Copernicus HR-S&I
Copernicus HR-S&I
Copernicus High Resolution Snow & Ice
Mission
Implementation and operation of a near real-time processing chain for snow and ice monitoring over Europe
Satellites
High resolution Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 data
Skills
Cloud computing, operations, automation, algorithms, project management
Date
From 2019 to today
Copernicus HR-S&I, the product
Copernicus is a European programme aimed to collect, process and update data on the condition of the Earth. The data collected concerns the environment, security, the maritime domain, disaster monitoring, agriculture, etc. These data are made available for autonomous European monitoring at different scales (local, regional, global). These data also contribute to monitoring and dealing with the effects of climate change.
Since 2020, the Copernicus Land Monitoring Service (CLMS) has been publishing its high-resolution snow and ice monitoring products (HR-S&I) in near-real time. Indeed, the presence of snow and ice on lakes and rivers is a relevant element to monitor because of their strong influence on the water cycle and surface energy fluxes. Rapid declines in the extent and duration of snow cover and increases in the number of extreme events are distinct indicators of global climate change. Therefore, the study of these parameters is crucial for a wide range of applications, both for the private sector, local authorities and scientific institutions.
Snow cover in the Pyrenees on 27/09/2020 – fractional snow product (FSC) generated by the Earth Observation Unit in Magellium
© European Union, Copernicus Land Monitoring Service 2021, European Environment Agency (EEA)
In 2019, Magellium was awarded a contract by the European Environment Agency (EEA) to develop, operate and promote a new Copernicus Core Service. This service provides high-resolution monitoring of snow and ice in Europe and Turkey. From then on, the EO unit is in charge of the implementation of sustainable and operational snow and ice monitoring products.
Operations started in July 2020 on a 24-hour basis. A state-of-the-art automatic processing solution has been deployed on a European cloud (DIAS). This provides scalability capabilities. Production is triggered whenever Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 acquisitions are available and the resulting products are made available to users on average within 6 hours after the measurement. Campaigns to process the huge amount of data already acquired by the constellations have been carried out. More than one million products have been generated and are currently hosted on DIAS.
HR-S&I products in a few words :
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- 550 Sentinel-2 products and 230 Sentinel-1 products
- 2700 HR-S&I products processed each day
- 5 snow products, 4 ice products
- Sentinel-2 and Sentinel-1 archives already processed (since September 2016)
- Various applications: hydrology, hydroelectricity, meteorology, security, research and development, etc.
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The HR-S&I products can be viewed and downloaded free of charge on the DIAS WEkEO portal: https://www.wekeo.eu/.
Find more information on the Copernicus website.
Find more details on HR-S&I products on the specific Copernicus website.
The objectives
- Set up and maintain an operational system on a European cloud
- Optimise the processing of hundreds of satellite data items each day to deliver snow and ice products to users as quickly as possible
- Support the European Environment Agency in sustainability and product promotion
Key partners
Astri Polska, CESBIO, Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI), ENVEO
Key words
observation, satellite, Earth, climate change, Copernicus services, snow, ice, lakes and rivers, Europe, Sentinel
SCIENCE FOR EARTH CARE
The Earth Observation Unit of Magellium is an expert in optical space missions and geophysical and biophysical applications. The EO unit provides high level of expertise and full capacity on the whole processing chain, enabling it to respond to all projects from the greatest space orders such as ESA and CNES.
