European Association of Remote Sensing Companies Sentinels Benefits Study (SeBS) A Case Study Navigation through sea-ice in Greenland SeBS-CR-004 Page 1 March 2019 Client: ESA Client Representative: Alessandra Tassa Date of Delivery: February 2019 Version: First Issue Author(s): Geoff Sawyer (EARSC) Christopher Oligschläger (EARSC) Contribution from: Nikolay Khabarov (IIASA) Reviewer Marc DeVries (the Greenland) Reviewer Alessandra Tassa (ESA) Version Date Comment Draft January 2019 First Draft Issue 1 February 2019 First Issue Issue 2 March 2019 Change and update of references in Ch. 5.2 For more information contact: • EARSC: [email protected] • ESA: [email protected] Funded by the EU and ESA - ESA Contract Number: 4000119743/17/I-SBo. The views expressed herein can in no way be taken to reflect the official opinion of the European Space Agency or the European Union. SeBS-CR-004 Page 2 March 2019 Table of Contents Setting the Scene ........................................................................................................................................ 6 Executive Summary .................................................................................................................................... 7 1 Introduction & Scope .......................................................................................................................... 8 1.1 The Context of this study ....................................................................................................................... 8 1.2 What is the Case all about? ................................................................................................................... 8 1.3 How does this case relate to others? .................................................................................................... 9 1.4 More About the Study ......................................................................................................................... 10 1.5 Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................................. 10 2 Sea-ice and the Greenland Economy ................................................................................................. 12 2.1 The Greenland Economy ..................................................................................................................... 12 2.2 Sea-ice ................................................................................................................................................. 15 2.3 Working and Living in Greenland ........................................................................................................ 18 2.4 Everything Depends on Ice .................................................................................................................. 20 2.5 Climate and Environmental Considerations ........................................................................................ 21 3 The Ice-Mapping Services .................................................................................................................. 27 3.1 General Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 27 3.2 How do satellites map and monitor sea-ice? ...................................................................................... 27 3.3 The Greenland Ice-Mapping Services .................................................................................................. 29 3.4 Delivery of the Services ....................................................................................................................... 35 3.5 The Role of Sentinels and other Satellites ........................................................................................... 37 3.6 Future Evolution .................................................................................................................................. 37 4 The Use of Satellite Data along the Value-Chain................................................................................ 39 4.1 The Value Chain for the use of Ice-Mapping Services in Greenland.................................................... 39 4.2 The Actors ............................................................................................................................................ 39 4.2.1 Tier 1: Service Provider - The Danish Meteorological Institute ............................................................................. 39 4.2.2 Tier 2: Primary User - The Royal Arctic Line .......................................................................................................... 42 4.2.3 Tier 3: Other direct users ...................................................................................................................................... 44 4.2.4 Tier 4: Business and the Local Economy ............................................................................................................... 48 4.2.5 Tier 5: Citizens and Society ................................................................................................................................... 50 4.3 Other Transversal Actors ..................................................................................................................... 51 5 What are the Benefits? ..................................................................................................................... 52 5.1 Overview .............................................................................................................................................. 52 5.2 Operational Benefits ............................................................................................................................ 52 5.2.1 Tier 1: Service Provider ......................................................................................................................................... 52 5.2.2 Tier 2: Primary User .............................................................................................................................................. 53 5.2.3 Tier 3: Other Direct Users ..................................................................................................................................... 54 5.2.4 Tier 4: Business and Local Economy...................................................................................................................... 60 5.2.5 Tier 5: Citizens and Society ................................................................................................................................... 61 5.2.6 Other Beneficiaries ............................................................................................................................................... 62 5.3 Environmental Benefits ....................................................................................................................... 64 5.4 Summary of Benefits ........................................................................................................................... 65 6 Conclusions ....................................................................................................................................... 67 6.1 Summary of Findings ........................................................................................................................... 67 SeBS-CR-004 Page 3 March 2019 6.2 The Impact of Sentinel Data ................................................................................................................ 67 6.3 Widening the Perspective.................................................................................................................... 68 6.4 Final Thoughts ..................................................................................................................................... 68 Annex 1: References and Sources ............................................................................................................. 70 Annex 2: General Approach and Methodology ......................................................................................... 73 Annex 3: Winners… and losers? ................................................................................................................ 74 Annex 4: About the Authors ..................................................................................................................... 76 Table of Figures Cover Picture: Royal Arctic Line heaquarters in Nuuk. Figure 2-1: Greenland and the major Settlements .......................................................................... 12 Figure 2-2: Royal Greenland trawler loading the catch from local fishermen (c) Royal Greenland 14 Figure 2-3: Monthly mean (2000-2010) sea-ice concentration ....................................................... 16 Figure 2-4: Ship arriving in Ilulissat .................................................................................................. 17 Figure 2-5 Ilulissat Harbour (Tripadvisor)......................................................................................... 19 Figure 2-6: Open water days trend for the Arctic ............................................................................ 22 Figure 2-7: Daily mean temperatures at 80th Latitude. Source: DMI. ............................................ 23 Figure 2-8: Changes in land-fast ice extent in Northwest Greenland between 1975-1990 and 2011- 2015, based on observations