Services
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The nextSENSE service was implemented in the framework of the EuroGEO e-shape’s renewable energy showcase (nextSENSE pilot) and provides continuous monitoring and short-term forecasting of solar energy in real-time for Europe and North Africa. It is based on Earth Observation data (EUMETSAT’s SAF NWC, Copernicus CAMS), fast radiative transfer models (AMT, 2018), motion flow modeling techniques and high performance computing, enabling almost 50 million simulations in less than 5 minute and an overall dataflow of more than 550 Gb/day.
The user through the nextSENSE’s fully dynamical interface will be able to navigate, zoom and click at any pixel of the 1.5 million matrix retrieving solar energy potential information for 3 hours ahead and 3 hours back time horizons at 15-min intervals.
Contact: Panagiotis Kosmopoulos and Stelios Kazadzis
The development of precision farming services over formerly data-poor regions can become feasible through an efficient fusion of earth observational (EO), numerical weather prediction (NWP) and in-situ observations. Under the framework of S6P4-ResAGRI, a web platform has been developed from scratch that provides:
- support to the underwriters of the agro-insurance sector, through an adverse selection tool that denotes the historical risk/vulnerability/hazard over each individual parcel, based on ECMWF reanalysis datasets, CHIRPS precipitation estimates from rain gauge and satellite observations, as well as a 10-yr record of damages in cotton crop over Rodopi region, provided by Greek Agricultural Insurance Organization (ELGA).
- rapid payout promotion through a quick damage assessment tool that exploits high-resolution Sentinel 2 imagery and cross-validates the data with a sufficiently dense network of smart agro-meteorological stations
- a high-level monitoring of the expected insurance claims over a specific region in near future, and
- an early warning system built around an operational high-resolution (2 x 2-km) configuration of WRF-ARW model over Greece.
The service has initially focused over Rodopi region and cotton crop, to demonstrate the potential and full functionality and is currently under expansion to include additional regions (Thessaly, Boeotia) and crop types (industrial tomato and more).
Contact: Nikolaos S. Bartsotas and Charalambos (Haris) Kontoes
Tourists, travellers and tourism sector stakeholders need information on the short-term and seasonal-climatic conditions for scheduling their vacations and business plans. CRITERION (https://unesco-weather.gr/) provides this information tailored to specific UNESCO cultural heritage monuments in Greece such as the Acropolis, Delos, Corfu, Meteora, Patmos, Delfi, Thessaloniki etc. The online platform provides an efficient way of browsing through the unique microclimate characteristics of each monument and supports the users to make decisions prior to their visit, making the touristic experience more special and convenient. The service has been designed by the Research Centre for Atmospheric Physics and Climatology at the Academy of Athens. The short term forecast is provided by WRF model at 4×4 km analysis over Greece and the seasonal forecast is from the 50 ensemble members of ECMWF C3S Copernicus Service.
Contact: Stavros Solomos
DEIMS-SDR (Dynamic Ecological Information Management System - Site and dataset registry) is an information management system that allows you to discover long-term ecosystem research sites around the globe, along with the data gathered at those sites and the people and networks associated with them. DEIMS-SDR describes a wide range of sites, providing a wealth of information, including each site’s location, ecosystems, facilities, parameters measured and research themes. It is also possible to access a growing number of datasets and data products associated with the sites. All sites and dataset records can be referenced using unique identifiers that are generated by DEIMS-SDR. It is possible to search for sites via keyword, predefined filters or a map search. By including accurate, up to date information in DEIMS, site managers benefit from greater visibility for their LTER site, LTSER platform and datasets, which can help attract funding to support site investments. The aim of DEIMS-SDR is to be the globally most comprehensive catalogue of environmental research and monitoring facilities, featuring foremost but not exclusively information about all LTER sites on the globe and providing that information to science, politics and the public in general.
Contact: Johannes Peterseil and Christoph Wohner
Key users from the environmental, health or other sectors need open access, high quality, health-related AQ information in a comprehensible manner. In the frame of the ‘Health Surveillance Air Quality’ Pilot (HSAQ), Earth observation platforms for AQ (e.g. in situ monitoring stations, satellite retrievals, atmospheric numerical models, citizen observatories), are fused with population and health data towards tailored, added value products that support public air quality and health assessments, informed decision making, or urban planning. In particular:
- Satellite-based observations are converted by ad-hoc methods into NO2 surface concentrations to support for the first time the national AQ assessment of Finland delivered to the European Environmental Agency (EEA).
- Health risk due to exposure to air pollutant mixture (PM2.5, PM10, NO2, O3, SO2) is assessed for Munich (per postal coded polygons) and other megacities of the globe, through the exploitation of the World Settlement Footprint.
