Projects
Current projects
ESA EO Africa
The objective of this initiative is to build an African-European R&D partnership to facilitate the sustainable adoption of Earth Observation and related space technology in Africa. The initiative will be driven by African research challenges and user needs, and will follow a long-term vision (>10 years) for the emergent digital era in Africa as outlined in the “Agenda 2063 – The Africa we want” of the African Union Commission (AUC).
ITC-LIFE | Disaster Resilience | Resource Security
DeCODe
The European Commission co-funded DeCODe consortium, led by the UT, will aims to catalyse innovation and address the unique healthcare needs of people living with a rare disease, specifically children. This collaborative group, comprising clinicians, researchers, industry experts, and regulatory authorities, will develop a platform for developing safe and effective paediatric and orphan medical devices.
There are very few medical devices that are specifically developed for rare diseases and children, so-called paediatric and orphan devices. Many orphan devices provide essential functions for patients with rare diseases, their carers, and the healthcare professionals using them. At the same time, many patients and carers express a substantial unmet need for new paediatric devices for their conditions. As such, this initiative will support the development of paediatric and orphan devices via two different steps.
The platform’s methodology encompasses a multifaceted approach, beginning with mapping paediatric and orphan stakeholders and initiatives and developing a critical pathway analysis for the optimal way of developing novel paediatric and orphan medical technologies.
New initiative
As a next step, DeCODe will select five developers for support via grant applications that are expected to be launched in March 2025. For each of the successful developers, it will keep track of the paediatric orphan devices that are supported, the number of prototypes that each developer has developed; the business plans that are drafted, the number of clinical data collections that have been launched, and certificates that have been obtained throughout the support process. The consortium expects that 3-5 new medical devices will be approved and implemented in rare disease care, due to this exciting new initiative.
The DeCODe platform will be available for any kind of developer (a patient-led group, academic, or small-and-medium enterprise) located in Europe.
So, if you have any great ideas for a new medical device for paediatric and orphan medical devices, please consider an application in the Spring of next year and visit the DeCODe website when it is launched.
More information
DeCODe is co-financed by the European Commission’s EU4Health programme (Grant Agreement ID: 101160939). The University of Twente will coordinate this project, which is focused on supporting the development of orphan devices.
The researcher involved at the University of Twente is Dr Anneliene Jonker. Dr Jonker is an assistant professor in the health technologies and services department (Faculty of BMS). Her work focuses on the interface of rare disease therapy development and policy development.
This consortium is also linked to the US Alliance for Pediatric Device Innovation, an FDA-funded Pediatric Device Research Consortium, with whom it will collaborate throughout the project.
There are very few medical devices that are specifically developed for rare diseases and children, so-called paediatric and orphan devices. Many orphan devices provide essential functions for patients with rare diseases, their carers, and the healthcare professionals using them. At the same time, many patients and carers express a substantial unmet need for new paediatric devices for their conditions. As such, this initiative will support the development of paediatric and orphan devices via two different steps.
The platform’s methodology encompasses a multifaceted approach, beginning with mapping paediatric and orphan stakeholders and initiatives and developing a critical pathway analysis for the optimal way of developing novel paediatric and orphan medical technologies.
New initiative
As a next step, DeCODe will select five developers for support via grant applications that are expected to be launched in March 2025. For each of the successful developers, it will keep track of the paediatric orphan devices that are supported, the number of prototypes that each developer has developed; the business plans that are drafted, the number of clinical data collections that have been launched, and certificates that have been obtained throughout the support process. The consortium expects that 3-5 new medical devices will be approved and implemented in rare disease care, due to this exciting new initiative.
The DeCODe platform will be available for any kind of developer (a patient-led group, academic, or small-and-medium enterprise) located in Europe.
So, if you have any great ideas for a new medical device for paediatric and orphan medical devices, please consider an application in the Spring of next year and visit the DeCODe website when it is launched.
More information
DeCODe is co-financed by the European Commission’s EU4Health programme (Grant Agreement ID: 101160939). The University of Twente will coordinate this project, which is focused on supporting the development of orphan devices.
The researcher involved at the University of Twente is Dr Anneliene Jonker. Dr Jonker is an assistant professor in the health technologies and services department (Faculty of BMS). Her work focuses on the interface of rare disease therapy development and policy development.
This consortium is also linked to the US Alliance for Pediatric Device Innovation, an FDA-funded Pediatric Device Research Consortium, with whom it will collaborate throughout the project.
