Space Solutions for the Environment

The European Space Solutions’ dedicated session on environmental protection demonstrated the multiple benefits that space technology brings. The session included examples of how space technology is being used to support agriculture, forestry, air quality monitoring and biodiversity.

The Environmental Protection session, moderated by Gunter Schreier from the German Remote SensingCentre of the German Aerospace Centre (DLR), focused on two hot policy topics in Europe: air quality and biodiversity. According to Schreier, there are numerous examples of how satellite technologies have already contributed to monitoring and improving Europe’s air quality. “The input we are getting from this technology is having a direct impact on the life expectancy of European citizens,” he said.

The keynote address, given by Chris Steenmans of the European Environment Agency, focused on global mega trends and Europe’s environmental challenges. With a larger, richer global population there will soon be a growing lack of natural resources, including water. “I see great potential for space solutions in addressing these challenges – many of which will require highly creative thinking,” he said. “To succeed, help from such ‘local-to-global’ systems as Copernicus and Galileo will be required,” he said.

There is no doubt that achieving the EU’s goal of becoming a truly sustainable society by 2050 and ‘living well, within the limits of the planet’ will be a challenge. But within the EU’s Environment Action Plan, space plays a significant role in such areas as resource efficiency and monitoring ecosystem resilience, with space solutions showing potential for mitigating climate change and reducing ecological footprints. It can also play a key role in providing the accurate positioning needed to enhance the EU's smart cities.

Agriculture and biodiversity

“Enabling sustainable intensification is the most pressing challenge for agriculture today,” said Tamme van der Wal of AeroVision BV and coordinator of the UNIFARM project.

That being said, he went on to stress that GNSS and EGNOS enabled systems have been a great success, bringing centimetre accuracy and precision agriculture to the farm. This is because the systems, for example, enable fuel savings of up to 10-15%, increase productivity and improve the day-to-day workings of a farm. Above all else, it is a simple, easy-to-use technology. According to van der Wal, the next step is to move from guidance to planning on the farm.

The big question of the day was what can Copernicus add to the farming sector? The UNIFARM project is looking into this. Such data can identify variation in biomass growth across a field and control the amount of feed applied. Another key benefit is the accurate mapping and storage of historical yield data.

For environmental reasons, van der Wal believes legislation could be used to promote GNSS and precision agriculture across Europe, thus minimising nitrogen application and maximising water resources.
To succeed, it is essential that signal data is free and open, thus ensuring the adoption of technology. Policy makers need to create incentives and think about benefits. More so, all space-based technologies must be easy to use.

This theme was continued by Klaus-Herbert Rolf of CLAAS Agrosystems and the 365FarmNet partnership, of which GSA is a member. “My job is to help save the farmer money and save the environment too,” he claimed. “With the world population growing and eating habits changing, it is likely that global biomass production will need to double by 2050 – which is only possible with digital or smart farming.”

Smart farming combines GNSS with geographic information systems and advanced agronomist technology. In the farm of the future, the office will be the most important place. “The farm will be steered from the office - not from the combine or the tractor,” said Rolf.

Another challenge is to promote transparent connections and certified documentation between suppliers and customers as required by the agriculture value chain. Twenty year yield maps storing all inputs and outputs will be the basis for future production planning.

In order to reach optimal fleet management and machine productivity, open steering systems like EGNOS need better precision and farm machines need to be connected. Regular updating of biomass data will ensure optimal plant nutrition, and on-going analysis of crop damage will support decision-making on chemical inputs and reseeding.

“We need Galileo for steering and Copernicus for steering output,” concluded Rolf. “They are two sides of same coin, and farmers need both.”

Air quality?

What newer member states need in terms of support for air quality from satellite observation was outlined by Lukša Kraljević from Croatia. According to Kraljević, the cost of using conventional monitoring to comply with EU air quality directives is a significant burden for the newer, smaller member states. “Can Earth Observation data help?” he asked. “It has the potential to achieve the required level of certainty and accuracy needed to enable forecasting for public alerts.”

In response to this question, Richard Engelen of ECMWF and the MACC-II project, said that by using data assimilation from a variety of sources and models, it is possible to merge information to generate the necessary 3-D models for global forecasts. These techniques are also applicable to local and regional geographies.

“Modelling provides the essential link between satellite data and forecasting,” he said. “In most cases, current model accuracy for background pollution is already sufficient for regulatory purposes.”

To demonstrate the difficulties of measuring and controlling air quality in regions with complex terrain, Marija Zlata Božnar of Slovenia, presented a case study from her country. In Slovenia, most people live in rural areas which, by definition, means complex terrain. In this situation satellite observation is very suitable. In fact, she believes satellite coverage should replace in-situ monitoring stations in rural areas and that the next Air Quality Directives should explicitly include satellite data.

Forest cover

Perhaps no region in Europe knows the impact that Copernicus and accurate positioning for biodiversity has on woodland and forest management than Bavaria, 36% of which is covered by forest. The region is already implementing numerous techniques that enable remote mapping of forests, including tree height (to assess the timber volume) and species identification. “Sustainable management depends on a solid database,” said Rudolf Seitz of the Bavarian State Institute of Forestry. “Modern forest management needs satellite data and remote sensing that is rapid, continuously available and free for administrative use.”

Earth observation also plays a role in monitoring biodiversity. The EU Habitats Directive and other regulatory initiatives requires reporting every six years, and to build a habitat map requires in-field campaigns and expert visual interpretation that is both time consuming and expensive.

Palma Blonda of the Italian National Research Council showed how remote sensing provides land cover and land use data that can be translated, via ecological modelling, into accurate habitat maps. New data processing techniques are being developed that can be applied on a global scale.

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More information:

EGNOS Portal
European Space Solutions Conference 2013