglia the GIS2 applications of the Territorial Italia s.r.l.). Region required all municipalities to Pact to provide technical support for: identify and map their urban and rural contexts, referred to as a zoning of that • Decision-making activities related portion of territory located between the to voluntary negotiated planning, city and the countryside. that local administrations decided to The context maps were obtained according to our specific requirements, adopt during 2004-2011: Agenda 21 using the Urban Atlas products im- programme for wide areas; plemented as part of the GSE Land (http://www.atanbo.it/agenda21.htm); project for the nine municipalities of the • Strategic environmental assessment of Territorial Pact for North Bari/Ofantino local plans and programmes. Occupation.”

Architect Mauro Iacoviello (Technical Coordinator of the Territorial Pact for North Bari/Ofantino Occupation Environmental Territorial Agency) This Copernicus service delivers mapping that identifies the rural and urban contexts. The map, produced from SPOT 5 satellite data, supports the editing of the pro- 1 GMES Service Element. grammatic urban plan (Credits: Planetek 2 Geographical Information System. Italia s.r.l.).

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A Copernicus service for the timely A Copernicus SERVICE FOR detection of forest fires in Palermo TIMELY FOREST FIRE DETECTION The service, based on the RST-FIRES province methodology, uses 3 different satellite systems for providing fire alert maps. The Civil Protection Directorate of These are updated every 15 minutes Palermo Province (Sicily -Italy) system- and can be immediately visualised via atically uses an advanced early fire a dedicated Google Earth plugin in detection system based on the RST- the user’s monitoring room. Specific FIRES methodology developed by the software tools (and training for Civil An example of fast intervention: it took seven University of Basilicata and CNR-IMAA. Protection personnel) are provided minutes to receive the anomaly from the satel- It is presently distributed by GeoSpazio- lite, alert the airplane already overflying the area for the identification of major or more Italia as part of its programme for and receive confirmation of the presence of a dangerous events and to support de- fire outbreak. (Credits: Adnkronos, Repubblica. forest fire prevention and fighting. cisions on priorities of interventions. it August 28th, 2010). The added value of such a Copernicus service has been demonstrated after two years of testing, tuning and validation through the AVVISTA project, funded by the Parlermo Province. The Civil Protection directorate The unique capability of detection of very small of Palermo Province. fires also demonstrated its usefulness for control- From left to right: ling the timing of cleaning fires (prohibited during Girolamo Crivello, Head of the Operations the hottest hours of the day) or to avoid their ex- Management and Special Means office; tension toward forested areas. In the top picture Salvatore Serio, The Director; in red the SEVIRI ground resolution cell where a and Giuseppe Benigno, Head of the cleaning fire was identified on September 10th, Technical and Organisational Office. 2010 by the RST-FIRES system, just close to a Special Protection Zone delimited by a blue line (Credits: M. Iato, Kumeta, Maganoce and Pizzo “One of the critical aspects of the whole fire fighting chain is Parrino). In the bottom picture: the aircraft photo timely identification of fire outbreaks. The prompt sighting and collected the day after confirming the correct detection of a cleaning fire (Credits: S. Giuseppe alerting of a fire, in fact, can allow for an immediate reaction of fire Jato - Palermo Province). fighters who, by intervening when fires are small, can extinguish flames in a more easy and effective way. Since 2008 Palermo Province decided to improve its fire fighting procedures by using advanced satellite technologies provided by the University of Basilicata and CNR-IMAA. Thanks to near real-time (every 15 minutes) provision of satellite-based active fires maps during the last two years, hundreds of fires were detected solely thanks to the satellite system and often identified well before traditional A fire alert map up- surveillance systems. Many hectares of forests were saved by dated every 15 min- this and, in one case, the service allowed the identification of utes presenting an pyromaniacs still in action!” active fire scenario. In the map, detected hot Salvatore Serio spots are reported by applying the RST-FIRES methodology to MSG/ SEVIRI, NOAA/AVHRR and EOS/MODIS sat- Basilicata Regional Contact Office (RCO) ellite data (Credits: More information on http://doris-net.eu/en/node/340 University of Basilicata, Contact: Carmela Cornacchia • [email protected] • Tel: +39-0971-427275 CNR-IMAA, Geospazio Italia s.r.l.).

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Monitoring snow to improve flood The snow cover and its changes (the changing snow-line) are forecasting monitored using several satellite systems, such as Terra MODIS The Czech Republic has experienced different imagery with spatial resolution types of floods in recent years, such as summer of 250m or Envisat ASAR radar floods due to the long-term precipitation (July imagery with spatial resolution of 1997, August 2002), flash floods (July 1998, June 150m. The advantage of MODIS 2009) but also significant floods from melted data is daily acquisition with full snow (March 2000, March and April 2006). A wide coverage of the area of interest range of possible types of floods also brings but clouds can hide the land very diverse and complex demand on the input surface. In that case ASAR data data and hydrological methods and models In late June 2009 several south-bohemian rivers, in- are processed independently of cluding Vltava, caused flooding of several villages that are used. The Czech Hydrometeorological the cloud cover. Additionally, and cities. Prague is located in a flood-prone area Institute (CHMI) regularly evaluates the quantity and faced major flooding in 2002 (Credits: Aktron / the probability of snow occur- of snow and computes prognosis of floods. Wikimedia Commons). rence is calculated to substitute Information obtained from the ground sta- cloud cover in case of missing RNDr. Jan Daňhelka, Ph.D. tions is not sufficient so Earth Observation Director deputy for Hydrology - SAR images. satellites help significantly as they offer spatial Czech Hydrometeorological Institute information.

SNOW COVER PRODUCT “Snow cover detection methodologies under FLOREO snow imperfect conditions (cloud occurrence) and MODIS Classification Probability (indicator hydrological/geographical evaluation is one of mapping service co-kriging) several very important tasks in operational hydrology. Such information is important for the An early warning system of precision of interpolation among point measure- flood hazards was developed ments of snow water content. in the frame of the FLOREO CHMI operates GIS1 procedures for snow wa- project (ESA PECS). It validates ter content interpolation and evaluation of snow the use of Earth Observation water storage in the Czech Republic. Products of technology in synergy with in snow extent identification are currently used as a situ data. The development base for estimation of interpolation parameters of this system was steered to made by an experienced hydrologist. support existing hydrological The estimation of the Snow Water Equivalent monitoring activities, especial- from satellites cannot be foreseen in the con- ly snow melt and surface water ditions of hilly regions. However monitoring of runoff contributing to flooding snow top characteristics may contribute to an overview of regional and spatial occurrences events. GISAT has been running the service in operational of melting snow in the critical period of spring. Hybrid snow mode for the past two years. That may identify the hotspots of flood genera- cover map tion in advance before they are monitored in the next day after water gauging network.” acquisition RNDr. Jan Daňhelka, Ph.D.

Example of snow-cover information extraction from combined Terra MODIS and in situ data (Data: 1 Geographical Information System. NASA, CHMI) (Credits: GISAT).

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EO-based water quality products Suspended matter monitoring in rivers support governmental waterway Within FRESHMON, suspended matter monitoring maps of the River Elbe have been provided to the Federal Waterways Engineering and Research Institute (BAW) authorities with monitoring the in Hamburg. dynamics of suspended matter The products included time series of turbidity and total suspended matter concentrations in different spatial and temporal resolutions. The satellite data of MODIS, MERIS and RapidEye with a spatial resolution of 300m, 250m and 5m, respectively, have been used to detect concentration ranges from 0 to 500 mg/l of suspended matter. WITHIN THE Copernicus PROJECT With the provision of several maps per day, the tidal changes of total suspended FRESHMON, A SERVICE LINE IS PREPARED matter from the river mouth to the inland area are visualised, also showing very FOR WATER QUALITY MONITORING IN RIVERS small scale features such as plumes from power plants, the wake of ships and mix- AND LAKES. DR. NORBERT WINKEL, HEAD OF ing processes in the river’s course. THE SECTION IN CHARGE OF COASTAL AREAS AT THE FEDERAL WATERWAYS ENGINEERING AND RESEARCH INSTITUTE (BAW) IN HAMBURG, USES THE NEW SATELLITE-BASED PRODUCTS TO OPTIMISE RIVER ENGINEERING IN SYNERGY WITH HYDRODYNAMIC MODELS AND IN SITU DATA.

Time series of suspended matter monitoring of the River Elbe using MODIS Terra and Aqua 250m Dr. Norbert Winkel satellite data (Credits: NASA and RapidEye for source data, EOMAP for processing). Head of Section K3 Coastal areas Federal Waterways Engineering and Research Institute (BAW), Hamburg

“Understanding the transport processes of suspended sediments in waterways is essential to reduce river engineering expenses such as dredging. As the federal authority BAW is responsible for the German waterways, we optimise waterway engineering for example in the estuaries of the Elbe, Weser and Ems rivers. Measurements in combination with 3D hydrodynamic modelling are key to understanding the processes and optimising engineering works. The area-wide remote sensing products of suspended matter provided by the FRESHMON consortium give very valuable synoptic measurements of suspended matter surface concentrations. We expect that the anticipated temporal and spatial resolution of observations with the Copernicus satellite fleet will significantly improve our day-to-day work.”

Dr. Norbert Winkel

Detecting a ship’s wake using RapidEye 5m resolution satellite data (Credits: NASA and RapidEye for source data, EOMAP for processing).

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Copernicus services help the DDUST- an operational service for monitoring coastal dune erosion DDUST is a mapping service of the dynamics of littoral dune fields based on satellite Aquitaine region to assess coastal imagery. Funded by the Aquitaine Regional Council in the framework of INTERREG retreat IV B SUDOE led by GEO-Transfert from Bordeaux University (www.geotransfert. epoc.u-bordeaux1.fr), DDUST will propose satellite-based management tools for With the aim to assess coastal erosion (a signifi- dune monitoring and management planning. This will help to assess storm impacts cant hazard in Aquitaine, France) and prevent and post-storm beach and dune recovery. DDUST exploits the depletion of the veg- its potentially dramatic impacts, the Aquitaine etation and changes in the littoral dunes as an indicator of dune erosion, either due Regional Council is supporting the develop- to long-term changes or to storms. Temporal series (annual or following events) of ment of operational decision-making tools. high and very high-resolution satellite data are processed to derive three cartographic In this context, Space imagery provided by the products: SPOT-5 and FORMOSAT-2 satellites is used to de- • An analysis of conservation status of the dune systems (cf. left figure below); rive maps of the 240 km long sandy coast of • The monitoring of shoreline breaching (cf. right figure below); the region. Then, coastal planners can exploit Cyril Mallet and collaborators • The monitoring of conservation actions aiming at stabilising dune systems. the maps produced to analyse yearly changes during in situ measurements on Raster and vector GIS-compatible layers will be provided to end-users. As a first and propose evolution scenarios. Based on this the Aquitaine coastline. step, the service will be deployed along the Aquitaine coast and the north coast of successful application of the Space imagery for Portugal. Then, in the framework of Copernicus we intend to develop the DDUST coastline survey purposes, two monitoring ser- service to cover all European sandy coastal areas. vices exploiting Space observations are currently being developed at Bordeaux University with the support of the final product users, namely the INFOLITTORAL-1 and DDUST services.

“The protection of the littoral against marine erosion and submersion has become a crucial issue for coastal zone managers and stakeholders. Along the southwest coast of France (Aquitaine region), coastal erosion causes the sandy shore to move landward and, at several locations, chronic retreat may even modify actual urban planning and future tourism development. A regional partnership plans to anticipate littoral risks by defining a regional strategy for coastal risk management. The Aquitaine Coast Observatory (ACO) monitors and analyses the dynamics of the coastline by combining ground, airborne and Space observations. The latter presents the advantages of offering frequent and large area coverage and reduced costs when compared to similar services provided by aerial means. Thus, once every two years, we exploit high-resolution satellite imagery to derive GI1-formatted maps of the coastline (about 240 km long). Its changes over time are evaluated and from this analysis we establish evolution scenarios for the following decades allowing the Local and Regional Authorities to set up coherent management strategies at local and regional scale. This successful experience has demonstrated the usefulness of developing an opera- Left: GeoEye satellite image. Mapping of the dune (white, light green and gray depend on the type of tional mapping service based on Space imagery, serving the dual purpose of mapping vegetation present), between the beach (yellow) and the forest (dark green). Crosses are ground control the coastline and assessing its evolution over time2 that is currently designing a service points used to validate the mapping. (Credits: CNES, GeoEye, OCA Geo-Transfert). Right: Analysis of period from 2005-2007 showing changes in the western boundary of the dune show- demonstrator applicable worldwide. ing a decline in red areas (breaching) and advances in green areas (restoration) (Credits: CNES, DLR, Also, we emphasised the potential of Space-based high-resolution imagery for quan- OCA, GEO-Transfert). tifying storm impacts on coastal dunes and monitoring post-storm restoration of the dune vegetation. The innovative DDUST service intends to address both of these requirements.” Midi-Pyrénées and Aquitaine Regional Contact Office (RCO) Cyril Mallet, Coastal Geologist Engineer, Bureau of Geological and Mining Research More information on http://www.doris-net.eu/en/node/309 Contact: Christelle Bosc 1 Geographical Information System. [email protected] - Tel.: +33 (0)5.62.25.97.07 2 http://infolittoral.spotimage.com.

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Pan-European Copernicus Land About the Local Environmental Records Offices services offer local potential to Local Environmental Records Centres (LERCs) have become established in the UK over the last 10 years to collect, store and make available environmental informa- regional environmental records offices tion at the municipality (local) level. They are typically not-for-profit organisations and act as the primary ‘one-stop-shop’ for environmental data in each county or local area. The information hosted by the LERCs addresses a wide range of topics including habitats, protected sites, species and physical aspects of the landscape.

Growing demand for up-to-date, consistent and comprehensive data at the local level is encouraging Local Environmental Records Centres (LERCs) in the UK to consider the use of Copernicus Land data and information services to avoid Copernicus benefits for LERCs the need for expensive in-house technical developments and the maintenance The individual LERCs work as a network with the UK and Ireland through the of production capacities. Association of LERCs (known as ALERC). Although they vary in size, set up and output, it is easy to identify commonalities between their activities. They are all required to support data users, develop relationships with groups providing data, share best practice and work within a wider landscape context. It is not uncommon for LERCs to work together on cross-county data searches or projects. In the eastern “In Cambridgeshire we currently have very little in the way England region, six LERCs meet throughout the year to discuss general matters of digital habitat data, practically none in fact, but we are related to their everyday work. Overall they aim to offer the best available services beginning to see a shift in focus from an interest in spe- and products to data users and data providers, thereby increasing both financial cies data to an interest in habitat data from our partners. support and data holdings respectively. Local authorities are becoming aware of the need to better understand the habitats affected by developments – particularly Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) habitats. We see Earth With a growing demand for up–to-date, consistent and comprehensive data from Observation-based habitat mapping as a good potential their clients the LERCs are now considering the use of Earth Observation (EO) to solution to this and with the growing availability of recent deliver at least some of their requirements. The emergence of Copernicus Land and relevant datasets through our government agency part- data and information services within an operational frame will allow the LERCs to ners can see this potential solution becoming more likely.” embrace EO-based products without the need for expensive in-house technical developments. The eastern England LERCs are now considering the use of EO for John Cornell, habitat mapping in the context of the MS.MONINA project. Centre Manager, Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Environmental Records Centre

“The last few years have seen an increasing demand for high quality spatial habitat and land use data from the Norfolk Biodiversity Information Service (NBIS). National bodies, local authorities and ecological consultants all require this information. Coupled with this is a need for regular updates to allow monitoring of sites and habitats. At present NBIS uses aerial photographs to map habitats to Geographic Information Systems. This is time-consuming The map above details the coverage of and we are keen to investigate the use of semi-automated ten different scene analyses of Earth Observation imagery, particularly in light components relating of future free access to European satellite imagery.” to different forms of vegetation, land management and surface Martin Horlock, properties (Credits: Biodiversity Information Officer, Norfolk Biodiversity Information Service MS.MONINA).

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The Tensift Hydraulic Basin Agency From Satellite imagery to in Morocco relies on Remote Sensing an IWRM Decision Support for Integrated Water Resources System CESBIO derived monthly estimates Management of evapotranspiration from 2001 to 2009 using three main inputs: (1) dai- The agency is in charge of Integrated ly spatial interpolation of reference Water Resources Management (IWRM), a Irrigated areas map based on the analysis of 10 evaporation from meteorological years of imagery superposed to irrigation admin- concept encouraging the preservation ground stations, (2) yearly maps of istrative areas (Credits: LMI TREMA, 2011). of water resources while supporting land cover, (3) calculation of crop co- socio-economic development. In the efficients from satellite data. framework of this research and devel- An explicit model of the surface wa- opment study, several local sectoral ter fluxes (demand and supply of operators and research organisations irrigation and urban areas) was imple- (ABHT, ORMVAH, UCAM, DMN)1 involved in mented for fifty subareas considered the Joint International Laboratory homogeneous in regard to their water TREMA and foreign institutions (CESBIO, demand and resources. This model IRD, GIZ, BGR, ACSAD)2 worked together was linked to a groundwater model to to implement a Decision Support System render both spatial and temporal vari- for IWRM. ations in head charges and allowing Brahim BERJAMY during the presentation Land use based on the majority class of each of the Master Plan for Integrated Water yearly remote sensing classification between the calculation of the ground water Resources Management of the 2001 and 2009 (Credits: LMI TREMA, 2011). balance. The model has been setup of Haouz plain. Marrakech, 2011. and validated for the whole period and undergoes a yearly actualisation. “Irrigation located mainly in the Haouz-Mejjate plain (6000 km²) accounts for about Middle term scenarios (up to 20 years) 80% of the consumptive use in the area. Moreover, the city of Marrakech requires are now being studied. Some of them more and more water whereas the level of the aquifer has been decreasing over are demand-based (reconversion to the last few decades (up to 2 meters/year), driven by an outbreak of groundwater pumping. Our past groundwater evaluation always had large uncertainties on drip irrigation, artificial recharge of groundwater discharges for irrigation because of the variation in time and space the aquifer), some are supply-based of abstractions related to fluctuating climate and land use. We decided to build an (new dams, increased water transfer), entire new tool where the water demand of plants is calculated from remote sens- and others have to do with Water ing and groundwater abstraction is the residue of this demand. The benefits are Policies important. Imagery data in the Copernicus context gives a synoptic and continuous view of what is happening in terms of land use and irrigated areas evolution and of crop water demand with an unprecedented accuracy. In addition, our method is fully traceable, so that each stakeholder may review the modelling assumptions. Finally, we began to build middle term groundwater management scenarios taking account of the different stakeholders’ visions and plans in the Haouz basin”

Brahim BERJAMY M. Berjamy is testing a multispectral radiometer Head of the Information Systems, Communication and Cooperation Department. with students at an irrigated area of the Haouz Agence de Bassin Hydraulique du Tensift, Maroc. plain.

1 Agence de Bassin Hydraulique du Tensift, Office de Mise en Valeur Agricole du Haouz, Université Midi-Pyrénées and Aquitaine Regional Contact Office (RCO) Cadi Ayyad de Marrakech, Direction de la Météorologie Nationale More information on http://www.doris-net.eu/en/node/309 2 Centre d’Etudes Spatiales de la Biosphère, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, Gesellschaft Contact: Christelle Bosc für Internationale Zusammenarbeit, Bundesantalt für Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe, Arab Center [email protected] - Tel.: +33 (0)5.62.25.97.07 for the Studies of Arid Zones and Dry Lands

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Earth Observation images help Copernicus water quality maps for lake management local communities to monitor Satellite remote sensing has become a useful tool to monitor lake water quality since the late 1980s. lake water quality In the framework of the EULAKES (European Lakes under Environmental Stressors) project, funded by Central Europe Programme 2010-2013, multi-temporal and spatial information about the water quality status of the surface euphotic layer of water Comunità del Garda (Garda Community) is an bodies was obtained through remote sensing techniques. A large data-set of MERIS association that brings together the mu- (Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer) images provided by ESA (European nicipalities and institutions of Lake Garda to Space Agency), was processed using bio-optical models. This allowed the retrieval ensure protection, enhancement and develop- of chlorophyll, total suspended matter and coloured dissolved organic matter con- ment of the Garda area. Particular attention centration maps as well as transparency maps. Thanks to the spatial and temporal is focused on water quality management analysis, zones and years considered most vulnerable to local anthropogenic inputs and tourism because the quality of the lake and climate change effects were identified. water can have a great impact on tourism The results showed that the highly transparent waters of Garda Lake, (a typical development. feature of oligotrophic lakes) had maximum chlorophyll concentrations recorded during spring times and maximum total suspended matter concentration values located in the southern part of the eastern basin. Giorgio Passionelli All products can be used inside a specific model built to support decision makers Head of Lake Garda Community, Lombardy Region or other bodies dealing with water basin management. This model will provide a list of possible management actions to be carried out within a water quality conser- “In order to deal with this problem in the last few years Comunità del Garda has moved towards products obtained by satellite images. This solution was also a good vation programme, as well as a list of possible scenarios considering the ongoing tool for basin management plans for coping with local environmental problems. climate changes. Thanks to remote sensing techniques we have access to the latest water quality information maps, such as temperature and transparency, and we are able to communicate the environmental status of the area to citizens and tourists in a clear and effective way. And all this at a sustainable costs for our institutions! An example of service derived by satellite images used by the Comunità is the map of macrophyte vegetation in Lake Garda. The use of these aquatic plants as indicators of the ecological water condition is clearly pointed out in the Water Framework Directive. Seasonal concentration maps of these indices or of other important substances, such as chlorophyll, total suspended or dissolved organic matter, are useful for improving resources planning and management.”

Giorgio Passionelli

Mean annual chlorophyll concentration (mg/m3) (top row) and transparency (m-1) (bottom row) maps for Lake Garda. Each year, six images have been selected in accordance with sampling periods suggested by Water Framework Directive. These maps are produced by IREA CNR starting from MERIS images (ESA), in the context of the EULAKES project (Credits: IREA CNR).

Lombardia Regional Contact Office (RCO) Lake Garda, North-East Italy, is the largest of Italy’s fresh-water lakes. Comunità del Garda is active in More information on http://doris-net.eu/en/node/299 an area with 70 municipalities and 3 Regions: Veneto, Lombardy and Trentino Alto Adige (NUTS2) and Contact: Anna Basoni - [email protected] - Tel.: +39 0223699299 4 Provinces (NUTS3) (Credits: Comunità del Garda Picture).

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Academia-Industry collaboration The VIGISAT project for the development of Copernicus The VIGISAT project, supported and services carried out by the GIS BreTel, is operated by the company CLS (Collecte The Bretagne Télédétection Scientific Localisation Satellites). It focuses on Interest Group (Brittany Remote Sensing Left : Oil pollution detected by ASAR (Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar) on-board the ENVISAT studies of the properties of electro- – www.bretel.eu), is a centre of excel- satellite. Right: The VIGISAT ground receiving magnetic (EM) waves interacting with lence specialising in spatial observation station. Copyright 2011 (Credits: CLS). the surface and the resulting behav- for maritime and land applications. It iour of the data in terms of frequency, promotes the regionally supported ra- polarisation, incidence angle, etc. dar receiving ground station project, Copernicus SERVING Specific data processing applications VIGISAT (operated by CLS) and emphasises SUSTAINABLE ECOLOGICAL AREA associated with Synthetic Aperture the collaborations between academic MANAGEMENT radar are highly supported by access research teams and companies to feder- On land issues, the Regional to a very large number of images. ate a cluster around the central theme Department for Environment, Territory The Geographic Information System of remote sensing with a large range of Development and Housing (DREAL), (GIS) intends to bring the VIGISAT applications for land, urban and oceans and public authorities, in partner- radar receiving ground station into topics. Professor René GARELLO ship with the Regions Brittany, Midi the national (and international) scien- Pyrenees, and Aquitaine must for- tific framework programmes. Indeed, mulate a Regional Plan of Ecological most of the GIS BreTel teams are as- Coherence (RPEC). This is a tool of sociated with works performed by the “Exploitation of high spatial resolution satellite data is an essential part for much town and country planning to iden- network of competence centres or the of the research work associated with the understanding of physical phenomena describing our environment. In Brittany, many of these physical interactions are tify ecological reservoirs and corridors Regional Spatial Observatories of the made more complex due to land/sea interactions. As in any other regions, interac- (green and blue belt networks) with a French territory. The GIS BreTel has tions between countryside and cities are also in constant evolution. The synergy strong permeability to the movements resulted in two papers in a NEREUS of Copernicus data with other data sources allows us to better understand these of wildlife species as well as obstacles publication in the framework of the phenomena, hence allowing us to make progress on understanding the conse- to these movements and to propose Copernicus initiative. quences of climate change. As scientists, we can work towards better planning of sustainable measures to protect them. socio-economic developments at the regional scale, preventing natural hazards and possibly also in the framework of renewable energy source implementations. This approach will have to be a model for the other regions.” René Garello Professor at Telecom Bretagne, Département Image et Traitement Information Director of Scientific Interest Group, Bretagne Télédétection (GIS BreTel)

OIL SPILLS DETECTION WITH Copernicus Oil pollution is one of the maritime risks that have a significant impact on Brittany. Being able to detect, track and identify the polluters from Space, using a combination of satellite-based radar as well as in situ and ground (AIS – Automatic Identification Identification of ecological reservoirs and corridors in order to provide durable/sustainable measures System) data, is at the centre of the user oriented applications developments. to protect wildlife species (Credits: Hubert-Moy, COSTEL – Université Rennes 2). In such a context, the receiving ground station VIGISAT is a key instrument. Radar satellites send to VIGISAT radar data collected from Space in real time. The analy- Midi-Pyrénées and Aquitaine Regional Contact Office (RCO) sis of these images allows, both in day-time and in night-time and in any weather More information on http://www.doris-net.eu/en/node/309 conditions, the identification of ships and traces of pollution to warn the responsible Contact: Christelle Bosc authorities in real time. [email protected] - Tel.: +33 (0)5.62.25.97.07

34 W INDOW ON Copernicus W INDOW ON Copernicus 35 Portraits of Copernicus users

Copernicus Services for better management The remote sensing controls in agriculture of subsidies to farmers in the EU The payment Agencies created the Integrated Administrative Control System. This was typically based on Remote Sensing data (aerial and satellite), cadastral and topographic maps, annual ground surveys, terrain models, and land cover. It was aimed THE EU CAP (COMMON AGRICULTURAL at maintaining, developing and controlling sustainable agronomic production. POLICY), which deals with ANNUAL In particular, Italy manages a complete coverage of airborne imagery (0.5 m spatial SUBSIDIES TO EUROPEAN FARMERS, resolution) every 3 years. This is used for maintaining and updating the Italian Land REQUIRES A COMPLETE NATIONAL/ Parcel Identification System- LPIS: a wall to wall land cover/use map at a reference REGIONAL GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION scale of 1:10,000, with high thematic accuracy. SYSTEM (GIS). THIS IS USED FOR Satellite data provided by the European Commission’s DG AGRI to AGEA, in ad- MANAGING AND CONTROLLING THE dition to the airborne data, is annually processed through a robust procedure for EU 27 AGRO-ENVIRONMENTS As THE providing the national/regional GIS systems with high spatial resolution remote FUNDING FLOWS FROM THE EUROPEAN sensing layers, for single small crop/field detection. This is overlaid on adminis- COMMISSION TO EACH SINGLE FARMER. trative boundaries, historical imagery, cadastral, morphology, climate, landscape REMOTE SENSING ACQUISITION ALLOWS features, risk maps, hydrologic networks, forestry information, etc. THE ASSESSMENT OF the COMPLIANCE In this way, an independent and spatially distributed control of the farmers’ fund- OF THE FARMER REQUESTS AND THE ing request is made possible due to the multispectral capability (useful for crop SUBSEQUENT PAYMENT OF SUBSIDIES. identification) and the skilled experience of the interpreters. In addition, remote Antonietta De Costanzo (on the right), and the members of OPLO team: sensing appears to be very useful in monitoring environmental parameters (e.g. soil Roberta Annoni and Paolo Ottoboni. erosion, crop conditions, presence of landscape elements, etc.), with the purpose of safeguarding the rural landscape. OPLO (Lombardia Regional In conclusion, remote sensing services, integrated in a GIS system, provide the user Agency for Subsidies in Agriculture) with a very rapid assessment for crop declaration controls, and more generally for any farming management and protection need. “To allow mandatory subsidy controls in an objective way, EC’s Directorate General for Agriculture has been managing an extensive project since 2003 based on the provision of satellite data to all EU Member States (and / or local Agencies responsible for subsidy) on pre-selected sample sites. In this framework, our Agency, in collaboration with the OPLO (Lombardia Regional Agency for Subsidies in Agriculture) and the other regional agencies of payment, annually use the remote sensing technology and Geo- Information Services (GIS) to manage subsidies. This tool presents a high benefit/cost ratio, also enabling the complete agronomic monitoring of the agro-environment. The methodology we are using has allowed us to reduce the time and effort required for the identification of declared parcels, compared to traditional ground surveys. In fact we have an overview of the agronomic land use conditions for all the farms covered by the remote imagery. This Earth Observation-based service also allows us to check at any time and everywhere (web-based) the actual crops present on the land and the farm management undertaken and thus full compliance with the EU CAP requirements, essential for the efficient payment of subsidies to farmers.”

Antonietta De Costanzo Director of the Lombardia Regional Agency for Subsidies in Agriculture (OPLO) - Regione Lombardia - Italia

Lombardia Regional Contact Office (RCO) More information on http://doris-net.eu/en/node/299 Comparison of satellite images and field situation, the multispectral imagery (in this case false colour Contact: Anna Basoni - [email protected] - Tel.: +39 0223699299 infrared) allows crops identification EU/Agea – High spatial resolution satellite image from the Quick Bird system (Credits: AGEA).

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Supporting the EU Directive Identifying Water Bodies Potentially Exposed to Pesticides Drift Using Remote Sensing (RS) on the sustainable use of pesticides and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Spray drift has been recognised as one of the main routes of pesticide entry to AT EUROPEAN LEVEL THERE ARE MANY surface waters, leading to unwanted exposure of aquatic organisms. In the last LEGISLATIVE INITIATIVES ENCOURAGING few years, there has been much discussion on the application of risk mitigation FARMERS TO APPLY SUSTAINABLE FARMING measures (buffer zones) to reduce the contamination of water bodies through drift PRACTICES AND REDUCE THE ENVIRONMENTAL processes, leading to the conclusion that landscape factors should be taken into IMPACT ON AGRICULTURE. account when setting appropriate buffer zone distances. IN PARTICULAR, THE DIRECTIVE 128/2009 EC For instance the presence of natural barriers such as hedgerows near water bod- ON THE SUSTAINABLE USE OF PESTICIDES ies can be an effective barrier capable of reducing drift phenomena. Furthermore, INCLUDES A SERIES OF ACTIONS OF RISK wind speed and prevalent wind direction, flow rate of water course, and size of REDUCTION CONNECTED TO THE IMPACT OF watercourse can all be important factors influencing the magnitude of drift pesticide PESTICIDES IN AGRO-ECOSYSTEMS AND ON exposure of aquatic organisms. HUMANS. The recent introduction of “The Sustainable Use of Pesticides” Directive has en- THE DIRECTIVE REQUIRES MEMBER STATES forced the concept of pesticide risk management and of risk mitigation actions at TO PRODUCE NATIONAL ACTION PLANS the local scale. In this context, DOW Agroscience, dealing with products for crop THAT INCLUDE APPROPRIATE PESTICIDE RISK protection, has recently funded a project aiming to explore the possibility of using MITIGATION MEASURES TO BE APPLIED AT Roberto Colombo, Antonio Finizio RS technologies to develop a GIS based indicator. Starting from information on TERRITORIAL SCALE TO REDUCE PESTICIDE Department of Environmental Sciences - land cover and hydrographic networks such indicators could identify the presence at University of Milano Bicocca, Italy EXPOSURE AND TO PRESERVE THE QUALITY OF landscape-level of naturally occurring active mitigation measures (i.e. hedgerows), AQUATIC AND TERRESTRIAL ENVIRONMENTS. or identify stretches of river most at risk of drift exposure and where to implement risk management actions.

“Images from remote sensing used within Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are very important for our studies on the environmental impact of pesticides, as they give information concerning its spatial and temporal variability. According to the EU registration scheme, pesticide risk assessments are carried out by using laboratory acute and chronic toxicity data, and by comparing the results with Predicted Environmental Concentrations (PECs), which are calculated by means of fate and exposure models. The use of predictive models provides a tool for assessing the evolution of chemical concentrations due to changes in emission rates and land use. Predictive models are helpful in developing a supporting information system for managing the territory in agreement with the aims of the Directive on the sustainable use of pesticides. The challenge we face with remote sensing and GIS images is to account for the variability of the environmental parameters (i.e. land use, soil properties, climatic conditions, hydrography), that has in the past been a major problem for the site-specific application of predictive approaches.”

Antonio Finizio

Lombardia Regional Contact Office (RCO) Valtellina is an important agricultural area in Lombardia region (Italy), particularly famous for wine and fruit trees productions. For this reason this area was selected for a preliminary application of the indi- More information on http://doris-net.eu/en/node/299 cator. The indicator is based on spatial features such as distance between fruit trees areas and water Contact: Anna Basoni - [email protected] - Tel.: +39 0223699299 bodies, presence of hedgerows, buffering, and overlay analysis. An example of the obtained results is reported in the figure (Credits: BICOCCA University).

