GMES : News

GMES Operations 2014 � 2020

Tue, 15 May 2012 09:53:00 +0200

In its Communication entitled "A Budget for Europe 2020" (COM(2011) 500, June 2011), the Commission proposed to fund GMES outside the next multi-annual financial framework (MFF). This Communication was followed in November 2011 by a Communication providing the main elements for defining the appropriate governance and long term funding of the GMES programme from 2014 onwards (COM(2011) 831).
At that time, the Commission proposed to set up a specific GMES fund with financial contributions from all 27 EU Member States based on their gross national income (GNI), in a model similar to that of the European Development Fund.

The setting up of such a fund would imply the establishment of an intergovernmental agreement between the EU Member States meeting within the Council.

On 11 May 2012 the European Commission adopted a Communication proposing "the establishment of an Intergovernmental Agreement for the operations of the European Earth monitoring programme (GMES) from 2014 to 2020" (COM(2012) 218 Final).

In conclusion to this Communication, the Commission "urges the Member States to initiate the necessary measures for the timely adoption of an intergovernmental agreement and of a regulation for the operations of the GMES programme and reiterates its commitment to support Member States in this process".

NEREUS/ESA Joint Publication

Fri, 11 May 2012 12:08:00 +0200

The deadline for providing contributions to the joint NEREUS/ESA publication entitled "50 uses of GMES across European regions" (see former news item on this subject) has been extended until 21 May 2012.

More information onhow to submit an article can be downloaded here

GMES Mobile Apps

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 11:10:00 +0200

ESA is inviting 20 developers to its ESRIN location in Frascati and offers them the opportunity to meet with other developers, create mobile applications using satellite data, and gain insight into ESA's work. The goal is to come up with a concept for mobile apps using Earth monitoring data on smartphones, in particular by leveraging the possibilities offered by the GMES.

Registration is open from 6 April to 6 May 2012.

More information is available at http://www.app-camp.eu

FP7

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 09:17:00 +0200

The 2013 draft edition of the FP7 Work Programme (Theme 9: Space) is now available to the public on the European Commission Enterprise and industry portal. This draft document aims to provide potential applicants with the currently expected main lines to prepare their proposals.

Read more...

GMES Conference

Tue, 13 Mar 2012 10:27:00 +0100

A conference entitled "GMES in Action" will take place on 4-5 June 2012 in Copenhagen with the objective to highlight the economic impact and strategic value of GMES and inform about the benefits of GMES for Europe from the users� perspective

More information is available either on this website (here) or on the EC DG ENTR website (here)

Air Quality

Fri, 09 Mar 2012 17:57:00 +0100

The obsAIRve project launches a competition which aims at identifying innovative concepts on how to communicate the importance of air quality and how citizens could be better informed about the many aspects connected with it.

Until the end of 2012, a winner will be selected every month and will receive a prize. After the submission deadline (31.12.2012) a winner will be selected among all monthly winners and will be offered a weekend trip to a major European capital as well as additional free promotion for the awarded idea.

More information on this competition can be found on the Europa website (click here) or directly on the project website.

Call for Articles

Thu, 08 Mar 2012 15:40:00 +0100

The Network of European Regions Using Space Technologies (NEREUS) and the European Space Agency (ESA) are inviting contributions for their joint publication entitled "50 uses of GMES across European regions". This publication will document the accelerating growth in the number and quality of applications of GMES in the European regions.

Through this publication, the two organisations wish to underline the significance of Europe's investment in GMES and the benefits it brings to the European citizen through support for regionally delivered public policies in different domains and through economic growth and job creation in the business sectors of the regional communities.

