Nearmap aerial imagery in ArcMap. (Screenshot: Nearmap)
The Shelby County, Tennessee, Emergency Communications District has implemented Nearmap high-resolution aerial imagery to geocode and plot new addresses and developments into its 911 mapping systems.
The mapping systems help fire and rescue, emergency medical services and law enforcement get instant access to updated maps needed to get to the right locations as soon as possible.
The Emergency Communications District is responsible for establishing local emergency telephone service, providing the network call-handling equipment, and updating the geographic information systems (GIS) data for each Public Safety Answering Point within Shelby County.
Nearmap provides frequently updated, high-quality aerial captures to ensure that the district’s GIS data, geocoding and the 911 mapping systems are up to date, providing public safety and law enforcement the most accurate information, the company said.
Benefits of Nearmap aerial imagery for the Emergency Communications District include:
The imagery is delivered through the cloud as a subscription service, making it accessible to all team members via mobile and desktop.
Nearmap imagery is taken at least twice a year, both leaf-on and leaf-off to provide different views of locations in different seasons.
Aerial captures integrate directly into Esri ArcMap, ArcPro and ArcGIS Online applications, so GIS information can overlay directly onto the high-resolution imagery.
Before Nearmap, Shelby County’s aerial image process required a contracted flight to photograph the county areas. Because of the high cost of capturing those images, the county purchased images once every two years, after pooling resources from various county entities.
“With our old aerial imagery provider, there were issues with mosaicking separate images together, and since the imagery was taken every two years, many rural and unincorporated areas were out of date,” said Timothy Zimmer, GIS administrator for Shelby County’s Emergency Communications District.
With out of date images, the county had to develop alternate methods to locate addresses for the 911 systems. Now, the combined impact of data services, base maps, Nearmap imagery and third-party data are improving all aspects of public safety, including law enforcement, fire and emergency medical services, Nearmap said. Even other agencies are using the district’s imagery and GIS data.
“There’s a certain context and currency you can get from Nearmap imagery that you simply can’t get from any other imagery products,” Zimmer said. “Other agencies, such as the County Clerk and the Utility Company, are using our addressing data because Nearmap has helped enable us to be much more current.”
Aerial imagery specialist Spookfish has expanded its capture program into New South Wales (NSW), now covering the NSW coast and Sydney’s entire metropolitan area. Spookfish’s coverage in NSW now spans from Newcastle to Kiama and from Lithgow to Manly.
The expansion into NSW marks the next stage of a nationwide rollout for Spookfish. In the past 12 months, the company has expanded coverage into the South Australian, Victorian, Australian Capital Territory and now NSW markets, in addition to its Western Australian coverage.
The expansion of coverage will give businesses and government agencies across Sydney and regional NSW the opportunity to access high-resolution aerial imagery and save thousands of dollars by reducing the time spent on site.
Spookfish now covers the entire Sydney metropolitan area, home to 71% of the NSW population. The city’s growth presents development opportunities for businesses, all of which need to fit within city planning regulations. High-resolution aerial imagery will play an important role in the planning stages.
Spookfish also captures regional cities and towns, including Albury and Wagga Wagga, at the same consistent specification as capital cities.
With the addition of Perth, Melbourne and Adelaide’s entire metropolitan areas, Spookfish offers users access to more than 55,000 square kilometers of high-resolution imagery across Australia. The platform provides customers a clear view on any device with no data caps to give users access to unlimited high-resolution aerial imagery without the risk of unexpected costs.
“Sydney has the greatest population density in Australia, and continues to grow with new projects commissioned to meet this growing population,” said Jason Waller, Spookfish CEO. “We are very pleased to be able to offer businesses access to high resolution imagery of this unique city, to help drive effective and precise planning of developments and urban areas.
“Every day our platform is being discovered by many Australian businesses, helping them save time and money by providing precise aerial imagery with the timeliness and convenience of cloud delivery. We offer our customers a service like no other, where they can access extremely high resolution images at an affordable price across very large areas, with no data caps.”
Spookfish utilizes a fleet of specialized planes to capture imagery for its platform. With regular updates in capital cities across Australia, customers have an up-to-date and evolving view of their world.
Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery from Maxar’s MDA RADARSAT-2 satellite will become available to SecureWatch subscribers on Oct. 1, according to DigitalGlobe.
SecureWatch, DigitalGlobe’s cloud-based geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) platform, will now combine the company’s high-resolution optical imagery and MDA’s SAR imagery in one platform, enabling defense and intelligence analysts to deliver actionable insights to decision makers regardless of weather and light conditions, the company said.
Maxar’s MDA will refresh hundreds of global sites on a weekly basis using RADARSAT-2’s Wide Ultra Fine format (3 meter resolution, 50 kilometer scene width).
RADARSAT-2 imagery allows users to observe features and changes that go undetected using other imaging techniques, and provides day and night coverage regardless of weather.
SecureWatch users can access timely RADARSAT-2 imagery using current subscription plans. When combined with 30 cm optical imagery, analysts will have an even more uniquely powerful and reliable toolset to perform analysis to make decisions with confidence, the company said.
“Adding RADARSAT-2 imagery to SecureWatch is a perfect demonstration of Maxar Technologies’ unique promise: create valuable, integrated and innovative solutions that address customers’ critical challenges,” said Mike Greenley, group president of MDA. “MDA’s RADARSAT-2 information has played a key role in supporting security missions for over two decades, and partnering with our sister company, DigitalGlobe, immediately enhances our offerings and expands our global reach.”
“SecureWatch subscribers now have an exciting new tool to enrich GEOINT gathering and decision-making,” said Dan Jablonsky, DigitalGlobe president. “Combining SAR and optical imagery takes analysts’ abilities to the next level to deliver powerful insights into what’s happening in their areas of interest and allows them to save lives, resources and time.”
DigitalGlobe has released pre- and post-event satellite imagery of the areas in India affected by heavy flooding.
According to the company, massive flooding devastated the Kerala state of India in late May and early August. At least 164 people were killed and more than 223,000 were displayed from their homes and are living in relief camps. In addition, Kerala has seen 40 percent more rainfall than normal since June, which has triggered landscapes in several districts.
In an effort to support disaster response and as a part of its Open Data Program, DigitalGlobe decided to publicly release the satellite images. According to the company, its Open Data Program supports the humanitarian community by providing critical and actionable information to assist response efforts.
A number of geospatial companies played a key role in the government’s response to the Kilauea Volcano eruption. The volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii began erupting May 3, and while quiet for more than a week, it could resume erupting at any time.
Mapping the flow. As a resident of Hawaii, Brennan O’Neill, Hawaiian branch manager of Frontier Precision, was in a unique position to offer support. Frontier Precision provided free access to technology and expertise to assist in mapping the lava flow.
“I had to help out,” O’Neill said. “It was tearing at my soul. For a geologist, it’s even more powerful than that. The lava flow is like a living mass that has a mind of its own, creeping, glowing — an upside-down conveyor belt surging forward and burning everything in its path.”
Through Frontier Precision, O’Neill offered high-tech mapping equipment, his own expertise, and the help of Nathan Stephenson, an applied geospatial engineer working in the company’s Denver office.
“We used a combination of Trimble R10s and Trimble R8s to gather accurate data points on the ground,” Stephenson said.
This thermal map shows the fissure system and lava flows as of 6 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 11. The thermal map was constructed by stitching many overlapping oblique thermal images collected by a handheld thermal camera during a helicopter overflight of the flow field. The base is a copyrighted color satellite image (used with permission) provided by Digital Globe. (Map: USGS)
The mapping team flew UAS drones over the flow to gather visual imagery data, matched it to the ground reference points, stitched the photos together and draped it over county maps. The process was repeated as often as needed — daily, and sometimes even hourly — to show the speed and direction of the flow.
Stephenson isn’t new to mapping lava flows. As a graduate student at the University of Hawaii – Hilo, he worked on collecting data on the Pahoa eruption in 2014, and he’s seen advances in technology in just a few years.
“One thing we have now that we didn’t have in 2014 was a thermal radiometric camera that helps us map more accurately at night and enables us to capture large heat signatures.”
The collected data helps Hawaii Civil Defense and other agencies keep the public informed and safe, and in the long term it also contributes to the store of scientific knowledge about eruptions and lava flow behavior.