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During the first 18 months of the project, many landslides have been geometrically Electromagnetic sensors for characterised by ERT, providing important information for the planning of the interventions. Furthermore, provincial roads located in very critical areas were scanned by investigating road infrastructures GPR mobile system in order to assess the road surface, base and sub-base courses.” in hydrogeological hazard areas Piero LACORAZZA (President of Provincial Administration of Potenza)

Within the framework of the 2007-2013 Basilicata Operational Regional Programme, in the con- ELECTROMAGNETIC SENSORS text of the European Regional Development FOR INVESTIGATING ROAD Fund, the Provincial Administration of INFRASTRUCTURES IN Potenza developed a system to monitor areas HYDROGEOLOGICAL HAZARD affected by hydrogeological hazards, includ- AREAS ing provincial roads. The system, based on the The electromagnetic monitoring integration of innovative geological, geo- GPR IDSRIS Hi Pave mobile system. a) anten- system, based on the integration morphological and geophysical techniques, na suspension system (to the fore); b) Digital of different techniques provides and was implemented by the CNR-IMAA and the Antenna Driver Multichannel Fast Wave; c) example of real-time data acquisition. electrical resistivity tomograms and University of Basilicata. The products of this radargrams. These products can con- system can help the Provincial Administration tain specific information about the of Potenza to define the amount of activity in changes of physical properties of the areas, to deepen investigation during signifi- Mr. Piero Lacorazza, President of the Province of Potenza, subsoil after the occurrence of a hy- cant rainfall events and to promptly implement during an inspection to verify the drogeological event. the actions necessary to restore traffic and intervention operations on a road Electrical resistivity tomograms were road safety, reducing the time and the costs of affected by instability phenomena. carried out in areas affected by recent intervention. activity phenomena and previously mapped by aero-photogrammetric analysis. More than 5 landslide ar- “Landslides are the most common geomorphological hazard in Italy. Basilicata is GPR survey carried out along the SP12 provin- eas were studied and information the Italian southern region characterised by the highest density of landslides, with cial road in S. Angelo le Fratte town (Basilicata 2 about the sizes of the movement, the more than 27 landslide areas every 100 km . This high density is related to clay rich region). a) location of the investigated stretch of substrates, extreme rainfall events, deforestation, intense urbanisation, and industri- road; b) detail of the investigated road; c) raw depth of the sliding surface and the alisation. Very often the landslides have affected road infrastructures causing serious radargram. thickness of the slide material were damage to the road traffic and the slowdown of economic activity. obtained. Since December 2010, the Provincial Administration of Potenza, in charge of a road Several kilometres of provincial roads network of about 2587 km, has set up a monitoring system useful for the definition were investigated by GPR mobile sys- of the activity state of the slopes near the provincial roads and the assessment of tem obtaining information about the their degradation state. The monitoring system is based on the systematic integra- conditions of road surface, base and tion of geological-geomorphological information and geophysical investigation in sub-base courses and highlighting the a GIS1 platform. stretches of the roads for which the In this context, an Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT) technique and mobile ERT carried out on S. Angelo le Fratte (Basilicata repair interventions are very urgent. Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) system, used by CNR-IMAA, proved to be very region) landslide. a) Landslide with location of useful. In particular, ERT provides information about the geometrical characteristics ERT (red lines) and GPR (blue lines) profiles. Yellow lines indicate landslide source areas; of the landslide and the presence of areas with high water content. The new mobile b) Transversal and longitudinal ERT. GPR system, implemented by the CNR-IMAA, gives the possibility to perform pe- riodical monitoring of road conditions for preventative maintenance and to rapidly obtain information about the damage of the roads to optimise planning of repair Basilicata Regional Contact Office (RCO) operations. More information on http://doris-net.eu/en/node/340 Contact: Carmela Cornacchia [email protected] - Tel. : +39-0971-427275 1 Geographic Information System.

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Mapping the potential of roofs for Measuring the Solar the installation of solar panels using Potential of Roofs Copernicus Bluesky has developed a unique method of generating solar potential maps using a range of remotely The demand for increased renewable sensed datasets including aerial pho- energy generation requires efficient tography and digital terrain models. and effective targeting of suitable Photogrammetric techniques (the roofs. To obtain the maximum benefit practice of determining geomet- from a solar array on a given roof, The usable area of the roof is captured as a 3D ric properties of objects from the roof must meet certain parametric polygon. Examples are shown here over a 2D aerial photograph (Credits: Bluesky). photographic images) are used to requirements. These include the geo- accurately determine the size, aspect graphic location, pitch, aspect, usable and gradient of the roofs of individual roof area, shading and irradiation. properties from which it is possible Measurement of all of these parame- to measure and record factors that ters is problematic without access to contribute to the potential for solar the roof; Copernicus can provide an power. The suitability of each roof accurate and proven solution. element is then considered taking into account roof shape and other The Kier Group have used Solar Mapping data impediments such as sky lights or to identify suitable roofs on their housing stock. dormer windows, as well as potential obstructions such as neighbouring properties or trees. The results are then applied to geo-coded address locations enabling the specific buildings to be targeted.

Environment and sustainability consultants Sustain have been using Bluesky’s Solar Mapping for 2 years as the basis for their work with Housing Associations and Local The Solar irradiation values are calculated using PVGIS a widely recognised and accepted metric Authorities. Coupled with their expertise in assessing the energy saving potential of (Credits: Bluesky). a range of renewable measures, the Solar Mapping data is proving to be a powerful and predictive tool. “To date, working with Bluesky, we have calculated the potential solar energy yield of nearly 15,000 properties across the UK. Using the data supplied we are able to calculate the potential yield on a roof by roof basis. This can then be amalga- mated into a value for the entire stock. We then work with the individual Housing Association to offer advice on funding options and on procurement, as well as management of the installation programme.” Using Bluesky’s Solar Reports in the field for commercial property. Sustain have especially been impressed by the level of spatial accuracy that Bluesky can achieve which is vital when identifying individual properties. The high levels of accuracy can be attributed to very accurate GPS collection and state of the art airborne planning software. DORIS_Net East Midlands Regional Contact Office (RCO) Antony Scott University of Leicester/G-STEP Senior Associate (GIS and Spatial Data) Email: [email protected] - Tel.: +44 (0) 116 2297843 Sustain

42 W INDOW ON Copernicus W INDOW ON Copernicus 43 Success Stories

Take a deep breath with Myair The Myair Service Portfolio At current levels, healthcare costs associated with poor air quality in the EU27 Services are estimated to reach at least €189 billion/year by 2020. By combining satellite-based data, in situ measurements and modelling, by Thilo Erbertseder PASODOBLE is developing and demonstrating a portfolio of Myair Services in 4 thematic areas:

Considering the adverse health effects of air pollution, monitoring, assess- • Health community support for hospitals, pharmacies, doctors and people at ing and forecasting of pollutant levels from a global to a local scale is risk; fundamental to increase our quality of life. The PASODOBLE Copernicus ser- • Public forecasting and assessment support for regions, cities, tourists and sport- vice project aims to improve information on air quality in over 30 European ing events like the Olympic Games in London 2012; regions and cities by developing the Myair service portfolio. • Compliance monitoring support on particulate matter for regional environmental agencies and governments; A recent study by the European Topic so, selected services can easily be imple- • Local forecast model evaluation support for local authorities and city bodies. Centre for Air and Climate Change at- mented for new regions, cities and users. tributes 492,000 premature deaths per PASODOBLE works at local level but also Complementary to the Copernicus Atmosphere Service MACC (Monitoring year in Europe to the presence of fine on a broader scale, with, for instance, Atmospheric Composition and Climate) and building on the achievements of the particles in the air. This corresponds the objective to move towards greater ESA GMES Service Element PROMOTE, PASODOBLE is developing user-driven to an average reduction of life expec- European harmonisation by integrating and sustainable downstream services in more than 30 regions and cities through- tancy by eight months and in some and promoting best practice tools. out Europe (www.myair-eu.org). From 2010 to 2013 existing user requirements areas by as much as 36 months. This are being analysed to propose and implement improved service designs for is not surprising since on average we Health community support new and continued air quality monitoring, assessment and forecasting services. breathe 20 times a minute and the air Imagine a severe air pollution episode is Through close collaboration with the MACC project, PASODOBLE links global that we breathe is the most important emerging in a European region. Will the satellite and modelling capacities with specific local applications according to nutrient of the human body. Following hospitals be prepared? Who will warn user needs. In close collaboration with over 50 users in 18 countries, multiple the guidelines of the World Health the doctors in the region of the need cycles of service demonstration, use and assessment versus requirements are Organisation (WHO) and many epide- to prepare for it? Will the pharmacies being performed. miological studies, it is high time to face have enough relief medication in stock? up to the fact that there is a direct re- What can those who are most vulner- 1 2 lationship between human health and able do to reduce the likely impact on the main air pollutants: PM2.5 , PM10 , community and the general population 3 4 5 air pollution. their health conditions? SO2 , O3 and NO2 . Hence it accounts to allow them to take proactive steps In the context of Europe’s Copernicus In collaboration with the health com- for the effects of exposure to multiple to reduce the impact on quality of life. programme, the PASODOBLE pro- munity, services are being developed chemical agents. It has been adapted ject seeks to provide information and to provide appropriate, local and timely for different pathologies and local pre- “Assessment of air quality support for regions and cities that are information to enable hospitals, phar- diction models of this health index have against EC Directives makes affected by air pollution. macies and doctors to mitigate the been implemented. The ARI enables the local air quality forecasting Furthermore, PASODOBLE works potentially harmful effects of air pollu- communication of health risks, using in- critical for local authorities towards a harmonised European frame- tion among vulnerable groups. Together formation on monitored and forecasted and city bodies” work for sustainable downstream air with medical specialists, new informa- pollutant concentrations, to the health quality services. By developing a ge- tion products have been developed and In order to improve the flow of infor- neric and modular service infrastructure, are now being used. One such product 1 Particles of air pollutants with a diameter of mation towards the medical community, including ready-to-use tools, intuitive is the Aggregated Risk Index (ARI), 2,5 micrometers or less. communication platforms have been 2 interfaces, easily accessible data and which is based on the relative risk of the Particles of air pollutants measuring 10 microm- implemented to support specialists in eters or less. applied quality management, it will in- increased daily mortality and morbidity, 3 Sulfur dioxide. the South of France, Greece and the crease the efficiency of implementation enabling an assessment of the addi- 4 Ozone. Netherlands in close collaboration with for new services in the future. In doing tive effects of short-term exposure to 5 Nitrogen dioxide. hospitals, pharmacies and emergency

44 W INDOW ON Copernicus W INDOW ON Copernicus 45 Success Stories

networks. In the Provence Alpes Côte These services, developed in close col- “The World Health d’Azur region in the southeast of laboration with the Centre Hospitalier Organisation estimates that France, for example, the combination Universitaire de Nice and the by reducing illness caused by of intense road traffic and the incred- Papageorgiou Hospital in Thessaloniki, fa- airborne particulate matter ibly warm summer weather of the cilitate an increased uptake by the health the EU could save up to €29 Mediterranean climate produces poor community, which is currently fostered billion/year” air quality, which is known to be one of by the dissemination activities of the the worst in Europe. The recognised European Medical Association and its re- The developments within PASODOBLE effects of air pollution on public health gional associates. In addition, this service for novel air quality services further include increased risk of hospital ad- area has begun to provide other intuitive comprise harbour management sup- missions and mortality rates cause by information products that can analyse and port in Antwerp, dynamic road traffic respiratory or cardiovascular diseases. forecast levels of discomfort in several cit- management in the Netherlands, The combination of these pollution-re- ies. These developments are fundamental forecasting services for the Olympic lated health risks and the vulnerability to enable sensitive groups to take precau- Games in London in 2012 for the Health of the elderly and children leads to se- Services are being developed in close collabora- tionary measures and action and therefore Protection Agency, and improvement tion with the health community to provide ap- rious concerns over health. To facilitate to reduce the associated healthcare costs. of tourist information and navigation propriate, local and timely information to enable interactions with the health community systems in the Black Forest by incor- hospitals, pharmacies and doctors to mitigate and to enable the validation of the ARI, the potentially harmful effects of air pollution Public information and assessment porating environmental parameters. among vulnerable groups (Credits: Shutterstock). a child cohort study has been integrated support Imagine families with children, a cyclist into the communicative platform. The 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing or a hiker planning a day trip. Wouldn’t demonstrated how air pollution can im- it be ideal if it was possible to guide pact on large sporting events and the them to where the air is cleanest? regional economy. In Europe, legisla- Planning of outdoor activities can now tion stipulates that the public should be optimised by taking into account ex- be informed about air pollution levels. posure to air pollution. Therefore the service on air quality forecasting and assessment support aims at The regional services were able to providing state-of-the-art services at a demonstrate the need for high reso- high spatial resolution. The information lution modelling in addition to that services are developed together with undertaken on a European scale by the stakeholders and are also provided to the project. An air quality assessment study public via public bodies and their web- on human exposure for Brussels shows sites or other dissemination channels. that in 2005 more than 342,000 citizens This service area has already developed were exposed to annual mean nitro- thematically integrated sub services gen dioxide concentrations exceeding combining information on air quality, the European threshold of 40μg/m3 pollen concentration, UV radiation and compared to none when large scale meteorology. It has been contributing to modelling is applied. To capture the

developments in physical, chemical and strong concentration gradients of NO2, biological weather forecasting and turn- high spatial and temporal resolution ing it into intuitive information. Natural air quality modelling combined with allergen information and integrated al- state-of-the-art satellite observation is lergenic indices for Europe are being needed to accurately estimate human

delivered. A daily bulletin for London on exposure. NO2 is an atmospheric pol- To mitigate the potentially harmful effects of air pollution among vulnerable groups, specific services air quality, temperature, pollen and UV lutant with adverse health effects that is per pathology and age class are provided. The figure shows the forecast of the aggregate risk index for Provence, Alps and Cotes d’Azur on March 29, 2012 tailored for people with respiratory diseases has been published at schools, libraries regulated by the European Air Quality taking into account the risk of mortality (Credits: ACRI-ST). and leisure centres, etc. Directive.

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How do they know the exact spatial extent of the problem? What do they report to the European Commission?

“Satellite-based air quality assessments support the EC’s goal of countering reduced life expectancy due to A local forecast model evaluation service and toolbox has been developed to support local particulate matter in the air” authorities and city bodies.

The service for compliance monitoring support for particulate matter is col- standard criteria and protocols for per- laborating with agencies with air quality formance evaluation, works towards Directive compliance duties with the aim standardised interfaces and aims at sup- of facilitating their reporting. The first porting accountability/apportionment achievements of PASODOBLE include studies. The service is currently being the provision of services for the expla- tested with seven local authorities and is nation of exceedances whether they are also available to other users. The evalu- caused by local emissions or advected ation of model output utilises in situ and dust. This service has been introducing satellite data and considers the evalu- satellite data, which is complementary to ation methodologies and guidance of ground-based data, to provide improved the Forum for Air Quality Modelling in coverage showing the spatial extent of Europe FAIRMODE. pollution, and has demonstrated posi- Imagine there is a local authority that tive results in particular for quantifying wishes to set up an air quality forecast- mineral dust loadings and PM2.5 lev- ing and public information system to els. Work towards source attribution improve the quality of life of their citi- and specification is ongoing. Prototype zens. Will they know how to proceed demonstrations are currently being to get an effective and efficient solution Selection of air quality services covering different scales (clockwise, starting top left): Forecast of the daily th conducted in North Rhine-Westphalia that delivers the best objective data and NO2 maximum for Central Europe (5x5 km) for April 12 , 2012. Same forecast at high resolution (1x1 km) for a densely populated and industrialised are in North Rhine Westphalia. Ozone forecast (2x2 km) in com- (Germany), the Canary Islands (Spain), information relating to the specific envi- plex orography for the Black Forest, a mountainous tourism region in Germany. Yearly NO2 assessment for the Netherlands, Emilia Romagna and ronmental conditions in their city? This Brussels at street level showing that more than 342,000 citizens were exposed to annual mean nitrogen Lombardy (both in Italy). service will support and facilitate that dioxide concentrations exceeding the European threshold of 40μg/m³ in 2005 (Credits: DLR/RIU/VITO). decision-making process. Forecasting Evaluation Support Compliance Monitoring Support levels and reporting of exceedances of 80-90% of urban populations are ex- Harmonisation and sustainability Mankind recognised the impact of air their respective thresholds. posed to particulate matter levels Not only is PASODOBLE developing pollution long ago. Even in ancient Imagine a severe exceedance of con- exceeding the air quality guidelines of dedicated services, but also a sustainable Rome the Senate approved a law, which centrations of particulate matter (fine the World Health Organisation (WHO). generic and modular service infrastruc- prohibited pollution of the air. Today, the particles in the air) is detected by a re- Assessment of air quality against EC ture. Given the large number of local and EU Directive 2008/50/EC on Ambient Air gional environmental agency. How will Directives makes local air quality fore- regional services that are already availa- and Clean Air For Europe (CAFÉ) is the they know and verify its source? Is it casting critical for local authorities and ble, PASODOBLE contributes to regional law that stipulates the need to reduce from local emissions? Advected6 min- organisations. To facilitate their day- harmonisation regarding INSPIRE (infra- pollution levels to minimise any harmful eral dust? Neighbouring polluted areas? to-day work and to enable an easy structure for spatial information in Europe) effects on human health. The Directive in-depth validation, a local forecast Directive compliance, interoperability, lays down the regulatory requirements 6 Advection is defined as the transfer of a property model evaluation support service and quality management and data access. for compliance monitoring of pollutant of the atmosphere, such as heat, cold, or humidity, by the horizontal movement of an air mass toolbox has been developed. It sets The first steps towards a consistent

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European framework for local and re- of Systems (GEOSS) -related initiatives, human exposure as well as data fusion FAIRMODE forum for modelling of air gional air quality services have been mainly by working on the compliance products. To maximise the usability and quality in Europe, MACC (Monitoring made, namely harmonised interfaces with INSPIRE metadata implement- interoperability of the system the fol- Atmospheric Composition and Climate), and access to input data from Space, ing rules, INSPIRE data specifications, lowing features are being implemented: GENESIS (Generic European Sustainable measurements, boundary conditions and internationally agreed data quality web coverage, web features and web Information Space for environment) and emissions, simplified nesting frameworks and standards. Therefore, map services compliant with Open GIS and obsAIRve7 projects. Furthermore it approaches, state-of-the-art web in- the project has been registered as an Consortium (OGC) standards as well as considers and contributes to INSPIRE terfaces to users including a catalogue official INSPIRE Spatial Data Interest Google Earth and export functionalities (Infrastructure for Spatial Information in compliant with relevant metadata stand- Community (SDIC) to officially con- for data and metadata. The user inter- the European Community), SEIS (Shared ards and a metadata creation service. A tribute to the drafting process of the face, the decision-support tool and the Environmental Information System) and special effort has been undertaken to implementation rules, recommend air quality management system can be CAFÉ (Clean Air For Europe). link the MACC and PASODOBLE ser- appropriate metadata and provide accessed via www.myair.eu. vice components into stable processing feedback on data specifications with a Impact and conclusion chains in terms of consequent nesting focus on air quality services. A critical Relevance for Europe By raising awareness, reducing health approaches using the European air analysis of the current implementation The project is important for Europe since costs and decreasing morbidity, quality forecasting ensemble for bound- of INSPIRE metadata and their compli- air quality is a trans-national problem PASODOBLE will contribute to improv- ary conditions. Procedures for business ance with international references to with local sources. The project combines ing quality of life and sustainability of planning and market development are data quality strategy, namely the GEO- local action and work towards European welfare. European citizens will benefit followed up in order to prepare self- CEOS (Group of Earth Observation harmonisation, by building a decentral- from these services since they provide supportive and sustainable services. – Committee on Earth Observations ised modular technical infrastructure for solutions that will mitigate the harm Satellites) Quality Assurance frame- air quality services that takes into ac- from air pollution by communicat- Quality, interoperability and fitness for work for Earth Observation (QA4EO), count interoperability, quality assurance, ing risks directly to the citizens who purpose standard procedures of the Quality validation and INSPIRE compliance. This are most vulnerable, allowing them to As works towards a European frame- Management Framework of the World will increase the efficiency of implemen- change their behaviour or to be given work and infrastructure for local and Meteorological Organisation (WMO- tation for new services in new regions the necessary medical treatment to re- regional air quality data and services QMFT), and relevant ISO standards (a in the future. The project will therefore duce the impact of air pollution. This are undertaken, the harmonisation of legal INSPIRE requirement) is being per- help to increase the competitiveness of will, in the long term, reduce morbidity metadata and data specifications is formed. In this framework an air quality European service providers. and mortality. strongly pursued. The objectives are to service metadata editor is being devel- The project collaborates with the foster interoperability and traceability of oped and implemented that is adapted European Environment Agency, air quality services within and between to the INSPIRE metadata editor and the European Space Agency, the 7 http://www.obsairve.eu other Global Earth Observation System augmented with specific requirements of the air quality community. Therefore the compatibility with the atmospheric services provided by MACC is ensured.

User interface, decision support and air Thilo Erbertseder has been an atmospheric scientist at DLR, the quality management German Aerospace Center, since 1998. He is the coordinator of An online user interface is being de- PASODOBLE - the Copernicus service project for air quality funded veloped offering modular tools to by the 7th Framework Programme of the European Commission. access and analyse the data of the air He received his Diploma in Physical Geography, Atmospheric Chemistry and Remote Sensing in 1998 from Ludwig-Maximilians- quality services. It comprises a cata- University Munich. His expertise comprise combining satellite data logue, a state-of-the-art visualisation with models by means of data assimilation for air quality forecasting, volcanic tool, automatic online validation, a activity monitoring, climate model validation and ozone monitoring. Intuitive online tools enable easy information on decision-support system, an air quality regional and local air pollutant levels including decision-support, alerting services and validation management tool optimised for use with graphs. tablet PCs and modules for calculating

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EO data have been demonstrated to Monitoring of soil moisture for be a useful source of information. The Improving Water Management irrigation water management in choice of the type of sensor depends The monitoring of soil moisture on the application. In the case of water variability is of utmost importance, Catalonia management for irrigation, the most especially in areas where water re- suitable types of instruments record sources are scarce. Soil moisture is microwave (Radar) radiation and are important as a prime parameter for by Antonio Reppucci* presented by Synthetic Aperture Radars the surface hydrological cycle. Water (SARs), which give high spatial resolu- storage in soil, either in the surface tion, large area coverage and night/day/ layer or in deeper levels, affects not all weather acquisition capabilities. only the vapour transpiration, but Water management for irrigation is an essential activity in general but es- also the heat storage capability of pecially in areas where water is scarce and in highly agricultural areas. By The results presented hereafter have the soil, its thermal conductivity, and definition, water management represents the use of the appropriate quan- been achieved in the framework of the the partitioning of energy between tity of water at the most suitable time and it is usually pursued by combining AGORA project, partially funded by latent and sensible heat fluxes. In measurements of soil moisture with an optimised irrigation plan. While the the regional government of Catalonia, addition, surface layer volumetric second element is easy to design if water is available, having detailed spatial which aims to study the benefits of as- soil moisture direct evaporation de- information on soil moisture is still a challenge. In situ measurement using similating EO data into a hydrological termines the possibility of surface probes is costly and does not allow a dense enough sampling of the spa- model for water predictions. One of run-off after rainfalls. tial behaviour of a whole region. In this context, microwave (Radar) remote the objectives of this project is to study sensing data from active sensors on Earth Observation (EO) satellites have the viability of producing maps of sur- demonstrated their potential to measure soil moisture quantitatively on bare face soil moisture for the Catalonia and short-vegetated surfaces. Thanks to their ability to operate in all weather area. During its two-year duration, the conditions and wide coverage, data from Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) of- partners involved in the project have fer the opportunity to monitor large areas with high spatial resolution. The worked on different issues concerning Advanced SAR on the European Space Agency’s (ESA) ENVISAT satellite and other the operational retrieval of soil moisture follow-up Copernicus missions will help communities that suffer water scar- information using SAR images. city to improve the management of water resources through the continuous monitoring of soil moisture for multiple applications. This article will focus The soil moisture maps generated from on soil moisture monitoring with EO data for irrigation water management. SAR data can be used by governmental agencies that manage water distribution The degree of soil moisture is an important or by farmers to schedule the irrigation factor to move towards sustainable agricul- sensing / Earth Observation (EO) of their fields in a more efficient way. ture, it affects, for instance, the run-off of Many activities rely on the ability to water and fertilisers. measure soil moisture over relatively techniques, soil moisture was main- The information contained in these large areas: crop yield expectation, ly measured by means of ground maps could be an input for intelligent flood forecast, prediction of local me- surveys using specially designed sen- irrigation algorithms in the field of smart teorological events, erosion and slope sors. However, the use of in situ point agriculture. leading to several methodologies to failure forecasting, water reservoir measurements might not be appro- estimate soil moisture content. All the management, etc. Sectors such as ag- priate to represent the spatial and How Earth Observation data can help algorithms developed are based on the riculture, biological and environmental temporal behaviour of soil moisture. It to monitor soil moisture inversion of models, of an analytical or monitoring, local meteorology, geolo- can also be costly in terms of deploy- Scientific investigation on the analysis an empirical nature, that relate variables gy and hydrology demand reliable soil ment and maintenance, hence reducing of soil moisture using satellite sensors measured by satellite sensors to near- moisture information to effectively carry the range of applications that can ben- has a long history: it began with the surface soil moisture. Depending on the out their activities. efit from such important geophysical availability of the first satellite images. sensor employed to image the Earth’s Before the development of remote information. Research has been done using different surface, different spatial and temporal sensors, spanning different parts of the resolutions can be achieved, thus the * This work was conducted together with Erwan Motte and Xavier Banqué from Starlab. measured electromagnetic spectrum, selection of the appropriate sensor will

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be related to the type of monitoring latter being directly influenced by soil that is being pursued. moisture. Although radiometers do not require solar illumination and the “Soil Moisture maps can atmosphere has a small impact on the be used by governmental measured signal, the resolution of such agencies managing water instruments is in the order of several distribution or by farmers” kilometres making them useful only for studies on a global scale, and therefore Optical sensors are remote sensing not suitable for irrigation water manage- instruments that can acquire data in ment applications. several bands of the optical and near infrared part of the spectrum. The vari- The backscatter data recorded by mi- able that is possible to measure with crowave radars (Scatterometer, SAR) are this type of instrument is the spectral also sensitive to changes in soil mois- reflectance, i.e. the ratio of reflected ture among other parameters. Having energy to incident energy as a function their own source of illumination, such of wavelength. This quantity can be di- sensors can acquire data at night and rectly related to surface soil moisture, day and in the presence of cloud cov- although soil reflectance is influenced erage. Scatterometers, with a spatial also by other variables, such as soil resolution of several kilometres, have The area used for the calibration of the algorithm, which extends for about 20 km x 20 km, is located roughness, texture and plant cover, been used with success for studies on in the North-East of Catalonia (Alt Empordà); red dots represent the field sampled during the surveys which can lead to a wide variation in the the global scale, while SARs, with a spa- (Credits: Google Earth). measurements for a constant value of tial resolution that can be as small as a soil moisture. A more robust methodol- few meters, are suitable for studies on ogy makes use of combined information a local scale. soil moisture content, surface roughness relationship between the measured from the optical and infrared part of the and vegetation attenuation. However, backscattered signal and the dielectric spectrum. A major drawback of optical The methodologies developed for the from an operational point of view, these constant. instruments is the impact of atmospher- estimation of soil moisture from active models cannot be employed due to ic conditions and the need for the sun microwave sensors are based on the the restrictive assumptions made when In a second step, the conversion from as a source of illumination. following idea: the microwave radiation building them. Therefore, empirical dielectric constant to soil moisture is backscattered from sparsely vegetated models may be more useful and robust performed. For this purpose a dielectric Microwave sensors acquire measure- surfaces is related to dielectric 1prop- to estimate soil moisture operationally mixing model is used. The employed al- ments in the frequency range from erties of the illuminated area, surface from SAR data. gorithm was originally developed and 0.3GHz to 300GHZ (i.e. a wavelength characteristics (roughness, topographic validated over an area located in cen- that spans from 1m to 1mm). There are conditions) and instrument character- The approach chosen for the meas- tral Europe where the main vegetation two main types of such instruments: istics. The soil’s dielectric constant is urement of soil moisture in the types were fields planted with cereals, passive and active. Passive microwave highly dependent on soil moisture; the Mediterranean area of Catalonia is grassland, root crops or covered by sensors or radiometers measure the ra- typical dielectric constant of dry soil based on the calibration of a semi- bare soil. As soil and vegetation char- diation emitted by the Earth’s surface is around three while that of water is empirical algorithm [1]. The calibration acteristics vary when moving between in the field of view of the instrument. eighty. Theoretical models (e.g. small attempts to optimise the model to take different regions, a calibration of the Active microwave sensors or radars perturbation model, geometric optics into account the specificities of the algorithm was needed to take into ac- send out pulses of electromagnetic ra- model) are able to represent the back- vegetation cover in the area of interest. count the vegetation type specific to diation and measure the amount that scattering variations due to changes in The soil moisture retrieval method is a the area of study. For this purpose a seis backscattered in the direction of the two-step process. First the conversion ries of ground campaigns were planned sensor. Over land, the emitted radiation of the measured backscattered signal to in the framework of the project. Ground 1 A dielectric material is a substance that is a is mainly dependent on soil tempera- poor conductor of electricity, but an efficient dielectric constant is accomplished. This data were also used to validate the de- ture and its dielectric properties, the supporter of electrostatic fields. is done using a semi-empirically derived veloped algorithm.

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one and three days over Europe and C-band SAR data is feasible over sur- Canada. faces with sparse vegetation and having highlighted the importance of correctly Soil moisture maps generated from SAR accounting for the local vegetation type data can be used to monitor the evo- and characteristics. High spatial resolu- lution of soil moisture conditions at a tion maps of surface soil moisture could regional scale with high spatial resolu- be of great interest to monitor droughts tion. This is particularly interesting for and to control vegetation growth es- an application such as water manage- pecially in areas that suffer from water ment for irrigation where the knowledge scarcity. of the fine scale distribution of the soil To further improve the results and the water content would allow more grease robustness of the approach employed, detection of sensitive areas. Moreover, the potential of combining SAR meas- such a product could bring improve- urements with a limited number of in ments in the accuracy of numerical situ measurements is being studied. model forecasting, through assimilation. This could allow a dynamic calibration of the retrieval algorithm in real-time to The results obtained in the first phase continuously produce more and more of the project have paved the way to accurate results. The outputs from such study the development of an innovative a combined approach could be of great forecasting model based on computa- interest for many applications where tional intelligence techniques and the continuous knowledge of soil moisture Fig. 3 Soil moisture map generated from an image taken with the ASAR sensor on ESA’s satellite retrieval of soil moisture from Earth is a key parameter. ENVISAT acquired on September 3rd, 2011 over the area of study. Values are given according to the Observation, in situ measurements, and volume percentage of water (Credits: Starlab). weather prediction data, which will pro- Reference vide forecasted irrigation assessments The area selected for the soil moisture In Fig. 3, an example of a soil mois- Loew, A., Ludwig, R.; Mauser, W. (2006). to the final service users. survey is located at the most north- ture map generated using an image Derivation of surface soil moisture from eastern corner of the Iberian Peninsula. acquired by the ESA satellite ENVISAT ENVISAT ASAR Wide Swath and Image Conclusions Its natural boundaries are the Pyrenees, with the ASAR sensor is shown. Mode data in agricultural areas. IEEE The results of this study have confirmed Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens., vol. 44, the Mediterranean Sea, and the plains that retrieval of soil moisture using pp. 889-899. of the Empordà that joins it with the Baix The results have been compared to Empordà and the area of Alta Garrotxa. ground measurements acquired during The landscape consists of a great allu- several in situ campaigns, showing that vial plain furrowed by the Muga and the SAR data are able to estimate surface Fluvià rivers. The campaigns were carried soil moisture with a root mean square out on 24 fields distributed throughout error that can vary between 5% and Antonio Reppucci received his Laurea degree (five-year legal an area of about 20 km x 20 km. 10% (volumetric units), depending on course of study) in Nautical Sciences at the Università degli Studi The most common crops present in the type of vegetation cover. Once the di Napoli ‘Parthenope’, in Naples, Italy, in 2004. From September 2004 to April 2005 he worked as a post-graduate research assistant Catalonia (wheat, oat, alfalfa, ray-grass, algorithm has been calibrated for the at the Remote Sensing Research Laboratory of the University of root crops, olive groves) were chosen as area of interest, maps of soil moisture Naples ‘Parthenophe’. In May 2005 he joined the Remote Sensing a reference. Soil and plant samples were with a resolution of 150 m x 150 m can Technology Institute (IMF) at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) as a PhD taken in triplicate at each site. be produced with a repetition time of student. Since September 2008 he has been working at Starlab as a researcher The EO-based soil moisture measure- a few days, depending on the latitude. in the field of Earth Observation. ments relate to the first few centimetres When the planned Copernicus Sentinel of the ground (about 5 cm using the constellation is operational, the frequen- C-band SAR data from ESA satellites). cy of data acquisition will be between

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MS.MONINA – Monitoring NATURA 2000 Habitats of European Community Interest at the local, regional and continental scales

by Stefan Lang, Geoff Smith and Jeroen Vanden Borre

A multi-scale mapping service exploits the potential of Copernicus for the monitoring of European protected habitats and species at the local, regional and continental scales.

