The following sections provide a brief description of the 'Downstream Services' (DS) that make up the EC-FP7 Call 2 and Call 3.
AquaMar provides Earth Observation based water quality services to support European and national monitoring agencies and industries operating in coastal waters. Marine water quality is a focus of monitoring agencies and the public, and it is the subject of several European Directives and regional conventions. Earth Observation can provide some valuable parameters for assessing the water quality (WQ). Therefore the AquaMar project is developing downstream services turning Marine Core Service (MCS) products into WQ services, demanded by end user. Through an open partnership between water quality service providers, AquaMar proposes services that will deliver:
The ASIMUTH project aims to the development of forecasting capabilities to warn of impending harmful algal blooms. The steps to achieve this include a series of scientific and technical objectives which will enable the modelling of physical – biological interactions leading to the forecasting of toxin events, fish mortalities or ecological disruption from harmful algal blooms. The ASIMUTH project takes the output of the Marine Core Service of GMES, synthesizes these using models, and along with other sources of information, including in situ monitoring data, will apply a human layer of expert evaluation in the prediction of potentially harmful events. This human expert intervention is a Unique Selling Point of the ASIMUTH project.
BIO_SOS is a pilot project for effective and timely multi-annual monitoring of NATURA 2000 sites and their surrounding in support to management decisions in sample areas, mainly in Mediterranean regions and for the reporting on status and trends according to National and EU obligations. The aim of BIO_SOS is two-fold: 1) the development and validation of a prototype multi-modular system to provide a reliable long term biodiversity monitoring service at high to very high-spatial resolution; 2) to embed monitoring information (changes) in innovative ecological (environmental) modelling for Natura 2000 site management. The system will be developed and validated within ecologically sensitive Test Sites.
CARBONES is a EU-funded collaborative project part of the Seventh Framework Programme. It proposes a novel approach for quantifying and understanding CO2 surface fluxes in response to a strong need for detailed information of CO2 fluxes and carbon pools. The CARBONES global information service will deliver the first ever consistent, high space- and time-resolution history of the carbon cycle, with associated uncertainties and attribution to controlling processes. This history will take the form of a calibrated 30 years-long re-analysis of space and time variations of carbon fluxes and carbon pools over the globe. The products and diagnostics will be publicly disseminated thanks to a tailored user-friendly interface, allowing climate modellers, other science communities and the general public to understand and easily visualize the living carbon cycle over the past 30 years. CARBONES will lay the foundation of a future global operational verification system of CO2 fluxes. The project is compliant will all elements of the EU INSPIRE Directive governing exchange and dissemination of spatial data.
The CoBiOS project aims to integrate satellite products and ecological models into a really operational and user-relevant information service on high biomass blooms in Europe's coastal waters. To this end CoBiOS will produce a harmonized and validated water transparency product based on satellite images for a large variety of coastal water types which will be used to forccological models. While earth observation can provide information on the state of superficial algal blooms, the improved CoBiOS ecological models will make predictions on the fate of blooms, thus allowing assessment of e. g. the risks on hypoxia and dead zones. CoBiOS operates in overlapping model domains in the Northern part of Europe in order to derive uncertainty information from ensemble runs. During two extended trial runs and one operational demonstration phase the combined service will be demonstrated to groups of users and validated by a panel of key users. All facets of post-project sustainable commercial continuation of the services will be analysed in concert with the end-users. CoBiOS aims to make optimal use of MCS products and services and will provide feedback to this project.
The project is aimed at developing, implementing and validating a standardized and sustainable service on snow and land ice monitoring as a Downstream Service within GMES in a value added chain with the Land Monitoring Core Services. CryoLand will provide geospatial products on snow cover, glaciers, and lake/river ice derived from Earth observation satellite data. CryoLand will build upon, integrate and widen structural and technical capabilities of the project partners who have long term experience in running operational and pre-operational services on snow and ice. Users will play a key role in the definition of service requirements and in the validation of the products and services. A user group will be set up, and user training on use of products and electronic interfaces will be performed. Snow and ice products in near-real time delivery will be supplied with pan-European coverage, as well as with national and regional coverage.
