Linking Earth Observation Data and Sustainable Development across the Atlantic


This event is partially funded by ESA-FUTURE Earth Joint Activities 2019 (545-510:508)

This event is incorporated in the ​3rd Marine Technologies Workshop

  • DATE
    December 3 › 5 , 2019
  • Venue
    Estoril Congress Center
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  • organizing committee
    › Luísa Lamas | Instituto Hidrográfico

    › José Luiz Moutinho | AIR Centre

  • Agenda
    Download here
  • Workshop Report
    Download here

The Workshop Goals

  1. Discover new uses of Earth Observation data for science and society
  2. Attract new Earth Observation data users in particular from South and Central Atlantic
  3. Gather at an international meeting with Earth Observation Experts and New Users
  4. Collect and report information about the needs and goals of new users

Expected Outcomes

  1. Networking event gathering different actors – experts and newcomers – to discuss and discover the use of Earth Observation data in a diversity of topics related with the Environment, Ocean, Coast and Sustainable Development
  2. Exploration of new uses of Earth Observation data to find possible solutions for specific marine-related scientific and societal problems
  3. Building a community of members across the Atlantic basin, which will use Earth Observation data while promoting the philosophy underlying the Sustainable Development Goals

The workshop aims at fostering the incorporation of Earth Observation (EO) and related in situ data products in the work carried out by researchers and stakeholders of coastal ocean and nearshore areas related activities, with emphasis in the Central and Southern Atlantic, thereby stimulating the development of new uses, and engagement of new users, of ESA’s EO data products and services. It will address key topics of the synergy between ESA, Future Earth and Sustainable Development Goals, namely the exploration of new uses of EO data to find possible solutions for specific scientific and societal problems.
Scientists and other actors dealing with coastal ocean and nearshore related activities, with limited or no experience of EO data and products, will be identified and invited to get acquainted with ESA’s CCI Open Data Portal and Toolbox in a discovery process of ways to improve their work. To trigger this process, they will be further invited to join a meeting to be organized in Lisbon in November 2019, where they will have the opportunity to share their work with more experienced users, and experts from ESA and Copernicus. In this meeting, the (yet) non-experienced users will be stimulated to pinpoint the topics they think would gain from making use of EO products and services. Newcomers and experienced users will discuss how the existing EO data and products, including the ESA’s CCI datasets, can be used to address the specific issues presented by the (yet) non-users. A final report will include the Abstracts of all communications as well as the conclusions coming out of the discussions.

The proposed Action is targeted at active operational officers, technicians and scientists from Fisheries, Aquaculture, Coastal Planning and Risk Management, Renewable Energy Production and Operational Oceanography, with particular emphasis on the countries bordering the Central and Southern Atlantic. In order to reach the Action’s objectives, EO data experts (data providers, high- level users and product developers) will also be invited to join the community. Users of ocean- related in situ data (moored buoys, surface drifters, ARGOS floats and gliders) will be particularly targeted in order to promote the synergy between the use of in situ and EO data.

The proposed Action is focused on Novel Uses of ESA Earth Observation data, but also aimed at Engaging new research communities. However, Exploitation of Essential Climate Variable data sets from the ESA’s Climate Change Initiative is also a likely outcome of the Action. This is particularly believed to apply to the coastal ocean or the oceanic-terrestrial interface known as the littoral – or nearshore – zone, for which there is still room for further definition of ECVs. Contributors will, therefore, be stimulated to combine existing ECVs with economic variables in the derivation and proposal of new variables. Examples may comprise a combination of, e.g. sea surface temperature and ocean color trends with fish stocks evolution, or sea level and coastal erosion with demographic data in the assessment of the evolution of coastal communities.

Fostering the incorporation of EO and related in situ data products in the work carried out by researchers and stakeholders of coastal ocean and nearshore areas, with emphasis on the Central and Southern Atlantic, will stimulate the development of new uses, and the engagement of new users, of ESA’s Earth Observation data products and services, while aligning with at least 6 Sustainable Development Goals (2, 7, 13, 14, 15 and 17) of the UN 2030 Agenda.

The main objective of this project is directly aligned with the Key Areas of Focus of the Future Earth 2025 vision, specifically points 1, 2, 4 and 5

  1. Inspiring and supporting a new generation of scholars and practitioners doing integrated science for global sustainability to carry forward Future Earth’s vision and mission.
  2. Building a diverse and connected community of participants and organizations, including scientists, policy makers, civil society practitioners, private sector actors and funders from all regions of the world.
  3. Mobilizing capacities in all parts of the world to cooperate on research that connects local to global processes and promotes alternatives sustainable development trajectories.
  4. Creating a critical mass of scientists, policy makers and civil society leaders who believe in, and can serve as, ambassadors for Future Earth, including a body of Future Earth Fellows.

Goals:

  1. Discover new uses of EO data in specific scientific and societal problems, with particular focus on the combination between EO, in-situ and demographic data.
  2. Attract new users of ESA’s EO data from the southern hemisphere and equatorial countries, particularly those surrounding the Atlantic Ocean.
  3. Bring 20 to 30 new users together in an international meeting for networking, presenting their work and discussing new uses of EO data in different marine, coastal and nearshore areas.
  4. Collect information about the needs and goals of the meeting attendees, and the communities of users they represent, concerning the use of EO data (existing products, availability, etc.), particularly when combined with in situ data.

This workshop will be divided into five actions:

  1. Identify communities around the Atlantic addressing ocean, coastal and nearshore related activities and invite them to share their concerns with a wider community, regardless of their expertise in the use of EO data and products;
  2. Introduce the (yet) non-users to the ESA EO data products, stimulate the incorporation of those products in their research activities, and invite them to report on their results at an international meeting;
  3. Invite EO experts, experienced users of EO data and ESA representatives to attend the meeting and report on their achievements as well as on the possibilities open by the ESA infrastructure;
  4. Organize a one-day international meeting gathering the different communities (experts and newcomers) around the problems they have in hands, and attempt to clarify how the combined use of EO and in situ data is likely to be highly productive in a diversity of topics related with the Environment, Ocean, Coast and Sustainable Development;
  5. Produce a final report addressing the key problems, needs and priorities of newcomers and possible approaches to tackle them with incorporation of EO data. The report will include the Abstracts, or Extended Abstracts, of all communications as well as the conclusions coming out of the discussions.

Support

This event is partially funded by ESA-FUTURE Earth Joint Activities 2019 (545-510:508)

 

Collaboration

 
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