Biodiversity, as the ‘diversity of life’, i.e. Janeiro, was the first legally binding the variety and variability among living agreement in international law to rec- organisms and habitats, is key to the ognise the conservation of biodiversity integrity of any given ecosystem, but it as a concern common to all mankind. has been under ever increasing pressure The CBD covers all species and genetic since the advent and spread of human- resources, sets out a philosophy of sus- ity to all parts of the globe. This period tainable use of these finite resources and of human expansion is known as the ensures that, whilst ecosystems can and Holocene Extinction and has seen on- must be used for the benefit of humans, going decline in biodiversity reductions, the long-term decline in biodiversity will primarily through habitat destruction not be allowed to continue unchecked. and degradation. The UN Convention NATURA 2000, the European response are combined for assessment at the “An objective, opera- on Biological Diversity (CBD), signed to the challenges of the CBD, is one of European scale, enabling the EU to keep tional, transferable and at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de the success stories among pan-European track of the efficacy of the Habitats and economically-priced Earth initiatives, and one of the world’s most Birds Directives and adjust policy where Observation-based moni- effective legal instruments concerning necessary. The variation in the types toring solution is required, biodiversity and nature conservation (cf. of sites present in the network, their which can be applied consis- NATURA 2000 box). constituent habitats and their varied tently across Europe” management and monitoring practices Observing and managing natural means that the integration of the re- Within the European Commission’s habitats ported information at the EU level can Seventh Framework Programme, as NATURA 2000 has established a net- be quite challenging. For these reasons, part of the theme dedicated to ‘Space’, work of protected / designated sites an objective, operational, transferable a Copernicus project has been funded across Europe and its territorial waters and economically priced monitoring so- to address these monitoring needs. which require detailed monitoring of lution is required, which can be applied The Multi-scale Service for Monitoring their habitat types and condition and consistently across Europe. This solu- NATURA 2000 Habitats of European Biodiversity loss and man-made activities are con- standardised reporting every six years tion should ideally build on integrated Community Interest (MS.MONINA) nected. NATURA 2000 is the largest network of by Member States. approaches and incorporate recent project is designed to develop new protected areas in the world and the EU is com- technological achievements particularly EO–based services for the cost-effective mitted to the protection of biodiversity, and to halting biodiversity loss within the EU by 2020. The reports from the sites, provided in geographic information science and collection of information at differ- (Credits: Chris Harshaw). by Local and Regional Authorities, Earth Observation (EO). ent scales across the NATURA 2000

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network and beyond. The MS.MONINA will be combined with advanced analy- sites. Remote sensing delivers a spatial- acquisition process of remote sensing partners (see Project box) represent a sis of satellite data at different spatial ly exhaustive and consistent view of the does not require any a priori interpre- broad spectrum of local and regional resolutions, again mimicking the eco- Earth’s surface over larger areas giving tation. This allows for more flexibility users, service providers and research logical processes that occur at different full-coverage measurements of quanti- of information extraction, while at the institutions with relevant backgrounds scales in the environment, to give the fi- tative data at high sampling densities. same time promoting improved docu- in experimental habitat mapping, the nal results within a State Image Analyser It is also non-intrusive for areas sensitive menting and repeatability of the applied development and implementation of Tool. The Member State and EU level to disturbance, or inaccessible for oth- analyses. For some areas the existence operational monitoring systems and activity will focus on key habitats within er reasons. By contrast, fieldwork can of image archives dating back several experience in site, state and EU-based four biogeographical regions (Atlantic, only deliver similar information through years or even decades may also enable reporting. The MS.MONINA design ap- Continental, Alpine and Mediterranean). exhaustive point sampling and subse- a retrospective evaluation of changes plies integrated mapping approaches It will also look both within and outside quent spatial interpolation. that have occurred to date. from the local to regional to European the protected sites to give an indication levels and addresses the reporting, of the efficacy of legislation. The remote sensing technology also “At local level, remote sens- monitoring and management needs brings the potential for frequently ing and image analysis offer of stakeholders at three scales: the in- “MS.MONINA also address- repeated measurements, and faster clear advantages over tradi- dividual local site, the Member State, es the reporting, monitoring information extraction processes allow tional field-based methods” and the EU. The ‘multi-scale’ concept and management needs of for more frequent map and product of the project addresses not only the individual sites” updates, thereby resulting in more The project has selected a range of hierarchical implementation scheme intensive monitoring. Unlike in most representative sites within the biogeo- of NATURA 2000, but also reflects the The added value of Earth Observation large-scale fieldwork campaigns, where graphical regions used at the MS and notion of hierarchically organised eco- At the local site level, remote sens- a mapping typology is usually neces- EU level to develop and demonstrate logical systems. ing and image analysis is becoming a sarily defined in advance, the data patch level monitoring. powerful and versatile tool to meet the As has been demonstrated in earlier ini- monitoring needs of NATURA 2000, tiatives and current activity, the demands with clear advantages over traditional, of Member State or EU level monitoring field-based methods. Recent advances require much more than just compiling in image acquisition technology along data from the respective lower levels: with increasing spatial and spectral Member State reports need to provide resolution (e.g. the WorldView II satel- an extended view on the status of bio- lite system with 0.5 m resolution and diversity on their entire territory, not 8 spectral bands) have broadened the just within the protected sites. Similarly, scope and detail of what can be meas- EU level monitoring needs to take ured remotely. Hyperspectral imaging into account the great natural variabil- offers detailed spectral information for ity between Europe’s biogeographical the identification of certain plant species regions to provide meaningful conclu- and the characterisation of vegetation sions for policy. To bridge the gap from condition. Laser scanning technologies site level monitoring to information record the three-dimensional structure relevant to Member States or EU lev- of vegetation, giving information on els, advanced up-scaling methods will canopy height and density, and allow- be employed which see the individual ing consequent subdivision of woody sites in a wider landscape and biogeo- vegetation types. Advances in image graphical context. Additional tools and analysis (such as segmentation and information, such as potential habitat object-based approaches) have further modelling techniques and the use of enhanced the potential for applying this Figure 1: Example products from the pilot site at Salzachauen, Austria with ‘zoom’ to critical changes generic interpretation support layers, technology to the subtle and complex in habitat conditions (Credits: PLUS/Z_GIS; orthophoto: Federal state of Salzburg; habitat delineation: will improve the approach. These tools habitat distributions within protected Revital; figure composition: T. Strasser).

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Involving the Users The work that MS.MONINA draws to- NATURA 2000 gether, and the developments during the project, will result in a rich set of analysis NATURA 2000 is a EU-wide network tools and example implementations that of designated ‘sites of community in- are starting to be appreciated within the terest’, each of which representing end-user community. To further support high value natural conservation areas technology sharing and exploitation of rich in biodiversity. It was established the results the project is developing a under the Habitats Directive (Council tool repository or body of knowledge Directive 92/43/EC), which desig- (BoK) to capture what has been done nates Special Areas of Conservation and provide a simple and flexible inter- (SACs) and complements the ear- face for those looking for a solution to a lier Birds Directive (original Council monitoring requirement. The BoK takes Directive 79/409/EEC, now codi- the form of a web application where fied Directive 2009/147/EC), which project partners can post their tools and designates Special Protection Areas results and where users can search the (SPAs). Both Directives together con- tools by means of a range of key attrib- stitute a flagship policy for the EU, utes such as output products and input which will hopefully be held up in fu- data prerequisites. The BoK is con- ture as an example of how to achieve tinuously extended in response to user conservation goals over large bioge- nd requirements and feedback during the Figure 2: Examples from Kalmthoutse Heide, June 2 , 2007. Higher left map: True-colour mosaic of ographical regions. The network of AHS-160 image for study area. Higher right map: Vegetation cover map. Lower left map: Habitat map. project and could gain additional func- SACs and SPAs currently covers over Lower right map: Cover of Purple moorgrass Molinia caerulea (in percentage classes) per habitat patch tionality such as the on-line validation of (Credits: HABISTAT project; VITO – INBO – UA – BELSPO). 25,000 sites, representing around a user’s input datasets and the provision 17.6 % of the total terrestrial area of some of the tools as ‘software as a of the EU. NATURA 2000 sites are Figure 1 gives two landscape change monitoring approaches would be help- service’ over the Internet. home to many of Europe’s rarest and examples from the NATURA 2000 site ful to both local and regional users. The most threatened habitats and spe- “Salzachauen” in Austria, an important Kalmthoutse Heide is a varied and com- The project has a dedicated user en- cies. The sites range from specific area of riparian forest habitat dominat- plex site with many pools, heathland, gagement programme which supports locations to national parks covering ed by alder and ash with other wetland inland dunes and forests. The manage- the focused development of the moni- thousands of hectares. habitats in the Alpine zone. In the first ment of the area is also complex with toring tools and other activities at the change, the river has been widened several national and local authorities, na- three spatial scales. The project includes Targets for the network are tough, with a subsequent loss of habitat and in ture conservation NGOs as well as large users from the selected test sites as with a planned 100 per cent increase the second the habitat composition has and small private owners responsible for project partners so that they are fully by 2020 in the number of habitat been changed by the removal of cer- the area. integrated into the development pro- assessments showing an improved tain tree species resulting in a change Figure 2 a-d shows the types of prod- cess. This facilitates the uptake of the conservation status (COM (2011) 244 of habitat type that will require re-map- ucts that can be developed for a site. project’s outputs by the broad and final of the European Commission). ping. These types of habitat changes, These products, produced as part of multi-level user community associated Reaching these ambitious goals will in terms of both extent and composi- the Habistat project, demonstrate the with the NATURA 2000 network and require extensive knowledge based tion, need to be monitored as part of implementation of tools to derive veg- ensures cost effectiveness in the ex- on systematic and continued data the NATURA 2000 regulations. etation patches, habitat patches and ploitation of the results. So far this work collection; however, many Member In the Atlantic zone, De Zoom– indicators from remote sensing data. has questioned a broad range of users States are still lacking the ability to Kalmthoutse Heide is a cross-border These types of products and services both inside and outside the project and provide such information in a regular nature reserve along the Belgian-Dutch are developed and tested at a varied is already beginning to produce some and routine fashion. border giving a good example of the types set of sites across Europe to assess the key messages in response to monitor- of sites where consistent pan-European transferability of the approach. ing requirements at different scales

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and the current technical bottlenecks. Final Remarks These messages are important to MS.MONINA develops and promotes MS.MONINA, Copernicus and the wid- the services, tools and interfaces Project details er environmental sector and continue to shown here that are found to provide be analysed during the project. significant added value for local and Duration: 36 months. Partners: Coordinator - Paris-Lodron-Universität Salzburg, regional stakeholders, Member States Centre for Geoinformatics Z_GIS (AT), IRSTEA (FR), Flemish Institute for A particular message received from users and European institutions. By providing Technological Research (BE), National Observatory of Athens / Institute for is the availability of EO data in a suitable essential (and currently often miss- Space Applications and Remote Sensing (GR), EURAC Research - Institute for format for integration into their existing) spatially explicit information, the Applied Remote Sensing (IT), Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität (DE), ing business systems. MS.MONINA has project strengthens the strategic role Instytut Geodezji i Kartografii (PL), Berlin Institute of Technology (DE), University noted this through the previous activity of NATURA 2000 to support Europe’s of Málaga, European Topic Centre for Spatial Information and Analysis (ES), of partners and has therefore adopted environmental commitments. Beyond EFTAS Fernerkundung Technologietransfer GmbH (DE), eoVision GmbH (AT), both direct data purchases and engage- EU territory, it also has a global impact Specto Natura Ltd. (UK), Luftbild Umwelt Planung GmbH (DE), Research Institute ment with the Copernicus/GMES Space by contributing to the implementation for Nature and Forest (BE), Regional Conservatory for Natural Areas Languedoc Component Data Access (GSCDA) or and verification of the Community envi- – Roussillon (FR), State Agency for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Areas of Data Warehouse to deliver the project’s ronmental policies, national regulations the State of Schleswig-Holstein (DE), Goulandris Natural History Museum (GR). requirements. The Data Warehouse is and international conventions. an important new opportunity for users of EO-based services as it offers both Ultimately, the project strives to install generic acquisitions to support detailed EO technology as a key element in the habitat mapping across Europe and monitoring routines for sites and land- targeted acquisitions to address the scapes that harbour threatened habitats specific requirements of MS.MONINA. in Europe and beyond.

A service for the Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO), in Flanders, Belgium Stefan Lang is Deputy Director of the Centre for Geoinformatics (Z_GIS) at Salzburg University and active in the fields of advanced The Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO) is a scientific institute of geo-spatial image analysis, EO-based monitoring and spatial in- the Flemish Government in Belgium. It is responsible for the monitoring of the dicator development. Within Copernicus, Z_GIS focuses on the state of nature in Flanders, including the reporting to the EU. Flanders is one of design, optimisation, and user validation of service concepts in the most densely populated regions in Europe, resulting in high anthropogenic both environment and Security-related application domains. pressures on the environment, and high fragmentation of the remaining natural Geoff Smith areas. The distribution of its NATURA 2000 habitats and other biotopes of high is an Earth Observation consultant with experience of land cover and habitat mapping at site and national levels. Specto biodiversity value has been mapped in the field in great detail over the past 12 Natura Limited is involved in a number of projects to develop and years, but information on habitat quality (‘structures & functions’) is still largely promote the use of EO and Copernicus products and services in lacking. Moreover, such maps are rapidly outdated, and updating using field the land domain. campaigns is no longer the easiest option, due to the high costs. Jeroen Vanden Borre is a biologist with experience in evolu- INBO expects MS.MONINA to put in place a service that will enable regular tionary ecology, vegetation mapping, and nature and forest man- updating of habitat maps, hence allowing more reliable trend assessments of agement planning. At the Belgium Research Institute for Nature and Forest, he is involved in setting up a monitoring scheme for habitat areas and ranges. Furthermore the service should provide a better view NATURA 2000 habitats in Flanders, in which he is responsible for on habitat quality in selected NATURA 2000 sites (including areas with difficult outlining and evaluating the potential contribution of remote sens- accessibility such as military zones), and identify likely causes of further deteriora- ing in this field. tion. Such information will greatly facilitate the process of policy evaluation at the Flemish level, and habitat status reporting towards the European Commission.

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From Space to species: User requirements are varied but com- 2011). GHCs were proposed as they mon requirements are as follows: provided an exhaustive typology of Solutions for biodiversity monitoring • Long-term baseline data (e.g., the- habitat types that can be found in any matic maps at 1:5,000 scale or finer) terrestrial landscape around the globe, of land cover types and habitats as from natural ecosystems to urban areas, by By Palma Blonda, Richard Lucas and João well as new automatic, standardised, and from sparsely vegetated areas to Pradinho Honrado – on behalf of BIO_SOS consortium rapid and cost-effective monitoring multi-layered tropical forests (Bunce et techniques. These are needed to al. 2011). GHCs also hold a close rela- meet commitments, define manage- tion to other habitat classifications and ment policies and assess the impacts particularly the Habitats Directive Annex Across a range of scales, NATURA 2000 sites which have been designated for pro- of existing policy; I classification, which is of central impor- tecting biodiversity and ecosystems are still threatened by human activities, • A means of reducing costs, mainly re- tance for international reporting and such as logging, mining, poaching, agricultural intensification, contamina- lated to in-field campaigns; NATURA 2000 management (Bunce et tion, infrastructure development for tourism and spillages of waste. Whilst • Methods for assessing the significance al. 2012). Finally, as they describe land- such events and processes may occur within the boundary of protected sites, of measured land cover changes and scapes in terms of habitat mosaics, the often they take place in the surrounding landscape and particularly where evaluating trends; GHC mapping and recording methodol- urban areas agriculture or touristic sites are in close proximity. The cumula- • Modelling techniques for evaluating ogy was also effective in describing and tive effect of such activities through time can eventually lead to habitat loss, the combined impact that different predicting the distribution of species degradation and fragmentation. In the past, such changes have rarely been drivers affecting soils and/or vegeta- and biodiversity, thereby contributing monitored effectively or routinely. tion may have on biodiversity over to the assessment of international sets time. of indicators while at the same time The recent provision of very high spatial data on species and especially habi- supporting the local management of en- resolution (< 4 m) remotely sensed data tats are collected in different ways, are Habitat maps, which are at the base of dangered species and priority habitats. and automatic classification techniques unavailable, or are insufficient in their biodiversity indicators extraction, can has provided a unique opportunity for spatial coverage. For these reasons, the be obtained by interpreting land cover Once generated, these maps can be periodic and automated mapping of development of a uniform observation maps of sufficient detail, with these updated over time to detect change, land surfaces and habitats and their system that can be easily used by all often generated with EO-derived prod- thereby supporting management op- changes over time. Whilst such moni- Member States for reporting obligations ucts and ancillary data. The BIO_SOS tions (either strategic or operational) toring may be undertaken externally, and defining management strategies classification system has adopted the and reporting of obligations under the this capability will benefit Local and (either strategic or operational) is very Food and Agriculture (FAO) Land Cover Habitat Directive for management of Regional Authorities by providing timely important. This is particularly the case in Classification System (LCCS) scheme NATURA 2000 sites. information on pressures and impacts, Mediterranean countries, which typically and taxonomy for class identification allowing them to take appropriate ac- lack long-term baseline data for assess- because of its more generic approach. tion. The data and techniques will also ing changes and evaluating biodiversity The scheme is also more suitable than contribute to national and international indicator trends. This is because there CORINE as the land cover categories reporting requirements. are few volunteer groups for observing can be more readily translated to habi- biodiversity on the ground and the staff tat categories, which better describe What was the need from end-users? of nature protection agencies is relative- (semi)-natural systems (Tomaselli et al. In the European Union (EU), the ly small and often not well equipped for 2012). Once mapped, a key component Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC) and the the tasks they have to do. is to translate the land cover classes to Birds Directive (79/409/EEC) oblige habitat categories, as these are often Member States to report on the con- “Innovative planning activ- needed for conservation efforts. Figure 1. BIO_SOS Consortium: field visit of the servation status of species and habitats ity at a local level must try The use of General Habitat Categories Dutch site. The article is dedicated to the great of European importance every six years to modify a static municipal (GHCs) was highlighted as a means of scientist and friend to BIO_SOS colleagues, and trends in status during the interven- planning system into a dy- consistently and efficiently defining Professor Maria Petrou, who is pictured above during an early visit to the BIO_SOS site in the ing period. However, as reported by the namic planning system” habitats in the previous BioHab and Netherlands but was lost to cancer in October European Topic Centre on Biodiversity, Ebone projects (Bunce et al., 2008, 2012 (Credits: Sander Mucher, Alterra).

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In this framework, the BIO_SOS pro- User testimonies BIO_SOS in a nutshell ject is providing Local and Regional (www.biosos.eu) Authorities with the following services. Modelling techniques for providing scientific evidence as the basis of conserva- • Very detailed land cover/use maps, tion policies and sustainable planning activities are required by end-users, such as BIO_SOS has made progress towards based on the integrated analysis of (as Regional Planning authorities. developing an operational system a minimum) two high or mainly very for effective and timely monitor- high spatial resolution satellite images “When regional authorities elaborate and approve a plan for a ing of NATURA 2000 sites and their acquired in two different seasons cor- protected area, a buffer zone needs to be defined around the surroundings. Based on the expert responding to the peak of vegetation protected area where rules different from the ones to be adopt- knowledge of botanists, ecologists flush and the period before or after; ed within the site have to be identified, discussed and approved. and end local site managers, BIO_ • General Habitat Categories (GHCs) So far, we do not have any scientific evidence of the impact of SOS is developing a classification and Annex 1 Habitat maps derived different levels of protection rules (policies) within the areas and system that is able to integrate re- from land cover/use maps, based on a generally we use an a priori buffer area ranging from 100 m. to motely sensed data from a satellite set of expert knowledge rules and an- 5 km. When we enter into negotiation with local authorities and local people, we sensor and ground reference data. cillary data1. The set of rules can also need to support our decisions with scientific evidence of the impacts that such Land cover / use and habitat classes be applied to pre-existing validated rules may have on the areas and the importance of the buffer zone with restriction are described by the experts in terms land cover/use maps or to historical rules. For this reason we are interested in Copernicus products resulting from the of their temporal characteristics and satellite images; BIO_SOS project. In addition, innovative planning activity at a local level must try / or spatial relationships and this in- • Land cover/use and habitat change to modify a static municipal planning system into a dynamic planning system. So formation is used in the classification. maps obtained by comparing maps we need indicators that can provide dynamic monitoring of the different planning For example broadleaved and conif- from different years. processes and an evaluation of the effectiveness of the policies implemented.” erous forests are categorised based Prof. Angela Barbanente, on seasonal differences in reflectance In addition, the project is also providing: Member of Regional Council for Environmental Quality, as a function of leaf cover and type • Biodiversity indicators from remotely and Protected areas, Regione Puglia-Italy. whilst sand dunes may be separated sensed data; from other bare areas because of their • Biodiversity indicator trends for bio- close proximity or adjacency to the diversity pressure scenarios through coast line. Once land cover classes Clive Hurford from the Countryside Council for Wales (CCW) indicators evolution over time. and habitats are described through has been working with the BIO_SOS project on the develop- a semantic language, any site can ment of the methods for mapping land cover types and habitat As an example, the BIO_SOS project in theoretically be mapped and subse- procedures, with particular focus on Cors Fochno in Wales. Wales has been focusing primarily on quently monitored over time. Where “CCW is investing in new technologies for monitoring protect- the NATURA 2000 site of Cors Fochno, it is difficult to provide expert rules for ed sites, and particularly across the NATURA 2000 network in which contains the Annex I habitats of describing classes of interest, specific Wales. All of our sites are experiencing changes, with causes an active and modified raised bog in ground data can be collected but this ranging from habitat succession, human disturbances and natural events such as an estuarine environment, which also is only necessary in specificattentive flooding, and we need to quantify and understand the impacts of these changes. includes saltmarshes and sand dune (homogenous) areas identified by We also need to monitor how our management actions are affecting the extent and complexes. remote sensed data segmentation, condition of the threatened NATURA 2000 habitats and their associated species, For this site, a time-series of very high with these resulting in a reduced re- not only within our reserve network but also in surrounding areas. The BIO_SOS spatial resolution Worldview-2 data has quirement for in situ campaigns (e.g., project at the Cors Fochno test site in Wales has given us an insight into how been obtained covering the period pri- vegetation inventory). BIO_SOS is Earth Observation data can be used to support our field monitoring and this has or to the spring flush of vegetation (in also focusing on the development of motivated us to acquire very high spatial resolution satellite and supporting image March), the peak flush (July) and the se- a modelling framework for pressure data collected by Unmanned Airborne Systems (UAS) at other NATURA 2000 sites. nescent period (November). From these analysis and threat assessment in dif- Given the rapidity of the changes that can occur over quite large areas, we need ferent protected areas (Mairota et al., to use remote data more proactively in our monitoring to help deliver our obliga- 1 In digital image processing, data from sources 2012, Harini at al. 2012) with the aim tions for national and international reporting. BIO_SOS has been instrumental in other than remote sensing, used to assist in anal- to evaluate their impacts on habitats. informing our approach to this monitoring.” ysis and classification or to populate metadata (source: www.esri.com).

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data, as well as others at European sites, we have been able to develop the use of the FAO LCCS for land cover classification. The method uses a combination of spectral and contextual rules that follow the LCCS scheme and can ultimately be applied at any location regardless of the satellite data used. Through BIO_SOS, we have then developed methods for translating the LCCS land cover categories in Wales to a habitat category, using the framework of the GHCs. We then describe these habitats in more detail, particularly where these are complex as in the case of the active bog. The maps of habitats Figure 2. Classification of General Habitat Categories (GHCs), Cors Fochno (UK0014791 generated (Figure 2) are providing the SCI/SPA), Wales generated using time-series of most detailed images for the NATURA Worldview-2 data from Aberystwyth University. 2000 site and surrounds. Furthermore, The classification within the active and modified raised bog (centre) is at 2 m spatial resolution additional image acquisitions are be- and reflects the complexity of plant species that ing obtained to establish approaches comprise the bog surface (Credits: Aberystwyth for the detection of change, including University). where these impact on the long-term conservation status of the site.

Figure 4. Murgia Alta NATURA 2000 site (IT9120007 SCI/SPA). Original Worldview2 image and GHC map. In this site Grassland ecosystems were considered as focal habitat types. Substantial losses of this ecosystem have occurred between 1990 and 2000 mainly due to EU incentives promoting durum wheat production, contemporaneous to the enforcement of the 92/43/EEC Directive (Mairota et. al 2012) The colours in the low map represent different GHCs. Some examples: light green corresponds to Herbaceous Leafy Hemicryptophytes, brown colour represents Phanerophytes Evergreen Coniferous Trees, very dark green is for Broadleaved Deciduous Trees. (Credits: CNR-ISSIA). Figure 3. Habitat maps for Le Cesine site (IT9150032 SCI/SPA): Left map: General Habitat Categories (GHC) Cesine site. The colours correspond to different habitats in the GHC taxonomy. Yellow rep- In the Mediterranean, our studies sites at Le Cesine (Figure 3) and Murgia resents cultivated areas with olive grove; Light blue corresponds to Herbaceous Wetland Emergent Hydrophytes; dark blue is the sea. Right map: Annex 1 habitats. The colours represent Annex I habitats, have focused on generating GHC and Alta in Italy. Additional study areas are e.g light blue corresponds to coastal lagoons (Credits: CNR-ISSIA). Annex 1 habitat maps for NATURA 2000 located in Portugal, Greece and the

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Netherlands. To demonstrate more botanist, ecologists) and local manag- Mairota, P, Cafarelli, B, Boccaccio, L., Leronni, V., Labadessa, R., Kosmidou, V., general use, the methods are also be- ers. The method allows the description Nagendra, H., The use of landscape structure to develop quantitative baseline defi- ing developed in two highly biodiverse of a specific habitat to be generalised nitions for an early warning system to use for habitat monitoring and change detec- tropical countries, Brazil and India. so that these can be automatically tion in protected areas. Accepted by Ecological Indicators on August 24th, 2012. identified when different sites and con- Nagendra H., Lucas R., Honrado J.P., Jongman R. H., Tarantino C., Adamo M., Mairota “The use of General Habitat ditions are encountered. Consequently, P., Remote Sensing for Conservation Monitoring: Assessing Protected Areas, Habitat Categories (GHCs) supports the products proposed by BIO_SOS, Extent, Habitat Condition, Species Diversity and Threats. Accepted by Ecological the local management of such as habitat maps and biodiversity Indicators, on September 18th, 2012. endangered species and pri- indicators, will be more familiar to the Tomaselli V., Dimopoulos P., Marangi C., S. Kallimanis A. S., Adamo M., Tarantino ority habitats” end-users since they are built on their C., Panitsa M., Terzi M., Veronico G., Lovergine F., Nagendra H., Lucas R., Mairota expertise and can be improved as they P., Mücher S., Blonda P. Translating Land cover/Land use Classifications to Habitat Copernicus products for Biodiversity further engage with the process. Taxonomies for Landscape Monitoring: A Mediterranean Assessment, submitted to monitoring (examples from different BIO_SOS will strongly support reporting Landscape Ecology on Sept. 2012. sites including land cover and GHC for the Convention of Biological Diversity habitats) (CBD), the European Biodiversity Strand H., Hoft R., Strittholt J., Miles L., Horning N. and Fosnight E., 2009. Sourcebook on Remote sensing and biodiversity indicators. CBD technical Series no 32. In this framework, very high resolution Strategy and the Habitat Directive by Earth Observation data are very useful making the information directly compat- for biodiversity inventories and moni- ible and so will become central to the toring for adaptive management on whole process of managing biodiversity Palma Blonda. As a researcher at CNR since 1984, she is a a regional and local scale since they in Europe. By integrating in situ data with specialist in digital image processing with computing techniques applied to segmentation, classification, change detection, data can provide/extract information similar reliable global land observations based fusion. She has participated in several national and international to field samplings, thereby reducing on Earth Observation, BIO_SOS will al- projects supported by Italian Space Agency (ASI), European Space the need for extensive, expensive and low us to unravel certain patterns and Agency (ESA) and European Commission. She was the technical time intensive field surveys, as well as processes that were formerly not well coordinator of CNR_ISSIA activity in LEWIS (Landslide Early Warning System) decreasing the time interval between understood. This information can then and FP7-FIRESENSE project. She is the BIO_SOS coordinator. updates. These data thus provide the be used to adjust or fine-tune existing opportunity for more rapid and effective conservation objectives, especially in João Pradinho Honrado is a member of the University of management responses to changes and the Mediterranean areas. Moreover, Porto Faculty of Sciences and senior researcher at CIBIO, where he leads the Biodiversity & Conservation Ecology (BIOCON) group. threats (Nagendra et al., 2012). BIO_SOS proposes an ecological mod- His research focuses on vegetation and landscape ecology, and on The expert knowledge classification ap- elling system that can offer an important biodiversity monitoring based on improved modelling frameworks. proach adopted by BIO_SOS strongly tool to monitor changes in the distribu- He has recently coordinated or participated in several projects involves end-users, including those tion and status of ecosystems within and on biodiversity and habitat monitoring and conservation. Currently he also from the scientific community (e.g., along the borders of protected areas. coordinates the national project EcoSensing, aimed at developing improved approaches to the design of monitoring networks for species and habitats in changing rural landscapes. He is involved in the BIO_SOS project as coordinator Bibliography of work package 4 (on-site data collection). Bunce RGH, Metzger MJ, Jongman RHG, Brandt J, de Blust G, Elena-Rossello R, Prof. Richard Lucas heads the Earth Observation and Ecosystem Groom GB, Halada L, Hofer G, Howard DC, Kovàř P, Mücher CA, Padoa Schioppa Dynamics Group within the Institute of Geography and Earth E, Paelinx D, Palo A, Perez Soba M, Ramos IL, Roche P, Skånes H, Wrbka T (2008) Sciences, Aberystwyth University. His research focuses on un- A standardised procedure for surveillance and monitoring European habitats and derstanding the response of terrestrial ecosystems to human-in- provision of spatial data. Landscape Ecolology 23:11-25. duced and natural events and processes through the integration Bunce R.G.H., M.M.B. Bogers, P. Roche, M. Walczak, I.R. Geijzendorffer and R.H.G. of remote sensing data from a diverse set of ground, airborne Jongman, 2011. Manual for Habitat and Vegetation Surveillance and Monitoring: and Space-borne sensors. Whilst his work in BIO_SOS has focused on sites in Temperate, Mediterranean and Desert Biomes. First edition. Wageningen, Alterra Europe, he has also been involved in a wide range of research activities relat- report 2154. ing to the characterisation, mapping and monitoring of tropical and subtropical rainforests, wooded savannas and mangroves in conjunction with organisations Bunce R.G.H., M.B.B. Bogers, D. Evans and R.H.G. Jongman, 2012. Rule based system in Australia, Japan and the United States. for in situ identification of Annex I habitats. Wageningen, Alterra Report 2276.

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Improved information on forest structure and damages

by Mathias Schardt and Klaus Granica

FORESTS PLAY A KEY ROLE IN THE EUROPEAN ECONOMY AND ENVIRONMENT. THIS ROLE INCORPORATES ECOLOGICAL AS WELL AS ECONOMIC FUNCTIONS WHICH CAN BE AFFECTED BY THE OCCURRENCE OF INSECT INFESTATIONS, FOREST FIRE, HEAVY SNOWFALL

OR WINDFALL EVENTS. LOCAL OR REGIONAL AUTHORITIES (LRAs) THUS REQUIRE DETAILED INFORMATION ON THE DEGRADATION STATUS OF THEIR FORESTS TO BE ABLE TO TAKE APPROPRIATE MEASURES TO ENSURE SUSTAINABLE FOREST MANAGEMENT. IN THE EUFODOS PROJECT, STATE-OF-THE-ART SATELLITE AND LASER SCANNING TECHNOLOGIES ARE USED TO PROVIDE FOREST AUTHORITIES WITH COST-EFFECTIVE, TIMELY AND COMPREHENSIVE INFORMATION ON FOREST STRUCTURE AND DAMAGE.