Lidar image of the Hawaii dataset showing the Kilauea Calderand the Halena’uma’u Crater and within it. (Image: Quantum Spatial)
Airborne lidar insights. Another technology that aids in volcano response is lidar. High-resolution lidar surveys help first responders, scientists and government agencies monitor Kilauea conditions and predict future lava flows.
Independent geospatial data firm Quantum Spatial Inc. (QSI) has conducted high-resolution lidar surveys of areas surrounding the Kilauea volcano eruption in Hawaii.
The emergency response effort was part of the U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) Rapid Response Imagery Products (RRIP) in support of the Kilauea’s 2018 East Rift Zone – Remote Sensing Acquisition Requirement.
The USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO), along with emergency responders, government agencies and academics, will use the data to better understand the conditions and characteristics of the volcano, and help planners model potential lava flows, which may better predict and respond to future flows and enhance safety of residents.
The QSI team, which included GEO1 and Windward Aviation, deployed within days to acquire high-resolution lidar at point densities averaging from 40 to 80 ppsm, with up to 150 ppsm in select areas and 100-mp digital imagery using a Riegl dual VUX-1 LR sensor pod equipped with ABGPS/IMU mounted on a Hughes 500D helicopter.
The project required 11 missions over the course of six days, operating at times as low as 500 feet above the ground and above active flows and nearby erupting calderas. With a need for a quick turn around, QSI deployed an analyst with the flight crew to post process each mission within hours of collection.
The data was uploaded to the Geospatial Repository and Data Management System (GRiD) interface, developed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), where additional data products have been developed and provided to the response team that includes FEMA, Hawaii’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC) and the Hawaii County Civil Defense.
After data collection, QSI measured topographic shifts during the processing by comparing new data with a 2011 lidar collection from the same area. Survey specialists and USGS experts confirmed within hours of processing QSI’s lidar data that areas within the site had shifted up to 1.5 meters east, 2 meters to the north and 1 meter in elevation.
USGS scientists will continue to examine the new topographic data to better understand the nature of these shifts, and integrate it into lava flow models for more accurate predictive modeling.
The eruption in action. Using small unmanned aerial systems (sUAS) together with air-quality sensors, advanced imaging tools and Esri’s spatial analytics and mapping, a team from the Center for Robot-Assisted Search and Rescue (CRASAR) provided real-time aerial views of the eruption.
The five volunteers armed with drones, advanced sensor systems and GIS technologies joined the response effort May 14-19 at Kilauea Volcano Lower East Rift Zone to assist in tracking and predicting the ongoing volcanic eruption. The team supplemented the University of Hawaii Hilo’s (UHH) sUAS capabilities, allowing UHH sUAS operators to focus on geographical and volcanology.
The CRASAR team identified a new fissure not visible from the ground, projected the lava flow rate during the night when manned helicopters were not allowed to fly, and provided ongoing data collection from new thermal sensors technology.
During the six-day Leilani deployment, the CRASAR team flew 44 sUAS flights, including 16 at night, using DJI 200, 210, Inspire, and Mavic Pro drones. Esri’s Drone2Map for ArcGIS together with Hangar’s Enterprise Platform for 360-degree imaging enabled rapid 360-imaging for situational awareness.
DJI’s new XT2 thermal sensor provided unprecedented drone-based air-quality monitoring. Video and data were shared with local first responders using FirstNet, the first high-speed, nationwide wireless broadband network dedicated to public safety.
The CRASAR response marks the first known use of sUAS for emergency response to a volcanic eruption and first known use of sUAS for sampling air quality.
The GIS mapping and imaging technologies responders used on the scene at Kilauea Volcano Lower East Rift Zone are available here.
Remote GeoSystems Inc., a global provider of geospatial video recorder hardware and GIS integration software and solutions, has become an official Silver Partner in the Esri Partner Network after successfully building its business as an Emerging Business Partner in the Esri Startup Program.
Esri offers a Startup Program enabling the most promising emerging businesses to incorporate these innovations into their services and solutions.
Now in its third year, the Esri Startup Program provides the ArcGIS software, online services, support, community involvement and training to kick-start product development or enrich existing solutions.