Health Technology & Services Research
People ECCO
Region: International
Description: Effective ecosystem conservation and restoration are crucial to halt global biodiversity loss and to mitigate the effects of global climate change. Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) are key actors in achieving an effective conservation and restoration of ecosystems, as these multifaceted organizations work on the interface of project implementation, education, public policy advocacy and research.
The two overarching goals of the PEOPLE-ECCO project are to (i) engage CSOs/NGOs active in ecosystems conservation by involving them in the co-design of Earth Observation-supported methodologies applicable in their operational practices and though EO capacity building activities, and (ii) develop, test, demonstrate and validate EO-integrated methods, based on the identified user requirements and co-design. Building on existing EO initiatives and projects, the EO solutions developed in this project will bring in elements of novelty to answer two parallel conservation objectives: monitoring conditions and management effectiveness of existing protected areas (Objective A), and site suitability identification of high-priority areas to be protected (Objective B).
Partners: Hatfield Consultants (Canada), DHI (Denmark), 52°North (Germany)
Sponsor: ESA
Description: Effective ecosystem conservation and restoration are crucial to halt global biodiversity loss and to mitigate the effects of global climate change. Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) are key actors in achieving an effective conservation and restoration of ecosystems, as these multifaceted organizations work on the interface of project implementation, education, public policy advocacy and research.
The two overarching goals of the PEOPLE-ECCO project are to (i) engage CSOs/NGOs active in ecosystems conservation by involving them in the co-design of Earth Observation-supported methodologies applicable in their operational practices and though EO capacity building activities, and (ii) develop, test, demonstrate and validate EO-integrated methods, based on the identified user requirements and co-design. Building on existing EO initiatives and projects, the EO solutions developed in this project will bring in elements of novelty to answer two parallel conservation objectives: monitoring conditions and management effectiveness of existing protected areas (Objective A), and site suitability identification of high-priority areas to be protected (Objective B).
Partners: Hatfield Consultants (Canada), DHI (Denmark), 52°North (Germany)
Sponsor: ESA
ITC-LIFE | Resource Security
AgriCEM
The European Space Agency’s (ESA) Sentinel Users Preparation (SUP) project “Advanced Agricultural Monitoring with Copernicus Expansion Missions (AgriCEM)” aims at
Generating a representative dataset for the hyperspectral CHIME and the thermal LSTM missionDeveloping and testing advanced vegetation stress products using CHIME and LSTMInvolving stakeholders and end-users
Synthetic CHIME and LSTM data will be generated using an end-to-end simulator combining the Soil Canopy Observation, Photochemistry and Energy fluxes (SCOPE) model and the OHB Remote Sensing Image Simulation Environment (RISE). The parameterisation of vegetation in the SCOPE model will be configured for sugar beet based on the data provided by the partner company QZ Solutions and the champion user KWS (a seed company). The output of the SCOPE model (i.e. top of canopy reflectance images) will feed into the OHB simulator, which simulates the acquisition geometry, the optical effects and noise within the instrument, and the ground processing chain including atmospheric correction. Based on the simulated datasets of CHIME and LSTM and their synergistic use, we will develop retrieval algorithms for vegetation biophysical and biochemical traits (ITC, OHB), land surface temperature (LST, LIST) and evapotranspiration (ET, LIST), and several vegetation stress indicators of different complexity (LIST, ITC) . AgriCEM aims to demonstrate the added value of the new hyperspectral instruments and higher resolution LST, compared to the currently available multispectral and coarser resolution sensors and develop beyond state-of-the-art stress indicators. The generated synthetic images and the algorithms will be made available to the scientific community and stakeholders. Let's get ready for the new era of Copernicus Expansion missions!
Partners
OHB System AG (OHB; coordination)University of Twente, ITCLuxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST)QZ SolutionsKWS (champion user)
Study areas
Sugar beet fields in Poland, Italy and Germany.
CHIME and LSTM
CHIME - Copernicus Hyperspectral Imaging Mission for the Environment – revisit time 12.5 days – spatial resolution 30 m – > 200 bands in VIS-NIR-SWIR 400-2500 nm https://www.eoportal.org/satellite-missions/chime-copernicus#mission-capabilities
LSTM - Land Surface Temperature Monitoring – revisit time 4 days – spatial resolution 50 m – 5 TIR bands 8-12 um (sensor characteristics at the ITC sensor database https://webapps.itc.utwente.nl/sensor/getsen.aspx?name=LSTM)
Both missions' launch is planned for 2028.