The purpose of Copernicus is to de- monitoring services are urgently re- Higher left map - Reporting obligations require the revision of forest maps and inventories, the compila- liver information that meets the user’s quired by regional forest authorities and tion of regular reports and annual statistics (e.g. changes in forested area) or the establishment of forest damage information systems; the image shows forest areas damaged from forest fire (Credits: RESAC); needs. The Forest Services being de- are being developed by a consortium of Higher right map - Sustainable management of commercial forests: an efficient wood procurement plan- veloped within EUFODOS – Improved research organisations, commercial ser- ning process is a crucial prerequisite to any sustainable exploitation of commercial forests; image show- Information of Forest Structure and vice providers and users from Austria, ing a map with stem volume numbers (squared shapes) derived from satellite imagery (Credits: VTT); Damages – include the assessment of Bulgaria, Finland, Germany, Italy and Lower left map - Sustainable management of protective forests: The targeted management of protective forest damage and the measurement Poland. Although the main focus in forests is vital to maintain and enhance their function. They contribute to the protection of settlements and infrastructure from the consequences of natural hazards; The map shows the distribution of crown of functional parameters for com- EUFODOS is on regional services, it coverage classes derived from LIDAR – in 10% steps - superimposed on a false colour infrared aerial mercial and protective forests. These is also the intention to put results at photograph (Credits: Joanneum Research); the disposal of national and interna- Lower right map: Earth Observation data from Copernicus services allows user to obtain maps providing tional authorities. This will support their a detailed view of the tree species distribution in an area of interest; image showing tree species distribution layer – in 10% steps - superimposed on a RapidEye satellite image (Credits: Joanneum Research); various reporting obligations of forest policies as imposed by several forest policy frameworks e.g. the Ministerial Conference on the Protection of Forests users in the form of geo-referenced Collaboration with existing Copernicus in Europe (MCPFE), UNECE/FAO Forest damage maps based on satellite data, Services Resource Assessment, ICP Forests and in a much quicker and more cost effec- Another important aspect in the devel- ICP Integrated Monitoring or the Alpine tive way than conventional assessment opment of Forest Services is the use and Convention. methods requiring helicopter flights or integration of existing information such field trips. From remote sensing-based as the Copernicus Service products into Use of Earth Observation Data services, fast and reliable information the processing chain. To achieve this European forests are exposed to many threats, The use of Space and airborne sensor for effective damage assessment and goal, efficient methodologies for using be they natural (forest damage from storm, platforms allows data acquisition at very sustainable forest management at lo- Copernicus Service products have been heavy snowfall, forest fire or insect outbreaks) or short time intervals and in a cost effec- cal and regional scale can be offered to elaborated within the consortium and man-made. The assessment of damage becomes crucial in forest management activities (Credits: tive way. For instance, a first assessment several user groups and can be used in implemented in each of the test cases. ReSAC). of windfall damage can be delivered to a wide range of applications. It has been proven that the availability

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of the Copernicus Services improves the processing lines has been completed, generation of EUFODOS Service prod- eventually resulting in demonstration ucts, mainly with respect to costs and products being delivered to the users. resource efficiency. The demonstration products have been assessed and validated by the users in Technical Realisation training sessions and during field trips, A key goal of EUFODOS is the de- with the users reporting their findings in velopment of operational toolboxes a user utility assessment report. The first which are to be distributed within the phase of EUFODOS was finalised after consortium and applied by the service 18 months during a midterm workshop providers in each service case. The first in June 2012 with positive feedback prototypes were produced and present- from the users that can now be used as ed during a software training session in guidance enabling the service providers September 2011. At the beginning of to optimise and accomplish the roll-out 2012 the completed operational tool- tasks in Phase 2. boxes were then distributed to the service providers. “Local authorities require detailed information on the Subsequently in each test case, the degradation status of their adaption, integration and testing of the forests”

Another aspect of EUFODOS is dealing with research related issues focusing on The EUFODOS User Community the assessment of the potential of new For forest management authorities, it is important to get data allowing them to fulfil their task. One sensor data. The investigations concen- important input is the knowledge of where forest changes occur. This information can be derived in a EUFODOS involves an extensive user trate on RapidEye optical images, SAR fast and cost-effective way by using satellite imagery; this map shows an example of changes in tree community well connected to other data or the processing of digital surface cover between 2010 and 2011 for the State of Thuringia/Germany (Credits: GAF AG). related Copernicus User Groups. models derived from aerial photogram- This organisation facilitates the roll- metry. This task will give the users an out of the services and the uptake important outlook on the technical constituting this framework are (1) the Conclusion and Outlook of the services by users. It also ena- capacities and augmented use of forth- identification of the frame conditions The EUFODOS project has success- bles the consortium to address new coming systems. for EUFODOS Service operations, (2) fully produced the first demonstration potential users and therefore raise the coordination with other Copernicus products for each of the scenarios such awareness of the services. For this Sustainability of Services Services and existing systems, and (3) as storms, forest fires, heavy snowfall purpose a User Executive Board was A key element of Forest Service is its the production and standardisation of or insect outbreaks. All technical soft- set up at the start of the project and sustainability or continuation beyond the production chains. Regarding the defini- ware packages have been finalised and its members stay in permanent con- project life time. To guarantee sustain- tion of user requirements, an intensive integrated into the respective toolbox- tact. Seven Newsletters have been able use of the developed services, it is working process between service pro- es to be applied in the case of storm published by the User Executive envisaged that the number of European viders and users was initiated. The damage or insect infestations. Some Board secretary and have been dis- users will increase. The results of the outcome builds up the basis for the suc- other Forest Services were addition- seminated to the EUFODOS users dissemination will be incorporated into cessful implementation of the different ally installed, such as the detection of and service providers as well as to a report on economic viability. service cases in the selected test sites. change from heavy snow fall or forest further interested persons and po- A continuous monitoring and feedback fire damage. Other applications encom- tential users. Achievements loop between service providers and us- pass tools for the derivation of forest These newsletters can be download- In the first phase the framework for ers has proven its worth in guaranteeing parameters from LIDAR data or the ed from the www.eufodos.info. the Forest Service development the successful development of services derivation of forest parameters related was installed. The various elements and products. to commercial forests. These products

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are needed to support forest manage- accomplish its goals to develop efficient ment tasks in protective forests or the and powerful Forest Services. All servic- UrbanAtlas+: Exploring Copernicus commercial exploitation of wood, and es and products have been selected in Urban Atlas data potential for urban also for their integration into Forest accordance with regional users of the Geographic Information System. These selected countries. Users will receive a planning applications at regional and products have been successfully evalu- great benefit from these products and ated by the Service Providers and the can use them in cases of emergency city level User Executive Board. Their findings as well as for planning purposes. It is have been reported and are integrated intended to harmonise these forest ser- by Tomas Soukup into the planning of the roll-out phase vices for use in other EU countries too, for the next 18 months. to give the regional users the opportunity to obtain information quickly on As the Copernicus programme becomes an operational source of spatially The preliminary results show that the extent of damage caused by forest explicit land use and land cover data across Europe, it is time to turn the data EUFODOS is on a successful path to degradation. into standard information and explore the data’s potential for providing users with handy tools to support spatial planning from local and regional to European scale. Urban areas in Europe, accommodating more than three quarters of the population, have grown rapidly in recent decades. Both city centres and the wider surroundings have been transformed, while decision makers involved in urban planning from the local level up to the EU level need accurate data enabling them to monitor and interpret these changes. The UrbanAtlas+ project, supported by the European Space Agency (ESA), contributes to this effort in the urban and regional planning domain.

Context Observation (EO)-based land use and Prof. Dr. Mathias SCHARDT has a background in Forest Science, An understanding of the implications of land cover data for urbanised areas and received his diploma degree in 1984 at the Albert-Ludwigs- changes in land cover and land use is at a pan-European level (see box 1). University of Freiburg. He finished his Ph.D. in 1990 on «The a fundamental part of planning for sus- The resulting Urban Atlas spatial data, Applicability of Thematic Mapper Data to the Classification of Tree tainable development. In Europe, 75% together with Eurostat’s Urban Audit Species and Natural Age Classes” and his Habilitation thesis in of the population currently lives in cit- statistical data counterpart (see box 2), the field of «Landscape planning, particularly Remote Sensing and Geoinformatics» both at the Technical University of Berlin. He is Head of the ies and 80% is expected to do so by department of Remote Sensing and Geo-information, JOANNEUM RESEARCH, the year 2020 (European Environment and since 2002 he has held a Professorship at the Technical University of Graz Agency, 2006; 2009), therefore up-to- at the Institute of Geodesy, Dept. of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing. date and comparable information on land cover and land use are crucial Klaus Granica is senior scientist and project manager at Joanneum to cope with emerging issues such Research, department of Remote Sensing and Geo-information and as urban sprawl, urban green areas has twenty years of experience in remote sensing. He has a degree in Geography and History from the Karl-Franzens University in Graz. decline or sustainable urban develop- He is mainly working in the fields of environmental monitoring, dis- ment in general. At the same time, the aster management and forest mapping, and also has experience Copernicus programme is in its Initial in aerial photo interpretation. He managed several projects and was project Operational (GIO) phase, with many manager for Joanneum in the DG XII SEMEFOR project and coordinates the of its services already pre-operational. Copernicus services can help decision makers EUFODOS FP7 project (www.EUFODOS.info). One of the most appealing examples designing long-term urban planning strategies in land monitoring domain is the re- to mitigate the impact of urban sprawl on the environment. Aerial view of Mosta and its region cent Urban Atlas mapping done during nearby the southern coast of Malta (Credits: 2009-2011, providing harmonised Earth JonasS / Wikimedia commons).

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represent unique sources of reliable and at national as well as European levels. Data inter-comparable pan-European urban The Urban Atlas Thematically, the service is focused on Urban Atlas and Urban Audit (accompa- and regional planning data with a high spatial characteristics of urbanised are- nied with local statistics) represent the potential to serve European, national The Urban Atlas is part of the imple- as: urban morphology and urban forms, main datasets for both UrbanAtlas+ and even regional/local user needs. mentation of the Copernicus land urban sprawl, urban density, develop- service demonstrators. Nevertheless, monitoring service, financed by ment of green urban areas and changes as there is still no time dimension cur- “Urban Planners need accu- the European Commission with the in urban structure, but it also addresses rently available in Urban Atlas data, rate data enabling them to support of the European Regional its economic, ecological and social con- multi-temporal datasets for demonstra- monitor and interpret land Development Fund (ERDF) and sequences (population change, quality tion purposes were created using GSE2 cover changes” produced in collaboration with the of life, economic competitiveness, bio- Land project results as well as Urban Member States and the European diversity) linking physical land cover / Atlas semi-automatic update/downdate Aim Space industry. The Urban Atlas cov- land use information and statistical data. data within the UrbanAtlas+ project for The UrbanAtlas+ project carried out by ers all EU capitals and a large sample five selected cities using object-orient- GISAT and supported by the European of large and medium-sized cities “Urban Atlas has a high po- ed (OBIA) classification approaches. Space Agency (ESA) aims to further ex- in the form of Large Urban Zones tential to serve regional and plore this potential in order to turn data (LUZs) - administrative unit-based ar- local user needs” 2 GMES Service Element. into standard information and provide eas covered also by Eurostat’s Urban user-friendly tools to explore, describe, Audit. Earth Observation based data compare and explain urban related land collection provides information for cover and land use changes, and thus more than 300 cities in the EU for support spatial planning from local and the reference year 2006. Future edi- regional to European scale. It builds on tions of the Urban Atlas are planned previous experiences and achievements in 3-5 year intervals, to complement within the ESA GMES Service Element the Urban Audit exercise, start- (GSE) projects (GSE Land1, GSE GUS) as ing with the Urban Atlas update well as on the recent Copernicus spatial planned under the GMES Initial planning supporting activities under- Operations phase for 2012. More taken around the Geoland2 project on Copernicus Urban Atlas activity (G2 Core Information Services – Spatial and resulting data can be found via Planning). In cooperation with regional the European Environment Agency and local users in the Czech Republic (EEA) at http://www.eea.europa.eu/ (see box 3), the UrbanAtlas+ project data-and-maps/data/urban-atlas. aims to progress in this area by means of service demonstration with the help of a user-friendly data exploration plat- Service specification form focused on: The service content addresses specific • Urban growth dynamics monitoring information needs, mainly at municipal and assessment; and regional level, driven by the defi- • Socio-economic data integration. nition, implementation and monitoring of regional and local spatial planning instruments. The primary users of the service offered within the UrbanAtlas+ project are spatial planning and envi- 1 Čtyřoký J.and Pochmann M., “Urban Atlas helps ronmental departments within regional urban planners in Prague” (2009): Proceedings governments and municipal authorities. Towards Environment, a Shared Environmental Information System for Europe, March 25-27th, In addition to this, the services seek 2009, Prague. links to the specific information needs Urban Atlas data example – Prague, Czech Republic (Credits: European Commission).

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Based on the user requirements and Results also considering available data limita- Both demonstrators: tions, the following standard web tool (1) urban growth dynamics monitoring tabs/themes have been specified and and assessment providing insight then implemented: into the land consumption and for- • Indicator 1: Urban growth mation processes involved; • Indicator 2: Growth of residential areas (2) socio-economic data integration sup- • Indicator 3: Growth of industrial areas porting integration of Urban Atlas • Indicator 4: Urban growth and popula- data with conventional statistics tion development in general and testing the stand- • Indicator 5: Productivity of land ard Urban Audit set of indicators consumption in particular; are provided in one • Indicator 6: Urban sprawl intensity common environment in the form of • Indicator 7: Land cover replaced by customisable predefined tabs, eas- built-up area ily shared between different users. • Indicator 8: Land use Local and regional users especially • Indicator 9: Loss of natural areas appreciate this easy-to-use and col- • Indicator 10: Structural indicators laborative concept.

Urban Audit – Large urban zones (LUZ) and administrative sub-division examples - Prague (left) and Brno (right) (Credits: ESTAT).

Implementation export standard information data and In order to achieve the level of flexibil- products via softcopy (data, metadata, ity and usefulness required by users, the table) or online generation of hardcop- service specification went beyond the ies (PDF, maps, images). traditional concept of data provision. It is based on an interactive web-based approach, where both spatial and The Urban Audit Initiative socio-economic statistical data are delivered in an organised way, together The Urban Audit initiative of the with tools, in a fast and flexible envi- Directorate General for Regional ronment. This allows data to be easily Policy regularly provides urban viewed and analysed in user-predefined statistics for cities and surrounding themes (indicator views), as well as be- administrative districts across the ing further explored interactively. The EU. It is co-financed by the European web tool, based strictly on Open Source Commission and managed in close frameworks, integrates main standard consultation with EUROSTAT and presentation modes - maps, tables and the national statistical institutes in graphs in an interlinked manner i.e. EU Member States. More on the Higher left image: Flexible urban structure data exploration at detailed level. user-defined changes in/via one pres- Urban Audit activities can be found Higher right image: Consumption and structure of the land cover/ land use changes. Lower left image: Comparison of spatial and statistical data using scatterogrames. entation mode are instantly reflected in at http://www.urbanaudit.org. Lower right image: Comparison of spatial and statistical data focused on flooding and conservation all others. Finally, users can decide to zones (Credits for all images: GISAT).

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changes in the Copernicus Urban Atlas EO-derived Urban Atlas products and The Urban Atlas+ project specification (comparing to original ESA strengthen the acceptance of them GSE-based specifications) did not fully in the urban/regional planning user This project runs under the ESA Czech incentive scheme and although primarily support its potential uses. The main community in the Czech Republic- has serving the urban and the regional planning user community in the Czech Republic, example of such changes is the over- been achieved. Therefore there is a it also reflects the context of national and European Directives. Therefore results simplification of non-urban classes, good chance that current and future can support spatial planning authorities in general across Europe in their efforts to which substantially reduces the analyti- European Copernicus investments in fulfil a broad range of monitoring and reporting obligations. The Czech organisa- cal power of the dataset when it comes EO infrastructure, as well as investments tions included in the UrbanAtlas+ project are the following: to the changing flows assessment. in new Copernicus land monitoring ser- Nevertheless, these issues can, and vices such as the Urban Atlas, will attract • City Development Authority Prague (URM / MHMP); hopefully will, be improved during up- users and be fully used in the original • Regional Authority of the Pilsen Region (RAPR); coming Urban Atlas data updates. target domain of the Urban Atlas ser- • Regional Authority of the Moravia-Silesia Region (RAMSR); vice – spatial planning – not only at the • Regional Authority of the South Moravia Region (RASMR); The overall aim of the UrbanAtlas+ European scale, but also at the munici- • Czech Environmental Information Agency (CENIA). project – to demonstrate the potential pal and regional levels.

The UrbanAtlas+ project contributes to the acceptance of overall Urban Atlas based services and their application Europe-wide. The current version of the web-tool demonstrator (public part) can be seen at http://uaplus.gisat.cz

The results clearly demonstrate the these areas have in fact a huge influ- advantages of spatial data such as the ence on the city itself, so up-to-date Urban Atlas compared with traditional data are needed to plan, implement statistical data due to/for: and monitor appropriate policy meas- • Flexible spatial units; ures. Besides this, comparison of city • Insight into processes (consumptions, status and development indicators be- formations); tween individual regions or cities within • Comparability in time and space; the Czech Republic or abroad was also • Spatial indicators on urban morphol- highly appreciated as it was not pos- Tomáŝ Soukup is senior project manager at GISAT s.r.o., Prague, ogy and urban forms; sible previously due to the general Czech Republic. He received his MSc. in Geodesy, Cartography • Land use modelling; incomparability of regional/urban plan- and GIS/RS at the Czech Technical University in Prague in 1991. • Spatial allocation or distribution of sta- ning documentation. He is a senior consultant in RS and GIS and land monitoring, ex- tistical variables. perienced in spatial data integration, digital processing of satellite “The Urban Atlas helps ur- imagery and spatial data processing and analysis within the GIS environment. Since the mid 90’s, he has been involved in multiple Despite the scale limitation of European ban planners and decision land monitoring activities and projects including Copernicus related ones such Urban Atlas products, the results makers to understand the as ESA SAGE, ESA GSELAND, ESA RESPOND, FTSP Sealing, FP7 geoland2 and showed clear advantages to support economic, ecological and so- FP7 SAFER. Tomas has collaborated with the European Environment Agency at planning in sub-urban commuter belts, cial consequences of urban various levels since 1998 (PTL/LC, ETC/TE, ETC LUSI, ETC SIA) and he is also a where, despite being the areas with changes” member of the central CORINE Land Cover implementation team. the most dynamic development, limited supporting information is currently On the other hand, the UrbanAtlas+ available for urban planners since these project also clearly shows that cer- areas are beyond city boundaries and tain basic characteristics are essential thus out of the city planning authority’s for the analytical power of the Urban scope of responsibility. Nevertheless, Atlas data. However some last minute

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New land use data to monitor evolution of land use

by Jana Hoymann

LAND USE DATASETS ARE ESSENTIAL for addressing SPATIAL PLANNING OR ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES, ESPECIALLY AT LOCAL LEVEL. RECENTLY NEW DATASETS FOR EUROPE AND ESPECIALLY FOR GERMANY HAVE BECOME AVAILABLE. THE OBJECTIVE IS TO EVALUATE THESE DATASETS IN terms of THEIR APPLICABILITY WITHIN LAND USE CHANGE MODELS. THE RESULTS SHOW PROGRESS WITH RESPECT TO SPATIAL AND THEMATIC RESOLUTION, ALTHOUGH FURTHER EFFORT IS NECESSARY.

Spatial information on land use and its change modelling, which is an impor- changes is essential for many spatial tant instrument to evaluate the effect of planning and environmental issues. The measures on the land use pattern: monitoring of land use changes is - for example - an important component of • CORINE Land Cover 2006; the German Sustainable Development • Copernicus Urban Atlas 2006; report. But forecasting can also help au- • DLM-DE 2009. thorities with decisions on, for example, infrastructure planning or adaptation The first and second datasets are part of to climate change. The application of the Copernicus Mapping Service “Land spatial information in land use change Cover and Land Use Monitoring”, now models allows for an ex ante evaluation referred to as GIO-Land, while the third of certain policy decisions. Such analy- is a German dataset. Here we will com- sis is part of the ongoing CC-LandStraD pare and contrast the available datasets project (see box). It analyses land man- and discuss their applicability for land agement strategies that contribute to use change modelling. the adaptation to and mitigation of climate change in Germany. The impacts Datasets of land management strategies are Several land use datasets are available analysed with land use change models for Germany. They differ in terms of the- that require high spatial resolution in- matic, spatial and temporal resolution. formation. The project cooperates with The next image provides an overview of federal, regional and local authorities in various datasets. Germany to ensure that relevant measures are analysed and that the results CORINE Land Cover are useful for users. In recent years sev- CORINE Land Cover (CLC) is a Europe- eral spatially explicit land use datasets wide harmonised land use dataset. were developed. They may be suitable It is available for three different years

for the German federal monitoring of (1990, 2000 and 2006) and covers all The highest thematic resolution is given by the ATKIS Basis DLM. The Urban Atlas also includes transport land use changes as well as land use relevant land use types like urban areas, areas (Credits: BBSR).

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agriculture, natural areas and forest as Digital Landscape Model for Germany well as water. This dataset was used in The Digital Landscape Model for several European and regional cross Germany (DLM-DE) was developed by border studies to analyse changes in the Federal Agency for Cartography land use and land cover. At European and Geodesy (BKG). The DLM-DE is scale CLC was for example used for the based on the ATKIS-Basis DLM, the analysis of landscape fragmentation, the Authoritative Topographic-Cartographic development of green infrastructure and Information System for Germany. the assessment of suburbanisation (EEA Instead of the more than 190 feature 2006a, EEA 2006b, EEA 2011a, EEA types of the ATKIS database, the DLM- 2011b). CLC was also used in several DE uses the CLC classification scheme. scenario studies for the analysis of fu- Therefore, a semantic transformation ture land use developments (EEA 2007, of the feature types was conducted Hoymann 2010, Lavalle et al 2011). (Arnold 2009). The database is further updated with the interpretation of satel- Copernicus Urban Atlas lite images. This processing approach The Urban Atlas (UA) can be used as a will be used for the future update of supplement to the CLC. It covers large CLC in Germany. urban zones (LUZs) with more than 100,000 inhabitants across Europe. In Combination of DLM-DE and Urban Germany 35 LUZs cover about 28.5% Atlas of the total territory of the country. This For the following analysis an additional Figure 3: The artificial surfaces in the 35 regions covered by UrbanA tlas differentiated by database and land use type. Urban green and transport areas are significantly underestimated (Credits: BBSR). dataset has a higher spatial resolution dataset has been developed to com- than CLC and for artificial surfaces it also bine the advantages of several datasets. a better differentiation of the land use the statistical database tFLNU. The re- has a higher thematic resolution, thus dif- DLM-DE and UA have a spatial resolu- categories than CLC. Moreover, com- sult for the UA shows an approximation ferentiating more urban land use types. tion of at least 1 ha. Both datasets show pared to Urban Atlas-data, non-artificial to the tFLNU, but the best approach is surfaces are depicted with more the- reached by the combined dataset of matic detail in the DLM-DE while the DLM-DE and UA. While CLC represents Urban Atlas allows a better description only 67% of the housing and transport of artificial surfaces. area of tFLNU, the DLM-DE represents 76%, the UA 88% and the combined Comparison of land use datasets dataset 95%. This section compares the thematic and spatial resolution of the datasets. Since Meinel et al (2007) showed that within artificial surfaces have a high political CLC2000 where there are smaller and relevance, these areas are analysed in more fragmented municipalities the un- more detail. Figure 2 shows the sum of derestimation of artificial surfaces was all artificial surfaces (CLC Level 1) for the greater due to the minimum mapping 35 regions that are covered by the UA. unit of 25 ha. The UA represents an For reference purposes the figure also almost full survey for municipalities of includes housing and transport areas more than 100,000 inhabitants. In the of the official statistical database for combined dataset of DLM-DE and UA the monitoring of land use changes in artificial surfaces in smaller municipali- Germany (Flächennutzung nach Art der ties are also well represented. tatsächlichen Nutzung - tFLNU). Figure 3 distinguishes land use types

Figure 2: The artificial surfaces in the 35 German regions covered by the Urban Atlas. No spatial dataset CLC and DLM-DE show a significant belonging to artificial surfaces. Urban monitors the artificial surfaces completely (Credits: BBSR). lower amount of artificial surfaces than green areas are poorly mapped in the

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CLC - due to the minimum mapping unit adequately. Progress has been scale. This results in a better spatial regard to land use is done with a spa- which leads to removal of smaller pieces achieved with the UA data where representation, especially of artifi- tially explicit land use simulation model, of land by generalisation. The share of linear elements are mapped due to cial surfaces. The advantage is even the “Land Use Scanner”. It is an op- urban green areas in comparison to higher spatial resolution and the use greater in combination with a higher erational, GIS-based land use change the total cadastral area is only about of secondary data. These are also thematic resolution; model, which uses an optimisation 1% in CLC while the statistical tFLNU the reasons for better representation • Temporal resolution: Time series data approach to balance demand for and lists about 3%. Transportation areas are of transport areas in the UA and the are important to analyse past changes supply of land on a grid level. All land also underrepresented in CLC and the combined dataset in Figure 3; and to understand the change process use types can be modelled (Hilferink et DLM-DE. They have a share of below • Thematic classification: The compari- for calibration of the land use change al 2000). Figure 4 shows the principal 1% and those of DLM-DE of about 1% son revealed that in some cases the model. Up to now only CLC provides models. while tFLNU lists about 5%. The reasons objects are classified differently. For a time series. In the future, DLM-DE- will be discussed in the next section. example, buildings in parks are as- data will be used as a base for the The land use scanner requires external signed to different land use types in CLC-update. This actually leads to a input data to simulate land use changes. Challenges CLC and UA also squares / plazas are break in the comparability of the data- The needs of German LRAs, for in- The main reasons for the differences assigned to transport, industrial or ur- sets over time. UA and DLM-DE do stance are provided by sectoral models. described above lie in the variety of ban area in the different datasets. This not have time series data yet, but they Suitability maps, which represent the data sources, mapping approaches reduces comparability; can be expected. supply of land, are developed from cur- and scales, as further explained below. • Minimum mapping unit: A high spatial rent land use, physical constraints like These criteria are also very important for and thematic resolution is important It can be shown that all analysed slope or soil types, distance relations the selection of a land use dataset suit- to ex ante analyse measures that will datasets have both advantages and dis- such as distances to train stations and able for the upcoming modelling task. lead to land use changes. In con- advantages. Table 1 gives an overview motorways and planning regulations. • Linear elements: Most spatial data- trast to CLC the UA and the DLM-DE of the datasets’ characteristics. sets do not represent linear elements show large improvements concerning The Land Use Scanner has been ap- like roads, railroads and waterways the minimum mapping unit and the Land use change modelling plied in several case studies already, Land use and land cover change are infor example in the Netherlands and the fluenced by a large number of natural Elbe River Basin to analyse the effect and social processes. Land use change of land use changes on the water cycle CORINE Land Urban Atlas DLM-DE tFLNU models must understand and reflect (Dekkers et al 2007, Hoymann 2010). In Cover these complex processes and interac- other studies flood risk assessment was Translation of land use No, not directly Yes, with CLC Yes, with No, not tions. They can be used to simulate the focus (Verburg et al 2012; Leeuwen types into nomenclature ATKIS Basis directly natural succession processes, subur- et al 2012) or the ex ante evaluation of of another land use DLM and banisation processes or to evaluate planning decisions (Koomen et al 2011; dataset CLC 2009 planning decisions. Jacobs et al 2011; Koomen et al 2008). Time series available Yes Is planned Is planned Yes There are several land use change mod- Choosing a land use dataset Temporal consistency With Areas by With CLC 2006 and Is planned With CLC els, which differ in spatial extent, model As shown, up to now no dataset fulfils with other land use type of actual use Areas by type of with CLC 2000 and theory, modelling approach or temporal all requested criteria (Table 1). Thus, it is datasets 2000 until 2006 actual use 2006 2006 resolution. A summarised overview is for a matter of weighing up which dataset Complete spatial cover- Yes No, 35 regions Yes No, adminis- example given in Stillwell et al (2007) or is chosen for the modelling task. Within age of Germany covered trative units Hoymann (2010). One of them, a land use CC-LandStraD the spatial and thematic change model which is used within the resolution is particularly important. Thematic resolution in Low Very high Low Low research project CC-LandStraD (see pro- Therefore, the combined dataset of urban areas ject box) is introduced in the next section. DLM-DE and UA will be used for the Spatial resolution in Low High High No simulation of future land use changes. urban areas The Land Use Scanner DLM-DE is applied as a background The analysis of measures for climate database. The UA data is overlaid for Table 1: Evaluation of different land use types by relevant criteria (Credits: BBSR). change mitigation and adaptation with the available regions but only for the

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artificial surfaces. The reason is that UA advantages of the datasets in a com- only has a better thematic resolution on bined way. artificial surfaces but not on agricultural, natural and forest areas. For the latter The selection of a suitable land use land use types the DLM-DE is preferred. dataset is crucial for the planned analysis of land management strategies in Conclusion CC-LandStraD because reliable simu- The development of new and up to date lation results are only achievable with spatial land use data is a reaction to detailed information about the current longstanding demands. Nevertheless, situation. Within CC-LandStraD the challenges remain. For most datasets, combined dataset of DLM-DE and UA time series information is yet to become is used. After applying the Land Use available, however, an update of the UA Scanner model to Germany, the first was planned for 2012. Furthermore, it results about suitable land use meas- would be helpful if the data could be ures for climate change mitigation and more comparable. Due to the use of adaptation are expected in 2013. They secondary data some progress has been will be provided to and discussed with achieved, but further harmonisation is our stakeholders – Local and Regional desirable to be able to use the specific Authorities in Germany.

Figure 4: The Land Use Scanner is a GIS-based land use change model, which uses an optimisation approach to balance demand for and supply of land on grid level (Credits: BBSR).

The CC-LandStraD project Dr. Jana Hoymann holds a Ph.D. in Environmental and Land Interdependencies between land use and climate change are complex and Economics from Technische Universität Berlin. She is currently a require the analysis of all land use sectors. The question of how land use in scientist at the German Federal Institute for Research on Building, Germany can contribute to mitigating climate change is the central topic of the Urban Affairs and Spatial Development (BBSR) where she is re- interdisciplinary joint project “CC-LandStraD – Interdependencies between land sponsible for the CC-LandStraD project. Past roles included work use and climate change – Strategies for a sustainable land use management as a scientist in the GLOWA-Elbe project at TU Berlin. She has a wide range of expertise in analysing land use changes in connec- in Germany”. The project is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and tion with climate change research by land use change modelling, especially of Research within the research programme “Sustainable land management”. In urban areas in Germany and Europe. applying the scenario approach, different cross-sectoral land use management strategies are developed. In a second step, the strategies are analysed regarding their efficiency and conflict potential in reaching the climate protection goals. Finally, recommendations for stakeholders are derived.

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about one type of hazard (e.g. an earth- PanGeo: monitoring ground quake map of Europe), or confidential instability for local authorities and only accessible to a few (e.g. insurance sector’s claims’ history databases). There is no general access to geohazard by Ren Capes information. There is no standardisation in geohazard mapping. The reasons for this general lack of avail- Geohazards are costly, can be dangerous and affect us all. Yet information ability are varied, but a key impediment on geohazards is either not available or very difficult to access. A reason for has been the traditional impracticality, this has been the impracticality of measuring the ground instability associ- Not the normal route for the 49! (Credits: Mira66 or impossibility, of mapping unstable 2012). ated with many insidious geohazards that are often hidden and imperceptible ground over any kind of large area. until it’s too late and the damage has been done. Recent advances in satellite For many years scientists have inferred technology, however, now allow the wide area mapping of Earth surface Survey, 2001). That is just in one part of susceptibility to geohazard by inter- movements to an unprecedented resolution, meaning that motion histories the UK for one type of geohazard. If one preting geological maps, but the actual dating back to 1991 can be computed, say, for the whole of London in one, extrapolates the potential for damage detection and measurement of ground albeit highly specialised, process. The PanGeo project is based on this new type from all the other towns built on clay instability could only be performed in a of satellite-derived data. Motion-maps for the 52 largest towns of the EU are soils across Europe, together with towns piece-meal, reactive, or very localised being analysed and interpreted by experts at national Geological Surveys, and structures built over old mines, wa- manner. and then made available in a standardised fashion via an online viewing por- ter aquifers, on peaty soils, or reclaimed To date, no one knows the extent of tal. All PanGeo products are entirely free to use, even for commercial gain. land, on fault zones, landslide-prone ar- geohazards across our towns in any sys- This article gives a little more background to the world of geohazards and eas, on old sediments, and so on, one tematic way. No one could tell you how describes how the PanGeo service can help fill a vital gap in our knowledge. can begin to see that the overall costs of much the coal mining legacy might cost geohazards on our society are probably the European economy, or how many very high indeed. people are affected by local changes to Mapping Geohazards and costly. Geohazards can fall into the water table. The vital hazard compo- Geohazards are natural or man-made two broad categories; those that are nent is missing from many emergency phenomena that make the ground sudden, obvious, wide-area, and some- “The service is aimed at risk maps. In short, although geohazards unstable, and ground instability in the times catastrophic, causing significant helping Government Local affect us all, there is very little accessible built environment can be dangerous loss of life and damage to property. Authority planners and reg- information available. Such geohazards include earthquakes, ulators who are concerned volcanoes and landslides and are gen- with managing development Mapping ground instability from Space erally quite easy to map, at least after control and risk” In recent years, astonishing advances in they’ve happened – you can see where satellite technology have been made. they are. But then there are geohazards Given this state of affairs one would ex- Using European radar satellites, high that are more insidious in nature, slower, pect maps of all types of geohazards, spatial and temporal resolution meas- often invisible underground and below showing what and where they are, to urements are now routinely made of the buildings, generally of less risk to life (al- be readily available, especially to those ‘motion’ of the Earth’s surface over time. though there are many exceptions), but that need them, like Civil Protection This motion is directly related to ground still accounting for billions of euros of Agencies considering strategies of instability and geohazards. For the first damage and costs to the economy each preparedness, or to regulators and time, whole towns can be mapped in one year. For example, the building damage controllers of planning and develop- process. These maps reveal the relative caused by the cyclic shrinking and swell- ment who need to ensure safety when displacements to millimetre precision of ing of clay-soils in the English southeast, granting permission to build. However, millions of surface features which seren- now exacerbated by climate change, maps of geohazards are generally not dipitously reflect the radar signal back to

Effects of typical urban geohazard costs the UK insurance sector an esti- available. If they are, they tend to be the satellite (e.g. curb stones, sides of (Credits: Paul Anderson 2010). mated €7 billion a year (British Geology localised (e.g. a specific landslide), only buildings, pylons). Motion histories can

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Area of ground uplift due to water-table rise (cessation of consuming industry)

Surface effects Localised areas of tunnelling of subsidence due to com- pressible soils and sediments

Large area of subsidence due to water-table lowering

Figure 1: Average annual velocity map of London (Credits: FNPA 2000). Figure 3: Representations of the PanGeo Ground Stability Layer and Geohazard Description (Credits: PanGeo project consortium 2011).

be computed from when the European kinds of data are forming the basis of a The process depicted above results in 20 in interpretation). The Geohazard Space Agency’s ERS-1 satellite first start- new service called PanGeo that is pro- two main products compiled by the Description contains a geological ed building an archive of radar images viding standardised information about national Geological Surveys, a Ground overview for the whole town, and then in 1991. The archive’s continuance is as- geohazards for 52 of the EU’s largest Stability Layer and a corresponding individual interpretations for each sured by the EU’s forthcoming Sentinel 1 towns, equalling around 13% of the Geohazard Description document geohazard area. Clicking on a geo- radar satellite mission due for launch in population. The service is entirely free – one each per town. The Ground hazard area will automatically open its 2013. The example image below shows and comprises an online viewing tool Stability Layer shows areas of geohaz- interpretation. a map of the average movement of showing where geohazards, by type, ard in six classes (which sub-divide into London over a 10 year period. The red are located in each town. Each geo- colours indicate movement away from hazard location is dynamically linked the satellite and blue colours movement to text providing an expert interpreta- towards the satellite. Green and yellow tion compiled by the country’s national colours represent stability. Various geo- Geological Survey. The geohazard loca- hazard features can be observed. tion maps and interpretations are both downloadable as stand alone files to The PanGeo Service be used in the user’s own Geographic The map above is the result of a revo- Information (or other mapping) System. lutionary technique called Persistent Figure 2 shows how Geological Surveys Scatterer Interferometry, or PSI. These create products.

Figure 2: Making PanGeo products (Credits: PanGeo project consortium 2011). Figure 4: The EC’s Urban Atlas landcover data for the London Larger Urban Zone (Credits: EEA 2012).