Remote GeoSystems was one of the first early-stage startups accepted into the program.
“As a small technology company bootstrapping the development and innovative product sales efforts, access to Esri’s flagship ArcGIS platform and team support was invaluable,” said Jeff Dahlke, managing director of Remote GeoSystems.
The LineVision Desktop. (Image: Remote Geosystems)
In its three years in the program, Remote GeoSystems was able to successfully develop and go to market with an array of geospatial video solutions. The company’s LineVision Esri ArcMap Add-in and stand-alone LineVision Desktop with Esri Mapping commercial software tools provide georeferenced video playback, analysis, collaboration and reporting using the Esri ArcGIS platform.
In addition, the new Video GeoTagger and Video GeoEditor (coming soon) products, also built with Esri mapping technology, will be available for use on the ArcGIS Marketplace.
These professional geospatial video and integrated GIS Full Motion Video (FMV) software tools are suitable for airborne, drone and mobile mapping surveys, critical infrastructure inspection and public safety applications.
“The Remote Geo team is building some very feature-rich and capable Esri-based solutions and Add-ins while also bringing a valuable mix of GIS, GPS, deep location-based video expertise and multi-industry experience,” said Francis Kelly, Esri Global Partner Programs manager. “We are excited to work with Remote Geo as their business matures and they continue to contribute to the Esri user community as part of the Esri Partner Network.”
“As a company that was once a startup, we understand the early years for any business are hard,” said Katie Decker, Esri Startup Team community manager. “We are impressed with how the Remote Geo team executed on the opportunities provided by the program, bringing the value of geospatial video to a broader audience using the Esri platform. Their experience is what we envisioned when we implemented the program and we look forward to continuing to work with them.”
Remote GeoSystems LineVision Esri-based solutions key features often include:
Play videos from single and multi-camera video data collection platforms
“Click-on-Map” video navigation
Set a custom geo-fence around the moving position marker
Load shapefiles, imagery and ArcGIS Online datasets
Save geotagged video and photo data as geoProjects for simple project reporting, archive and search
Support for DJI Drone Video data.
All Remote GeoSystems Esri-based solutions are and/or will soon be available in the ArcGIS Marketplace.
Under the grant, TCarta will enhance and automate multiple techniques for deriving seafloor depth measurements from optical satellite imagery.
The Project Trident research seeks to transform existing satellite-derived bathymetry (SDB) techniques by using machine learning and computer vision technology to enable accurate depth retrieval in variable water conditions.
If successful, these enhanced bathymetric techniques will improve operations related to oil and gas exploration and production, coastal infrastructure engineering, environmental monitoring and geointelligence activities, the company said.
“Our goal with Project Trident is to expand the geographic scope of SDB in shallow coastal areas,” said Kyle Goodrich, TCarta president. “SDB technology currently derives water depths only in calm, clear waters, which limits its applicability.”
Beta testers sought
TCarta is seeking beta testers for participation in Project Trident research. If you are interested, contact Project Trident Principal Investigator Kyle Goodrich at [email protected] or complete the online Project Trident survey.
TCarta won the grant for Project Trident in partnership with jOmegak of San Carlos, California, and DigitalGlobe of Westminster, Colorado, in Phase 1 of the NSF Small Business Innovation Research program.
The one-year research project will be carried out at the TCarta facility in Denver.
In 2014, TCarta successfully commercialized a proprietary technique for digitally extracting water depth measurements down to 20 meters from high-resolution DigitalGlobe WorldView satellite imagery.
The SDB products became popular with organizations operating in shallow coastal waters because the technology is more cost-effective and timely than traditional airborne and ship-borne bathymetric methods — with no adverse effects on the environment, the company added.
“In the current SDB process, we use manual stereo photogrammetry methods to measure seafloor ground control points in digital satellite imagery, but this is extremely time consuming,” said Goodrich. “We are developing an automated photogrammetric process to extract a greater number of ground truth points from high-resolution WorldView imagery.”
Project Trident aims to integrate wave kinematics, a technique patented by jOmegak to calculate water depths in shallow waters by analyzing the patterns and speed of waves detected in satellite imagery. Wave kinematics has been applied successfully using Sentinel-2 and WorldView satellite imagery.