The DOLPHIN project intends to develop the key technological and operational gap-filling innovations, leading in the mid-term to a full and sustainable operational exploitation of Earth Observation Satellites capabilities in the EU and MS maritime policies applications. DOLPHIN aims at developing new tools providing effective improvements of the state-of-the-art capabilities in Maritime Surveillance with respect to User The identification of these technological gaps is made easier by the fact that the DOLPHIN partners have developed a solid experience through a number of past and ongoing initiatives, such as LIMES, MARISS, MarCoast, EMSA CSN, in which a wide European Users community in the Maritime Surveillance sector has already taken an active part in identifying application needs and technological gaps.
DORIS is a research and technological initiative of a consortium of leading research institutes, large and small enterprises, and public administrations with consolidated experience in the exploitation of EO technology for civil defense applications. Whilst taking on the detection, mapping, monitoring and forecasting of ground deformations in Europe, DORIS integrates Earth Observation technologies with ground based information in order to improve our understanding of phenomena that result in ground deformations. DORIS is set to explore the application of remote sensing for a better understanding of landslides and subsidence, and of the damage these processes can cause to the European public.
It is the overall aim of EUFODOS to develop specific Forest Downstream Services (FDS) that are urgently required by regional European users in an economically viable manner and utilise the GMES Land Forest Core products as a basis for the development of these services. The specific FDS which will be examined and developed to a pre-operational level are related to assessment of forest damage and mapping forest functional parameters. As the GMES Land Core products are not yet operational the FDS will thus also provide a pre-operational validation of the GMES services and products. The FDS programme is based on 3 foundations: technical/methodological developments which will be based on an approach that combines Earth Observation (EO) and in-situ data as well as the GMES Forest Core products; the formation of a functional Service Network (SN) which includes effective representation/involvement of the user community, the service providers and the research community; and the assessment of the economic feasibility of developing the service cases such that they are sustainable.
The EURO4M project is an EU funded project that provides timely and reliable information about the state and evolution of the European climate. It combines observations from satellites, ground-based stations and results from comprehensive model-based regional re-analyses. By closely monitoring European climate, climate variability and change can be better understood and predicted. EURO4M provides valuable guidance as it is set to develop Europe’s capacity to monitor climate change in near-real time, and over extended time periods. Such description of the evolution of the Earth system components is set to be undertaken by the collection of regional observation datasets of Essential Climate Variables (ECV), such as near surface temperature, and by performing a comprehensive model based regional reanalysis. Thereby Europe’s capacity to systematically monitor climate variability and change will be extended in a cost effective manner.
EVOSS is a GMES service for the monitoring of major volcanic hazards throughout the EU – including its overseas territories – and the Caribbean and Africa. Here, more than 50 volcanoes have erupted in the last four centuries, and over one-hundred in historical time. However, the ground-based monitoring infrastructure varies from state-of-the-art volcano observatories to very limited or non-existent capacity.
The goal of EVOSS is to implement space-borne support to volcano observation, in order to enhance the speed and quality of responses to major volcanic crises and offer backup monitoring capacity. EVOSS is centered on the development of advanced data processing techniques that monitor ash, gas, ground deformation and temperature, and to provide substantial help in scenario building and emergency decision making.
The FIELD_AC project aims at providing an improved operational service for coastal areas. Through the introduction of more comprehensive land boundary conditions, driving factors and their interactions, the project will advance the state of art (e.g. 3D salt-wedge dynamics or wave-current 3D couplings) and provide higher accuracy and robustness at beach/harbour scale. The project aims at developing such computations within four “geometrically” restricted domains which cover a representative set of oceanographic conditions in terms of tide, wave, and energy.