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The PanGeo service includes inte- and working in a particular area of land grations with land cover data and cover, that are affected by a particular population statistics to provide statisti- geohazard type. cal measures of geohazard-exposure. The EC’s Urban Atlas, produced as part Access of the Copernicus Land Service, and Access to the information in PanGeo available via the European Environment has been designed to be simple and Agency (EEA), is a collection of 20-class, intuitive, and to be useful to both the 1:10,000-scale, landcover maps for all non-specialist and expert alike. Upon 305 EU towns with populations over visiting the PanGeo website, the user 100,000. See Figure 4. clicks on a ‘Coverage Map’ link to see Coinciding Urban Atlas data with the a familiar Google map of all the towns Figure 6: Visualising PanGeo products; either through the OneGeology Portal, or Google Earth (Credits: geohazard areas provides useful data included in the service. Those marked PanGeo project consortium 2011). on the types of buildings and structures green are complete, with red waiting to and land cover types influenced by the be done. hazard. By integrating population sta- The user is given the choice of see- interface (see Figure 6). Levels of approximately €40,000. That includes tistics available from the EEA, statistics ing the data either in the OneGeology transparency can be applied to allow the special PSI processing of the sat- are also given on the populations living Portal or via the familiar Google Earth visibility of all data layers. Statistics can ellite radar data, interpretation by be viewed, or products can be down- the local national geological survey, loaded directly. Users can input their own post-code to see what geohazards might affect their area. About the PanGeo Project Target users of the PanGeo service PanGeo is targeted at six key user PanGeo is a Copernicus project of groups: the FP7 Space Programme. The pro- • Government Local Authority planners ject was conceived and proposed by and regulators who are concerned Ren Capes of Fugro NPA Ltd, UK, with managing development control who is now the project Coordinator. and risk; PanGeo comprises 37 partners in two • Civil Protection Agencies who use teams: a Core Team of 13 partners in- preparedness data to aid disaster cluding FNPA, the British Geological mitigation; Survey, Landmark Information • National Geological Surveys and Group, TNO, SIRS, Institute of Geoscience Institutes who collect and Geomatics, BRGM, EuroGeoSurveys, disseminate geohazard data for public European Federation of Geologists, benefit; AB Consulting, Tele-Rilevamento • Policy-makers concerned with assess- Europa, Gamma Remote Sensing ing and comparing pan-European and Altamira Information. Finally, geological risk; there is a National Geological Survey • The public, for general empowerment; Team of 27 experts representing all • Commercial markets in insurance and 27 EU Member States. environmental reporting. For more information, Costs visit www.PanGeoproject.eu The cost for a new town to be in- Figure 5: Access to PanGeo products (Credits: PanGeo project consortium 2011). cluded within the PanGeo service is

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compilation of the Ground Stability Using Copernicus to map and monitor Layer and Geohazard Description, and finally, formatting the products in such a landslides and ground subsidence way that the PanGeo portal can harvest them from the Geological Surveys’ serv- ers in real time. by Fausto Guzzetti, Alessandro Cesare Mondini and Michele Manunta The 52 towns currently included The following list shows the 52 towns currently included within the Landslides and subsidence are widespread and frequent in Europe where, eve- PanGeo service. Note that Cyprus and ry year, they cause casualties and extensive environmental damage, which Luxembourg only have one town each often result in considerable costs. Mass movements are caused by a variety as these countries only have one Urban of meteorological, climatic and geophysical triggers and by various human Atlas dataset available as the threshold activities. Improved abilities to detect, map, monitor and forecast mass move- for inclusion in the Urban Atlas is a min- ments are important to reduce the casualties and to mitigate the economic imum population of 100,000. In most and environmental costs of landslides and subsidence. cases the towns chosen are simply the two largest in the country. The final decision has been made by the country’s DORIS is an advanced Copernicus The integration of multiple EO data- Geological Survey. service for the detection, mapping, sets and technologies with surface and monitoring and forecasting of ground sub-surface information provides new deformation (primarily landslides opportunities to advance our under- and ground subsidence) that exploits standing of mass movements. Since The 52 towns being processed in PanGeo European satellite technology already in the occurrences of these dangerous use, and combines it with ground-based phenomena are complex and can vary information and innovative modelling widely, DORIS adopts a unique dual ap- tools. Given the diversity of landslides proach that combines Space-borne data and ground subsidence phenomena in and technology with ground-based data Europe, DORIS is being evaluated in through innovative computer modelling six study areas, with test sites in Italy, tools. The approach is proving benefi- Hungary, Poland, Spain and Switzerland. cial to the construction of a complete The locations were selected to cover a range of physiographical and envi- Ren Capes has 18 years of experience in satellite remote sensing, specialising in application development, project management and ronmental settings, and represent the SAR interferometry. In 1995, Ren initiated the world’s first commer- majority of types of ground deforma- cial InSAR processing chain, going on to build what is acknowl- tions for which the service will be used. edged globally as one of the most successful InSAR processing The test sites were also selected con- capabilities. He was Chair of the earthquake panel that contributed sidering different societal, political and to the CEOS Disaster Management Support Group – predeces- organisational conditions. This guaran- sor to GMES and the Charter. Ren instigated and led the ESA GMES Service tees the widespread applicability of the Element project Terrafirma project from 2002 to 2009 (developing geohazard applications), and, besides involvement with several other ESA and EC projects, DORIS service in Europe and elsewhere. is currently Coordinator of the PanGeo FP7 Collaborative Project (involving 37 partners, including all EU27 national geological surveys). The sensors on modern Earth Many European major cities are exposed to Geo- Observation (EO) satellites sensors can hazards. Copernicus data can be used before a depict large areas with unprecedented geo-hazard occurs (monitoring and risk-assessment) or afterwards, notably to support the Civil spatial detail, temporal revisit and po- Protection Actions during the post-disaster man- tentially global coverage capability. agement phase (Credits: Vikingenergy).

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and detailed picture of the factors con- numerous shallow landslides and debris in response to human activities (e.g., tributing to each ground deformation flows, surface erosion, and flooding in mining, underground excavations, wa- event. an area exceeding 1000 km2. The death ter or gas withdrawal), it is important toll was severe, with eleven casualties. to monitor the spatial distribution and “Mapping and monitoring Damage to agriculture and the environ- the temporal pattern of the ground de- ground movements helps to ment was also severe. Immediately after formations. Monitoring is particularly mitigate their economic and the event, DORIS prepared an accurate important when the deformations af- environmental costs” map showing the extent of the areas fect urban areas, critical infrastructures, affected by landslides and floods. This or the cultural heritage. Nowadays, Mapping event landslides is important information for evaluating accurate monitoring of ground defor- DORIS exploits very high spatial reso- the amount of damage and to establish Landslides pose serious threats to citizens living mations caused by landslides and land lution optical satellite images and levels of residual risk. To prepare the in areas prone to ground movements (Credits: subsidence phenomena can be per- innovative processing techniques to map, on October 28th the acquisition Pflatsch). formed by effectively exploiting images detect and map landslides caused by of very high spatial resolution satellite captured by Synthetic Aperture Radar specific triggers, such as intense or pro- images was commissioned for an area inventory map showing the location (SAR) sensors onboard multiple satellite longed rainfall events. To detect and of 210 km2 most affected by the rainfall and type of the landslides triggered by platforms. map the landslides, the project adopts event. On October 31st, the WorldView- the typhoon. For this purpose, DORIS techniques based on the analysis of sin- II satellite acquired panchromatic and adopted an innovative image classifi- “Some of the end-users are gle images taken shortly after an event, multispectral stereoscopic images of cation technique that exploits different Civil Protection and local and techniques that exploit pre- and the area. The imagery was available on measures of changes between pre- and Environmental Authorities” post-event images jointly. the same day. Using image classification post-event multispectral satellite im- For example, on the October 25th, 2011, techniques supervised by trained geo- ages. Figure 2 portrays an example of DORIS exploits DInSAR techniques to a high-intensity storm hit the Liguria morphologists, landslides and flooded the mapping obtained processing im- monitor the long-term behaviour of coast of northern Italy with cumulat- areas were detected semi-automatically ages taken by the Formosat II satellite the Ivancich landslide, in the Assisi mu- ed rainfall measurements exceeding on the satellite images, and an accurate on July 3rd, 2007 and on November 5th, nicipality in Umbria, Italy. The Ivancich 540 mm in 6 hours. The event caused map of the event was prepared. Figure 2009 in an area where shallow land- landslide is a deep-seated mass move- 1 shows a portion of the mapping ob- slides were particularly abundant. ment of the slide type that affects a tained for Borghetto di Vara, a town that residential area characterised by one- to suffered massive inundation and wide- “Monitoring is particularly spread landsliding. important when the deformations affect urban areas, DORIS has dealt with other events from critical infrastructures, or the around the globe. From the 5th to the cultural heritage” 10th of August 2009, typhoon Morakot crossed the island of Taiwan bringing DORIS is advancing the current ca- record-breaking rainfall. In some places, pabilities of detecting and mapping the accumulated amount of rainfall ex- landslides in different physiographical ceeded 2880 mm in 100 hours. The very and climatic environments. The results high intensity precipitation triggered will be beneficial for Civil Protection and thousands of shallow landslides and de- Environmental Authorities interested in bris flows, and caused inundations and knowing the extent of a landslide event massive mobilisation and deposition and in assessing the impact of ground Figure 1 - Landslide and flooding map for Borghetto di Vara, Italy, where the impact of the of sediments. The fatalities caused by deformations shortly after an event. high intensity storm of the October 25th, 2011, landslides and inundations were at least Figure 2 - Landslide map for an area in central was most severe. The area suffered massive flood- 650 and the economic damage was Monitoring ground deformations Taiwan where landslides caused by typhoon ing and widespread mass movements. Mapping Morakot in August 2009 were abundant. obtained by processing very high spatial resolu- severe. In the aftermath of the event, Where slow moving landslides are pre- Mapping obtained processing optical satellite tion satellite images taken on October 28th, 2011. DORIS prepared an event landslide sent, or where the ground is subsiding images taken before and after the event.

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a rain gauge. Results revealed the lack velocity rates of up to tens of centi- of an immediate effect of the rainfall on metres per year. These are relatively the landslide, and confirmed the exist- fast-moving phenomena that cannot ence of a complex temporal interaction be monitored using C-band SAR sen- between the precipitation and the mass sors. In addition, compared to the old movement. This is important informa- generation of C-band sensors, the new tion for deciding on remedial works to X-band systems significantly improve mitigate the risk posed by the Ivancich the density of “targets” on the ground landslide. Figure 3 portrays a map where accurate deformation measure- showing the deformation velocity in the ments are obtained. This facilitates the landslide area in the 18,5-year period geological interpretation of the ground from April 1992 to September 2010 and deformations. graphs reporting the temporal evolution For a test site located near Zermatt, of the ground displacements reaching a Switzerland, where ground deforma- maximum value of about 15 cm during tions caused by different geological the analysed time interval. phenomena exist, DORIS is collecting DORIS takes full advantage of the mod- and analysing data captured by different ern X-band SAR sensors on board the SAR sensors, including images obtained TerraSAR-X satellite and the Cosmo- by the ENVISAT and the TerraSAR-X sat- SkyMed constellation of four satellites. ellites. In addition, the Gamma Portable The short revisiting time of the new Radar Interferometer (GPRI), an innova- SAR sensors and their improved ground tive ground-based radar system, is used resolution offer the unique opportu- to take repeated images of the test site. nity to remotely investigate ground Figure 4 shows mean deformation ve- deformations characterised by average locity maps performed by processing

Figure 3 - Map showing the deformation velocity in a landslide area in the Ivancich area, Assisi, Italy, in the 18.5-year period from April 1992 to September 2010 and graphs reporting the temporal evolution of the ground displacements reaching a maximum value of about 15 cm during the analysed time interval. This map was obtained by processing 116 C-band images collected by the ERS-1/2 (black) and ENVISAT (red) satellites.

three-storey private buildings construct- period. Processing of the satellite radar ed mainly between 1960 and 1970. The images produced a time series of defor- landslide also affects the Assisi hospi- mation with an unprecedented temporal tal and a Franciscan convent. C-band coverage for individual points (“targets”) SAR data, collected by the European located inside and outside the landslide Remote Sensing (ERS-1/2) satellites area i.e., in unstable and stable terrains. in the period April 1992 – July 2007, This information was used to single out and by the ASAR sensor on board the sections of the mass movement that ENVISAT satellite in the period October moved at different velocities during the Figure 4 - Mean deformation velocity maps for an area near Zermatt, Switzerland, performed by 2003 – September 2010, were used to investigated period. The information was processing data captured by (a) the ENVISAT satellite, (b) the TerraSAR-X satellite, and (c) the ground obtain maps showing the total ground also exploited to attempt a correlation based Gamma Portable Radar Interferometer. Inspection of the maps reveals the significant increase in the number of coherent “targets” with the reduction of the sensor revisiting time (35 days for ENVISAT, deformation and the average rate of de- between the time series of deformation 11 days for TerraSAR-X, one day for the Gamma Portable Radar Interferometer) (Credits: Tazio Strozzi, formation in the 18,5-year observation and the local rainfall history recorded by Gamma Remote Sensing AG).

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data captured by different radar sen- techniques to construct very-long or sors. Inspection of the maps reveals the high-frequency time series of ground Copernicus is an opportunity for significant increase in the number of deformations for selected test sites regional and cross-border territorial coherent “targets” with the reduction in Europe. This information proves to of the sensor revisiting time (35 days be useful to determine the kinematic cooperation in Europe for ENVISAT, 11 days for TerraSAR-X, behaviour of geological and geomor- one day for the Gamma Portable Radar phological phenomena with ground Interferometer). deformations controlled by meteoro- by the Window on Copernicus staff writers DORIS exploits multi-sensor DInSAR logical and climatic triggers.

The Window on Copernicus team had discussions with Dr. Wolfgang Steinborn (German Aerospace Center – DLR) to understand how Copernicus can benefit cross-border territorial cooperation between European Local and Regional Authorities.

Everybody knows that “the grass is al- final report: “existing databases for ur- ways greener on the other side” and, ban research on cities across Europe are Fausto GUZZETTI has a Master’s degree in Geology and a PhD in when discussing Copernicus, local au- inadequate. Eurostat and DG REGIO are Geography, and has more than 25 years of experience in landslide thorities in European Members States advocating the need for more territorial- mapping, landslide susceptibility and hazard modelling and zona- often say “we have better geo-data”. ly detailed data, but much depends on tion, and landslide risk evaluation. Fausto Guzzetti was principal However, this argument ignores the the support from Member States. The researcher of the ASI MORFEO project of the Italian Space Agency situation of border areas and cross- Urban Audit has proved very useful in for the exploitation of remote sensing data and technology to miti- border activities. In most cases these this respect, and other initiatives sup- gate landslide risk, and he is the principal researcher of the EU DORIS project areas are at an economic disadvantage. porting the provision of local data are for the design of a downstream service for the detection, mapping, monitoring 1 and forecasting of ground deformations. Cross-border territorial cooperation emerging” The same study also states between neighbouring regions is high the following: “However, in its current Michele MANUNTA has a Master’s degree in Electronic Engineering on the European political agenda, en- state, and even more so for the recent and a PhD in Informatics and Electronic Engineering, and has more couraged by the Cohesion Policy and 2004 round than for the previous one, than 10 years of experience in high-resolution SAR interferometry manifested by the regulation concern- holes in the data abound and often with data processing, geological applications, and SAR/GIS data inte- ing European Groupings of Territorial a very strong national boundary effect, gration. Michele Manunta has collaborated in various national and Cooperation (EGTC). This regulation, making the use of the data difficult, or international projects for the exploitation of satellite technology, which is currently under consideration even impossible”2. The emerging data including the ASI MORFEO project. In DORIS, he is responsible for the project‘s satellite acquisition and procurement programme. for enforcement, gives the EGTC a mentioned in the ESPON FOCI study is legal status with a certain degree of au- a reference to the Copernicus European Alessandro Cesare MONDINI has a Master’s degree in Physics, tonomy from the national legislation of Urban Atlas, which provides pan-Euro- is completing his PhD in Earth Sciences, and has more than 10 their respective Member States. In ad- pean comparable land use and land years of experience in remote sensing applications, including land dition to this, besides the Committee cover data for Large Urban Zones (LUZ) surface temperature analysis, snow cover mapping and modelling, of Regions and the Euro-Institute, a with more than 100,000 inhabitants. and landslide recognition and mapping. Alessandro Mondini has number of associations and networks collaborated in the ASI MORFEO project, and he is the principal researcher of a bilateral project between the Italian National Research Council are also dealing with cooperation issues According to Dr. Steinborn, there is and the Taiwanese National Science Council for the exploitation of optical and between European regions. a great opportunity for Copernicus SAR satellite data for the rapid mapping of event landslides. to improve the situation of thematic Projects in the regional planning and cohesion context generally criticise the 1 ESPON, Future orientations for Cities – final poor availability of suitable geo-infor- report, December 2010. mation. An example is the ESPON FOCI 2 ESPON, Future orientations for Cities – study, which states the following in its Interim Report, April 2009.

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controls. This freedom to live and work problems4. The Grande Région, which Germany – the Netherlands in other EU Member States has driven represents a ‘little Europe’ model area Cooperation between mapping and people all across Europe to earn their with the participation of regions from cadastre agencies of the Land of North income across borders, while continuing four EU founding countries, has a long Rhine-Westphalia and the Netherlands to reside in their home country. Mobility pre-INSPIRE record of data harmonisa- has a long tradition. Activities focus on has indeed become a crucial issue in the tion and application efforts as well as issues such as improving reaction times European Union. This has led to enor- established cross-border administrative to natural disasters like floods and fires. mous daily commuting in European relationships in spatial planning, disas- Inconsistent map projections are over- border regions (e.g. Geneva region, ter prevention and management, and come by transformation software to Upper Rhine, “CENTROPE” of Vienna- cultural and touristic affairs. display datasets both equally and ac- The number of cross-border commuters is in- Bratislava-Brno, Euregio Rhine-Meuse). cording to international standards. A creasing, thus affecting transport infrastructures The region around Luxembourg, which The Copernicus Land Monitoring joint geo-data infrastructure has been as well as, for instance, long-term urban plan- is part of the Grande Région of Wallonia, Service encountered unexpected dif- put in place, which would also allow ning activities. Earth Observation provides data allowing the development of coordinated poli- Lorraine, Saar, Rhineland-Palatinate and ficulties when exploring the usefulness seamless mosaicking of aerial and spa- cies between cross-border areas (Credits: David Luxembourg, is the cross-border region of existing geo-data for a uniform tial imagery in the future. A number of Monniaux). with the highest labour flow worldwide land-cover/land-use mapping of the application sectors have already been with almost 200,000 (out of the half four-nation Saar-Mosel river basin, the addressed through the INTERREG-IV million Europe-wide) daily commuters. area chosen as a test bed to develop project “Cross-border geo-data infra- geo-data-bases at the regional scale. However, a recent study has demon- services for the integrated reporting structure” (http://www.x-border-gdi.org). At regional and local levels in par- strated that the administration and required under the Water Framework ticular, where potential applications of infrastructure situation has not kept pace Directive and the Flood Directive5. The Germany – Czech Republic – Poland Copernicus are most abundant, the with this aspect of European reality. data had to be procured from many het- Saxony is one of the most innovative and only solutions available to the users erogeneous sources and under varying best organised of the new Bundeslaender are Geographic Information Systems “Potential applications of licensing conditions. Similar experiences in terms of geo-information. It borders the (GIS). Francesco Pisani stated the fol- Copernicus are most abun- occurred in other cross-border regions neighbouring regions of Silesia in Poland lowing in a March 2012 Unosat press dant at regional and local throughout Europe. and Bohemia in the Czech Republic. This release: “The more GIS is understood levels” position has led to intense cooperation, and adopted, the more our work as ex- Cross-border best practices in geo- especially across one of the oldest experts in satellite analysis will be useful To ensure correct governance of territo- data treatment isting borderlines in Europe, which falls and relevant”. rial and infrastructure planning, disaster In many border regions across Europe between Saxony and Bohemia (agreed in prevention or environmental protection, there are attempts under way to both 1459). In a recently completed project6, There are several case studies of GIS use good geo-information (GI) is essential. harmonise existing and create new supported by the INTERREG-IV initiative, in cross-border areas around Germany This has been known since the inception consistent geo-information content to topographic data from both sides of the and the perspectives for Copernicus. of GIS in the 1970s. Mapping, the name support the increasing territorial cooper- border were geometrically and seman- The case of Germany is particularly in- by which geo-information was referred ation between countries. Elements such tically harmonised so that they could teresting since it has the largest number to in the past, has always been in the as forests, water bodies, roads and even be used for diverse cross-border appli- of neighbouring countries in Europe: 9 domain of national and even provincial buildings occupy areas on both sides of cations. In a small part of the area, the (France, Austria and Hungary have 8, governments. Hence the importance of a border, and their mapping will have to touristic Saxon-Bohemian National Park Poland has 7). This entails a great deal initiatives such as the INSPIRE Directive comply with the INSPIRE Directive. The of the Elbe Sandstone Mountains, sat- of cross-border cooperation, which, (Infrastructure for Spatial Information following is a brief overview of activities ellite remote sensing had already been when it comes to territorial and spatial in the European Community)3, which in Germany’s neighbouring countries. employed in a precursor project for joint management, is mostly done at the re- in the era of globalisation, seeks to thematic maps and a terrain model. gional level. overcome existing interoperability

Planning and information needs at 4 The HUMBOLDT-Project quotes the necessary 6 Transboundary homogenisation of reference cross-border regional levels investment to harmonise all European geo-data geo-data between the Free State of Saxony 3 European Union Directive 2007/2/EC and to be 25 Billion €. and the Czech Republic“, Institute for ecologi- Progressing European unification has on-going specification of data listed in three 5 European Union Directives 2000/60/EC and cal spatial development (IÖR), Dresden 2011, in led to the current absence of border annexes. 2007/60/EC. German (http://www.geodat.ioer.info).

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Constance Conference (which in- that for the main purpose of territorial their narrow city limits, there was little cludes Liechtenstein) since 1972. The development, the aim is: “to create a support from the surrounding regional HUMBOLDT project triggered inten- GIS involving a Grande Région Internet authorities to engage in cross-border sive efforts of geo-data harmonisation Geoportal that enables to consolidate talks on these aspects. This dilemma around the lake; one of the nine ap- and harmonise all the existing data in was most evident in the case of the plication scenarios focussed on water the various partners and the existing Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. The age risks and took this region as a model data at European level covering the of globalisation increasingly requires case. It was necessary for existing data Grande Région. Finally, geographic a new way of thinking in categories of on roads, railways and water bodies to data will be made available to the gen- larger spatial contexts beyond the con- be interoperable, for which close coop- eral public”8. fines of a border. The European EGTC

Cross-border impacts make it more important to eration between the mapping agencies legislation is a first step in that direction, th improve coordination of disaster management and other actors involved in flood man- The 11 Grande Région political but it is essential for national govern- and response capacities (Credits: SAFER and agement was necessary7. The efforts summit implementation plan lists the ments to follow. SERTIT). have continued even after the termina- ensemble of relevant Copernicus data, tion of HUMBOLDT and the participants be it soil sealing, forest, Urban Atlas, An exceptional success story to this lim- continue to provide their joint pool of water or agricultural (mostly from the itation in territorial competence is the geo-data for best practice application, Geoland project), for inclusion in the Sillon Lorrain (furrow of Lorraine), where Cooperation with Poland is not yet so and for which they even offer awards. GIS. For instance, the Copernicus Urban four cities (Thionville, Metz, Nancy and advanced, although a framework agree- Atlas has given priority to conurbations Epinal) have committed themselves ment has been signed within which Special case: Grande Région of the Grande Région, and has mapped to becoming the first pôle métropoli- geo-data can be exchanged and pro- With the entry into force of the INSPIRE land-cover/land-use of the year 2006 tain according to a new French law of jects conceived. Former joint projects Directive, and the compulsory require- at a scale of better than 1:10,000 in 2010. The purpose of this law is, simi- include one in which CORINE Land ment it establishes for Member States 21 classes, suitable for local mapping. larly to the EGTC legislation, to foster Cover (CLC) data were tested to assess to create the metadata included in The 10 large urban zones (LUZ) covered sustainable spatial development and potential damage and help agricul- annex-II (terrain models, orthophotos, (three in Belgium, four in Germany, two attractiveness of regions across ter- tural and environmental restoration in land-cover, geology) and annex-III (habi- in France and one in Luxembourg) cor- ritorial units (départements) and even the aftermath of the Odra flooding in tats, energy resources, atmospheric respond to about 20% of the whole national borders. In this particular case, 1997. However, according to a German conditions, demography, land use, Grande Région. the balancing of the already existing summary workshop on CLC2000, ex- among others), the opportunities to French West-East axis (TGV Est Paris- pectations of geometric resolution had use Copernicus increase considerably. Uses of the Urban Atlas for today’s Strasbourg) by an enforced North-South not been met at that time. Whereas all other cited cross-border challenges, such as curbing land take axis is at stake. The measures considered Encouraged by the European umbrella harmonisation initiatives have so far by holistic spatial and infrastructural include both improved rail connection organisation EUROGI and in support restricted themselves to annex I (refer- planning, preparing for disasters and reaching Luxembourg to cope with the of these activities, the interdisciplinary ence data), the Grande Région (GR) is new energy concepts, have been dis- geo-information associations (of pri- more ambitious and plans to include cussed with municipal representatives vate and public geo-information service thematic geo-data (covering annexes II of the Grande Région. However, struc- providers, research and topical associa- and III) in its four-nation geo-data por- tural political barriers to the use of tions) from their respective countries tal. The “GIS-GR” was decided upon Copernicus have surfaced during these (DDGI in Germany, CAGI in the Czech by the 11th Grande Région political talks. As much as urban administrations Republic and PASI in Poland) have summit of 2009 and is currently under appreciated having large-scale consist- agreed on having a trilateral exchange construction, coordinated by the geo- ent geo-information (i.e. taken at the of best practices and cooperation be- information agency of the German state same point in time and from the same tween projects. of Rhineland-Palatinate. The bilingual data model and formats) from beyond statement (French-German) declares Germany – Austria – Switzerland These three countries meet at Lake 8 11th Summit of the Grande Région: Common Declaration – annexes, 2009 The GR is by size The Saar-Mosel River Basin is a good example of Constance where they have worked 7 http://www.esdi-HUMBOLDT.eu/files/hs_eriska_ (65000 km²) and population (11 million)- compa- cross-border coordination between regions using together in the International Lake user_report_diss_version_110405.pdf). rable to Bavaria, Germany’s largest state. Copernicus data.

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overflowing daily traffic congestion, and fill gaps and provide standards on which spatially referenced statistical data in a to planning practice” published by DLR connecting the waterways of Moselle to calibrate traditional data. A positive suggested grid spacing of 100 metres in 2010 (in German). and Saône to prepare for the expected sign of this is that the number of topi- (which other European countries already The vast majority of local and regional growth in the transportation of goods. cal user gatherings at which Copernicus have). This will produce an additional geo-information users are not experts Representatives of the region have ex- is presented and discussed, is growing. thrust for the generation and updat- in Space technology and will not pressed an interest in using Copernicus A recent strategy forum on “Chances ing of thematic geo-data. The potential search for input data in Copernicus or data for these endeavours. and potential of Earth Observation for contribution of the Copernicus Urban other Space-related portals. On the public administration” organised by the Atlas towards higher resolution spatial contrary, they stick to geo-data sources Copernicus is not only a provider of geo- German Ministry of the Interior and DLR data was presented to the international they are familiar with, which in most information services, but an important in 2011, received a strong participation network SCORUS (Standing Committee cases are the national and provincial element towards innovative territorial from regional authorities (almost 20% of Regional and Urban Statistics) at its (Lander in Germany) geo-data portals. thinking in Europe in two ways: more out of 160 participants in the event). annual meeting in 2010. Data they do not come across through holistic cooperation of politicians at all these portals do not exist for them levels in a region, and the emancipa- As far as Germany is concerned, two The cases described illustrate the grow- and their providers miss the chance to tion of thematic geo-information from recent developments in German policy ing weight of regional and local use of broaden use of these data. The best the, until now, dominant reference geo- will boost the need for more thematic thematic geo-data, which must be taken strategy to enlarge regional and local data. The latter is the most important geo-data: into account by the on-going research use of Copernicus is therefore to offer it aspect since there has recently been and development on Earth Observation, through established channels and geo- some dissatisfaction, voiced by hy- The “transformation of the German including Copernicus. Perspectives and data infrastructures and in formats that drologists and soil administrators, with energy system” (known as the limitations of urban remote sensing for are ready for overlay with other data. the way INSPIRE annex II and III data “Energiewende”) refers to the move applications such as renewable energy Projects that aim towards such kind are specified in the manner of mapping towards the age of renewables and sourcing, disaster prevention, security of of “intuitive access” are underway in agencies. The International Commission energy efficiency. The German govern- mass events, soil sealing and transport Germany. Professional geo-information for the Protection of Mosel and Saar ment decided that the country’s energy management, microclimate improve- associations like EUROGI and its mem- (IKSMS/CIPMS) has corroborated the supply should be generated primarily ment, spatial planning and land-use ber organisations in European countries advantage of using Copernicus by stat- from renewables by 2050. This requires typologies and 3D visualisation, are are ready to spread best practice ex- ing that “the land-cover maps provided the energy supply system to be fun- reviewed in “Remote Sensing in Urban periences within the geo-information by GSE Land to the IKSMS/CIPMS are damentally restructured, confronting Spaces – Earth Observation on its way community. harmonised across the country borders. Germany with economic and techno- They are thematically better than any logical challenges. Restructuring implies other available map information today. a transition from centralised towards de- Thus these digital datasets can be used centralised supply, which in turn entails for a multitude of further environmental- more regionalised and localised approv- ly relevant planning and management als needing an informed decision basis. activities”. Based on a recommendation of the German Science Council from 2009 Conclusions and outlook regarding the research data infrastruc- Wolfgang Steinborn is a physicist and holds a PHD in Natural The expectations of the topical geo-in- ture for the social, behavioural, and Sciences. He works at the German Aerospace Center, Space man- formation user communities in Europe economic sciences, the German Data agement division in Bonn and is in charge of the Earth Observation are high nowadays with respect to the Forum (RatSWD) established an inter- Networking. He is vice-president of the German Umbrella interoperability of not only geodetic or disciplinary “Geocoding Data” working Organisation for Geo-Information DDGI and ExCom member of reference data (INSPIRE annex I) but also group. By the end of 2011 the working the respective European organisation EUROGI. 2004-2008 he was seconded to the European Commission for the build-up of GMES. of thematic data (INSPIRE annexes II and group had produced a decision-orient- Further information on this theme can be found in the article titled Borderline III). Since this turns out to be an even ed report with practical suggestions for Cases, published in Geoconnexion International Magazine, issues 6 (June) and greater challenge, there is room for ad- the development and use of geo-data. 7 (July and August), 2012. ditional pan-European geo-information In this report, the experts repeated- content generation as in Copernicus, to ly stress the need for more detailed

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Regional Authorities (LRAs) exposed to SubCoast: Preparing services for User Communities increasing flood risk, thus allowing them of the SubCoast services monitoring changes in land elevation to design mitigation plans. Existing mitigation measures such as flood defences SubCoast aims to provide data in flood-prone coastal lowlands can also be monitored to determine on changes in land elevation at a their efficacy over time. Infrastructure number of different scales: local, re- failures due to reduced budget allo- by David Hamersley and Rob van der Krogt gional, national and European. User cation or ground subsidence beneath communities with a potential inter- flood defences usually carry large costs est in SubCoast services are those and increasing risks if left unchecked. principally interested in monitoring The SubCoast service is designed to risks which may threaten human life COASTAL LOWLAND AREAS ARE WIDELY RECOGNISED AS VULNERABLE LOCATIONS EXPOSED identify regions and structures in need or put infrastructures at risk. Users TO EXTREME EVENTS, WHICH CAN POTENTIALLY HAVE A LARGE RANGE OF SOCIAL, of attention. Other collateral data such of the SubCoast services include ECONOMIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS. CLIMATE CHANGE IS ONE OF THE PRINCIPAL as variations in groundwater tables and stakeholders dealing with issues CHALLENGES FACING THE WORLD, NOW AND INTO THE FUTURE. SCIENTIFIC STUDIES OF water balances could also be used in pertaining to hazard management, CLIMATE CHANGE, SUPPORTED BY ADVANCEMENTS IN SPACE-BASED TECHNOLOGIES, HAVE conjunction with SubCoast core prod- monitoring and policy development GREATLY IMPROVED OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT AND THE ucts to highlight hazards posed by (e.g. water boards, infrastructure de- COMPLEX INTERACTIONS THAT EXIST BETWEEN HUMAN POPULATIONS AND VULNERABLE increased exposure to flooding, water partments of ministries, provinces, AREAS SUCH AS COASTAL REGIONS. THE VULNERABILITY OF COASTAL REGIONS TAKES ON shortages and the social and economic regions and municipalities through- TWO ASPECTS: THE DIVERSE IMPACTS FROM THE SEA AND ANTHROPOGENIC IMPACTS implications that might arise. out European coastal regions, as RESULTING FROM INCREASED LAND USE. SUBSIDENCE IS A HAZARD THAT CONNECTS BOTH Risk has various definitions and conno- well as authorities at European scale OF THESE ISSUES AND IS THE FOCUS OF THE SUBCOAST PROJECT. tations but is commonly associated with such as the European Environment the potential (or probability) for a hazard Agency). to be realised as an event resulting in a Subsidence and Associated Hazards on both the primary and associated loss (ISDR, 2009). This loss may relate Ground subsidence has many causes hazards. to human life, infrastructure, the envi- processes interact with each other can that can be divided into two broad ronment or a multitude of other factors. compound the situation. For example, categories; shallow due to, for exam- “SubCoast is designed to al- Subsidence is a hazard in its own right, subsidence can increase the possibility ple, peat oxidation, compaction and low identification of regions but other processes leading to changes (frequency or magnitude) of flooding groundwater extraction and deep due and structures that need to in land elevation and that alter the land- events in certain areas (so-called ‘risk to, for example, tectonic phenomena be monitored” scape, as well as the way the various zones’; see figure 1). and effects of mining and extraction activities (gas, salt). Although subsidence In coastal lowland areas the most ob- can be a direct hazard (e.g. landslides, vious hazards exacerbated by land sinkholes), more commonly it is the as- subsidence are those associated with sociated hazards that are exacerbated water. Recent climatic trends have by subsidence, which are a greater shown changes in the distribution and threat to human populations and live- intensity of precipitation events. At the lihoods. Subsidence is generally under same time, global sea level has reached acknowledged as a geohazard, indeed an annual average rise of approximately subsidence movement is generally too 3 mm during the last two decades (Bally, slow for human perception and ef- 2012), although regional differences ex- fects are often invisible, at least before ist (mean sea level has fallen in some structural damage appears. This makes locations). Combining this informa- Figure 1. Concept of ‘risk zones’, based on INSPIRE: «Natural risk zones» where natural hazards areas subsidence an insidious threat, which tion with measurements of downward intersect with highly populated areas and / or areas of particular environmental / cultural / economic may proceed undetected for decades, changes in land elevation would al- value (indicated as ‘exposed elements’) (INSPIRE, 2007; http://inspire-forum.jrc.ec.europa.eu/pg/pages/ having a significant cumulative effect low easier identification of Local and view/1768) (Credits: TNO).