“Thanks to the NSF grant, we are taking a giant leap forward on TCarta satellite-derived bathymetry methodologies and aim to exponentially accelerate them with the latest in machine learning and computer vision technologies,” said Goodrich.
(From left) Francois Lombard and Dirk Hoke, Airbus, sign agreement with Will Marshall, Planet.
Airbus and Planet have entered into a partnership to facilitate access to each other’s data and the co-development of new geospatial solutions.
The companies are establishing a framework agreement to explore opportunities for joint cooperation in new and existing markets, product offerings, sales and marketing efforts.
Both companies aim to provide a comprehensive suite of global satellite data at multiple temporal and spatial resolutions, and develop new analytic products for a wide range of applications to benefit their customers.
Benefitting from both companies’ constellations, customers will have access to the entire Earth’s landmass every day at 3m resolution with PlanetScope satellites, as well as to intra-daily sub-meter resolution imagery with Pléiades and SkySat constellations.
In addition, they will also have the capability to order images with resolutions of 1.5m (SPOT 6/7), 5m (Rapideye) and 22m (DMC Constellation).
Lastly, TerraSAR-X, TanDEM-X and PAZ radar satellites will allow the acquisition of images regardless of weather and daylight conditions, ensuring access to any place on Earth independent of cloud coverage.
“By combining our strengths, we will provide a key capability to address all market needs, both in terms of data and value-added products, and to best serve our clients, whatever their industry and their requirements,” said François Lombard, director of the Intelligence Business at Airbus Defence and Space.
“Airbus and Planet are truly complementary partners. Airbus brings long-standing success in serving reliable, high resolution remote sensing, and Planet brings its unique global coverage and temporal cadence, as well as agile aerospace iteration to get sensors quickly to space,” said Will Marshall, CEO and co-founder of Planet. “Together we will be able to deliver sophisticated offerings to fit customer needs across international markets.”
Hexagon AB has launched the Leica RTC360, a laser scanner equipped with edge computing technology to enable fast and accurate creation of 3D models in the field. The Leica RTC360 is one of many innovations showcased at HxGN Live 2018, the company’s annual digital technology conference.
According to Hexagon, the Leica RTC360 combines high-performance laser scanning, edge computing and mobile app technologies to pre-register captured scans quickly and accurately. With the push of a button, two million points per second of high dynamic range imagery can be captured to create a full-dome scan in under two minutes, Hexagon added.
In addition, the laser scanner features a visual inertial system that automatically tracks movements between setup positions. The scans captured by the Leica RTC360 can be combined and pre-registered on a mobile device, where they can be viewed and augmented with information tags.
“We designed the Leica RTC360 for maximum productivity. For construction professionals, plant operators, public safety officials and other professionals who face complex projects with tight constraints, it provides a better way to digitally capture the reality of their sites — and process and visualize that data for faster, immediate decision making,” said Ola Rollén, Hexagon president and CEO. “What these professionals do on site every day is challenging, and we aim to continue to make their work quicker, easier and more accurate.”
Hexagon AB provides digital solutions that create autonomous connected ecosystems, a state where data is connected seamlessly through the convergence of the physical world with the digital, and intelligence is built-in to all processes.
Esri’s ArcGIS software is being integrated into SAP’s latest cloud-based offering, SAP HANA spatial services, to help customers create location-aware business applications faster, according to spatial analytics company Esri.
Based on SAP Cloud Platform, the new offering enables businesses to process location data such as complex imagery, as well as visualize and analyze their authoritative data in a geospatial context.
The new geo-enabled solution from SAP will allow users to deliver their data through consumer-friendly maps and integrate the results into custom business applications, the company said. Customers using SAP software will also be able to create custom models that efficiently process streams of Earth observation data such as water content or soil temperatures and see this data on high-quality basemaps provided by Esri’s ArcGIS Online.
Most business objectives — such as increasing revenue growth, reducing operational costs or improving customer service — rely on some sort of location data. Unfortunately, many executives lack an accurate and up-to-date understanding of where performance is going well and where improvements need to be made.
This new offering from SAP, which leverages Esri technology, lets organizations extract high-value business information from satellite, drone and open data sources and then easily discover and share location-based insights.