Agricem Midterm Meeting 2025
The EO ASCENT Team joined the Mid-term Review meeting and created a series of videos about the project and insights from ESA, partners, and stakeholders.
General overview
Espen Volden, ESA project manager
Marek Wiciak, Top Farms Glubczyce
Zbigniew Kawalec, QZ solutions CEO
Marco Spagnolli, OHB systems engineer
Laura Schyrba, KWS scientist
Disclaimer
The view expressed in this publication can in no way be taken to reflect the official opinion of the European Space Agency
Generating a representative dataset for the hyperspectral CHIME and the thermal LSTM missionDeveloping and testing advanced vegetation stress products using CHIME and LSTMInvolving stakeholders and end-users
Synthetic CHIME and LSTM data will be generated using an end-to-end simulator combining the Soil Canopy Observation, Photochemistry and Energy fluxes (SCOPE) model and the OHB Remote Sensing Image Simulation Environment (RISE). The parameterisation of vegetation in the SCOPE model will be configured for sugar beet based on the data provided by the partner company QZ Solutions and the champion user KWS (a seed company). The output of the SCOPE model (i.e. top of canopy reflectance images) will feed into the OHB simulator, which simulates the acquisition geometry, the optical effects and noise within the instrument, and the ground processing chain including atmospheric correction. Based on the simulated datasets of CHIME and LSTM and their synergistic use, we will develop retrieval algorithms for vegetation biophysical and biochemical traits (ITC, OHB), land surface temperature (LST, LIST) and evapotranspiration (ET, LIST), and several vegetation stress indicators of different complexity (LIST, ITC) . AgriCEM aims to demonstrate the added value of the new hyperspectral instruments and higher resolution LST, compared to the currently available multispectral and coarser resolution sensors and develop beyond state-of-the-art stress indicators. The generated synthetic images and the algorithms will be made available to the scientific community and stakeholders. Let's get ready for the new era of Copernicus Expansion missions!
Partners
OHB System AG (OHB; coordination)University of Twente, ITCLuxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST)QZ SolutionsKWS (champion user)
Study areas
Sugar beet fields in Poland, Italy and Germany.
CHIME and LSTM
CHIME - Copernicus Hyperspectral Imaging Mission for the Environment – revisit time 12.5 days – spatial resolution 30 m – > 200 bands in VIS-NIR-SWIR 400-2500 nm https://www.eoportal.org/satellite-missions/chime-copernicus#mission-capabilities
LSTM - Land Surface Temperature Monitoring – revisit time 4 days – spatial resolution 50 m – 5 TIR bands 8-12 um (sensor characteristics at the ITC sensor database https://webapps.itc.utwente.nl/sensor/getsen.aspx?name=LSTM)
Both missions' launch is planned for 2028.
Agricem Midterm Meeting 2025
The EO ASCENT Team joined the Mid-term Review meeting and created a series of videos about the project and insights from ESA, partners, and stakeholders.
General overview
Espen Volden, ESA project manager
Marek Wiciak, Top Farms Glubczyce
Zbigniew Kawalec, QZ solutions CEO
Marco Spagnolli, OHB systems engineer
Laura Schyrba, KWS scientist
Disclaimer
The view expressed in this publication can in no way be taken to reflect the official opinion of the European Space Agency
ITC-LIFE | Resource Security
Finished projects
CopPhil
Description: CopPhil project is ESA-funded, and led by CLS and focuses on EO service development and transfer. The scope of this project is to offer an operational Copernicus service focused on three EO pilot services for users in the Philippines. It has three topics: Ground motion, Benthic habitat, and Land classification. We are contributing to the ‘Ground motion’ topic, aiming to design an InSAR processing chain using open-access tools and integrate it with Geoville’s created processing environment. We shall improve time series InSAR data processing and InSAR method improvement for large volume data processing and cloud computing, and data interpretation with several pilot test sites in the Philippines for 1) landslide, 2) seismic activity and 3) (urban) subsidence. Sentinel-1 SAR data, for at least three years, shall be used. Ultimately, we shall provide an InSAR service (like EGMS, https://egms.land.copernicus.eu) and products to local users in the Philippines and offer tutorials and short courses to them.