- The population weighted PM2.5 concentration levels in high resolution are assessed for the city of Bari, following the definition of the UN SDG 11.6.2.
- The high-resolution mapping of population exposure to air pollution is estimated, with emphasis to the exposure above the newly published (late 2021) WHO air quality guidelines for NO2 and PM2.5.
These components -which reflect the specific needs of each pilot city, identified through a co-design process- are demonstrated through the TEASER platform of HSAQ – a *marketplace of services* showing off the different EO driven products to address city particularities. Through the teaser demonstration, the user may be redirected to the individual platforms of each component and explore its full database and potential.
More info available here.
Contact: Evangelos Gerasopoulos and Eleni Athanasopoulou
The EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) recognizes the importance of clean water. It requires member states to monitor and, if necessary, improve the water quality. Water is very dynamic and therefore the spatial component is key to gain insight in the processes within a water body. However, regular sample-based monitoring of important water quality parameters such as chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) only provide sparse point data.
Using knowledge about how certain substances such as Chl-a alter the colour of the water, these parameters can be derived from satellite Earth Observation (EO). Based on the EO data, frequent maps that provide an overview of the whole area can be created. EO data also provides a cost-effective method for monitoring under-sampled water bodies, even when taking in account that EO imagery is sometimes hampered due to cloud cover.
Water Insight provides monitoring services of Chl-a and WFD phytoplankton biomass status classes maps, based on EO data and validated with in situ data. Water managers appreciate the maps for:
- cheap and automated monitoring for under-sampled lakes, combined with targeted sampling in case of unexpected changes
- systems analysis, for which the spatial component is key
- evaluation of the spatial effect of measures taken to improve water quality for the WFD
- as input for spatial ecological models
Contact: Water Insight
Harvesting machines weigh about 20 tons and require good bearing capacity of the terrain to avoid the machines from getting stuck. Only sufficient soil conditions prevent damaging the topsoil of the forest floor and negatively impacting the biosphere. Up to 80% Finish forest land have been classified by Finnish Forest center (Metsäkeskus) based on airborne laser scanning data. Such information can be used in assessing sufficient conditions for forest trafficability. Six classes are available, where some require dry summer and some winter conditions for harvesting to occur.
The new Harvester Seasons -service by Finish Meteorological Institute (FMI) extends this classification by helping to estimate for up to several months ahead if and when good trafficability conditions occur. While for summer dry conditions are best suitable, in winter adequate frost and snow conditions are required.
More info available here
Contact: Mikko Strahlendorff and Asko Poikela
The development of photovoltaic (PV) systems on roofs or parking shades, particularly in urban areas, is interesting because these energy systems allow to produce low-cost renewable electricity on already anthropised surfaces such as the roofs of buildings or car parks, as close as possible to the places of consumption and without emission of pollutants or greenhouse gases (GHG) during their operation.
The service based on Jupiter Notebook provides an environment for grid operators, urban planning decision makers, industries, aggregators for solar energy trading, citizen (photovoltaic (PV) self-consumption) and researchers to perform:
- modelling the urban energy system of distribution grids to plan,
- monitoring and nowcasting (i.e. and short-term forecast) of the spatiotemporal variability of the electric consumption on one hand and of the production of fleet of PV rooftop systems on the other hand.
It uses satellite-based decametric DEM (Digital Elevation Model), airborne or satellite-based sub-metric DSM (Digital Surface Model), Copernicus Atmospheric Monitoring Service (CAMS) data from CAMS Radiation Service as well as in-situ measurements (pyranometric, air-pollution, PV metering, …). Computation process is deployed on the WEkEO DIAS and powered via OGC WPS.
During the course of the project, three use cases will be developed. The current use-case provides historical analysis of PV variability for accurate assessment for PV-self consumption. It provides PV roof-top or parking shades developers or installers for individual/collective housing with precise information about the self-consumption and self-sufficiency ratios enabling future PV system to cover the electric consumption (self-sufficiency) supported by a precise financial analysis of the project.
More info available here.
Contact: Philippe Blanc and Lionel Menard
The Essential Biodiversity Variables Data Portal provides access to key spatiotemporal biodiversity data for assessing and reporting on biodiversity change. Essential Biodiversity Variables (EBV) datasets are typically produced at the global, continental or national levels through integrating disparate sources of in-situ and remote sensing data using biodiversity models. The datasets, produced and published by research teams around the world, are a contribution to the main mission of GEO BON: Improve the acquisition, coordination and delivery of biodiversity observations to effectively manage the world’s biodiversity and ecosystem services.