In-land aquatic systems are under significant pressure from agriculture, economical development and climate change. EU water policy consists of several European directives; most important the Water Framework Directive (WFD) to sustain aquatic ecosystems. Monitoring programmes have been defined that require a coherent and comprehensive overview about the water status within each river basin and lake district, i.e. continuous and frequent high resolution water quality map products are required. Earth Observation (EO) products improve the capability for harmonized monitoring of water constituents at entrapment scale, indicating impacts on water quality and changes within the aquatic ecosystem directly. The FRESHMON consortium will develop a new service-line for the frequent provision of Earth Observation based products for water quality monitoring, combining in situ and hydrodynamic modelling components and integrating the information in a GIS.
At the highest level, the overarching objective of GARNET-E is to contribute to the partial re-alignment of the “GMES Emergency Response in Africa” agenda, from technical activities focused purely on risk and poverty reduction and response using European capacities, to those more directed to building sustainable local capacities, leading to real wealth creation in Africa. This will be achieved through the two sub-objectives; firstly, to enable the integration of African requirements in the definition of future operation of the GMES Emergency Response Service in Africa; and secondly, to encourage the strengthening and building of regional and local capabilities, in order to allow African users and policy makers to access Earth Observation-derived information provided by the Emergency Response Service. Considering the overall objective of networking between information providers, user networks and centres of excellence in European and African countries, the concept is to coordinate particular GMES Emergency Response Core Service activities in an African context, leading to the provision of recommendations and support to the European Commission, in their preparation of an Action Plan for GMES and Africa, for endorsement at the next EU-Africa Summit, in 2010. The concept of GARNET-E is to construct “needs-driven” activities. These activities must be an inherent and coherent part of a joint strategy with other GMES and Africa initiatives. They should not be just “for”, but “with” Africa and with due respect for African ownership.
GEO-PICTURES is a Satellite & Space initiative that saves lives, environment and infrastructures during emergencies and disasters. Throughout the world, when emergencies strike, answering the questions “where” and “what” is paramount for any rescue operation to commence. The project GEOPICTURES provides an innovative new approach to conveying such information quickly and accurately. Europe’s GMES monitoring system for environment and security includes an emergency response service, which concentrates on rapid mapping during the response phase, providing large scale reference and assessment maps. GEO-PICTURES complements this service by setting up an innovative system facilitating the addition of small scale images and videos from the field, tagged to the large scale GMES emergency response maps at exact locations, identified by means of GPS satellite navigation technology. In this respect, GEO-PICTURES combine state of the art in satellite communication, navigation and Earth Observation.
The main objective of the proposed project GLOWASIS is to pre-validate a GMES Global Service for Water Scarcity Information. In European and global pilots on the scale of river catchments, it will combine in-situ and satellite derived water cycle information and more government ruled statistical water demand data in order to create an information portal on water scarcity. This portal will be made interoperable with the WISE-RTD portal. More awareness for the complexity of the water scarcity problem will be created and additional capabilities of satellite-measured water cycle parameters can be promoted, but also directly matched to user requirements. By creating the user-scientist community, GLOWASIS will guide earth observation scientists to efficient innovation for the specific purpose of water scarcity assessment and forecasting. By linking water demand and supply in three pilot studies with existing systems (EDO and PCR-GLOBWB) for medium- and long-term forecasting in Europe, Africa and worldwide.
Agricultural resources are in high demand to sustain the world's growing population. In Europe, agriculture is regulated and monitored through the CAP and agricultural insurances are increasing in importance as an instrument for risk management. In the developing world droughts and other natural disasters impact vulnerable populations and lead to famines and starvation. The EC development policy and its emergency response mechanisms address these issues through actions that aim at reducing the occurrence and impacts. Agriculture and environment are both priorities for Europe's GMES initiative. Satellite images with a high temporal frequency (daily) but low spatial resolution (>250m) are frequently used for agricultural monitoring. However, since the early 2000, new high frequency, high resolution (<30m) wide swath sensors have become available. The ISAC proposal intends to explore improvements of current Agricultural Services based upon such high frequency, high resolution data. It intends to expand the capabilities of LMCS and ERCS for what concerns the agro-environment.