Project website: TBD
Partners: CLS, TRE-Altamira, GMV, GeoVille, ARGANS, INDRA, PLUS, ALSO Space, SpaSe
Sponsor: ESA
Project website: TBD
Partners: CLS, TRE-Altamira, GMV, GeoVille, ARGANS, INDRA, PLUS, ALSO Space, SpaSe
Sponsor: ESA
ITC-TECH | Disaster Resilience
ESA LUISA
Land Use Intensitys potential, vulnerability and resilience for Sustainable agriculture in Africa
Description: Over Africa, land use intensification is a subject of particular research interest. The African land system is undergoing rapid changes and novel approaches are needed to understand the drivers and consequences of land use intensification, as well as the dependency, vulnerability and resilience caused by climate change. It is paramount to understand Africa’s potential, vulnerability and resilience for sustainable agriculture, defined as one that is low-carbon, resource-efficient, and socially inclusive.The primary objective of this activity is to develop and implement new methods, effectively linking and integrating modelling, satellite EO products (Sentinels, Explorers, Meteo missions, ESA-CCI) and dataset with in-situ, stakeholder-generated, social-economic data to advance the estimation of continental Africa potential, vulnerability and resilience for sustainable agriculture.
Description: Over Africa, land use intensification is a subject of particular research interest. The African land system is undergoing rapid changes and novel approaches are needed to understand the drivers and consequences of land use intensification, as well as the dependency, vulnerability and resilience caused by climate change. It is paramount to understand Africa’s potential, vulnerability and resilience for sustainable agriculture, defined as one that is low-carbon, resource-efficient, and socially inclusive.The primary objective of this activity is to develop and implement new methods, effectively linking and integrating modelling, satellite EO products (Sentinels, Explorers, Meteo missions, ESA-CCI) and dataset with in-situ, stakeholder-generated, social-economic data to advance the estimation of continental Africa potential, vulnerability and resilience for sustainable agriculture.
ITC-LIFE | Disaster Resilience | Resource Security
HyRelief
Region: Kenya
Description: HyRelief enhances the thermal instrument on board the International Space Agency (ECOSTRESS) drought monitoring products with a new generation of hyperspectral satellites (ENMAP+PRISMA).
Partners: CNR-IREA, BOKU, University of Milan, University of Milan-Bicocca, RCMRD, ILRI, NDMA
Description: HyRelief enhances the thermal instrument on board the International Space Agency (ECOSTRESS) drought monitoring products with a new generation of hyperspectral satellites (ENMAP+PRISMA).
Partners: CNR-IREA, BOKU, University of Milan, University of Milan-Bicocca, RCMRD, ILRI, NDMA
ITC-LIFE | Resource Security
EO4CerealStress
Region: Worldwide
Description: This project aims to power a classic geography model Gravity with artificial intelligence, to model the food movements between places.
Despite advances in agricultural production, approximately 800 million people around the globe still face severe food insecurity. Biotic and abiotic agricultural stressors reduce and limit productivity (e.g., yield reduction) and ecosystem services (e.g., loss of carbon sequestration). These devastating impacts are increased by climate change, particularly by frequent and stronger extreme weather events.
EO4Cerealstress will evaluate the synergistic use of multi-source Earth Observation data, particularly hyperspectral data, in-situ crop physiological parameters, soil, climate, and other ancillary data- taking advantage of their complementarity - to understand the effects of multiple stressors and their cumulative effects on crops. New and planned European satellite missions are providing data at high spatial, spectral and temporal resolutions, which offer the opportunity not only to understand and monitor the impacts of single crop stressors but also multiple crop stressors. The project aims to develop products that can be used to monitor these stressors and provide a scientific roadmap for the future development of EO products and techniques for monitoring multiple crop stressors.
Partners: University of Southampton-UK, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU)-Austria, University of Seville-Spain, University of Guelph-Canada, EODC
Description: This project aims to power a classic geography model Gravity with artificial intelligence, to model the food movements between places.
Despite advances in agricultural production, approximately 800 million people around the globe still face severe food insecurity. Biotic and abiotic agricultural stressors reduce and limit productivity (e.g., yield reduction) and ecosystem services (e.g., loss of carbon sequestration). These devastating impacts are increased by climate change, particularly by frequent and stronger extreme weather events.
EO4Cerealstress will evaluate the synergistic use of multi-source Earth Observation data, particularly hyperspectral data, in-situ crop physiological parameters, soil, climate, and other ancillary data- taking advantage of their complementarity - to understand the effects of multiple stressors and their cumulative effects on crops. New and planned European satellite missions are providing data at high spatial, spectral and temporal resolutions, which offer the opportunity not only to understand and monitor the impacts of single crop stressors but also multiple crop stressors. The project aims to develop products that can be used to monitor these stressors and provide a scientific roadmap for the future development of EO products and techniques for monitoring multiple crop stressors.
