The new platform, which was presented on the 5th of June, uses Earth observation satellite data to measure the impact of the coronavirus lockdown and monitor post-lockdown recovery.
KSAT contributes an important Near Real-Time (NRT) component to the platform by delivering data from multiple satellite missions into the ESA Cloud.
SHEDDING NEW LIGHT BY USING SATELLITE DATA
The coronavirus pandemic constitutes an unprecedented challenge with severe societal and socio-economic consequences. In order to shed new light on these changes taking place, ESA and the European Commission have worked closely together to create the ‘Rapid Action Coronavirus Earth observation’ dashboard – also known as RACE.
The dashboard allows for the monitoring of key environmental parameters – such as air and water quality changes, economic and human activities including industry, shipping, construction, traffic, as well as agricultural productivity.
One of the platform’s features allows for the tracking of air pollution worldwide. Using data from the Copernicus Sentinel-5P satellite, the map shows the averaged nitrogen dioxide concentrations over major cities and regions across the world. The RACE dashboard also shows how artificial intelligence can be used to monitor economic indicators.
THE DASHBOARD WILL BE EXPANDED WITH MORE DATA
ESA’s Director for Earth Observation, Josef Aschbacher said, “Europe has excellent world-class Earth observation capabilities and we are glad to provide it for the benefit of European and global citizens. The Copernicus programme, together with ESA Earth observation programmes, are sources of vast economic and societal benefits. Across all European countries and ESA Member States, the RACE dashboard showcases examples of how Earth observation data can illustrate both socio-economic and environmental changes.”
He continued, “Over the following months, the RACE dashboard will be expanded to monitor additional sites across Europe and will be enriched with new data provided by the Copernicus Sentinels and Third Party Missions.”
The RACE dashboard can be accessed https://race.esa.int/
The RACE dashboard not only includes data provided by the Copernicus Sentinels and ESA Third Party Missions, but also includes contributions from Aerospacelab, Airbus, BIRA-IASB, e-GEOS, CNR ISMAR, EarthPulse, ECMWF, EMSA, EOX, Euro Data Cube, GMV, ICEEYE, KNMI, KSAT, Mundi Web Services, Planetek Hellas, RHEA, SERCO, S&T, S5P PAL, SEN4CAP, Sen4Stat, Sinergise, SISTEMA, SPACEKNOW, SRON, UCLouvain, University of Bremen and Vodafone.
Original article on ESA webpage can be found here