“As an SAP global technology partner, we are very excited about this offering, as it demonstrates that SAP and Esri products work better together,” said Chris Cappelli, director of strategic business development at Esri. “Users of SAP HANA spatial services can now achieve native integration of spatial and enterprise data across all business processes. By putting the power of location information into the hands of key stakeholders, businesses can make better-informed decisions with their own data.”
The integration follows SAP’s announcement on Jan. 24 that Esri supports SAP HANA as an enterprise geodatabase with the release of ArcGIS 10.6 and ArcGIS Pro 2.1.
Esri and SAP customers can benefit from enhanced performance and scalability as well as full integration of both enterprise and spatial data. Both Esri and SAP continue to deliver new innovations that help lower total cost of ownership and administration costs brought on by the tight integration of IT and geospatial landscapes, Esri said.
Esri will showcase its new integration of location intelligence technology with SAP HANA spatial services at SAPPHIRE NOW and ASUG Annual Conference in booth #1239.
The three-year program helps emerging business partners bring new and innovative products to Esri customers.
The initial partnership between Hangar and Esri will enable ArcGIS customers to request and receive autonomous, precision-captured drone data on demand from within ArcGIS, enabling industries to gain real-time awareness and insight about locations and features.
The GIS community has grown accustomed to ambiguous and infrequent imagery. While emerging robotic enablers like drones provide a high-resolution, low-cost alternative to satellite and manned aircraft imagery, there hasn’t been a feasible way for GIS professionals to repeatedly gather precision location insight at scale, from potentially thousands of features within Esri maps, Hangar said in a statement.
Hangar not only makes aerial data possible at this scale, but also available on request from within ArcGIS. Using a system of systems, Hangar streamlines and automates the 4D data supply chain, enabling task-and-receive reality capture. In the near future, ArcGIS users will be able to request aerial insights at any feature, and have imagery delivered back in 24 to 48 hours or less.
“The pain we see in the GIS community is an inability to quickly and efficiently pair 2D data with the 3D reality,” said Jeff DeCoux, CEO and founder of Hangar. “We’re excited to work with Esri to deliver on-demand, precision 4D insight to ArcGIS users. Hangar will enable businesses to take full advantage of robotics as instruments of data collection, and provide the industry much needed repeatability and scale.”
ArcGIS Online users will have the capability to request and receive aerial imagery at variable frequencies or volumes. Requests can be made manually, on an as-needed basis, or automatically, based on contextual triggers or volume requirements. Data is autonomously captured, automatically processed, then delivered back to the customer via a high-speed delivery engine.
The digital missions behind requests are saved indefinitely, and can be performed repetitively with absolute precision and accuracy, preserving data integrity over time. ArcGIS users will be able to view captures within 24 to 48 hours from the initial request, across a variety of data types.
“Hangar empowers Esri users to explore any of the thousands of features within ArcGIS maps, observing ground truth at each pin in incredible detail, today and over time,” said Francis Kelly, Esri, global partner programs manager. “Hangar adds valuable data validity and scalability to the budding drone industry. We’re excited to work with them to give Esri users the ability to analyze and consume physical world content in a new and meaningful way.”
As big-data levels of precision spatial data are collected over time, Hangar will work with Esri to intelligently apply change detection and pattern recognition to enable a new era GIS that includes artificial intelligence and machine learning.
Hangar will be attending the Esri User Conference, July 9-13 in San Diego, at booth Z19 to demonstrate its technology and showcase the partnership with Esri.
Less than two weeks after it was launched, the Copernicus Sentinel-3B satellite has delivered its first images of Earth. Exceeding expectations, this first set of images include the sunset over Antarctica, sea ice in the Arctic and a view of northern Europe.
One of the Copernicus Sentinel-3B’s first images featured Greenland. Captured on May 7, 2018, at 13:20 GMT (15:20 CEST), the image shows sea ice swirled into eddies caused by the wind and ocean currents. The image was taken by the satellite’s ocean and land colour Instrument, which features 21 distinct bands, a resolution of 300 m and a swath width of 1270 km. The instrument can be used to monitor aquatic biological productivity and marine pollution, and over land it can be used to monitor the health of vegetation. (Image: ESA)
The very first image, captured on May 7 at 10:33 GMT (12:33 CEST), shows the transition between day and night over the Weddell Sea in Antarctica. The satellite also captured swirls of sea ice off Greenland on the same day. Another in this first set of images offers a rare cloud-free view of northern Europe.
