Copernicus EU

Copernicus EU

Copernicus EU

www.Copernicus.eu

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LEGAL NOTICEThis document has been prepared for the European Commission by PwC France as part ofthe study “Update of the Copernicus Market Report”. However it reflects the views only of theauthors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of
the information contained therein.
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Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2016
ISBN 978-92-79-98973-5
doi 10.2873/011961
Catalogue number: ET-04-19-024-EN-N© European Union, 2019
Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged.
Cover page: © ESA / Processed image of Sentinel-2
Printed in France
Copernicus Market Report | Issue 2, February 2019 | Prepared by PwC |2

COPERNICUS
Market reportFebruary 2019

Copernicus Market Report | Issue 2, February 2019 | Prepared by PwC |3

CONTENTS
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Note: This Market Report updates the content of the previous Copernicus Market Report, published in 2016. The update relies on the re-assessment of the previous value chains, and includes 2 additional value
chains on the Response to Natural Disasters and Security. Some of the analysis for the sizing of economic impacts relies on a past study prepared by PwC for the European Commission and published in 2017:
Copernicus ex-ante societal impact. Additional details can be found on the quantification methodologies in this study.

MAIN RESULTS AND KEY FINDINGS

5

EARTH OBSERVATION MARKET11

THE COPERNICUS PROGRAMME

27

COPERNICUS SECTORS38

AGRICULTURE

38

FORESTRY50

URBAN MONITORING

61

COASTAL AND MARINE EXPLOITATION AND PRESERVATION

73

OIL & GAS86

RENEWABLE ENERGIES98

AIR QUALITY MANAGEMENT

110

MANAGEMENT OF NATURAL DISASTERS

122

INSURANCE FOR NATURAL DISASTERS124

RESPONSE TO NATURAL DISASTERS

129

SECURITY142

APPENDICES

156
Copernicus Market Report | Issue 2, February 2019 | Prepared by PwC |4

OVERVIEW OF COPERNICUS PROGRAMME BENEFITS
MAIN RESULTS
From 2008 up to 2020, the total investments in the Copernicus programme are forecasted to reach EUR 8.2 billion. Over the same period, this investment will generate economic benefits between EUR 16.2 and21.3 billion (excluding non-monetary benefits). This economic value is generated through the added value created in the upstream space industry, the sales of Copernicus-based applications by downstream service
suppliers and the exploitation of Copernicus-enabled products by end users in various economic sectors. It is important to note that the intermediate and end users benefits are only computed for the 2018 – 2020
period while the costs of the programme are considered from 2008.

Examples of Copernicus impacts
€
€

€

€€

€ €

Cumulated economic impacts
Social impacts
2008

Overall
investment in
the programme

2018

2019

2020

EUR 8.2 BILLION•

Reduced casualties in natural disasters•

Improved robustness for food security•

Improved management of air quality in cities

Environmental impacts

Cumulatedeconomicvalue

EUR 16.2 to 21.3 BILLION
Upstream andCopernicus
Services
Intermediate users(downstream) andend users*

EUR 11.5 BILLION
EUR 4.7 – 9.8
BILLION

17,260 jobs years
supported in Europe
93% of these
economic benefits
are generated by
end users

Reduced areas burnt by wildfires through better civil
protection responses•

Higher accuracy for the monitoring of compliancewith environmental policies•

Reduced oil spill damages on ecosystems•

Improved fish stock management

Strategic impacts* The study includes 10 value chains: Agriculture, Forestry, Urban Monitoring, Coastal and Marine Exploitation and Preservation , Oil & Gas, Renewable Energies, Air Quality,
Insurance for Natural Disasters, Response to Natural Disasters and Security. A conservative approach was applied for extrapolating downstream and end user benefits based fromexperts consultation, since the aim of this study is to provide robust figures. In addition, many user benefits are non-monetary in nature and could not be quantified.