ISAC proposes to develop and test feasibility of 3 services:
The primary objective of MALAREO is to develop technology and implement EO capacities within malaria vector control and management programs in southern Africa. To achieve this objective, knowledge exchange and capability will occur in two directions (EU <-> SA). By doing this, the project will contribute to the installation of an EO monitoring cell that will support the daily work of the national malaria control programs.
The project MONARCH-A provides for enhanced reanalysis of Essential Climate Variables (ECV) in the Arctic region. The retrospective time scale of data analysed is between 30-50 years in this project. The Arctic is warming, and data from the first decade of the 21st century show that the speed is accelerating. What happens in the Arctic has global consequences, since melting ice sparks raising sea levels, and potentially impacts ocean circulation that transport heat from the tropics to higher latitudes, including Europe. MONARCH-A aims at furthering such an overview, by bringing diverse climate indicators, such as sea levels, permafrost extension, snow cover extension, ice sheet elevation, sea ice drift and volume, and ocean current measurements together into a single information package on climate change in the Arctic. Moreover, by reanalyzing old data, the project will be able to harmonize datasets and establish an overview of changes in terrestrial carbon and water fluxes, sea levels and ocean circulation in the Arctic in a 30-50 years perspective. Such an overview will ensure new scientific input for more informed decisions to be taken at political level, as international environmental policies addressing climate change are progressively fine tuned in years to come.
The project MS.MONINA is exploring biodiversity as a 'new emerging area' of global attention. The project offers remote sensing based monitoring services for observing and managing the state of NATURA 2000 sites and other precious habitats to reduce the loss of biodiversity. New concepts and methods combining earth observation (EO) data and in-situ data are defined and implemented with the aim to support public authorities in implementing policies and measures. Pilot applications in a range of study areas all over Europe will demonstrate the value and importance of monitoring for the conservation of biodiversity. While European nature conservation will substantially benefit from this initiative, the tools and services developed also have a global impact. The project will support the GEO (Group on Earth Observations) societal benefit area of biodiversity and demonstrate the power of EO-based methods for monitoring sensitive ecological sites in general.
The MyWater project aims at developing a water management system integrating satellite data, models and in situ data in order to improve knowledge and create the forecasting capabilities necessary to catchment managers, and at the same time optimizing the ratio cost/benefit of water resources monitoring. The specific products of the project are:
The overall Objective of the NEREIDS project is to make a step forward in the utilisation of space based technologies in the support of Maritime Surveillance activities. NEREIDS will bring required tools, techniques and products to users in the context of an integrated maritime policy.
PASODOBLE the GMES Atmosphere Downstream Service Project for Air Quality: Air quality is a crucial environmental factor, e.g. evidenced by the fact that particles in the air are estimated to reduce the lifetime of the average European citizen by 8 months. Assessing and monitoring air quality are thus fundamental to improve Europe’s welfare. In the context of Europe's GMES Monitoring System for Environment and Security, PASODOBLE will develop and demonstrate user-driven downstream information services for the public, regional and local air quality sectors by combining space-based and in-situ data with models in 4 thematic service lines:
In addition PASODOBLE works towards a harmonized European framework for sustainable services. By developing a generic and modular service infrastructure, including quality management, PASODOBLE will increase the implementation efficiency for new services in the future.
ReCover project will develop beyond state-of-the-art service capabilities to support fighting deforestation and forest degradation in the tropical region. The pilot service capabilities mean provision of a monitoring system of forest cover and forest cover changes and biomass including a robust accuracy assessment. The capabilities are based on utilizing mainly space-borne earth observation data and in-situ data. The main research focus in ReCover is to develop a sound statistical concept and validation procedure in the production, apply very high resolution image data to improve result reliability, estimate biomass and degradation as well as their change, define the role of radar data in REDD related services, and build standardized service system with a capacity building concept.