A full version of the call for articles and the template to be used for submitting articles can be downloaded here

GMES Emergency Management

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 17:09:00 +0100

During the last few weeks, the SAFER project was triggered at several occasions in order to provide civil protection authorities with rapid mapping:

7 February 2012 for floods in Bulgaria: Due to heavy snow and severe weather conditions, several dams were overflowing, thus inundating several villages in south eastern Bulgaria;
24 February 2012 for floods in Algeria: Due to exceptional rainfall (the heaviest reported over the last 30 years), floods have killed several people and caused damages to croplands and infrastructures;
2 March 2012 for a tropical storm in Madagascar: the northern part of Madagascar has been hit by the tropical storm Irina, which brought heavy rainfall with gusts of wind reaching more than 120 km/h, causing thousands of homeless people and at least one death.

SAFER is the FP7 project responsible for the implementation of the pre-operational version of the GMES Emergency Management Service.

Space solutions for the Arctic

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 15:07:00 +0100

ESA is joining forces at two events with decision-makers, universities, industry and users to map how space services can contribute to emerging challenges in the Arctic.

The first event is a workshop on 12 March 2012 on the vital role of the integrated use of satellite communications, navigation and Earth observation in supporting human and economic activities under these extreme conditions.

Taking place in Denmark, this workshop is being organised by the Centre for Polar Activities at the Technical University of Denmark under the auspices of ESA's Integrated Applications Promotion (IAP) programme (more information here).

The second event is the "Space for the Arctic 2012" conference which will take place the day after at the same location. The conference is organised by the European Commission, the Danish Meteorological Institute, the Centre for Polar Activities at the Technical University of Denmark and ESA.

The main objectives of this conference are to take stock of recent developments, in dialog with Arctic stakeholders to identify gaps and to explore future opportunities (more information here).

Earth Observation in Africa

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 11:51:00 +0100

The European Union boosts its support to earth observation applications in Africa with a new 37 million EUR program 'Monitoring of Environment and Security in Africa (MESA)', formally approved1 in December 2011. The program will run from 2013 until 2018, with the objective to address the need for improved management of natural resources and environmental security towards sustainable development in Africa, at continental, regional and national levels, including all Sub-Saharan African countries.

Monitoring of soil and water conditions for agriculture, tracking forest degradation and desertification, providing information to policy and decision makers in order to lessen and/or adapt to effects of climate change and reducing the risks of natural and human made disasters, for example, are all areas where MESA will bring added value.

More information on the "Delegation of the European Union to the African Union" website

(Source EARSC)

Atmosphere Monitoring

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 10:40:00 +0100

The European Space Agency is organizing a conference (18-22 June 2012, Bruges, Belgium) on the topical theme atmosphere to provide scientists and data users with the opportunity to present first-hand and up-to-date results from their ongoing research and application development activities using data from atmospheric instruments on ERS-2, Envisat, Metop and ESA Third Party Missions.

One of the objectives of the conference will be to present the atmosphere monitoring services developed under the European Earth monitoring programme (GMES). The mission status of the atmospheric Sentinel missions will also be presented at this occasion.

More information is available at http://congrexprojects.com/atmos2012/home

Marine Biogeochemistry Services

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 18:27:00 +0100

The FP7-funded OSS2015 project aims to carry out R&D activities for the development of new and innovative marine biogeochemistry products and services. The OSS2015 products and services will be derived from a combination of satellite and in-situ data as well as biological and bio-optical models.

Uptake and usage of these new capabilities will be promoted among a wide range of users in the scientific, institutional and private sectors.

More information is available at www.oss2015.eu

MALAREO Project

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 18:12:00 +0100

From 04 February until 10 February, MALAREO is organizing a one week GIS course for different Malaria Control Programmes within the SADC region at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

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

GMES Emergency Management Service

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 11:26:00 +0100

A User Information Meeting aiming at presenting the new operational procedures and organisational arrangements of the GMES Emergency Management Service during the GMES Initial Operations phase will take place on 7 March 2012.

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.

GMES Atmosphere Monitoring

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 16:40:00 +0100

From 27 February until 2 March 2012, the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) will host the final General Assembly of the Monitoring Atmospheric Composition and Climate (MACC) project combined with the first General Assembly of its follow-on project MACC-II. The aim of the meeting is to review and present the achievements of MACC as well as the plans for the coming year for MACC-II.

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