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the dynamic DEM as an illustration of the Persistent Scatterer Interferometry required quality characteristics. Methods and solutions for Local and Regional The main data for producing the Authorities are still to be fine-tuned. Dynamic DEM is derived from a satellite-based technique called Service Delivery Persistent Scatterer Interferometry Methods of delivery of SubCoast ser- (PSI). PSI uses multi-temporal stacks vices are still subject to discussion with of radar data to measure millimetric potential users. However, it is anticipat- changes over time in the distance ed to develop a web-based geo-portal between the satellite and radar- as the most effective means of data reflecting ground features. PSI thus viewing and access. The geo-portal will measures ‘terrain motion’ and has provide relevant data, information and several advantages such as high maps depicting absolute ground level precision and wide-area coverage. at different times on local, regional, na- It is also non-invasive (see figure 3). tional, and pan-European scales. This PSI is constrained however, by land Figure 2. absolute wide scale subsidence maps of the Netherlands, showing estimated rates of el- geo-portal will potentially be the first cover characteristics (vegetated evation change in mm/year, and the connected estimated standard deviation of these values (Credits: stage of a more comprehensive ser- areas do not reflect back to the sat- Hanssen, 2012). vice in the future, covering much wider ellite with sufficient coherence for areas, larger time scales, with more de- the technique to work), the meas- veloped models and scenarios. At this urement being a single dimension preliminary stage the service will build ‘line-of-sight’ from the satellite, and Development of a Land Elevation available from either optical or radar on limited datasets and information availability of archived satellite data. Change Map or a ‘Dynamic Digital measurements (optical or SAR stereos- within the pilot areas. This latter constraint will be signifi- Elevation Model’ copy, SAR interferometry); sometimes cantly eased by the successful (and Providing land elevation change data more information is also available Pilot Studies at regional level enduring) operation of the European in coastal lowland areas is the princi- from levelling, GPS, or other measure- Four pilot studies have been devised to Commission’s forthcoming Sentinel pal ambition of the SubCoast project. ment campaigns. The additional value develop the SubCoast service. These 1a and b satellites carrying a SAR in- Elevation change rates need to be con- of a Dynamic DEM is to express the pilots include the Rhine Meuse Delta strument, the first of which is due for nected reliably to a regional or national rate of change of elevation of terrains. in the Netherlands, the Southern part launch during 2013. common reference point or geodetic Connected to a local or regional DEM of the coast of Emilia-Romagna region datum. With regard to flood risk man- it creates the possibility to estimate fu- in Italy, and a part of the Baltic area agement, this is required to enable the ture terrain elevation. However, despite that was subdivided into 3 countries: determination of land elevations relative the fact that a Dynamic DEM expresses Denmark, Poland and Lithuania. The to sea level, including the changes in quite simple and explicit parameters fourth pilot is comprised of a parallel both levels over time (i.e. land subsid- (elevation change rates/ absolute el- ‘European integration’ of services. ence and sea level rise). The SubCoast evation), there are substantial technical project therefore has defined the pro- issues to be solved. At this stage of the The four pilot study sites are distributed duction of a so-called “Dynamic DEM SubCoast project, the most advanced across several countries in Europe, and (Digital Elevation Model)” to show vari- result with regard to the development therefore have a variety of factors in- ations in ground elevation for a location, of a Dynamic DEM is the so-called “ab- fluencing their vulnerability to hazards as a function of time. In this instance the solute wide scale subsidence map” of even though they all have coastlines. Figure 3 PSI data is gathered by satellite synthetic aperture radar (SAR) systems to determine DEM is defined as a digital terrain model the Netherlands (Hanssen, 2012). Figure ground motion in the vertical plane, e.g. for the which excludes building cover, showing 2 is an illustration of this product, show- Baltic pilot: Pilot studies performed in purpose of flood risk management in coastal ar- the ground elevation, connected accu- ing estimated vertical rates of changes the Baltic using PSI have yielded re- eas and river plains. Fixed ground-based objects such as buildings and infrastructure provide an rately to a regional or national datum. in elevation. The second map shows the sults showing general terrain stability. ideal source of backscattered signal (Credits: In many regions or countries DEMs are estimated uncertainties associated with However, the study of past and present TNO).

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orthophotos have revealed substantial from shallow depths in Southern Emilia References advance and retreat of the coastlines Romagna, has resulted in subsidence due to the accumulation and erosion and in erosion of the coastline, lower Ph. Bally Ed. (2012), Scientific and Technical Memorandum of The International Forum of shoreline sediments, which in some efficiency of the waterworks and a sig- on Satellite EO and Geohazards, May 21st - 23rd, 2012, Santorini Greece. doi:10.5270/ regions have already led to the destruc- nificant increase in the risk of flooding. esa-geo-hzrd-2012. http://esamultimedia.esa.int/docs/EarthObservation/ tion of some buildings. More crucially, PSI results were validated and integrat- Geohazards/esa-geo-hzrd-2012.pdf. the erosion of natural defences, such as ed with satellite navigation positioning ESA, (2012), Radar Altimetry gains altitude in Venice, [Internet], The living Planet sand dunes, has been shown to repre- data and a database of historical lev- Programme http://www.esa.int/esaLP/SEM7G8GYD7H_index_0.html, accessed sent an imminent threat. elling data. The aim was to extend October 1st, 2012. conventional PSI-processing from a Directive 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of March 14th, 2007 Rhine-Meuse pilot: The Dutch pilot of- line-of-sight displacement estimate to establishing an Infrastructure for Spatial Information in the European Community fers a unique case where changes in full 3D. (INSPIRE) land elevation play a significant role in Hanssen, R.F. and Caro Cuenca, M. (2012), Absolute Wide Scale Subsidence Map of the management of flood risk and se- European Integration pilot: Efforts the Netherlands, Report deliverable 3.2.1 for SubCoast project. curity of water resources. The region of towards a pan-European integration the Waterboard Delfland is character- have required confrontation of various http://inspire-forum.jrc.ec.europa.eu/pg/pages/view/1768. ised by soft sediments and the natural issues including: determination of user ISDR (2009) UNISDR Terminology on Disaster Risk Reduction, UNISDR, Geneva, process of peat oxidation causes a con- needs, assessment of data availability Switzerland. sistent rate of subsidence. Groundwater based upon cross-cutting technologies, levels are continuously adjusted to ac- identification of an initial development count for corresponding reductions in site, development of methodologies ground level. Unfortunately, adjustment for high and lower data availability of groundwater levels also increases the scenarios, and trial and validation of amount of subsidence, contributing to methodologies. a positive feedback loop, hence resulting in a continuous natural/man-made Conclusions David Hamersley has a geographic background with an MSc subsidence cycle. Human impacts on The reduction in land elevation is a real in Environmental Dynamics and Climate Change acquired from the groundwater levels may affect dif- yet often imperceptible hazard in coast- Swansea University. Now working for Fugro NPA, he is primarily re- ferent aquifers at different depths. To al lowland areas that over time can have sponsible for a variety of oceanographic projects and interpretation obtain a better understanding of causal detrimental and cumulative impacts on of offshore SAR satellite imagery. His role in the SubCoast project is relations, PSI processing over the period a coastal community’s infrastructure to develop the service specification, sustainability and marketing. 1992-2000 was performed to separate and economic capabilities, for example Rob van der Krogt, educated in Spatial Planning and Policy ground level measurement points from through an increase of flood risks. The Management (MSc), has 17 years of experience in managing pro- those of buildings. Since buildings in forthcoming improvement in the avail- jects related to (spatial) policy development, infrastructure (ports, this location are often founded on deep ability of data promised by the Sentinel roads, railways), geo-information, water management and climate sand layers, they are not sensitive to 1 mission will significantly enhance the adaptation in the Netherlands and Europe. He has been affili- shallow aquifers. Comparing the results potential of Dynamic DEMs, especially if ated with DHV Consultancy and Engineering, Deltares and TNO/ of subsidence rates of buildings and de- longer time series of data are acquired. Geological Survey of the Netherlands. For TNO he is now fully involved as formation of the ground demonstrates Terrafirma, SubCoast and related re- project coordinator for EU-projects, such as FP7-Space project ‘SubCoast’ that builds services from Earth Observation for monitoring and forecasting subsid- the significance of the topsoil layer in search provide important first steps for ence hazards in coastal lowland areas, and the ‘EGDIScope’ FP7-Infrastructures the process. the development of more comprehen- project, preparing a European Geological Data Infrastructure. The latter project sive monitoring services, consisting of a is an important pillar for the common international strategy of 27 European Italian Southern Emilia-Romagna pilot: complete chain of data collecting, pro- Geological Surveys. This study focuses on a low lying coastal cessing, interpretation, modelling, and region at the base of the Apennine foot- the release of this information through hills. Natural subsidence, together with interactive portals, for integrated ser- the effects of groundwater pumping vices for risk management.

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Copernicus services for renewable About the ENDORSE project ENDORSE is a three-year project co-funded by the European Commission energies provide support to Local and running until 2013. It aims to help regions by developing services to increase Regional Authorities knowledge and understanding of their various renewable energy resources as well as improving management of electricity load. The ENDORSE project aims to provide user-driven development of new services by Claire Thomas and Lucien Wald in the renewable energies field by exploiting existing Copernicus services and other Earth Observation data and models. It deals with regional services by promoting energy use from sun, wind, and biomass and also addresses electricity grid management at local level. ENDORSE meets the needs of: THE EUROPEAN UNION (EU) HAS COMMITTED TO PROVIDING 20 % OF EUROPE’S ENERGY • expert companies delivering resource data and forecasts, tailored to specific FROM RENEWABLE SOURCES BY 2020. THE DEVELOPMENT AND ACCEPTANCE OF needs in renewable energies; RENEWABLE ENERGIES IN EUROPEAN LOCAL AND REGIONAL AUTHORITIES (LRAs) ARE • industrial end-users (engineering consultancies, energy producers, investors, CURRENTLY LIMITED BY A LACK OF KNOWLEDGE OF THE RESOURCES THEMSELVES AND OF plant managers, maintenance services and electricity grid managers); THEIR VARIABILITY IN SPACE AND TIME. THE EUROPEAN UNION HAS MADE GREAT EFFORTS • public authorities and other organisations supporting policy making, incentives TO PROMOTE TOOLS FOR THE MAPPING OF RENEWABLE RESOURCES AND TO FAVOUR and permit delivery at national, regional or local levels, as well as European THE DEVELOPMENT OF SERVICES IN LINE WITH THE EXPECTATIONS OF EXPERTS AND LRAs. policy makers in charge of supporting the implementation of EU policies. THE ENDORSE PROJECT IS A REALISATION OF THIS OBJECTIVE OF THE EU. TEN SERVICES EXPLOIT EARTH OBSERVATION DATA IN FIVE ENERGY DOMAINS (WIND, SUN, ELECTRICITY LOAD BALANCING, BIOMASS AND DAYLIGHTING) WITH THE AIM TO PROVIDE SOLUTIONS AT A REGIONAL SCALE. THESE SERVICES ARE PRECURSORS AND SHOULD STIMULATE THE DEVELOPMENT OF SIMILAR SERVICES IN OTHER REGIONS. in large-scale electrochemical batter- As a consequence, yearly changes in ies. Facility operation managers are also biomass are not detected. using real-time assessments to detect The demand for energy is increasing in are volatile – being subject to weath- potential breakdowns by comparing “There is a strong demand the European Union (EU). An increasing er conditions – and often organised expected and produced power outputs. from the renewable energy exploitation of renewable energies is as distributed generation units, their Tools already available on the market community for an integrated one of the options currently adopted effective exploitation requires care- for accurate evaluation and forecast- service” to meet this demand. Renewable ener- ful analysis in terms of power system ing of resources are costly. For wind gies - exploiting sun, river, sea, wind, planning and operations. To reduce farms or solar plants, at least one full ENDORSE is developing ten services in geothermal, and biomass - have been operational uncertainty and maximise year’s analysis of meteorological meas- collaboration with regional users. These known for many years and are cur- return on investment, resource evalua- urements should be performed. This services are listed below (three are de- rently exploited to some degree in the tion and monitoring tools are essential necessitates to purchase ad-hoc instru- tailed later in this article): EU. What is required now is a large infor the management of energy produc- ments and to ensure operation as well • “Local Solar Atlas Generation” aims to crease in the production of energy from tion. They can significantly contribute to as maintenance. Furthermore, a dedi- produce local atlases for decision-sup- these renewable sources in a paradigm reducing the cost of planning and de- cated analysis of the measurements, port in solar energy policy planning shift for the industry. Dealing with a ploying renewable energy plants and to including quality-check, is required. and private investment. An atlas has much larger share of renewable en- the integration of these variable energy The optimisation of these costs is all the been produced for Provence, France; ergy production is a crucial challenge, sources into the overall energy system. more important as they are incurred a • “Design CSPS” provides a design for which is receiving a lot of attention The percentage share of renewable year before decision on investment is Concentrating Solar Power Systems and from researchers, engineers and other energies is increasing and so is the de- made. Airborne photographic and ter- a priori analyses of their performances. stakeholders. mand for electricity. Network managers restrial surveys are the current means A demonstration is made for Sicily, Italy; require accurate forecasts to balance for assessing local biofuel potential of • “Irradiance Forecasts” produces Wind and solar energy are currently generation and consumption in real- a forest. These surveys are expensive, short-term forecasts for electricity the two renewable resources with the time, or to manage large-scale storage often of limited extent, and can there- production of a solar plant located in most development. As these sources, in water pumping facilities and, soon, fore not be carried out very regularly. Andalusia, Spain;

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• “TMY” produces highly spatially- across many sources of different quality. The user perspective resolved Typical Meteorological Year As a consequence, the data for the first The prime-user of this service is EDF-Luminus, the second largest player on the (TMY) datasets for the design and steps of a project evaluation are very Belgian energy market, with a total production capacity of about 2 000 MW. 12% performance assessment of com- challenging to collect and process. of the production capacity of EDF-Luminus is derived from renewable energy plex solar energy-based systems for Various stakeholders are facing this sources in Belgium. electricity production. It is tested in challenge: local policy administrations EDF-Luminus was surprised that the Wind Service only requires wind speed data Provence, France; working for energy planning and invest- over the last 10 years, instead of the usual 20 to 30 years required by banks and • “CSP-GIS” produces a Web-based ment, public authorities and banks in investors. 3E advocated that recent research results show a continuous slight GIS (Geographical Information charge of evaluation of premises, and decrease of the mean wind speed over this area, therefore the last 10 years are System) for concentrating solar pow- finally the developers of wind farms more representative of the current situation than a longer period. er systems. The demonstration area themselves. EDF-Luminus was then informed that it would take about a day to get the results. is Morocco; Therefore, there is a strong demand In fact, only a few minutes were necessary to deliver results. The user expected a • “Certification of Sustainable Bioenergy from the renewable energy community maximum 10% deviation between the results obtained by the Wind Service and Use” aims at certifying the sustainable for an integrated service that would those resulting from previous in situ measurements. Finally, the deviation was production of bioenergy products that offer first-line resource assessment limited to 6%, hence matching the expectations of EDF-Luminus. are imported in the European Union; estimation. The ENDORSE service en- The first version of the service was only available for a single wind turbine. The • “Lighting energy savings” computes titled “generation of Annual Energy influence of other wind turbines on the wind flow (“wake” influence) was not yet the possible annual savings in energy Output (AEO) for decision-support of taken into account. This was a requirement expressed by EDF-Luminus and it is that would result from the control of wind energy policy planning and pri- currently being added into the service. blinds and artificial lights by incoming vate investment” meets this demand. The user expressed its interest in several options such as an increased number daylight in buildings. A demonstration It provides estimates of wind resource of ground stations for calibration by importing mast measurement data to per- site in Nantes, France, shows a benefit for a wind farm with the capability of form the Annual Energy Outputs (AEO) calculation, or the possibility to use real for building design and retrofit, en- combining various data required in the production data in the calculation either to allow comparison or to use in the ergy regulation policy planning, and decision-making process. case of wind farm extension. private investment. The Belgian company 3E is devel- The first version has not yet included the option to choose between a co-ordi- oping this service. One of the main nates system or to locate a point on an aerial picture or on a map. The Wind Energy Service innovations is to use the powerful daily The development of an on-shore wind numerical weather prediction models to User testimony: “The current outcomes of the service are in line with the expec- farm requires an accurate assessment obtain maps of the wind at surface and tations. The overall achievements are suitable.” of its Annual Energy Output, even at at various altitudes. The second innova- an early stage, for decision making, in- tion is the enhancement of these maps vestment assessments, and the correct both in the horizontal and in the verti- The key benefit of this service is sizing of the plant. Such an assessment cal directions, leading to the respective the automation of the whole pro- is made by engineering companies us- resolutions of 200 m and 20 m. The cess. Currently, operators spend ing numerical models whose inputs are enhancement is performed by a model many days handling data, but taken from the planned wind power whose inputs are the orography and by using the numerical weather system, and geographical and mete- the aerodynamic roughness length de- prediction (NWP) outputs and orological information related to the rived from a map of land cover. Finally, the fusion with other geograph- site. Data describing the wind power these maps of intensity (Figure 1) and ical information, the process is system are directly communicated by profiles of wind are combined with much more automated and is the wind-farm developer and can thus the specifications of the wind power completed in less than one hour be easily collected. However, informa- system to produce the Annual Energy instead of several days. tion relating to meteorology and wind Output. Before presenting the service potential, such as surface orography, to users, 3E has validated its results “The benefit of these surface roughness, and local wind cli- against measurements made in a few services in the daily life of the users has been mate is more difficult to collect and to wind farms. The relative average error Figure 1: Map of wind power density (W/m²) at 100 m analyse. All these data are scattered and standard deviation are 1% and 6%. above ground level (Credits: 3E). proven”

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Service for increased stability and photographic and terrestrial surveys are The user perspective reliability in electricity supply with a the main means for assessing the bio- SWU Netze GmbH is the prime-user large fraction of solar energy mass potential of the forest at regional of this service. This company is a An increasing amount of electricity is scale. These surveys are expensive, they German utility owned by the towns now produced by photovoltaic (PV) only cover limited areas and cannot be of Ulm and Neu-Ulm. SWU is active power systems. Rapid changes in so- carried out frequently enough to be in the energy and transport sector lar radiation induced by changes in able to follow rapid changes in biomass. and has about 100 employees. It is cloud cover lead to fluctuations of the This means that important changes in responsible for the operation of the power produced by these PV systems. the forest are missed, resulting in in- local electricity, gas and water grids. Such fluctuations have adverse effects complete monitoring and less efficient By 2020, SWU intends to rely only on on the stability of the grid and qual- management. renewable energy sources to cover ity of delivery in electricity (frequency, A reliable and automatic method for 100% of the electricity demand for voltage). The impacts of these effects forested areas growth estimation there- private households. SWU owns and increase with the increasing proportion Figure 2: Processed satellite image of a district on fore becomes more and more attractive the periphery of Ulm, Germany. It is composed of operates several renewable energy of PV power in the total production, especially when large areas are investi- 133 houses 17 with PV installations with a total of systems. The production of each in- Therefore grid operators want to fore- 221 kWp, a transformer of 630 kVA and an area gated. The DLR, the German Aerospace dividual PV system is added to the see how a larger fraction of solar power of 0.2 km² (Credits: Ulm University). Center, has developed a new method low-voltage grid. SWU faces the will impact the grid. The grid operators for estimating biomass potential based challenge of balancing this variable need to know how solar power could be on numerical models, remote sensing production to ensure the quality of integrated in the load forecast and the obtained. This map is an input to the images, meteorological and forestry electricity supply. scheduling of conventional power plant method for forecasting the production data. The service produces regular as- SWU was satisfied that the irradi- operation for efficient grid manage- of the sub-network. The other inputs sessments of annual increases of above ance, the ambient temperature and ment. An accurate knowledge on the are the forecasts for temperature and ground biomass in the format of GIS- the wind speed were considered behaviour of solar power at utility level wind from numerical weather prediction compatible layers giving biomass in within the model. Later in the course is a prerequisite for the development of models and for solar radiation derived tons per hectare, at a 1 km of spatial res- of the ENDORSE project, SWU will energy services and load balancing. from another ENDORSE service. The olution and on a yearly basis (Figure 3). also be given the option to input The Ulm University in Germany has de- forecast of each sub-network offers The service will support the sustainable, meteorological parameters. veloped a service called “load balancing supplementary information that can be economic and ecological development within electricity distribution grids ena- integrated into the grid management of a region in respect to timber and en- User testimony: “This new product in bling high penetration of photovoltaic operation centre. The capacity to rep- ergy production. the research framework brings great power systems”. It aims at providing resent and forecast fluctuations at the The dynamic carbon cycle model BETHY improvement. None of the previous forecasts of power produced by an en- scale of the sub-network is an essential (Biosphere Energy Transfer HYdrology) systems is actually comparable.” semble of individual PV systems, thus asset of this service. is used in the service developed by helping the electricity grid managers DLR. Efforts are put into the pre-pro- to balance the load over the grids to The major benefits of the service are the cessing of the data from the different maintain the quality of the provision of improved efficiency of grid planning and Service for biomass of forested areas sources to ensure the provision of high electricity to customers. Such a forecast grid management processes. A better The biomass of forested areas is currently quality inputs to the model. These data has been done so far only with virtual knowledge of the solar power forecast used for energy and material purposes; have different space and time proper- grid models. at local scale induces a decrease in error an increase in its use for energy is ex- ties; merging techniques are used to Figure 2 is an image resulting from the of load forecast and, consequently, an pected in order to substitute fossil fuels. produce harmonised datasets. Ground processing of data acquired by a very improvement in the planning accuracy In addition, the cultivation of short rota- campaigns produce data of high ac- high spatial resolution satellite. It de- and in the predictability of grid operation forests as a biofuel resource will get curacy and thus are used as reference picts roofs in a district and individual tion. As investments are necessary to more attention in the coming years. information to quantify the performance PV systems pertaining to a low voltage adapt the grid to increase the number Forests are managed by public agen- of the model outputs. sub-network. A model of electricity yield of solar systems, this service brings ad- cies or private owners who design the The key benefit of this service is a more is made for each of these PV systems. ditional knowledge and leads to a safer policies and strategies for forest ex- frequent assessment of the increase of Thus a map of production potential is return on investment. ploitation and management. Airborne the forest biomass. The provision of

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is ongoing with these users to create biomass and daylighting). These The user perspective operational services. ENDORSE has ENDORSE services are demonstration The Eberswalde Forestry Competence Centre in Germany was the first user to also demonstrated that the exploita- precursors and should stimulate the de- test the service. Its challenge is to find new strategies for managing forests in tion of Copernicus services and Earth velopment of similar services in other the face of climate change on the local, national and international levels. The Observation data and models is an ef- regions. The last step of the ENDORSE Eberswalde Forestry Competence Centre evaluated the results over a test area in ficient means of providing solutions at project in 2013 is to identify other users the forest of Brandenburg, in the north-east of Germany. The user asked for a few regional scale in five energy domains for the developed services and promote improvements, in particular concerning the accuracy in the output maps and an (wind, sun, electricity load balancing, such development. increase in the spatial resolution up to 300 m.

User testimony: “Preliminary results are fairly satisfying. The service could be an efficient tool for public consultation, and should help forest managers to comply with environmental policies. The estimation for growth of forest stands Claire Thomas is a graduate of the University Louis Pasteur using terrestrial methods is a heavy workload. There is a high potential in saving (Strasbourg, France) where she studied Electronics, Image and time and money from the use of remote sensing products.” Cybernetics in 2002. After a 6 month internship at the National Severe Storm Laboratory, Oklahoma, USA, she joined the research centre Observation, Modélisation et Décision (OMD) of Mines harmonised GIS-ready information ena- Conclusion ParisTech, Sophia Antipolis, France in 2003 to begin her PhD thesis bles it to reach a larger audience, such ENDORSE has worked with local users in the domain of Image Pan-sharpening. The subject was the enhancement of as private agencies or public authorities. to develop ten services for the renew- the spatial resolution of the multispectral satellite images using higher spatial Finally, the forest biomass potential is able energy sector. The benefit of these resolution panchromatic data. She then joined a research centre specialised delivered with a higher temporal and services in the daily life of the users in geography and image processing in Rennes, France, for an 18 month post- spatial resolution compared to conven- has been proven. Though it is outside doctoral position working on the assimilation of data for the detection and tional processes. the exact scope of ENDORSE, work tracking of severe storms on Meteosat infrared images. Since April 2009 she has been employed by Transvalor S.A., Sophia Antipolis, France. This company is in charge of the valorisation and the promotion of the research outcomes of Mines ParisTech. She is working in the commercialisation of the solar radiation information derived from the Meteosat images. In addition, Transvalor is also involved in the ENDORSE European project, for which she is the leader of a work package for the dissemination of the ENDORSE results.

Lucien Wald graduated in Theoretical Physics at University of Aix- Marseille II and University of Paris UPMC, France, in 1976-1977. He obtained a Ph.D. degree in 1980 at University of Paris UPMC on infrared remote sensing of the ocean. He joined MINES ParisTech in Sophia Antipolis in 1980. He obtained the Doctorat d’Etat ès Sciences degree in 1985 on the applications of remote sensing to oceanography. He has been a Professor at MINES ParisTech since 1991. He focused his own research in applied mathematics, data fusion, and meteorology and solar radiation. He obtained the Autometrics Award in 1998 and the Erdas Award in 2001 for articles on data fusion. His career in information technologies was rewarded in 1996 by the famous French Blondel Medal. He contributed to the development of the series of the Heliosat methods for assessing solar radiation from satellite images. He set up a team for operating these methods daily and producing the series of the HelioClim databases. He was the promoter of the SoDa Service, a Web-based collaborative system for professionals offering access to dozens of databases and applications in solar energy provided by several institutes and companies worldwide. He has collaborated with many European projects and he leads ENDORSE. Figure 3: Above Ground Biomass increase (AGBi) for Brandenburg’s forests in tonnes per hectare over a number of years (2000 – 2007) on a 1 km² resolution, with land cover map (Global Land Cover 2000, copyright European Union 2010) describing forests (deciduous, coniferous, mixed) and non-forest cover (herbaceous cover, managed areas, bare areas, urban areas) (Credits: DLR).

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Local, Regional and Governmental Authorities are supported with Earth Observation-based water quality products for implementing EU Directives

by Thomas Heege and Karin Schenk*

FRESHMON IS AN EU COLLABORATIVE Copernicus PROJECT SET UP TO PROVIDE HIGH RESOLUTION FRESHWATER MONITORING AND SERVICES USING EARTH OBSERVATION DATA. THE MAIN OBJECTIVE IS TO CREATE CONTINUOUS AND WELL ACCEPTED SERVICES FOR INLAND WATER MONITORING IN RIVERS AND LAKES AT EUROPEAN LEVEL. IN THE FIRST PHASES OF THE PROJECT, HARMONISATION OF DATA FORMATS WAS ACHIEVED, VALIDATION STANDARDS AND QUALITY CONTROL WERE DEFINED AND THE FIRST PROVISION OF WATER QUALITY SERVICES WAS DELIVERED TO End-userS. Map product of chlorophyll concentration in the Alpine Lakes using the 300m resolution Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer MERIS (Credits: ESA for MERIS imagery, FRESHMON for processing).

Inland aquatic systems are under sig- the environmental state of its aquatic “Copernicus products are warning or a desirable development. In nificant pressure from agriculture, ecosystems. powerful tools to help public any case, this needs to be documented. economic development and climate authorities in the manage- Earth Observation (EO) products can change. The European Commission Monitoring requirements ment of waterways” improve the capability of harmonised Directorate General for the Environment Activities impacting aquatic ecosystems monitoring of water constituents at the emphasises that “water is life” on its are subject to monitoring requirements. Any variation of the assessed parame- catchment scale to indicate the direct website and underlines the meaning National monitoring programmes are ters could either be an important early impacts on water quality and changes of water as a “precondition for human, required to establish a coherent and animal and plant life as well as an indis- comprehensive overview on the water pensable resource for the economy”1. status within each river basin and lake European directives, like the Water catchment area. Hence, frequent high FRESHMON- a Copernicus project Framework Directive (WFD), require resolution water quality map products the status of aquatic ecosystems to be are required. The WFD requests the Earth Observation-based water quality services support local, regional, national sustained or improved, which entails determination of water quality as the and European authorities responsible for inland water quality in rivers and lakes. environmental reporting obligations to range of deviation from the ‘pristine The new service-line for the continuous provision of EO-based products, inte- the European Commission, where each status’ associated with ‘type-specific grated with in situ and hydrodynamic modelling components, for water quality Member State shall regularly report on reference’ conditions. monitoring is developed within the FRESHMON project. Five partners in four European countries represent the core consortium: 1 http://ec.europa.eu/environment/water/ EOMAP GmbH & Co.KG and Brockmann Consult GmbH (Germany), the Finnish index_en.htm. Environment Institute SYKE (Finland), Water Insight BV (Netherlands) and the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology EAWAG (Switzerland). * This article has been written in collaboration with Kerstin Stelzer (Brockmann Consult), Timo Pyhälahti and Sampsa Koponen (SYKE).

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within aquatic ecosystems. These prod- By providing high spatial resolution ucts are supporting river authorities in geo-information on water quality pa- the management of their waterways rameters a wide group of user needs are Water Framework Directive (WFD) (cf. User Portrait p.24-25). addressed. Current end-users are the Zurich Water Supply, the State Institute “The Water Framework Directive creates a legal framework for the protec- “Copernicus water quality for the Environment, Measurements tion and restoration of clean waters across the European Union. The Directive services support Local and and Nature Conservation of Baden- provides common principles, approaches and requirements for water manage- Regional Authorities respon- Wuerttemberg, the German Federal ment in the European Union; it also leaves broad leeway for Member State sible for inland water quality Institute of Hydrology (BfG) and the individual approaches. The Directive addresses EU surface waters, including in rivers and lakes” Federal Waterways Engineering and coastal waters, as well as groundwater. By 2015, Member States are to achieve Research Institute (BAW) in Germany, “good water status”, a term that incorporates both chemical parameters (i.e. FRESHMON key users the research institute Deltares in the low pollution levels) as well as ecological ones (healthy ecosystems). Under the The users of the Copernicus products Netherlands, the Freshwater Centre and Directive, water management is based on River Basins. EU Member States set developed by FRESHMON are local, Marine Research Centre of the Finnish up river basin districts and designate the administrative unit for each district.” regional, national and state-wide au- Environment Institute (SYKE) and the (http://waterwiki.net/index.php/European_Union_Water_Framework_Directive) thorities mandated for coordinating and JVP/VET Combo consortium in Finland, Features to be monitored for the classification of the ecological status are conducting the implementation of the and the Tartu Observatory in Estonia. biological elements like the composition, abundance and biomass of phy- Water Framework Directive (WFD) and toplankton, measured e.g. with the concentration of chlorophyll-a (Chl-a). other related directives. Contribution to European water policy Hydromorphological elements, like lake depth variations, or chemical and phys- implementation io-chemical elements, like thermal conditions, are supporting the biological Additional users are national and inter- The main objective is to create con- elements for the classification. national private entities, who are dealing tinuous and well accepted services for with water quality and related issues. inland water monitoring at the European

FRESHMON Product and Service Portfolio

The FRESHMON Portfolio currently comprises

- Water quality products: • Total suspended matter related to the total scattering of the particles in the water column in [mg/l]; • Turbidity, closely related to the concentration of total suspended matter in Nephelometric Turbidity Unit [NTU]; • Chlorophyll a (Chl-a) as a measure of phytoplankton [µg/l]; • Yellow substances comprising all colored dissolved organic matter in [1/m]. - Water depth mapping from 0m to 25m in clear waters

Referring to user needs the product range may be extended with: - Algae bloom indicators - Submerged macrophyte coverage or sea floor composition - Secchi depth - Sea surface temperature Suspended matter content in rivers is regularly monitored by harbour and river authorities, due to its significant economic and ecological impact to the waterways (Rotterdam harbour).

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• Urban Waste Water Treatment detail. Satellite imagery and related Directives (91/271/EEC) & (98/15/EC) products shall be used for multiple pur- • Nitrates Directive (91/676/EEC); poses, and related products shall serve • NATURA 2000 Directive (92/43/EWG) many different users in order to offer & (79/409/EWG). competitive prices. The success of the FRESHMON services This requires a high level of acceptance will rely on product quality and on the of the products and an optimal dissemi- availability of reasonably priced prod- nation of the services, both Europe-wide ucts with adequate spatial and temporal and globally.

Map product of Total Suspended Matter at Lake Constance using RapidEye satellite data with 5m resolution (Credits: RapidEye for imagery, FRESHMON for processing).

