Earth Observation Services
The CopernicusLAC EO Services activities include the development of innovative services for disaster risk reduction (DRR) based on Copernicus Sentinel satellite data. These services will be integrated into the CopernicusLAC Panama Centre, which will provide users in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) access to the information, services, and processing capabilities established by the Centre in the region.
The EO services are the result of an intensive phase of interviews and meetings with stakeholders across the LAC region, culminating in various agreements and collaborations to jointly co-develop the services with key institutions.
This preliminary phase served to introduce the future CopernicusLAC Panama Centre to regional stakeholders, actively involve various actors in the development of the proposed services, and support these stakeholders in leveraging Copernicus satellite data. This phase has increased ties within the regional disaster risk reduction (DRR) and Earth Observation (EO) ecosystems for promoting research and generating new products and services based on satellite imagery.
The project portfolio includes pre-operational applications of the developed services in selected areas throughout the LAC region for the purpose of demonstrating and testing their capabilities and potential.
The services and demonstrations, or ‘use cases’, are organised within three thematic areas: Hydrometeorological Hazards, Geological Hazards, and Exposure.
The services will be made available as open-source resources and implemented at the regional level (for the entire LAC region) in their operational phase for long-term implementation.
Hydrometeorological Hazards Theme
The hydrometeorological hazards theme will focus on leveraging Copernicus Sentinel data for flood, drought, and wildfire assessment and preparedness in the LAC region.
Four services will be developed dedicated to flooding, one service to drought, and three services to wildfires. The corresponding use cases will be tailored according to the specific needs of the geographic area of application. Use cases include topics on flooding dynamics, hydraulic modelling with Copernicus Sentinel data, hurricane forecasting, drought index customisation, and biofuel and land use and cover for fire danger assessment.
Geological Hazards Theme
The geohazards theme will leverage the power of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data from the Copernicus Sentinel-1 mission to detect a wide range of ground motion phenomena. During the development phase, the synergies between SAR interferometry, optical remote sensing, geological and morphological terrain analysis, asset exposure, and artificial intelligence (AI) will be leveraged to develop three specific services for disaster risk reduction in the LAC region. These services will be related to landslides as well as the detection and monitoring of other geological hazards, such as seismic activity, subsidence, and active faults.
Exposure Theme
The two services within the exposure theme will use Copernicus Sentinel data, artificial intelligence (AI), and dasymetric techniques to analyse and quantify the value of assets – such as buildings, infrastructure, populations, crops, and livestock – exposed to hazards. These services will provide evidence-based data to support assessments of site or property value per square metre, informing stakeholders in risk management and resource allocation decisions.