Partners: University of Southampton-UK, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU)-Austria, University of Seville-Spain, University of Guelph-Canada, EODC
ITC-LIFE | Resource Security
AlignSAR project
Description: The AlignSAR project aims to develop open-access methods and tools to offer FAIR-guided open SAR benchmark dataset library designed for SAR-based artificial intelligence applications, while ensuring interoperability and consistency with existing and upcoming initiatives and technologies, facilitating wider exploitation of SAR data and its integration and combination with other datasets. This library will contain meaningful and accurate SAR signatures created by integrating and aligning multi-SAR images and other geodetic measurements in time and space.
ITC-TECH | Geospatial AI
EO4Nutri
Description: EO4Nutri focuses on developing innovative scientific solutions that bring together the capabilities of various Earth Observation (EO) data to estimate and predict the nutrient content of the soil, crop canopy, and harvested crops for several global staple grains.
Partners: ITC (EOS and NRS department), National Research Council of Italy (CNR)/Institute for electromagnetic sensing of the environment (IREA), University Milano di Bicocca, Rothamsted Research, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich
Partners: ITC (EOS and NRS department), National Research Council of Italy (CNR)/Institute for electromagnetic sensing of the environment (IREA), University Milano di Bicocca, Rothamsted Research, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich
ITC-LIFE | Geospatial AI | Resource Security
EO4Diversity
Biodiversity Precursors – EO4Diversity (2021)
Region: International (ESA)
Description: EO4DIVERSITY addresses important biodiversity science gaps, including forecasting ecological degradation in order to define effective actions to reduce terrestrial biodiversity loss.
Partners: Stichting Wageningen Research, Vision on Technology for a Better World (VITO), the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Lund University, the UN Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC), the Finish Environment Institute (SYKE) and the Remote Sensing Laboratory of the University of Zurich (RSL / UZH).
Region: International (ESA)
Description: EO4DIVERSITY addresses important biodiversity science gaps, including forecasting ecological degradation in order to define effective actions to reduce terrestrial biodiversity loss.
Partners: Stichting Wageningen Research, Vision on Technology for a Better World (VITO), the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Lund University, the UN Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC), the Finish Environment Institute (SYKE) and the Remote Sensing Laboratory of the University of Zurich (RSL / UZH).
ITC-LIFE | Resource Security
HyNutri
Region: Italy
Description: HyNutri used Sentinel-2 multispectral broadband and new generation PRISMA hyperspectral narrowband data to predict the field-level nutritional composition of important staple grains.
Partners: CNR-IREA
Sponsor: ESA
Description: HyNutri used Sentinel-2 multispectral broadband and new generation PRISMA hyperspectral narrowband data to predict the field-level nutritional composition of important staple grains.
Partners: CNR-IREA
Sponsor: ESA
ITC-LIFE
Biodiversity Precursors – EO4Diversity
Region: International (ESA)
Description: EO4DIVERSITY addresses important biodiversity science gaps, including forecasting ecological degradation in order to define effective actions to reduce terrestrial biodiversity loss.
Partners: Stichting Wageningen Research, Vision on Technology for a Better World (VITO), the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Lund University, the UN Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC), the Finish Environment Institute (SYKE) and the Remote Sensing Laboratory of the University of Zurich (RSL / UZH).
Sponsor: ESA
Description: EO4DIVERSITY addresses important biodiversity science gaps, including forecasting ecological degradation in order to define effective actions to reduce terrestrial biodiversity loss.
Partners: Stichting Wageningen Research, Vision on Technology for a Better World (VITO), the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Lund University, the UN Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC), the Finish Environment Institute (SYKE) and the Remote Sensing Laboratory of the University of Zurich (RSL / UZH).
Sponsor: ESA
ITC-LIFE | Resource Security
EO4SD Marine
An Earth Observation for Sustainable Development (EO4SD) - Marine and Coastal Resources Management
More than 600 million people live in the Low Elevation Coastal Zone (LECZ): the contiguous area along the coast that is less than 10 m.a.s.l. (Mcgranahan et al., 2007, https://doi.org/10.1177/0956247807076960 ). In this respect, Satellite Earth Observation (EO) technology provides a major benefit to inform and facilitate international development activities in a globally consistent manner. Within EO4SD Marine and Coastal Resources Management project, ITC has created capacity-building training courses and established a satellite-based product of land-based pollution for the Low Elevation Coastal Zone worldwide.