Dr. Thomas Heege, Managing Director of EOMAP GmbH & Co.KG, has more than 15 years experience in aquatic remote level, through methodological research EO products for end-users. In the next sensing and technical consultancy. Prior to founding the EOMAP aimed at improving and harmonising project phases the focus lies on the dis- GmbH & Co.KG, he worked as a scientist and project manager at the German Aerospace Center DLR and the Technische Universität different EO-based methodologies semination of information about the München. As a remote sensing expert with experience of various for retrieving water constituents and project, its objectives, approaches, the projects in Asia, Australia and Europe he is familiar with implement- water depth. A transparent, INSPIRE service network and the end-users, and ing users specific and complex needs into practical solutions. EOMAP is the (Infrastructure for Spatial Information also the establishment of a European coordinator of the FRESHMON project. in the European Community) -compli- business network of inland water service ant product line and validation as well providers and end-users. Karin Schenk studied Geography in Tuebingen, Germany, with a as quality management standard with focus on soil science, remote sensing and GIS. After her diploma thesis on studying sediments in Yemen, she worked for a remote end-users is developed. Standardised European Union policies sensing company in Munich, Germany, on several projects such data transfer portals and efficient EO The requirements of several EU as the IACS (Integrated Administration and Control System). Since data integration of the user’s work Conservation directives are relevant to September 2011 she has been working for the FRESHMON project flows are established. The integration FRESHMON: at EOMAP GmbH & Co.KG. of coupled hydrodynamic modelling and transport components with in situ • Water Framework Directive (2000/60/ and EO measurements is performed EC); to improve assessment of spatial and • Bathing Water Directives (76/160/ temporal processes in lakes and rivers. EEC) & (2006/7/EC); FRESHMON aims at providing custom- • Marine Strategy Framework Directive isation, confidence and acceptance of (2008/56/EC);

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At national level, EU legislation (through Monitoring services to improve waste Council Directive 75/442/EEC on waste) management at local level requires each Member State to draw up one or more waste management plans in compliance with relevant EU by Daniela Drimaco Directives, which are implemented by regional or local authorities. Each individual Member State has the duty to apply the principles of these directives A waste mapping and monitoring service to improve waste management prac- when implementing a national waste tices and to detect illegal landfills using satellite Earth Observation (EO) European Local and Regional Authorities are of- management system. data is used by the environmental protection agency of the Puglia region in ten responsible for waste management. Beyond EU Member States are also required the visual pollution it represents, illegal waste Italy and by Conversano, a small town located in the same region. by law to identify all waste disposal disposal also affects local eco-systems (Credits: Worldwide, increasing waste levels are becoming extremely complex to Carla Antonini). deal with and waste management is one of the most critical environmental sites, undertake a risk assessment and then prioritise them for remediation if concerns that modern society is facing. Recent international and national current practices for waste monitoring regulations are indeed trying to establish sustainable systems that prevent necessary. in the region include: or reduce the adverse effects of waste processing or disposal on the • Inspection and monitoring activities environment. “The management of non- that are carried out by provincial de- These all-embracing characteristics make space-based Earth Observation a key hazardous residential and partments with local responsibilities; tool for the monitoring and management of a wide variety of issues related institutional waste in urban • A regional waste register that is in its to waste management. areas, including collection implementation phase; The Wastemon project provided key support for some waste management usually falls on the shoul- • Implementation of a database for il- practices using space-borne remote sensing images. Close cooperation with ders of local government legal landfill; the final users allowed the partners of the Wastemon project to clearly authorities.” • In this European and national gather their needs and to better support them in the provision of ad hoc scenario, Planetek Italia s.r.l., ERA- products, which can be integrated into their working systems. Waste management in Italy Maptec Ltd. and EBA Engineering The “Ronchi” decree (Waste Consultants are involved in the Management Act 22/97), published Wastemon project, funded by the Waste Monitoring and Management waste. In this sense, the EU has gener- in February 1997 and the subsequent European Space Agency. in Europe ated a single catalogue that meets the revisions of this Act, regulated the man- According to the European Union needs of classifying and defining all agement of waste in Italy at the national The Wastemon project Waste Framework Directive (European waste. The final version of The European level, forbidding uncontrolled landfills The project offers waste mapping and Directive 2006/12/EC), waste is defined Waste Catalogue came into force on and stipulating that every region must monitoring services aimed at improv- as “any substance or object the holder January 1st, 2002 with the European have a waste management plan. Despite ing the environment, protecting human discards, intends to discard or is re- Commission Decision 2001/118/EC (as the EU Directive of 1999, which limited health and increasing efficiency in quired to discard”. amended by 2001/119/EC). the use of landfills, this practice remains waste management across Europe and Waste may be broadly classified in three Waste can be disposed of in a number of the main method of waste disposal in Canada. The services are based upon ways: ways, including landfill, incineration, re- Italy. Moreover, a high level of illegal the use of remote sensing satellites cou- 1. Hazardous waste that usually meets cycling, mechanical biological treatment landfill sites resulted in numerous con- pled with the expertise of scientists. one or more of these four characteris- (anaerobic digestion and/or composting), victions by the European Court of Justice tics: ignitability, corrosivity, reactivity, pyrolysis and plasma arc gasification. (ECJ) in 2007. The landfill problem is par- Wastemon service offering or toxicity; The management of non-hazardous ticularly evident in southern Italy, which Wastemon is based mainly upon very 2. Non-hazardous waste; residential and institutional waste in has the largest number of illegal landfills. high-resolution applications, hyperspec- 3. Inert waste. urban areas, including collection, dis- In Puglia, a region in the south of Italy, tral and thermal satellite imagery, and to Previous differences in the terminol- posal and planning aspects, usually falls the waste management plan intends to a lesser extent on differential interfero- ogy used for waste classification led to on the shoulders of local government fight the abandonment, discharge and metric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR). calls for a standardised classification for authorities. uncontrolled disposal of waste. The These technologies are applied to filter

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municipality placed the request to of spectrally homogeneous objects. detect potential illegal waste sites in Following this, an object-based clas- The case of ARPA Puglia the mentioned area, located in the sification was performed on the basis ARPA Puglia, the local technical body of Puglia Region in charge of the moni- southern part of Puglia region. of the spectral response of the sam- toring of landfill and contaminated sites, is the Italian user that benefits from Planetek, responsible for Italy, ensured ple area waste sites. The result was Wastemon’s results as a support tool to be compliant with European, Italian and that the request could be fulfilled af- a preliminary land-cover map that regional directives. ter verification of the necessary data identified potential illegal waste sites. ARPA Puglia expressed its interest and willingness to use innovative Earth (availability of Very High Resolution The land-cover information and the Observation (EO)-based technology for landfill monitoring, by expecting to in- data and ancillary data over the test road-network was used to filter out tegrate the Wastemon products in their current waste monitoring systems. In site). such preliminary results, building a particular, the user aimed to apply the project’s results to adopt a monitoring sort of probability map based on se- and prevention strategy for illegal landfilling at the level of the municipality. The • Step 2 Feasibility analysis lective criteria such as distance from interest of the user was focused on the monitoring of buried or near-surface il- After the verification of the availability the road network of less than 100m; legal landfills, surface landfills, tyre waste and illegal industrial waste disposal. of the necessary input data, a feasi- distance from existing landfills, etc. The specific products required by ARPA Puglia are briefly described in the table bility analysis of the requirements The co-occurrence of the parameters below. expressed by ARPA Puglia was carried related to the previous criteria makes out. the probability of finding illegal sites Services Product requirements very high and allows the confirmation • Step 3 Input data collection of the waste sites mapped from the Buried or near-surface waste Location and extent of dumps of waste The WorldView-2 VHR images taken preliminary EO data processing (done with clay or sandstone topsoil in April 2011, which included multi- in step 4). Surface waste Location, extent and description of surface spectral and panchromatic bands, waste (mostly industrial dumps) were selected. The user provided the • Step 6 Product validation updated land-use map issued in July This step was implemented and Surface waste Location and extent of potential illegal 2011, as ancillary1 data useful during tested to ensure an appropriate spa- dumps of tyres the next step, and an orthophoto2 tial and thematic accuracy of the EO Table 1 Specific products required by ARPA Puglia taken in 2006. output data. A first validation check was performed by on-screen quali- • Step 4 EO data processing and Step tative analysis on the basis of the 5 Data integration areas with potential buried and surface products for a municipality located Steps 4, 5 and 6 represent the core waste as well as monitoring active land- 30 km south-east of Bari in Puglia Region component of the service chain. As a fill sites. (South Italy). first step, the WorldView-2 image was Following analysis of user requirements The extent of the test area is about geometrically corrected in the refer- and business opportunities for EO data 130 km2. Urban areas account for about ence system requested by ARPA Puglia in waste management, the following 10%, while most of the rest of the terri- (UTM33 WGS84). Then, the corrected four services are offered: tory is covered by orchards, olive groves image was submitted for segmenta- • Service 1A – Detection of sites with and arable land. As in most of southern tion process in an eCogniton3 software potential buried waste Italy, this area is frequently affected by environment in order to produce a set • Service 1B – Support for in situ investi- the phenomena of illegal waste disposal gations and monitoring of sites known frequently located in the countryside. to have buried waste The steps of the service chain imple- 1 Data from sources other than remote sensing, used • Service 2 – Detection of sites with po- mented by the Wastemon project and to assist in analysis and classification or to populate metadata. tential surface waste tested in Puglia are described below. 2 Aerial photograph geometrically corrected (“or- Subset of test site showing the output of auto- • Service 3 – Mapping active landfills thorectified”) such that the scale is uniform: the matic processing in red and the final delineation • Step 1 Ordering product photo has the same lack of distortion as a map. of an illegal waste site in yellow. The World-View2 3 eCognition is an original object-based image image also allows identifying the tracks of the Planetek Italia has implemented some ARPA Puglia and the local Urban analysis software for geo-spatial solutions for any illegal transport of material to the site (Credits: of the aforesaid services by developing Planning Office of the Apulian environment, data type, or specialised application. Planetek Italia s.r.l.).

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Very-High-Resolution image available with reference to the particular critical Planning Office started a field campaign over the area of interest (WorldView-2 events affecting the site. which aimed to check the reliability of the image and ortophoto). Then a field- information provided to proceed with le- survey was performed in order to User feedback and Wastemon services gal action if cases of illegal waste disposal assess the plausibility of the output benefits were confirmed. The field checks have result. Figure 2, which shows images The Italian end-user organisations in- been performed by the police authority taken during the field survey, confirms volved in the Wastemon project are in in charge of environmental monitoring. the occurrence of illegal waste sites. charge of environmental monitoring As a result, the information detected by Over 10 potential illegal waste sites both at regional scale (ARPA Puglia) remote sensing has been confirmed and were mapped in the area of interest, and at local scale (Apulian Municipality, some legal action has been initiated for and a sample of 5 sites were selected Urban Planning Office). the confiscation of those plots of land to be visited physically. The field sur- Example of surface waste map produced for an where a waste site was detected. Apulian site (Credits: Planetek Italia s.r.l.). vey confirmed the occurrence of illegal At the end of the testing activity, the The success case in Puglia, is evidenced waste sites in 4 of these therefore re- • Step 7 Product formatting and resulting products have been deliv- not only by the legal measures taken by sulting in an accuracy of 80%. delivery ered directly to the local user, the the local authorities but also by the great The map of the potential waste sites Urban Planning Office of the Apulian echo of the news published by the local “The Urban Planning Office was delivered following a template of Municipality in order to collect the first newspapers, highlighting the importance of the Municipality consid- ArcGIS digital layout (Figure 3). The impression on the quality of the output. of the information extracted from satel- ered that the product is an results are projected in the reference The user showed great interest in the lite data analysis for the local authority effective way to optimise system requested by the final user. results, and deemed it a useful source and the real possibility for the service to the traditional monitoring The waste site map is delivered with of support for their current cartography be fully integrated into their land moni- activity” a technical report describing the char- updating and to complete the under- toring activity. acterisation of the area under analysis standing of their local land evolution. The final results have been evaluated as The satellite-derived product has been a very useful tool to take operative and evaluated as an effective way to optimise strict decisions in a faster, more accu- the traditional monitoring activity and a rate and economic way. Moreover, the complementary instrument to face the integration of the final products into the even more frequent phenomena of ille- user’s working systems, allowed the cus- gal exploitation of land resources. tomer to further appreciate the results As a matter of fact, after the delivery and to better understand the potential of the waste map, the Apulian Urban of Earth Observation data.

Daniela Drimaco received the degree in Telecommunication Engineering in 2005 from the Federico II University of Naples, Italy. From July 2006 to February 2007 she started an on-the-job training period in Planetek Italia s.r.l., Bari, Italy through which she did an internship at ESRIN centre, European Space Agency, Frascati, Italy focused on Earth Observation and WebGIS technologies exploitation for environmental monitoring and management applications. From March 2007 up to now she works in Planetek Italia s.r.l. as Business Development Manager R&D supporting the technical and economical project proposal and following the main Earth Observation R&D activities carried out by European Commission, European Space Agency, Italian Space Agency, national and local institutes.

Illegal waste areas confirmed in situ after being detected using EO data (Credits: Planetek Italia s.r.l.).

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standardised and sustainable service on requirements of snow and ice products CryoLand – Copernicus Snow and snow, glacier and lake/river ice monitor- for the different applications were col- Land Ice Monitoring Service ing. This addresses diverse stakeholders lected in several user workshops held in from hydropower generation and wa- 2011, with more than 60 participating ter management, traffic security and organisations operating in a wide range by Thomas Nagler guidance (roads, railways, and rivers), of application fields, including water geotechnical and construction compa- management and flood forecasting, nies, the tourism industry, ecology and meteorology, hydro power generation, IN THE CRYOLAND PROJECT, A FULLY INTEGRATED AND USER RELEVANT SNOW AND LAND agricultural management. ecology and agriculture. The production ICE SERVICE IS DEVELOPED AND TESTED, BUILDING UPON EARTH OBSERVATION DATA of snow and ice products builds upon INCLUDING THE SOon TO BE LAUNCHED Copernicus SENTINEL SATELLITE FAMILY. FULLY Geo-spatial snow and ice products methods and processing lines devel- VALIDATED SNOW AND LAND ICE PRODUCTS COVERING LOCAL TO CONTINENTAL SCALES CryoLand creates a self-sustained ser- oped by scientists and technicians of ARE DELIVERED IN NEAR REAL TIME TO USERS OPERATING IN VARIOUS APPLICATION FIELDS. vice to support the better management the project partners and optimised with- CRYOLAND HAS THE POTENTIAL TO FULLY COVER THE CRYOSPHERE COMPONENT OF THE of snow and ice resources for activi- in CryoLand to match the needs of the Copernicus LAND SERVICE. ties in different application fields. The various users. The product specifications There are only a few environmental top- Snow and ice are characterised by high ics which are more urgent to study than temporal and spatial variability. The the sustained supply of fresh water. As seasonal snow cover responds to short climate change adds more uncertainty term weather conditions, but seasonal to the availability and distribution of and inter-annual variations are also of fresh water, understanding the huge great importance for hydrology and cli- water resources which are contained mate monitoring. Given this variability, within snow and glaciers are vital factors cross-referencing and superimposing in planning for the future. The possible broad-ranging temporal and spatial depletion of water from glaciers- and data is important for managing the snow-covered environments may have amount of water coming from melting a big impact for human consumption, snow packs, and for assessing the im- agriculture, hydropower generation and pact of climate change. other uses, not to mention its role for ecosystems and biological diversity. “CryoLand creates a self- The CryoLand Project (2011-2015), sup- sustained service to support ported by the EU Seventh Framework better management of snow Programme (FP7), develops and imple- and ice resources” ments integrated and comprehensive products for monitoring and subsequent Satellites are excellent tools for moni- management of snow and ice resources. toring glaciers and seasonal snow The project builds on Earth Observation cover and their physical properties, satellite data and in situ measurements delivering accurate observations which for generating and delivering a portfolio are not only relevant for climate change of products to customers operating in research – but also for the socio-eco- various application fields. The products nomic well-being of large communities. of CryoLand include the extent of sea- As a value-added Service, CryoLand will sonal snow cover, maps of melting snow receive Earth Observation data inputs area, statistical snow information tuned directly from the Copernicus Space to match drainage basins, glacier out- Component and from third party satel- Fractional Snow Map for the Alps, April 2nd, 2011, based on MODIS satellite data. Blue lines delineate drainage basins specified by regional hydrological services in Austria. For the basins statistical snow lines, snow / ice maps on glaciers, and lite missions. From this data, CryoLand information is calculated on demand, an example of snow area / elevation curve and snow extent for lake / river ice extent. develops, implements and validates a aspect classes is given for drainage basin Mittersill, Alps (Credits: ENVEO).

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and priorities for implementation were Service into the fractional snow cover water and ice surface temperature prod- consolidated jointly with users in a retrieval algorithms. Beside the regional ucts prototype algorithms are available. User Coordination Meeting, held in snow products, the project team works An important task of CryoLand is to Stockholm in May 2012. towards a fully validated Pan-European fully validate the production lines and Snow Extent product. For snow melt products, to provide estimates on the “CryoLand products match runoff modelling, up-to-date informa- performance and uncertainty of the ser- the needs of a large range tion on the extent of melting snow is vices. Depending on the nature of the of users, from local authori- important. Synthetic Aperture Radar product, validation and performance ties to the tourism industry” (SAR) images are used as input to an assessments are carried out using automated method for mapping snow very high spatial resolution satellite Snow products with highest priority for melt areas. Due to its high temporal Ice velocity field from multi-temporal data made available through the Data implementation in the CryoLand Service and spatial variability, seasonal snow is TerraSAR-X data using image cross-correlation, Warehouse mechanism or in situ meas- are snow extent, snow water equivalent monitored on a daily basis and requires Breidamerkurjokull, Iceland (Credits: ENVEO). urements available at partners or users (presently available at low spatial reso- well defined and optimised data flows premises. lution), and snow melt areas. Follow-up from the satellite data providers to the The glacier outline (defining the total products include snow wetness, surface CryoLand processing centre to enable glacier area) is basic information which temperature and spectral albedo maps. timely delivery of the products to users. is also required to derive other glacier The snow extent products cover region- CryoLand’s glacier products are based products from satellite images. The pro- al to continental scales, use high spatial on high spatial resolution, multi-spectral cessing line uses multi-spectral, optical resolution optical satellite data (e.g. optical and SAR data. The guidelines satellite images from high spatial resolu- ASTER, Landsat TM/ETM+, SPOT, in for generating glacier products and tion sensors (SPOT-5, IKONOS, Landsat near future also Sentinel-2) and medium the product format follows interna- ETM+, ASTER, etc.). Time sequences resolution optical sensors (e.g. MODIS, tional standards of the Global Land of snow and ice area extent on glaciers in the near future also Sentinel-3). Ice Measurement from Space (GLIMS) during the melting period, supplied Improvements for snow mapping in dif- programme. The primary product is by the project, are key information for ferent environments are achieved by glacier outlines (boundaries), followed computing the melt water contribution integrating accurate land cover data up by maps of snow and ice areas, ice and estimating glacier mass balance. At from the Copernicus Land Monitoring velocities, and maps of glacial lakes. the end of summer, the ratio of snow to ice area extent is a proxy for the annual mass balance of a glacier, which is an essential climate variable. Ice mo- Time series of lake ice extent of Lake Peispi, tion data are needed to determine and Estonia, from optical satellite data (Credits: Finish predict a glacier’s dynamic response to Environment Institute / SYKE). climate change. Repeat pass SAR images enable the mapping of ice motion at high accuracy by means of differential processing techniques. Primary lake and river ice products include ice extent and concentration, and snow cover on lake ice, derived from optical satellite data. Ice cover on lakes and rivers is also obtained from SAR data. Additionally, users are interested in snow depth and snow water equivalent of lake ice; algorithms based Map of melting snow (red colour) of Eastern Alps, June 9th, 2006, from Envisat ASAR Image Glacier boundaries (red lines) and late summer snow / ice extent, Ötztal Alps, August 31st, 2009. Snow on passive microwave data at low spa- Mode data, superimposed to ASAR amplitude areas (cyan), Ice areas (dark blue), based on Landsat-5 TM (R-G-B: TM Band 5-4-3) - (Credits: ENVEO). tial resolution are in development. For image (Credits: ENVEO).

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Well developed data flow integration of CryoLand functions and access with well-defined interfaces. The targeted areas and for times specified The design, development and imple- products into the user’s Geographic design of the CryoLand Service System directly by the user, without the down- mentation of the network of snow and Information System (GIS), modelling follows the recommendations provided load of large files containing only small ice services has been conceived with a tools and decision support environ- by GIGAS (GEOSS, INSPIRE and GMES amounts of relevant information. The high level of interoperability, compliant ments. Through full end-to-end tests an Action in Support), and applies the tools for processing and information with INSPIRE and GEOSS, as well as and verification of products and ser- Open Geo-spatial Consortium Reference extraction on demand, e.g. the calcula- with the Land Monitoring Service, the vices in pre-operational environments, Model of Open Distributed Processing. tion of the snow extent within a drainage Copernicus Space Component Data rigorous procedures and protocols for Interfaces are established and imple- basin, are optimised in cooperation with Access System, and the required in situ validation and qualification are ensured. mented to allow direct integration of users. Far from being a fixed service, and reference data access. Due to fast CryoLand products into GIS systems, CryoLand will be improved and aug- temporal changes of the snow and ice “Users are interested in modelling tools and decision-support mented as time goes on, to be adapted parameters, fully automatic processing snow depth and snow water environments. Additionally, the system to the user requirements at the partner lines and well developed data flow lines equivalent of lake ice” enables the provision of information for institutions as needed. are needed for timely provision of up- to-date products. CryoLand Services are The CryoLand Service System CryoLand in a nutshell provided by different service providers, The products themselves are important, Project Web Site: http://www.CryoLand.eu each with high level expertise in the but so is ensuring their timely and ef- snow and ice remote sensing domain. ficient delivery. The project’s system Project partners The designed service system enables architecture ensures that its products ENVEO IT GmbH (Project Coordinator), Norwegian Computing Centre, Oslo, NO the standardised provision of online are made available to users through Innsbruck, AT services which can be consumed by modern and efficient mechanisms EOX IT Services GmbH, Vienna, AT Northern Research Institute AS, Tromsø, NO different clients for an easy and direct for information distribution and data Finnish Environmental Institute, Helsinki, FI National Meteorological Administration, Bucharest, RO Finnish Meteorological Institute, Sodankylä, FI Gamma Remote Sensing AG, Gümligen, CH Kongsberg Satellite Services AS, Tromsø, NO Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute, SE

Thomas Nagler is Managing Director of ENVEO. Thomas received the M.Sc. degree in Meteorology and Geophysics and the Ph.D. degree from the Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Innsbruck, Austria, in 1991 and 1996, respectively. From 1991 to 2004, he was a Research Scientist with the Institute of Meteorology and Geophysics, University of Innsbruck. In 2001, he became Cofounder and Managing Director of ENVEO - Environmental Earth Observation IT GmbH, Innsbruck. His main research activities include microwave signatures and inversion methods for snow and ice parameter retrieval, satellite applications for cryospheric research and hydrology, natural hazards monitoring and the assimilation of remote-sensing products in geophysical- process models. Thomas was project and work package leader of ESA, FP6- EC, and national research projects, and is the Coordinator of the Copernicus CryoLand Project. He has coordinated and/or participated in several scientific expeditions to Alps, Patagonia, and Antarctica and was involved in international field campaigns in preparation for new satellite systems.

Data flow of CryoLand Services.

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The PIGMA platform: sharing geographical information in Aquitaine

The sharing of geographic information is the innovation proposed by PIGMA (Platform for shared geographical information in Aquitaine) for a key regional issue: helping public decision-making in the field of spatial planning. Implemented in 2008 and organised by the GIP ATGeRi (Public Interest Group on Spatial Planning and Risk Management), PIGMA aims to create a framework for decompartmentalising geographical information and making it accessible to all stakeholders of the public sphere.

The foundations of PIGMA: exchanging constituting a participatory database or and sharing geographical information virtual library of geographical data. Geographical information such as aerial photography, satellite data, maps, Each member must sign a “partnership digital data files etc. have become in- agreement for the provision of digital dispensable for spatial planning. Since data” which governs the provision of 2008 state agencies, local authorities, information acquired by PIGMA and Home-page of the PIGMA portal. public and parastatal institutions, edu- their use; the agreement specifies in cational and research institutions of the particular the ownership and licensing Aquitaine Region (France) as well as of exchanged data rights which may not A strategic decision making tool for the The Viewer: a reading of the territory the voluntary sector, can access a large be commercially exploited. Aquitaine region: the www.PIGMA.org The PIGMA viewer offers a common en- collection of spatial data thanks to the portal try point to a combined dataset acquired PIGMA platform. As of July 1st, 2012, PIGMA federated The www.PIGMA.org portal aims to by PIGMA: SCAN25® (map 1:25 000), 361 members and 1691 data layers. facilitate access to spatial data for BD TOPO® (relief), BD ADDRESS® (geo- The PIGMA platform, is in line with the PIGMA is co-financed by European PIGMA’s partners. The portal allows located addresses) and BD ORTHO® INSPIRE Directive, which aims to pro- Regional Development Fund (ERDF) partners to securely access all the ser- (aerial photos). The aerial photography mote the production and exchange funds (45%) and the Regional Council vices proposed by PIGMA. Five services coverage for the entire Aquitaine terri- of geographical data at the European of Aquitaine (25%). The remaining 30% are now available: the Editorial Site, the tory was acuired by the French National scale. PIGMA has therefore two main is funded by the GIP ATGeRi. PIGMA Data Catalogue, the Data Extractor, the Geographical Institute (IGN). Its 40 cm objectives: offers real benefits to its users; the most Viewer and access to Data Streams. spatial resolution makes it possible to • data: to establish a common reference obvious one is the saving of public mon- Since the second version of the portal, distinguish road markings. and a market for exchange of geo- ey through free access to geographic all access rights are managed centrally graphical data at the regional level; reference datasets. and the five services interact with each Since early 2011, IGN has used PIGMA • services: to support users that wish other. to distribute some of its products (main- to develop and use geographical This one-stop service allows the com- ly those specific to its public service information. bined use of diverse information to The regional portal is compliant with missions). PIGMA has become IGN’s improve the understanding of the ter- all standards to enable the greatest regional partner for the dissemina- PIGMA’s members have at their dispos- ritory, which was previously impossible, interoperability with PIGMA partners’ tion of these products and data to its al the geographical information of the thus constituting a real decision-making tools, platforms in neighbouring regions members. network and share their own data, thus tool. (where they exist) and national tools etc. In addition, the viewer provides access

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to data provided by partners, such as: Copernicus services soon available on PIGMA • environmental areas; • risk areas; Within the frame of the APSAT • classified sites, historical monuments; project (Public action, satellite • the route of the high speed train line; technology and sustainable de- • land register, land use; velopment), co-funded by the EU • solar farms; under the Interreg IVB SUDOE pro- • aerial or underground networks (water, gramme and in which the Regional electricity, optic fibre...); etc. Council of Aquitaine is involved as partner, three innovative Copernicus Without being a GIS tool, the Viewer downstream services are being first meets the mapping needs of com- developed. munities that do not have the necessary One of them focuses on the estima- resources to develop their own tools. tion of forest volume and biomass, The Viewer allows for layering data on and the other two on near shore ba- the same geographical area. In addition thymetry and the monitoring of dune to data visualisation, it allows data to erosion. be combined to perform multi-criteria

or multi-themed analyses. By June 2013, the results of these projects will be catalogued and The data catalogue: continuing to searchable in PIGMA. expand Each signatory to the PIGMA agreement undertakes to continue to supply the data catalogue with new information, to update information already present and PIGMA training enrich it where possible. As of June 1st, Functioning of the PIGMA platform. 2012, 1377 data layers were catalogued. PIGMA delivers training workshops The catalogue allows the user to search Stream Exchanger. implementation of tools using spatial to teach its members how to use the by geographical area or theme with key- data. platform. words with an intuitive search function PIGMA is therefore an evolving tool, As far as the data catalogue is con- to assist the user in their choice. Data regularly enriched as new partners join PIGMA also assists its partners in cata- cerned, these workshops focus on are accompanied by a descriptive data the network and as current partners loguing their data and encourages them key questions such as how to read sheet, in a standardised form accord- share new data. to do so. PIGMA also helps them in the a data sheet, how to identify which ing to the requirements of the European difficult but essential task of creating a partner has which data in a specific INSPIRE Directive. Assisting partners knowledge base of information avail- area, and how to download data. PIGMA’s team assists its members in able in Aquitaine. The second version of the platform in- several ways. In the frame of projects Regarding the viewer, the training cluded the Editorial Site, the Extractor aimed at producing or using geographi- In particular, PIGMA’s team accompanies allows the PIGMA members to test and the Stream Exchanger in addition cal data, PIGMA can provide support some partners in the standardisation of the tool, its various functionalities to the services already available. The to write project specifications, identify their data or in posting them on the (navigation, search, layers, printing), Editorial Site, allows users to dissemi- and choose a contractor, monitor de- portal. use constraints (Internet speed, nate information on specific topics, velopments or the production of data. browser), and the main repositories technologies, and practices at the na- Above all, PIGMA’s objective is to en- This support is provided through the or- available for consultation. tional or European level, while users can sure the best possible consideration of ganisation of events held twice a year download data via the extractor or the regional needs in the development and at the regional level and more locally,

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demonstrator, the deployment of tools for The objectives of participation are telecommunication networks (Gr@ce – cf. manifold: box) or the undertaking of a study on land use along the entire Aquitaine coastline. • to keep up with the implementation of INSPIRE and developments of tools An information relay in the region related to SDI; GIP ATGeRi participates in several • to disseminate Aquitaine needs at the working groups taking place at the na- national level; tional level on the implementation of • to get information and best practices the INSPIRE Directive and the devel- down from the national level to the opment of tools dedicated to spatial regional level; data infrastructures (SDI). It also par- • to interact with other regional ticipates in the national working group platforms. on Land Use and is actively involved in the Regional Platforms working group Thus, PIGMA serves as a regional relay of AFIGEO (French Association for of information, both from an ascending Geographical Information). and descending point of view.

For more information www.PIGMA.org – www.PIGMA.com – [email protected] PIGMA regional event.

in each department (equivalent to UK Working groups focusing on major counties) of the Region. There are also topics of interest The mission of GIP ATGeRi (Public Interest Group on Spatial training courses focusing on the differ- The PIGMA team organises working Planning and Risk Management) is to develop decision-making ent tools offered by the portal. groups, bringing together the different tools to help regional public players in their missions of preven- stakeholders interested in some major tion, forecasting, environmental protection, risk management topics associated with the Aquitaine and sustainable development. Region. These Working Groups are also meant to foster exchanges about In that frame, GIP ATGeRI provides access to spatial data, user training and Gr@ce: a regional tool for geo- members’ needs and experiences or assistance for the development of new products (software and database), referencing and automated discussions about initiatives launched consulting and engineering services in the area of GIS, and contributions to referencing of electronic in other regions and at national or the dissemination of information in its field of expertise. communications European level. Currently, six working groups meet three to four times a year GIP ATGeRi was officially established in October 2005 and involves: Gr@ce is an online tool dedicated on the following topics: • the French State; to the management of telecommu- • Coastal management • the Regional Council of Aquitaine; nications infrastructures (mapping, • Land use on a large scale • several departmental fire and rescue services; update, forum, etc.) supported by • The socio-economic sector • the regional association for the defence of forests against fire (ARDFCI); the Regional Council of Aquitaine. • Telecommunication networks • the National Forestry Office (ONF). It is also available as a mobile tool • Open data through the use of a tablet to fa- • Planning Historically, the expertise of GIP ATGeRi started to develop well before its cilitate the collection, mapping and creation, around the key issue of forest fire risk, with the implementation of updating of data on the field even Such working groups have led to the a shared cartography between the relevant stakeholders in 1996. without web connection. implementation of joint projects like the development of a socio-economic

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selected LTER sites located in differ- LTER-Italy sites are potential providers of Sensing long-term environmental ent European countries. The national in situ data for Copernicus services. This change through regional monitoring: LTER Italy network is part of this project article presents three examples from through the participation of several na- terrestrial, lacustrine and marine habi- the Long Term Ecosystem Research tional sites. tats. The LTER North-Western Adriatic LTER Italy (www.lteritalia.it) comprises 20 Sea site already provides data for the Network (LTER) sites, which include freshwater, marine Copernicus Marine Service through its and terrestrial environments represent- involvement in MyOcean and MyWaves by Alessandro Campanaro, Alessandro Oggioni ing the main ecosystem typologies of projects. In the two other sites, Lake the country. This is completed with two Garda and North-Western Alps, the Alessandra Pugnetti* international sites (Himalayan Lakes existing automatically recorded medi- and Antarctic). All sites have been se- um-to-long term field data provides the lected according to LTER-International opportunity for comparison with remote The very objective of LTER is the ecological research and the monitoring of criteria. Many Italian institutions par- sensing data. This spatially extensive various ecosystem types spanning broad ranges of environmental conditions ticipate in LTER-Italy, notably through remote sensing data may be useful to and human domination of the landscape. In that regard, LTER can support the site management and network coordi- spatially interpolate point data taken in further development and implementation of Copernicus by acting as a vali- nation: the National Research Council, the field. dation network but also in situ data provider for Copernicus products. LTER the National Forest Service, Universities, monitoring activities are led in coordination with local decision makers and the Zoological Station of Napoli and A joint coastal oceanographic technical entities involved in environmental monitoring. The data collected Regional Environmental Agencies. observatory network in the Adriatic Sea locally in the frame of LTER activities can in return benefit local end-users (LTER-Italy site: North-Western Adriatic by contributing to further enhance Copernicus services. “The collection of an ex- Sea) tensive Space-time variety Fixed measuring stations and oceano- of data is an excellent graphic buoys are fundamental to The LTER vision promotes collaborative policy, not only at local level but also at starting point to support en- understand and manage the marine initiatives with local decision makers national and international level, is the vironmental protection and environment. This is particularly im- The essence of LTER is the collection of main challenge of the LTER network. management initiatives” portant in dynamic coastal areas, an extensive Space-time variety of data, A first step in this sense has been pro- given the delicate balance between therefore the network is an excellent vided by the EnvEurope Life+ Project starting point to support environmental (cf. box). By building SEIS (Shared protection and management initiatives. Environmental Information System) Successful results have been reached and supporting the implementation of at local level by implementing specific Copernicus, the “Environmental Policy monitoring-forecasting systems as well and Governance” Life+ priority area as Decision Supporting Systems (DSS) to strengthens the knowledge base for help with developing and implementing policy making and implementation. The environmental planning strategies. EnvEurope Life+ project, which was se- A strong effort to promote more fruit- lected under this priority area, promotes ful cooperation between science and the participation of representatives of

* Article written in collaboration with: Paolo Colangelo, Sapienza University of Rome IT - Dept. Biology and Biotecnology “Charles Darwin”; Mauro Bastianini, National Research Council of Italy - Institute of Marine Science; Claudia Giardino, National Research Council of Italy - Institute for Electromagnetic Sensing of the Environment; Paola Focaccia, National Research Council of Italy - Institute of Marine Science; Michele Freppaz, University of Torino - DIVAPRA Agricultural Chemistry and Pedology - LNSA, NatRisk; The geoportal, which presents the Italian sites involved in the LTER network. Green markers: terrestrial Mariangela Ravaioli, National Research Council of Italy - Institute of Marine Sciences. sites; light blue markers: freshwater sites; blue markers: marine sites (Credits: LTER Italia).