REDDAF supports countries in the African Congo Basin in monitoring deforestation and forest degradation more effectively. REDDAF will establish innovative services based on EO and in-situ measurements which respond to the needs of the users in the Congo Basin Region. The services are related to the Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) requirements within the new REDD policy process.
REDD-FLAME will design and implement a satellite system for monitoring tropical and subtropical forests. This system will be able to quickly identify the first signs of illegal logging and thus allow earlier intervention by the authorities and better management of these fragile and valuable environments to prevent lasting damage. By focusing on early detection of logging activities, the system will provide the means to quickly identify the first signs of deforestation and thus act as a tool to control resource use and sustainable development within these fragile and valuable environments. The system will form a high-resolution add-on for existing (semi-)operational low- to mid-resolution systems, providing hot-spot monitoring for areas at highest risk of deforestation.
The REDDINESS project aims to enhance the existing capabilities within national forest monitoring centres in Gabon and the Republic of Congo in undertaking forest assessments, forest mappings and carbon trend estimations. It will also undertake knowledge transfers and work to increase the readiness of the countries to join the carbon trade market.
The overall objective of the project is to improve the current state-of-the-art methodology for satellite based oil spill detection and impact assessment and to demonstrate through deliveries to existing and new users how these improvements can contribute the development of a sustainable service. This shall be done by integrating new geo-information products and improved or new innovative methods. The project shall demonstrate a next generation service compliant with existing and new users expectations. The EMSA/CSN service represents the state of the art for the satellite based oil detection service. The CSN service has proven its operational value. However, the experienced end users require improved quality and enhanced functionality. SeaU will be a collaborative approach towards a harmonised pan-European service which will take full advantage of the products provided by Marine Core Service.
Polar regions are strongly affected by climate change: temperature is increasing, sea ice is retreating during the summer and land ice decreases. SIDARUS seeks to establish a set of sea ice services for climate research, marine safety and environmental monitoring in the Arctic and Antarctic regions.
SIRIUS is developing efficient water resource management services in support of food production in water-scarce environments. It addresses water governance and management in accordance with the vision of bridging and integrating sustainable development and economic competitiveness. The project is developing new services for water managers and food producers, including maps detailing irrigation water requirements in different areas, crop water consumption estimates, and a range of additional information products in support of sustainable irrigation water use and management under conditions of water scarcity and drought. Applying an integrated approach based on public participatory geographic information systems (ppgis) and social multi criteria evaluation, SIRIUS is developing a GMES service that takes into account the interrelated economic, environmental, technical, social and political dimensions of the food-water challenge.
SubCoast is a collaborative project aimed at developing a GMES-service for monitoring and forecasting subsidence hazards in costal areas around Europe. The objective of SubCoast will be to develop a GMES service for monitoring the extent and impact of subsidence in coastal lowlands, and demonstrate its capability in a variety of settings around Europe. The service will be designed to appropriately determine the effects of subsidence on current and future flood risk in coastal lowlands. SubCoast will monitor the integrity of coastal barrier systems and infrastructure, and assess the impact of subsidence due to natural or man-made causes such as ground water pumping and oil/gas production on land use and hydrology.
This project proposal focuses on water resources allocation and the identification of historical and current water use and high resolution monitoring of several water resource indicators on a weekly basis. For this purpose an operational earth observation system will be developed which includes a website with weekly updates of water resource data on water use. This system can be linked to GEOSS (Global Earth Observation System of Systems) in order to make data accessible for multiple users. The main data generated on a weekly basis as a result of this project are:
These five parameters are the basic inputs for water accounting, which is a relatively new concept that can contribute to better water allocation, verification of water use and sustainable water utilization.
The following references have been used to compose the Downstream Service descriptions: