More information is available at www.oss2015.eu

Building GIS and EO capacity upon existing capacity is one of the main objectives of MALAREO. In parallel, EO-based solutions are developed to support the Malaria Control Programmes in their daily work. While very High Resolution (VHR) data can be used to support the planning of malaria vector control actions, high and medium resolution data are feeding geo-statistical modeling of malaria case data, resulting in malaria risk maps.

To find out more about the MALAREO project, please visit www.malareo.eu

This meeting will primarily address the Authorised Users of the service, i.e. National Focal Points in Member States and from countries participating to the Civil Protection Mechanism.

More information is available here.

MACC and its successor MACC-II are the EU funded projects responsible for the implementation of the pre-operational version of the GMES Atmosphere Monitoring Service.

To know more about the GMES Atmosphere Monitoring Service, please visit www.gmes-atmosphere.eu

La Niña changes global weather patterns with opposite effects to those resulting from El Niño. La Niña generally causes dry episodes along the coasts of North and South America, and drought conditions in the western Pacific.

Thanks to its capacity to measure ocean characteristics (e.g. temperature, currents, sea level, etc.), the GMES Marine Environment Monitoring service developed by MyOcean contributes to the monitoring of events such as El Niño or La Niña and can therefore help mitigating their negative impacts.

Read more...

In this perspective, the obsAIRve project has developed an application for Iphone which is available free of charge on the App Store. This application delivers current and forecast air quality information. Complex scientific data on the most important air pollutants like ozone, NO2 and fine particles are converted into easy to understand air quality index shown as map or diagram. Users also have the possibility to rate air quality at their current location.

More information is available at www.obsairve.eu

The symposium is open to anyone interested in geoscience and remote sensing or involved in the development of Earth observation missions.

Special sessions will be devoted to the presentation of the space component (Sentinels missions) of the European Earth monitoring programme GMES.

To know more about this event, please visit http://www.igarss2012.org

Operational computational centre of EFAS

The award decision has been taken in favour of the European Centre for Medium-range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF, www.ecmwf.int), for a total  value of 2 929 961 EUR (excluding VAT).

The aim of this framework contract placed by the JRC is to progressively integrate parts of the European flood awareness system (EFAS) into the GMES emergency management service, in part under the GMES initial operation phase (GIO).

This framework contract considers the setting-up and implementation of the computational tasks related to the European flood awareness system and operation of the system on a guaranteed 24/7 basis thereafter together with associated testing, and research and development.

EFAS dissemination centre

The award decision has been taken in favour of the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (http://www.smhi.se), for a total value of 1 022 000 EUR (excluding VAT).

The aim of the framework contract placed by the JRC is to progressively integrate parts of the European flood awareness system (EFAS) into the GMES emergency management service, in collaboration with the European Monitoring and Information Centre (MIC) of DG ECHO.

This framework contract deals with the outsourcing of the dissemination of EFAS results. The contractor will analyse EFAS results as provided by the EFAS computational centre twice a day on a guaranteed 7/365 basis, consult on a daily basis the situation with the other EFAS centres, investigate the ongoing flood situation in Europe and issue flood early warning information to partners of the EFAS network including MIC. Furthermore, feedback on flood forecasts and performance of the system are being collected and EFAS annual meetings organised in close collaboration with the Joint Research Centre.

EFAS hydrological data collection centre

The award decision has been taken in favour of Elimco Sistemas s.l. (http://www.elimco.com), for a total value of 550 000 EUR (excluding VAT).

The aim of this framework contract placed by the JRC is to progressively integrate parts of the European flood awareness system (EFAS) into the GMES emergency management service, in part under the GMES initial operation phase (GIO).

This contract refers to the EFAS hydrological data collection centre. The contractor will manage an existing network of data providers for real time hydrological data, set up the data collection system for discharge and water level, implement quality control on the real time data and send the data in agreed format to the Joint Research Centre.


Land monitoring services: high resolution land cover characteristics of 5 main land cover types

The framework contract consists of six lots. The award decision has been taken in favour of:

• Metria AB (http://www.metria.se) for lot 1, for a total value of 990 000 EUR (excluding VAT)
• GAF AG (http://www.gaf.de) for lot 2, for a total value of 700 000 EUR (excluding VAT)
• GAF AG (http://www.gaf.de) for lot 3, for a total value of 1 055 000 EUR (excluding VAT)
• Planetek Italia S.r.l. (http://www.planetek.it) for lot 4, for a total value of 820 000 EUR EUR (excluding VAT)
• GeoVille Informationssysteme und Datenverarbeitung GmbH (http://www.geoville.com) for lot 5, for a total value of 535 000 EUR (excluding VAT)
• Indra Sistemas SA (http://www.indracompany.com) for lot 6, for a total value of 1 900 000 EUR (excluding VAT)

The framework contract aims at providing high resolution land cover characteristics data complementary to the Corine land cover map 2012 that will be produced in parallel by the European environmental observation and information network (Eionet) and the EEA from the same satellite data. The 5 high resolution layers deal with artificial surfaces, forest areas, agriculture areas, wetlands, water bodies for the reference year 2012. The production of the 5 high resolution layers (HRLs) as part of the GMES initial operations (GIO) pan-European land monitoring services will be organised as a mix of centralised production by industry and decentralised delivery by EEA member and cooperating countries.

The different lots address the following areas:

• Lot 1: Imperviousness and forest in northern Europe
• Lot 2: Imperviousness and forest in central Europe, 'partim' Atlantic region
• Lot 3: Imperviousness and forest in central Europe, 'partim' Alpine, continental, and Pannonian region
• Lot 4: Imperviousness and forest in southern Europe, 'partim' west and central Mediterranean region
• Lot 5: Imperviousness and forest in southern Europe, 'partim' east Mediterranean region
• Lot 6: Grasslands, wetlands and water bodies in the EEA39

In this document, NEREUS "urges the European Commission to ensure sustainable funding within the framework of the Multi Financial Framework of 2014-2020 in order to secure the timely delivery of Europe’s GMES flagship programme".

NEREUS considers that whereas GMES is both an opportunity for economic growth and a vital tool for territorial management for the regions, the European Commission's proposal to exclude GMES from the Multi Financial Framework for 2014-2020 will increase inequalities between EU countries.

The position paper also examines through a series of concrete examples the impacts that the European Commission's proposal would have on regionally-specific applications.

The position paper can be downloaded here

NEREUS is an initiative by regions from all over Europe. Emphasis is placed on the use of space technologies. The network aims to explore the benefits of space technologies for Regions and their citizens and to spread their applications. To know more about NEREUS, please visit www.nereus-regions.eu

At this occasion, visitors to the MyOcean stand have discovered the services developed by MyOcean. They also had the opportunity to be briefed on the first MyOcean application for a smartphone (MyOcean Online) displaying Ocean forecasts from the bottom of the ocean to its surface. More information on this application is available here.

MyOcean is the EU-funded project (FP7) developing the pre-operational version of the GMES Marine Environment Monitoring service. MyOcean provides open and free access to state-of-the-art Ocean analyses and forecasts based on the combination of satellite and in situ observations, and their assimilation into 3D models, for the past, in real time and for the near future.

This communication presents its proposals for the future funding, governance and operations of the GMES programme for the period 2014 - 2020.
As far as funding is concerned, the European Commission has made an assessment involving three different options. Based on its assessment, the Commission proposes to opt for the creation of a specific GMES fund, similar to the model chosen for the European Development Fund, with financial contributions from all Member States, based on their Gross National Income (GNI). The management of the fund would be delegated to the European Commission.

As far as governance is concerned, the European Commission proposes to remain responsible for the political supervision and the overall coordination of the GMES, on behalf of the Union. The Commission proposes to delegate certain management tasks (e.g. evaluation, negotiation and follow-up of contracts) to the European GNSS Agency (GSA). These tasks would however not include operations.

For operations, the European Commission proposes that the technical coordination of service is entrusted to several European entities, depending on their knowledge and expertise (e.g. the technical coordination of the land monitoring service could be entrusted to the European Environment Agency, the technical coordination of the atmosphere monitoring service could be entrusted to the European Centre for Medium-range Weather Forecasting, the technical coordination of the emergency management service could be entrusted to the European Emergency Response Centre, etc.).

The full text of the Communication is available here.

• Baseline Option with no on-going commitment to replace infrastructure or investing significantly in services (Option A);
• Baseline Option Extended, but still with no ongoing commitment to replace infrastructure over the longer term and invest significantly in services (Option B);
• Partial Continuity1, with commitment to provide Sentinel infrastructure and invest considerably in services, with limited support to ensuring continuity of data from Contributing Missions (Option C);
• Full Continuity with commitment to provide Sentinel infrastructure and
  enhanced support for the continuity of data from Contributing Mission with full investment in services (Option D).

The final version II of the study report was issued on 19 September 2011.

The document is now available for download on the EC DG ENTR portal by clicking on the following link.

The report, which is based on a comprehensive analysis of previous third-party results, is focusing on disaster management.

The report addresses the following areas:

• Disasters in Europe with focus on flooding and fires;
• Public opinion on civil protection;
• Overview and analysis of past socio-economic benefits studies on GMES;
• Analysis of quantifiable and non quantifiable economic, strategic and political benefits.

The study shows that GMES can produce significant socio-economic benefits and can offer significant strategic and political benefits for Europe.

The report can be downloaded here.

MyOcean is the EU-funded project (FP7) developing the pre-operational version of the GMES Marine Environment Monitoring service. MyOcean provides open and free access to state-of-the-art Ocean analyses and forecasts based on the combination of satellite and in situ observations, and their assimilation into 3D models, for the past, in real time and for the near future.

Visitors to the MyOcean stand will be able to manipulate an interactive globe featuring currents and temperatures and discover the first MyOcean application for a smartphone displaying Ocean forecasts from the bottom of the ocean to its surface. They will also discover how any user can access the comprehensive MyOcean catalogue of products through the MyOcean web portal.

See the full MyOcean press release