In the EBV Data Portal, data producers can distribute their datasets using the newly developed EBV-Cube Standard along with extensive metadata information describing the data characteristics and provenance. Compliance with the EBV-Cube standard is facilitated with a friendly interface to document the metadata and by an R-package to organize the spatiotemporal data under the appropriate format. Users can find the data using the Catalog View and explore key characteristics, such as the biodiversity attributes, geographical and temporal coverage, the environmental domain of the dataset, and information about the data sources and models. In the Map view, the user can “navigate” through the data cube exploring the different biological entities of each dataset (e.g. different species, community types or ecosystem types contained in the data). Some datasets also include biodiversity scenario projections. With these, users can also visualize and analyze biodiversity change from the past to the projected future.
The EBV Portal provides open access to the data under CC licenses selected by the data providers. Further improvements within e-shape concern the interoperability of the Portal with other data platforms to respond to a broader variety of users; the mobilization of new EBV datasets addressing different user needs; the development of a software package to facilitate the production of data conforming to the EBV Cube standard; and a Rest API (web service) specifically developed for machine-readable access to the datasets.
Contact: Néstor Fernández and Christian Langer / myVARIABLE
We create and provide data solutions for the farmers and industries that farmers rely on. Farmers, agri-cooperatives, agri-consultants, smart farming service providers, insurance organizations and companies, food & beverage companies, CAP stakeholders (farmers and paying agencies), traders and trading companies are some of already engaged users or potential users/consumers.
Agrowth empowers users with intelligent tools which generate knowledge at the parcel level.
Agrowth platform combines Earth Observation data from Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 missions, along with pertinent vegetation indices, soil and weather data. It makes use of state of the art in Artificial Intelligence in order to support smart farming using EO data. Specifically, it provides a crop monitoring service which offers information and/or actionable advice at the parcel level.
In the current version, the available services per parcel are:
- Phenology estimation:It estimates the current phenology stage of crop and the fuzzy transition of them in the course of time. Specifically, it provides the percentage of completion of each stage and it indicates the major and minor phenological stage in order to highlight this fuzziness of transition between of them.
- Weather Forecast:It visualizes the max, min ambient temperatures, growing degree days per parcel and it interplays with risk.resagri.eu. The user can be transferred at the click of a button to their parcel on the Resagri app where they are provided with detailed weather information.
- Yield prediction:It predicts the yield in kg/ha, months earlier from the harvest.
- Vegetation Indices:It provides charts for the evolution of the vegetation indices NDVI, NDWI, PSRI and some crop specific indices (BORI and BARI in the case of cotton).
Furthermore, there are some services for a quick overall view of the state of all available parcels on the map of user.
- Overlay Satellite Images:It allows to overlay satellite images (RGB or NDVI) over the users’ parcels for a chosen acquisition date and area of interest.
- Phenology Stage: It colors the outline of each parcel with a color equivalent to its major phenology stage.
- Crop Classification: It colors the outline of each parcel with a color equivalent to its crop.
Contact: Ilias Tsoumas and Vassilis Sitokonstantinou
Offshore winds and resources
Mapping the wind conditions at sea for exploitation of offshore wind energy
The offshore wind energy sector is expanding rapidly and there is a need for spatial wind data over the global ocean in connection with planning of new wind farm projects. The amount of wind measurements at sea is very limited and the wind energy industry typically relies on numerical modeling in combination with observations at a few point locations when planning a wind farm project.
Earth Observation (EO) offers spatial coverage all over the world and temporal coverage on the order decades. High-resolution wind fields can be retrieved from synthetic aperture radar (SAR) observations and reveal wind speed variations close to the land where many offshore wind farms are constructed. Wind vectors from scatterometers provide frequent temporal coverage, which is useful for the decomposition of the annual and seasonal wind variability and for estimating decadal trends of the wind climate. We combine EO-based wind fields from SAR and scatterometers and calculate wind resource maps revealing the spatial variability of the wind power density offshore.
Offshore wind fields in near-real-time
Users can browse DTU’s archive with 400,000+ high-resolution SAR wind maps over the seas of Europe, southeast Asia and the US. Upon registration, users can download all available wind fields over an area of interest (e.g. a future offshore wind farm site) and investigate the wind flow in detail. We update the archive on a daily basis to show the latest wind fields retrieved from SAR.
European offshore wind atlas
Users can also view pre-calculated wind atlases over the European seas based on SAR and scatterometer data as well as from model simulations. For the scatterometer products, annual wind resource maps are available in addition to wind atlases including all available samples since 2007.
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Acknowledgment
The e-shape project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement 820852