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buoys are moored; the Gulf of Venice The LTER network with the Acqua Alta Oceanographic Tower (run by CNR-ISMAR in Venice); The Long-Term Ecosystem Research-network (LTER) is a network of sites where a and sites S1 south of the Po Delta and series of ecological data is gathered over several decades, at regional, national and E1 off Rimini (both run by CNR-ISMAR in continental scales. LTER sites consist of various reference ecosystems, research and Bologna); the Telesenigallia mast (run by monitoring facilities that form part of a global network. The long-term ecological CNR-ISMAR in Ancona) at the southern research gives a scientific background for the study and interpretation of global limit of the North-Adriatic Sea. environment modifications caused by human activities (e.g. the increase in the rate of supply of organic matter in an ecosystem –eutrophication- or introduction The MyOcean and MyWave Copernicus of alien species). It can also be used for identifying trends, planning solutions and projects use the data supplied by the assessing the success of environmental management projects. The research network can also deal with the socio-economic effects of the modi- platforms and buoys listed below to fication of the natural environment, which can result in misleading interpretations. validate forecast models: LTER benefits from a solid interdisciplinary approach to the study of environmental • The MAMBO buoy is moored to a problems, which in recent years has involved the socio-ecological aspects. 20 m seabed in the Gulf of Trieste Following the start of the first LTER programme in the USA in the 1980s, a number by the edge of the Miramare marine park. It collects and transmits real- Map of the buoys and fixed platforms in the NW of national LTER networks have been established. These have been at the global Adriatic Sea (Credits: CNR-ISMAR). and European level, giving rise to LTER-International and LTER-Europe. time meteorological and marine data: currents along the column with ADCP, The European LTER networks are associated with a number of relevant initiatives temperature and salinity are recorded temperature at surface and bottom, or programmes at European (e.g. Natura2000, Copernicus and SEIS - Shared continuously. The buoy is an ideal salinity, turbidity, oxygen, chloro- Environmental Information System) or international level. laboratory for using advanced instrumentation to measure marine currents phyll-a and sea level) with a series of or monitor dissolved carbon dioxide meteorological stations and oceanographic instruments. A direct view of environmental and socio-economic • Meteorological parameters near the concentration; the sea’s condition around the tower is factors. At European level, technologi- surface, where the dynamics of energy • The Paloma mast is located 12 km off- available continuously thanks to three cal progress now makes it possible to exchange between atmosphere and shore in the Gulf of Trieste, at a depth high-resolution webcams installed on automatically measure many sea state the sea represent a noteworthy source of 25 m. It records data of sea tem- the roof. Two underwater webcams variables, particularly applicable to of criticality for numerical forecasting. perature, wind speed and direction, air are installed at -3 m and -12 m to ob- water quality monitoring (for swim- temperature, relative humidity, precipi- serve biological populations and to ming, public health, food safety and “LTER-Italy sites are poten- tation, solar radiation, and air pressure. monitor potentially critical phenom- environmental protection) and for tial providers of in situ data The data acquisition and elaboration ena such as jellyfish swarms etc.; the understanding of environmental for Copernicus services” occurs every 5 minutes and transmis- • The S1 buoy is located at 7,5 km change. Measuring physiochemical and sion is in near real-time (every 3 hours); to the southeast of the Po di Goro biological sea states through automatic In Italy various research institutes, • The Acqua Alta research tower was mouth in the Po Delta. It is moored data gathering systems is the new fron- gathered in the National Operational installed in January 1970 and is lo- at a depth of 22,5 m in a coastal area tier of modern oceanography; for this Oceanography Group (GNOO), are cated 15 km from the city of Venice. dominated by the sea-river energy purpose the use of a joint observatory responsible for the upkeep and man- A broadband wireless communication exchange, which is sensitive even to is crucial. These instruments are able to agement of the instrumentation system between the tower and the op- the smallest variations in any given provide real-time monitoring with high used on buoys. There are six princi- erating institute allows real time data environmental component. The site is temporal resolution sampling for: pal long-standing stations dedicated availability. Measurements routinely optimal for studying climate variability • The principal parameters describing to observing the sea’s status in the acquired with periodic samplings re- in the upper Adriatic, the role of the the physiochemical and biological Northern Adriatic Sea (Figure 2): the late to biology, chemistry and physical seabed in local dystrophic1 and sedi- conditions of a marine environment, Gulf of Trieste near the Miramare re- oceanography. Autonomous instru- such as: temperature, salinity, current serve where the MAMBO (run by the ments cover atmospheric (wind, air speed and direction, pH, oxygen satu- Trieste Institute of Oceanography and and water temperature, atmospheric 1 Distrophic refers to basins with brown coloured waters, which results from high concentrations of ration, chlorophyll, transparency and Experimental Geophysics OGS) and pressure, humidity, precipitation) humic substances and organic acids suspended backscattering; Paloma (run by CNR-ISMAR in Trieste) and hydrological parameters (waves, in the water.

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“The in situ long time se- -Gruppo Nazionale di Oceanografia ENVEUROPE (LIFE+ PROJECT ENV/IT/000399) ries of data acquired in Operativa- supported by the Italian the Northern Adriatic Sea Environment Ministry). The data from EnvEurope began and is being developed have, for instance, led to buoys, included both in the setting-up within the LTER-Europe network, which rep- the development of a deci- and validation phases of the forecasting resents more than 400 sites across Europe sion support system helping models, assure the high quality level of and the Near East. The project contributes to local authorities in the man- the meteo-oceanographic Adriatic Sea the integration and coordination of long-term ecosystem research and monitoring agement of events affecting previsions. initiatives in Europe. It focuses on understanding the current status of ecosystems ecosystem integrity” and how they are changing, and is characterised by a broad-scale and cross- Combining in situ and satellite data for domain approach (terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecosystems), combining the In situ long time series of data acquired lake management (LTER-Italy site: Lake efforts of over 65 LTER sites in 11 countries. in the Northern Adriatic Sea have been Garda) EnvEurope was conceived and organised to play a role in the conceptual and op- fundamental for the development of Lake Garda is one of the most impor- erational context of SEIS, promoted by the European Commission. The permanent applied research initiatives involving tant touristic areas in Italy, but also a long-term site network on which the EnvEurope project focuses will represent a regional and local policy authorities, very valuable one as far as hydrologi- valuable system for in situ validation of satellite data, thus also supporting the im- environmental protection agencies and cal resources are concerned. Together plementation of the Copernicus programme. EnvEurope will supply ecological data socio-economic actors. with the other Italian Subalpine lakes and information on the status and long-term trends of terrestrial, freshwater and One example is an observation and (Maggiore, Lugano, Como and Iseo), it marine ecosystems at the European level, based on field data gathered at different 3-D forecasting system and a decision plays a central role in the overall water scales. It will thus contribute to bridging the gap between science and policy and support system aiming to help local balance of the Po River Valley, repre- improve scientific support to the EU’s environmental policy and conservation plans. authorities in the management of hy- senting together more than 20% of the The National Research Council of Italy, through the Institute of Marine Sciences, poxic and anoxic events. This system, entire basin of the Po River. coordinates the project, which runs from 2010 to 2013. with special focus on the Rimini coastal The possibility to monitor these lacus- area, is based on an early-warning trine ecosystems permanently, through system, which predicts spatial and tem- Space-based services and in situ ob- mentation processes and sediment air temperature) and oceanographic poral evolution of the marine oxygen servations, can provide many answers re-suspension in pro-delta areas; data (sea temperature, current speed concentration, thus supporting the ad- about the impact of human and natural • The E1 buoy is located 5.5 km north and direction and sea level) and near ministrative and socio-economic actors modifications, biodiversity loss, global of the city of Rimini. It is moored at a real-time data transmission at present (Municipality of Rimini, Emilia-Romagna warming and the increasing occurrence depth of 10.5 m and is representative (manual data recovery via GSM every Region, Agency for protection and of natural hazards. of a wide stretch of the coast between 2-7 days). environment of the Emilia-Romagna Rimini and Ancona. Its monitoring is The buoys acquire meteorological and Region - ARPA) in adopting short-term mainly used for forecasting hypoxic2 oceanographic data. As far as the at- and long-term strategies to reduce the and anoxic3 episodes that in the past mosphere is concerned, they measure impacts that these marine risks can have have often characterised this part of temperature, pressure, wind speed on tourism, fishing and the environment. the coast; and direction, relative humidity and Widely speaking, implementations and • The TeleSenigallia mast, which is net radiation. For oceanography they progress in the field of oceanographic two kilometres offshore of the city measure current direction and intensity, and meteorological predictions are of Senigallia, at the bottom depth temperature, salinity, oxygen saturation, supported by long-term intense co- of 10.5 m, provides meteorological pH, turbidity and fluorescence. operation with national and regional data (wind speed and direction and environmental protection agencies All these buoys and platforms are sup- (ISPRA– the National Institute for 2 Hypoxia is a phenomenon that occurs in aquat- ported by the governments of the Environmental Protection and Lake Garda, the largest in Italy, is surrounded by ic environments as dissolved oxygen becomes regions involved (Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Research-, ARPA– the Regional Agency mountains and represents a major environmental so reduced in concentration that it endangers Veneto, Emilia-Romagna and Marche) for Prevention and Environment of as well as an important tourism area. Monitoring aquatic organisms living in the system. activities help protecting the ecological status 3 Anoxic events or anoxic events occur when the and by their respective environmental Emilia-Romagna- and National Civil of the area despite the multiple leisure activities oceans become completely depleted of oxygen agencies. Protection) and groups (GNOO (Credits: Fabio Alessandro Locati).

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Only on one occasion were specific Monitoring the alpine environment in situ measurements acquired for the using satellite and in situ data production of thematic maps, relating (LTER-Italy site: North-Western Alps) to the distribution of aquatic mac- The Alps represent one of the most sen- rophytes4. These observations give sitive terrestrial ecosystems in Europe, meaningful information for lakeshore due to natural and human factors. The management and are useful for the Alpine Convention states that the Alpine Maps of surface chlorophyll-a concentration, evaluation of the long-term evolution environment is under imminent threat transparency and water temperature in Lake Garda (Credits: CNR-IREA). of macrophyte populations. and demands comprehensive counter- All these activities, following the measures. The planning and success of Studies on Lake Garda with remote Copernicus philosophy of integration every preventative measure strictly de- sensing techniques, made at the CNR’s of Earth Observation with in situ data, pends on the availability of knowledge The Angelo Mosso mountain research station (2901 m ASL - Monte Rosa Massif, Italy) (Credits: (Italian National Research Council) allow the provision of constant monitor- and information about the state and Università degli Studi di Torino-NatRisk-LNSA). Eugenio Zilioli Experimental Station, ing services and infrastructure not only evolution of the ecological conditions started in the early 1990s. These studies for Lake Garda but also for the entire of the Alpine environment. In particular, were consolidated after 1996 through subalpine lakes district. The main end- the maintenance of long-term observa- Environmental Protection of the Valle participation in the Satellite Remote users benefiting from this are the local tions is essential when dealing with such d’Aosta region (ARPA Valle d’Aosta). Sensing for Lake Monitoring (SALMON) agencies and communities in charge a sensitive ecosystem. The synergies FP4 project. In 2000 the station was of monitoring and assessing the status between conventional terrestrial inves- “The information collected established as a permanent point of of the lake. An example of this use is tigations and satellite remote sensing contributes to the monitor- reference for the collection of in situ the Centro di Rilevamento Ambientale represent an ideal and cost efficient ing of avalanche risk and measurements, in support of remote of the Municipality of Sirmione (Garda tool for this purpose. Satellite images the construction and main- sensing. This station collected specific Lake), which used remote sensing im- can synoptically record wide areas, and tenance of ski slopes in the parameters for the validation and analy- ages of the lake to monitor water quality remote sensing may provide repeated Monterosa Ski Resort” sis of satellite images of the entire basin and obtain the ‘blue flag’ certification observations of the same areas, which of Lake Garda. by the Foundation for Environmental allows detailed long-term monitoring . The Istituto Scientifico Angelo Mosso Education (FEE). The LTER-Italy network includes several (Mosso) research site, close to the “Permanent monitoring of high elevation sites in the north-western Monte Rosa Massif (Alagna Valsesia – lacustrine ecosystems pro- Alps, which represent the main high al- Gressoney La Trinité municipalities), vides answers about the titude environments of this area falling belongs to the University of Torino. It is impact of human and natural within the Piemonte and Valle d’Aosta located at a high altitude (2901 m ASL) modifications, biodiversity regions. They include six research sites and hosts the NatRisk-LNSA research loss, etc.” located along an altitudinal gradient, centre (www.natrisk.org). Climatic data ranging from 2100 m to 3100 m Above has been collected there since 1926 Through the integration of in situ meas- Sea Level (ASL), where soils are season- thanks to the nearby presence of a mon- urements and the regular acquisition ally snow covered. Vegetation cover itoring station belonging to the Regii of satellite images, two types of dis- ranges from larch and spruce stands to Osservatori Meteorologici e Geofisici tribution maps are produced. The first alpine grasslands, and overlying soils del Monte Rosa. An automatic weath- provides water quality parameters (such at various degrees of evolution. One of er station has been in operation since as chlorophyll, total suspended solids, these six sites belongs to the GLORIA 2005, managed by the Italian army. yellow substances and transparency) Developments in areas colonised by submerged (GLobal Observation Research Initiative The automatic weather station has spe- on a monthly or bimonthly basis, using macrophytes in the shoreline of the Sirmione in Alpine Environments) network while cific sensors for the measurement of peninsula (the percentages of coverage in the MERIS ESA satellite images. The second legend). Data purchased by hyperspectral sen- another, at a higher elevation (3100 m temperature at the snow/soil interface is produced using a sensor mounted on sors mounted on aircrafts (Credits: CNR-IREA). ASL), is a permanent area for moni- and at 10 cm depth. The information the NASA satellite AQUA MODIS 11A, toring permafrost and the active soil collected contributes to the monitoring 4 A macroscopic plant, a term commonly used to which returns maps of the temperature describe aquatic plant, that is large enough to layer. The main organisation managing of avalanche risk and the construction of the lake. be visible to the naked eye. both sites is the Regional Agency for and maintenance of ski slopes in the

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Monterosa Ski Resort, where the Mosso and that this will optimise the ecosys- research site is located. Moreover, tem services for the benefit of humans Interview thanks to specific agreements with lo- and nature. The key question is whether Copernicus IS NOT ONLY BRINGING VALUABLE PRODUCTS AND SERVICES TO VARIOUS cal governments, the Mosso Institute there is sufficient ecological knowledge LEVELS OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT; IT IS ALSO A CORNERSTONE OF THE EUROPE 2020 STRATEGY hosts specific educational and commu- to provide the necessary information AS THE PROGRAMME WILL FOSTER GROWTH AND JOBS IN THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC nication activities for local schools and about ecosystem structure, function and AREA. THE INNOVATIVE DIMENSION TO THE FORMULATION OF Copernicus SERVICES the general public. Among these ac- response to disturbance. Within this con- IMPLIES THAT ENTREPRENEURSHIP WILL PLAY A MAJOR ROLE IN THEIR DEVELOPMENT. TO tivities the International Programme for text, the synergies among long-term in ILLUSTRATE THE POTENTIAL BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT POTENTIAL OF Copernicus, Window Mountains (IPROMO) organised by the situ observations (LTER networks), tech- on Copernicus HAS SOLICITED THE CEOs AND FOUNDERS OF FOUR SUCCESSFUL SMES TO FAO-Mountain Partnership Secretariat nological innovations, remote sensing SHARE THEIR STORY, THEIR EXPERIENCE AS WELL AS THEIR ADVICE. and the Turin University-NatRisk, is par- (Copernicus) and ecological modelling ticularly relevant. are crucial in order to improve our understanding of the environment and our Can you tell our readers when you created your company and what the trigger was? Final remarks attempts to properly manage and pro- Environmental managers are recog- tect it. The activities described, from the Jan Kolar: I created GISAT in October 1990. The main direct driver nising that a successful environmental three LTER-Italy sites, are examples of in was my professional interest in satellite remote sensing – the discipline management strategy depends on an situ assessment of the usability and ap- to which I had devoted more than ten years of university research. integrated approach to the maintenance plicability of remote sensing products for However, the company could only become reality thanks to revolu- of ecosystem structure and functioning, long-term ecosystem monitoring. tionary changes in our society making private business possible. Giovanni Sylos-Labini: Planetek Italia was founded in 1994. At this time in Italy, all players in Earth Observation were technology-oriented companies and a true application-oriented company was missing from the market place.

Alessandro Campanaro (biologist, PhD in Animal Biology) is a Giulio Ruffini: When I founded Starlab I thought that there was room PostDoc at the University of Rome “La Sapienza” (IT) in agreement for goal oriented scientific people wanting to make a difference out- with the National Centre for Forest Biodiversity “Bosco Fontana” side classical academia. The science and technology domains were of Verona (IT). His main research interest focuses on the ecology and monitoring of saproxylic insects. He is involved in the LTER- evolving rapidly, and the cycle from idea to product/service was accel- Italy network since 2009 and in the Life+ Project EnvEurope for the erating. Since we wanted to create an interdisciplinary environment, “Network design” action. we focused on Earth Observation and Applied Neuroscience as our target development fields. The nexus is technological: data process- Alessandro Oggioni (natural scientist, PhD in Ecology) is a ing and Maxwell’s equations. PostDoc at the National Research Council of Italy. His main research interest focuses on GIS, Data Management and phytoplankton and Christian Hoffmann: I founded GeoVille in 1998 as a one-person aquatic plants ecology in lacustrine habitats. He is involved LTER- company. At the time I was convinced of the added value of satellite Italy network since 2010 and in the Life+ Project EnvEurope for the remote sensing for activities related to land management and, so far, action about Data Management and Infrastructure development. I have not been proven wrong. Alessandra Pugnetti (biologist, PhD in Environmental Sciences) is a scientist at the National Research Council of Italy. Her main The creation of a company must build on a sound business plan. Would you advise research interest focuses on phytoplankton ecology in lacustrine, a young entrepreneur to elaborate his business plan on his own or to get support transitional and marine environments. She is involved in the co- from third parties (e.g. specialised consultancy)? ordination of the LTER-Italy network since 2004 and she is the Coordinator of the Life+ Project “EnvEurope”. CH: The ingredients for success are a sound and realistic business plan, a unique selling proposition, an excellent accounting company and enough cash to survive year one. JK: My recommendation is to have your own idea and also necessary the understanding of business activities in your chosen sector. Consultancy services are useful

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in relation to general commercial activity, however their business plan should focus included: red tape, funding, and the fact that we are located in Southern Italy, needless to on a specific type of service, production or application. say that it increases the distance between the company and a lot of potential customers. GSL: It is not always obvious how to define the right competencies to support a start- JK: In the beginning of the 90’s satellite remote sensing was still a relatively new up company in this field. My suggestion is that partners of the new company should technology for integration into business in operational way. Finding customers for have technical skills as well as good financial and management capabilities. As far products based on satellite imagery was much more difficult than it is today. as fundraising activities are concerned, some professional advice could be useful. CH: As a start-up with no track record it was very hard to convince customers to GR: The most important thing is to identify a viable market, where what you develop sign a contract. has value and where people are willing to pay for it. Unavoidably, there are always unknowns, so the next most important thing is cash: as they say in the trade… Your respective companies have participated in several projects funded, or co- “cash is more important than your mother”. Of course, having a business plan is funded, by the EC. Can you tell our readers how these projects have contributed very important, one with realistic (if optimistic) assumptions, but plans are made to to the development of your companies and in what particular ways? be broken. CH: It is fair to say that GeoVille was involved in all major EC or ESA projects related to land monitoring. The benefits of our involvement in such projects are multiple, Have you applied to external funding sources? If yes, what were they? Did you including networking, business opportunities, research and development activities. know that in addition to grants for R&D activities the EU also offers several fund- However, we aim that such projects do not account for more than one third of our ing mechanisms to support the creation of companies such as venture capital, risk overall turnover. capital, loans and loan guarantees? JK: European projects were of great importance for Gisat during its first years. In GSL: In Planetek Italia history we have used several types of fund raising activities, that period, three-quarters of Gisat’s turnover resulted from European projects. It from bank loans, venture capital and the company sale. Up to now all equity oriented was due, to some extent, to the capabilities of satellite images twenty years ago operations have been unsuccessful. This situation can be explained by two facts: being more suited for continental and regional applications and it was also due to first in this sector it can be difficult to generate large amount of cash-flow. Second, the unpreparedness, let’s say non existence, of a domestic EO market. potential shareholders often have difficulty to appreciate the enormous amount of intangible assets generated by our company. GSL: In my view two main aspects are relevant: The partnering with other companies, mainly foreign ones, and the opportunity to fully test new products in new CH: I personally own 25% of the company. The remaining 75% is held by investors markets. In this respect I believe that, among several others, the Geoland project who made the up-front investment of one million Schilling (approx. 75,000 Euro) – was a good example of these benefits. Today, thanks to the Geoland experience, we at that time it was a lot of cash! They believed in the idea and have received each have generated about 20 new products under the registered trade mark PRECISO. calendar year a fair return on their initial investment.. GR: For us EU grants have been the key to develop new technologies. They have JK: My case is rather extraordinary one in several aspects. I started my business at helped us to develop our technology programmes in a way we couldn’t have done home in the dining room with the first version of a personal computer. For several otherwise, given the aversion to risk of other funding sources. reasons I decided to harmonise the pace of my company development with my personal financial sources. I preferred to avoid the burden of loans. Our country in that time went through revolutionary changes and the long journey to membership What matters for Copernicus4Regions is the uptake of Copernicus services at local of the EU was yet to start. and regional levels. According to you, what are, today, the most important factors limiting the development of EO/GI services among Local and Regional Authorities? GR: Yes, we have been recipients of EU grants. I am aware of other sources and I have only a vague notion that venture capital, risk capital and loan guarantees are GSL: In the EO/GI sector, it is often not easy for the final user to appreciate the also available, but I am sceptical about their practical value. Maybe I should learn added value of our services to their mission. In that regard, the contrast with other more! Space-based services, e.g. positioning, is striking. The users understand very easily the benefits of positioning even though they do not have a detailed knowledge of the technology. Furthermore, some prejudices still survive as to the effectiveness What were the most important barriers to entry that you have faced? and potential drawbacks of Earth Observation, due to earlier application develop- GR: In the case of EO services, the main barrier is that the technology is not under- ment periods when EO did not deliver against expectations. EU-funded Copernicus stood by potential customers, thus making the typical consultancy dialogue needed Projects have allowed Planetek Italia to foster our mentoring and training effort to- for business very hard to initiate. Data availability and data continuity (i.e., Envisat) are ward our user community. It notably resulted in the adoption of a more user-oriented further bottlenecks. We have developed several services around ENVISAT, and now approach in application and service design derived from the industrial design, that’s due to the failure we can no longer provide them. This is a real European blunder. also historically a strong point of Italian industry. GSL: In 1995, when we founded Planetek Italia, the main technological entry barriers GR: At the moment, the lack of a budget is the key limiting factor given the financial associated with data processing in EO were decreasing; this was one of the reasons situation! More generally, the critical issue is to talk to the right people in such agen- why we thought that the business was likely to be profitable. More standard difficulties cies so real, solvable problems can be identified and offers created.

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CH: The financial crisis is certainly playing its role in slowing the uptake of Copernicus training is one of our first priorities. at local level. Despite the situation starting to improve, many potential end-users GR: Yes, we have. However, the mentality in our universities is a bit backward in this do not yet have a clear understanding of the benefits they could obtain from using sense. The crucial role of companies in society is not sufficiently appreciated (but I EO-based services. In that regard, we as Service Providers have a role to play in suspect this will change). raising awareness of Copernicus at local level, after all this is part of our business.

JK: Despite a gradually improving situation, many of EO services are not accepted As successful entrepreneurs, what advice would you give to a young entrepreneur as suitable for operational implementation by potential local and / or national users. ambitioning to start a company from scratch in the EO/GI service sector? There are several reasons of that. Firstly, EO services include processes and techniques so different from the traditional ones that there is a lack of general willingness GSL: My first suggestion is to start from user needs and not from technology, the to undergo the change within a user’s business. Secondly, some EO services need second is to look at business fundamentals, third to find a mentor, preferably from to improve their reliability in terms of both information quality and timing. Finally, the industry. in some cases, such as Emergency and Security-related services, modifications of GR: To think of the technical part as the easiest piece of the puzzle. The critical ele- legal frameworks are necessary in order to facilitate operational use of a service ment is to ask yourself if you have identified a real business opportunity? Do you have a list of clients’ names and addresses? Make sure you have an answer, or a plan Does your company mainly provide services to local users or have you succeeded in to explore such questions rather fast. “exporting” your activity in other European Member States or even beyond the EU? JK: Try to understand the technology. Make your business firmly rely on your knowl- JK: Today, Gisat provides substantial part of its service products outside our country. edge of EO methods of data acquisition and processing. This will allow you to assess The valuable experiences gained through our involvement in European EO-based what is possible and the risk associated to the services you intend to provide to meet projects like CORINE Land Cover or MARS have become important knowhow. Today, the needs and demands of your clients. To start with, you must decide what kind of it allows us to provide high quality services to a growing number of domestic users specific services you can best provide and focus your effort on them. and to react with flexibility to various requirements of clients inside and outside CH: Our business starts with customised services, but equally important are access to the EU. customers and cash. Convince somebody to invest in your company! If you achieve GSL: Planetek Italia is heavily engaged in “export” activities, within Europe. As a it, chances are high that you succeed. matter of fact, five years ago we established Planetek Hellas in Greece. Outside of Europe, we have recently won an international tender for the Morocco SDI (Spatial The European Union finances Copernicus Services. It calls for a free and open data Data Infrastructure). On the medium term, we are seeking European partners to policy. Can you explain to our readers how Copernicus data will help your company capitalise upon our great experience in the design and development of the INSPIRE to develop services for new domains of applications or for new customers? Geoportal, which is to be delivered in his final version to the Joint Research Centre (JRC). JK: The data is the necessary basic “material” for providing any information service. Limited access to data means limited service in terms of information content, rich- CH: GeoVille is highly internationalised, with a fully owned subsidiary in Luxembourg ness and, obviously, availability over time. Moreover, the data cost fuels the cost of and project references in four continents. About 80 percent of our business is out- a service. The improvement of existing services to make them more attractive for side Austria. users would be impossible or, at least, slower without Copernicus data. This also GR: We work mostly within Spain. applies to the development of promising new EO applications such as snow water content determination for spring flood prediction or mapping of polluted soil and vegetation. Today’s students are the future of Copernicus. Over time, as your companies grew, have you endeavored to develop interactions with European Universities training GSL: Data is the building block of EO, and transforming data into information is the students in Copernicus-related themes? main mission of our companies. A free and open data policy is an obvious booster for our capabilities in generating new services and products, with the promise that this will CH: The connection to universities is essential. Unfortunately, remote sensing and be sustainable, i.e. with a commitment for long term generation of consistent dataset. business thinking are underrepresented in many university curricula. CH: Limited access to the most fundamental ingredient of our business limits major JK: Definitely. Perhaps, I have been in better position in this respect as I give lectures business opportunities to those owning thea data. In other words, free and open in remote sensing and GIS in universities in Praha. It allows me to integrate informa- access will multiply services, opportunities and revenues. tion about Copernicus and other initiatives into my lectures and also to share my experiences on the practical use of EO-based services with my students. Some of GR: Well, depending on the data needed, there are ways – sometimes awkward – my former students have become EO professionals in Gisat. to have access to free data from ESA, and also from NASA and others. Copernicus can help you develop new services, establish your R&D network and partly finance GSL: We already have several connections with national universities. For example, your R&D. I’m a visiting professor, for more than a decade now, in Venice at IUAV. Our sis- ter company in Greece successfully shares experiences with local universities, and

164 W INDOW ON Copernicus W INDOW ON Copernicus 165 SME Corner The Copernicus4Regions Team

In a nutshell…

Jan Kolar established Gisat in 1990. It was the first privately run remote sensing and geo-information service company in the Czech Republic. Its office is located in Prague. Since its inception GISAT has been working in the geomatics field with a specific focus on the advanced technology of remote sensing and GIS. For more information: http://www.gisat.cz/content/en Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), Italy GISAT (CZ) – key figures 1991 2000 2010 Centre for Communication, Earth Observation and Navigation Services GmbH Number of Employees 1 7 15 (CEON), Germany Turnover (k€) 25 550 1,000 University of Leicester (ULEIC), UK Centre d’Études Techniques du Sud-Ouest (CETE), France Capital High Tech (CHT), France Giovanni Sylos-Labini, founder and CEO of Planetek Italia S.r.l., a leading Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Earth Secretaria Regional da Ciência Tecnologia e Equipamentos (SRCTE), Portugal Observation consultancy company, which focuses on land man- Tecnologie per le Osservazioni della Terra e i Rischi Naturali (TeRN), Italy agement information. Pioneered in 1994, Planetek steadily expanded within the Agencia de Innovacion y Financiacion Empresarial de Castilla y Leon, Spain Italian GIS market place by incorporating the latest techniques, coupled with a Madrid Cluster Aerospace (MPAE), Spain proficient team of high-level professionals. For more information: http://www.planetek.it/eng Forum Luft und Raumfahrt Baden-Württemberg e.V (LRBW/), Germany Pole Mere Bretagne (PMBret), France Planetek (IT) – key figures 1995 2001 2010 Guyane Technopole, France Number of Employees 4 20 48 Institute of Geodesy and Cartography (IGiK), Poland Turnover (k€) 100 1,500 4,600

GeoVille Information Systems is a private sector enterprise located in Innsbruck, Austria and was founded by Dr. Christian Hoffmann in 1998. GeoVille Environmental Services Luxembourg was founded as a subsidiary in 2007. GeoVille customers stem from private industry sectors, public organisations and research institutes. GeoVille is dedicated to providing a wide range of value- added services for remotely sensed data and GIS applications. For more information: http://www.geoville.com SpaceTec Partners SPRL, Belgium GeoVille (AT) 1998 2001 2011 Planetek, Italy Number of Employees 1 4 28 Starlab Barcelona SL, Spain Turnover (k€) 140 450 3,200 FDC, France Deutsches Zentrum fur Luft und Raumfahrt e.v. (DLR), Germany Giulio Ruffini founded Starlab in 2000. The company is based in Istituto Superiore per la Protezione e la Ricerca Ambiantale (ISPRA), Italy Barcelona, Spain. Starlab’s mission is to transform science into European Regions Research and Innovation Network (ERRIN), International technologies with a profound positive impact on society. Our main areas of work lie Paris Lodron University, Austria in the Space and Neuroscience sectors. We provide technical solutions, products GISAT, Czech Republic and services for governments, industry and downstream markets. For more information: http://starlab.es Specto Natura, England

Starlab (ES) – key figures 2000 2012 Number of Employees 4 30 Turnover (k€) 100 2,000

166 W INDOW ON Copernicus W INDOW ON Copernicus 167 Publisher Stéphane Ourevitch, SpaceTec Partners, GRAAL Project Coordinator [email protected]

Editorial Director Arnault Contet, SpaceTec Partners, GRAAL Deputy Project Coordinator

Editorial board Geoff Smith, SPECTO NATURA, representing the GRAAL project Anna Basoni, CNR, representing the DORIS_Net project Christelle Bosc, CETE, representing the DORIS_Net project Magali Clavé, Capital High Tech, representing the DORIS_Net project

English Edition Sarah McGill, SpaceTec Partners [email protected]

Graphic Design M’hamed Belahouel (Paris)

Layout SEFF & Art Mature sprl (Brussels) – [email protected]

This review is published by the GRAAL project consortium and co-financed by the European Commission (Research Executive Agency). It is developed jointly with the DORIS_Net project and is distributed free of charge to a panel of selected recipients. Printing run: 10,000 copies, (4,000 in English, 1,500 in French, 1,500 in Italian, 1,500 in German, 1,500 in Spanish). Window on Copernicus is also available in electronic format (PDF) on the www.copernicus4Regions.eu website. Legal registration number: ISSN 2030-5419 Responsibility for the views expressed in this publication lies exclusively with the authors of the articles. These views do not represent those of the publishers, the editors or the consortia or of their partners nor the views of the European Commission. Reproduction of texts is authorised with prior written permission of the publisher. Please send an e-mail to [email protected] if you wish to receive this publication in another language or to request additional copies for yourself, your colleagues or other parties. Window on Copernicus is published with the kind permission of Astrium GEO-Information Services and Arsenale Novissimo.

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