Capacity Building
The capacity building training resources provide detailed information on the state‐of‐the‐art EO data, products and their large‐scale applications to marine and coastal resources.
ITC capacity building training resources developed under the EO4SD marine
The capacity-building training resources are offered online as distance education and as face-to-face training workshops. So far more than 240 individuals have participated in the training sessions offered by ITC under the EO4SD Marine projects.
Land-Based Pollution Service
The rapid urbanisation rate in Low Elevation Coastal Zone leads to massive growth in population and construction, even in restricted areas, increasing the risk of waste contamination of coastal waters.
To address this eminent risk and in response to SDGs 14 and 17, ITC under the EO4SD-Marine has developed a land-based pollution service whereby near-realtime satellite-based maps of suspended and dissolved wastewater are generated for the West African Coast. https://sdg.esa.int/activity/eo4sd-marine-coastal-resources-management-4323
The land-based pollution service provides two types of products targeting the indication of suspended and dissolved waste. They were generated using state of the art ITC model, 2SeaColor ( https://www.utwente.nl/test/itcintra/luigi/water-resources/software-tools-models/), and high-resolution sensor, Sentinel-2 MSI.
The image below shows the suspended waste probability for Accra, Ghana coastal waters on the 22ed of August 2020. At that date, few hotspots of suspended waste probability can be observed at the urban districts.
The land-based pollution products enable options for continuous monitoring in specific coastal areas. Spots that show a high and persistent pollution probability, could be checked by local authorities to identify if there is a source of anthropogenic pollution
Land based pollution estimated as probability of solid waste at 10 m, resolution, derived from Sentinel-2 MSI image acquired on 22-08-2020 at 10 m resolution
More than 600 million people live in the Low Elevation Coastal Zone (LECZ): the contiguous area along the coast that is less than 10 m.a.s.l. (Mcgranahan et al., 2007, https://doi.org/10.1177/0956247807076960 ). In this respect, Satellite Earth Observation (EO) technology provides a major benefit to inform and facilitate international development activities in a globally consistent manner. Within EO4SD Marine and Coastal Resources Management project, ITC has created capacity-building training courses and established a satellite-based product of land-based pollution for the Low Elevation Coastal Zone worldwide.
Capacity Building
The capacity building training resources provide detailed information on the state‐of‐the‐art EO data, products and their large‐scale applications to marine and coastal resources.
ITC capacity building training resources developed under the EO4SD marine
The capacity-building training resources are offered online as distance education and as face-to-face training workshops. So far more than 240 individuals have participated in the training sessions offered by ITC under the EO4SD Marine projects.
Land-Based Pollution Service
The rapid urbanisation rate in Low Elevation Coastal Zone leads to massive growth in population and construction, even in restricted areas, increasing the risk of waste contamination of coastal waters.
To address this eminent risk and in response to SDGs 14 and 17, ITC under the EO4SD-Marine has developed a land-based pollution service whereby near-realtime satellite-based maps of suspended and dissolved wastewater are generated for the West African Coast. https://sdg.esa.int/activity/eo4sd-marine-coastal-resources-management-4323
The land-based pollution service provides two types of products targeting the indication of suspended and dissolved waste. They were generated using state of the art ITC model, 2SeaColor ( https://www.utwente.nl/test/itcintra/luigi/water-resources/software-tools-models/), and high-resolution sensor, Sentinel-2 MSI.
The image below shows the suspended waste probability for Accra, Ghana coastal waters on the 22ed of August 2020. At that date, few hotspots of suspended waste probability can be observed at the urban districts.
The land-based pollution products enable options for continuous monitoring in specific coastal areas. Spots that show a high and persistent pollution probability, could be checked by local authorities to identify if there is a source of anthropogenic pollution
Land based pollution estimated as probability of solid waste at 10 m, resolution, derived from Sentinel-2 MSI image acquired on 22-08-2020 at 10 m resolution
ITC-LIFE | Resource Security
GlobWetland
GlobWetland Africa was an ESA project supporting African countries in monitoring and managing wetlands using satellite Earth observation data. It focused on capacity building, training, and practical applications for environmental management and policy.
ITC-GAIA | Resource Security