Informatics for Earth Observation ( F rom a European Perspective)

1. Informatics for Earth Observation (From a European Perspective) COST Big Sky Earth Meeting, Belgrade, Mar. 30th, 2015

2. Introductory Remarks (1 of 2) Typical questions posed during our meeting in Brussels (Jan. 13th and 14th): • Why do you need spherical harmonics? [science and algorithms] • Do you have a single coordinate system? [applicable standards] • How do you document an algorithm? [best practices] • Do you use Matlab? [common tools] • What do you mean by “catalogue”? [terminology]

3. Introductory Remarks (2 of 2) When people talked to each other in Brussels: • Data mining needs databases • Data mining needs visualization • Data mining needs experts However, our nomenclature is not simple. See wikipedia.org for • Geoinformatics • Geomatics • Remote sensing

4. What is Earth Observation? [from Wikipedia.org “Earth observation“] Earth observation is the gathering of information about planet Earth’s physical, chemical and biological systems via remote sensing technologies supplemented by earth surveying techniques, encompassing the collection, analysis and presentation of data. Earth observation is used to monitor and assess the status of, and changes in, the natural environment and the built environment….

5. Earth Observation: Our Market Place

6. Earth Observation: Nomenclature of Typical Instruments [from CEOS.org] • Imagers • Scanners • Radiometers • Spectrometers • Scatterometers • Altimeters • Radar instruments • Laser instruments • Interferometers • Magnetometers • Accelerometers • Radiation measurement devices • Radio occultation receivers • …

7. ESA‘s Sentinel-2A Fully Integrated [from esa.int]

8. Earth Observation: Typical End User Applications [from http://gisgeography.com/100-earth-remote-sensing-applications-uses/] • Spinning the globe with mapping services like Google Earth, Bing Maps… • Pinpointing your position on Earth with Global Positioning Satellites • Observing the flow of ocean currents and circulation • Navigating ships safely with the most optimal route • Forecasting weather to warn about natural disasters • Monitoring air quality in the lower atmosphere • Spying on enemies with reconnaissance satellites • Extracting mineral deposits with hyperspectral remote sensing • Assessing terrain stability using interferometry • Determining soil moisture content using active and passive sensors • Fighting wildfires by planning firefighter dispatch • Doing the detective work for fraudulent crop insurance claims • Counting polar bears to ensure sustainable population levels • …

9. Earth Observation: Cyclone Nathan[from http://eoimages.gsfc.nasa.gov/images/imagerecords/85000/85511/ nathan_amo_2015076.jpg]

10. Earth Observation: Typical Fields of Informatics • Feasibility studies • Orbit and attitude modeling • Satellite and instrument modeling and simulation • Calibration facilities and performance measurements • Ground segment operations and instrument monitoring • Instrument data processing and analysis - e.g., data calibration, data fusion, scientific data interpretation • Ground truth measurements

11. Earth Observation: Typical Processing Concepts • Optical images Radiometric and geometric correction, geo-referencing, formatting • Trace gas profiles Radiometric calibration of spectral measurements Iterative adaptation of a forward modelled atmosphere Quality assessment • Weather forecasts Predictions based on diverse measurements and coupled models • Climate modeling Big data

12. Earth Observation: The Current Environmental Scenario[from http://www.aprsaf.org/data/feature/f_086_3.pdf] Look at the “Societal Benefit Areas” (SBAs) of GEO-GEOSS: • Agriculture • Biodiversity • Climate • Disasters • Ecosystems • Energy • Health • Water • Weather New Earth observation missions may be financed by space agencies, public / international bodies, or private companies.

13. Earth Observation: Vegetation Indices Derived from Landsat and MODIS[from Sesnieet al., Int. J. Rem. Sens., 2012]

14. Earth Observation:Products, Services, and Exploitation Platforms Data availability: • “Products“ (data + metadata) Level 1 (instrument data, e.g. in GeoTIFF, HDF, or netCDF format) Level 2 (geophysical data) Level 3 (maps, etc.) • “Services“ (application-oriented products) Copernicus services for six domains: ocean, land and atmosphere monitoring, emergency response, security and climate change • “Platforms“ (for interactive data exploitation) Shall ease the use of Sentinel data [ESA]

15. Earth Observation: Current and Upcoming Standards • How to develop and integrate software (contract clauses) • Existing ISO 19100 series (ISO/TC 211) and de-facto industry standards Typically, data formats and metadata markup language formats • Existing national map projection standards, a European standard published • Upcoming OGC (“Open Geospatial Consortium“) standards Typically, web-oriented services e.g., “WCS = Web Coverage Service INSPIRE directive (infrastructure for geospatial information)

16. Earth Observation: Options for Big Data • Buy higher performance components (communication channels, CPU clock rates, storage capacity) • Workload optimization (e.g., processing near the data sources) • Distributed algorithms (e.g., a distributed k-means algorithm) • Use of web protocols Alternative: • Intelligent pre-selection of data

17. Earth Observation