They were taken by the satellite’s ocean and land colour instrument, which features 21 distinct bands, a resolution of 300 m and a swath width of 1270 km. The instrument can be used to monitor aquatic biological productivity and marine pollution, and over land it can be used to monitor the health of vegetation.
Josef Aschbacher, ESA’s Director of Earth Observation Programmes, said, “The launch of Sentinel-3B completed the first batch of Sentinels that we are delivering for Copernicus.
“We finished the launch and early orbit phase in a record time and we are now getting on with the task of commissioning the satellite for service.
“These first images from the ocean and land colour instrument already show how the satellite is set to play its role in providing a stream of high-quality environmental data to improve lives, boost the economy and protect our world.”
The Copernicus Sentinel-3B satellite captured this rare cloud-free view of Northern Europe on May 8, 2018, at 09:33 GMT (11:33 CEST). Features over land and water can been seen clearly such as different types of land cover, snow and also a plume of phytoplankton in the North Sea. The image was taken by the satellite’s ocean and land color Instrument. (Image: ESA)
The Sentinel-3B satellite lifted off from Russia on 25 April and joins it identical twin, Sentinel-3A, in orbit. This pairing of satellites increases coverage and data delivery for the European Union’s Copernicus environment programme.
As the workhorse mission for Copernicus, the two satellites carry the same suite of instruments to systematically measure Earth’s oceans, land, ice and atmosphere.
Over oceans, it measures the temperature, colour and height of the sea surface as well as the thickness of sea ice. These measurements are used, for example, to monitor changes in Earth’s climate and for more hands-on applications such as for monitoring marine pollution.
Over land, this innovative mission monitors wildfires, maps the way land is used, checks vegetation health and measures the height of rivers and lakes.
European Commissioner for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs Elzbieta Bienkowska, said, “This new satellite will deliver valuable images of how our oceans and land are changing.
“This will not only speed up the response to natural disasters, but also create new business opportunities. Earth observation is a larger market than you would think – a driver for research discoveries, a provider of highly skilled jobs and a developer of innovative services and applications.”
One of the Copernicus Sentinel-3B’s first images featured Greenland. Captured on May 7, 2018, at 13:20 GMT (15:20 CEST), the image shows sea ice swirled into eddies caused by the wind and ocean currents, and was taken by the satellite’s ocean and land color Instrument. (Image: ESA)
Bruno Berruti, ESA’s Sentinel-3 Project Manager, said, “We are extremely pleased to see these first images, which show that the satellite is in good health.
“ESA will spend the next five months carefully calibrating the instruments and commissioning the satellite for service before it is handed over to Eumetsat for routine operations.”
During this commission phase the two Sentinel-3 satellites will be flown in a tandem formation, separated by about 30 seconds.
Sentinel-3B will then be phased to reach its final position – flying in the same orbit, but adjusted to be separated by 140° with respect to Sentinel-3A.
Once commissioned, ESA will hand over satellite operations to Eumetsat. It will then be managed jointly, with ESA generating the land products and Eumetsat the marine products for application through the Copernicus services.
Alain Ratier, Director-General of Eumetsat, added, “The Sentinel-3 constellation establishes the European backbone of a space-based, global ocean-monitoring system.
“These first images are the first demonstration that Sentinel-3B will deliver on its promise to usher in a new era for operational oceanography and flow-on benefits for human safety, businesses and industry.
“They will amplify the benefits of the Sentinel 3 mission for ocean forecasting and the blue economy.”
Sentinel-3B is the seventh Sentinel satellite launched for Copernicus. Each mission carries different state-of-the-art technology to deliver a stream of complementary imagery and data to monitor the environment.
The initial partnership between Hangar and Esri will enable ArcGIS customers to request and receive autonomous, precision-captured drone data on demand from within ArcGIS, enabling industries to gain real-time awareness and insight about locations and features.