Copernicus Market Report | Issue 2, February 2019 | Prepared by PwC |

•

5

•

Strengthened collaboration between states at global
scale for civil protection•

Development of EU industry competitivenessOVERVIEW OF INTERMEDIATE USERS’ BENEFITS (1/2)
MAIN RESULTSIntermediate users constitute the main link between the satellite images of Copernicus and the community of end users. Also designated as downstream providers, they are typically providers of Value Added
Services, processing raw data into exploitable information for end users. In 2018, the benefits of Copernicus in the downstream market are estimated to be between EUR 125 and 150 million, up from EUR 54
million in 2015 (these benefits were assessed for the 10 value chains covered in this report). They are expected to grow at a CAGR of around 15% up to 2020. The main drivers for the growth of these markets are
the remaining gap between end users’ specific needs for tailored products and their current offer, and the progressive adoption of EO-based solutions in some industries such as renewable energies.

REVENUES

Enabled revenues forintermediate users in Europe(EUR million)
2015 *

2018

Expected average annual
growth rate up to 20202015 *

168

2018

2020

Copernicus impact
for intermediateusers of the 10
selected value chains

54

Average penetration of Copernicus
data with regards to EO data

10%

+ 15%

226

20%

* 2015 values are based on a set of 8 value chains only, not taking into account the Response to natural disasters and Security.

COPERNICUS UPTAKE (2017)

72 %

38 %

28 TB

300,000+6 pts / 2016+11 pts / 2016+133 % / 2016+44% / Q1 2018

Proportion of EO companies
exploiting Copernicus data
in Europe

Proportion of EO
companies exploiting
Copernicus services in
EuropeCopernicus Market Report | Issue 2, February 2019 | Prepared by PwC |Volume of downloads
from the Data Access
Systems6# overall registered users on the
different hubs (ESA,EUMETSAT, ECMWF, EEA,
Mercator Ocean International
and JRC)OVERVIEW OF INTERMEDIATE USERS’ BENEFITS (2/2)
MAIN RESULTS
Copernicus benefits vary between the value chains, depending on the contribution of Earth Observation (EO) in the industry activities (driving the revenues for downstream players) and the penetration rate ofCopernicus within this EO data. Although some value chains remain rather challenging as potential growth segments for Copernicus, such as insurance, overall the industries considered all foresee a positive
evolution of Copernicus uptake and hence of its economic impacts.

DETAIL PER VALUE CHAIN

Copernicus
enabledrevenues forintermediateusers in 2018
(EUR million)
Averageannual growthrate up to2020

Penetration ofCopernicus datawith regards to
EO data (2018)

Agriculture

Forestry

Urban Monitoring

Ocean
Monitoring

Oil & Gas

Renewable
Energies

Air Quality

Insurance for
Natural Disasters

Response to
Natural Disasters

Security

19

12

10

59

19

4

1

11

9

25

+ 20 %+ 13 %+ 19 %+ 23 %+ 17 %+ 16 %+ 12 %

+5%

+0%

+0%

60 %
17 %

12 %

10 %

20 %

<1 %

10 %

8%

40 %

4%

The penetration of Copernicus data takes into account the Sentinel data, Copernicus Services products, and also contributing missions data when procured in the frame of Copernicus Services. The latter explains in particular the high penetration rates for response to Natural
Disasters and Security.
Copernicus Market Report | Issue 2, February 2019 | Prepared by PwC |7

OVERVIEW OF END USERS’ BENEFITS
MAIN RESULTS
End users’ benefits are generated either through the exploitation of Copernicus-enabled products provided by intermediate users, or through direct use of Copernicus data by end users. End users represent muchlarger markets than the Earth Observation (EO) downstream market, and therefore even moderate contributions of Copernicus in terms of data inputs can potentially generate large benefits, for instance for oil andgas companies, or agricultural cooperatives. End users generally have very specific needs, but demonstrate high willingness to pay to access tailored EO products with real added value to their business.

DETAIL PER VALUE CHAINECONOMIC BENEFITS
Copernicus impact for end users of the 10
selected value chains :Copernicus enabled revenues for 2018
(EUR million)

190

14

Average annual growth rate up to 2020

+4%

Ocean
Monitoring

Economic benefits for end users
in Europe (EUR million)+5%

Insurance

2020

2018

318

3,500

2,700

417
+ 31 %

Agriculture+ 17 %

Oil & Gas

77
Forestry

Urban Monitoring

+ 14%

308
+ 25 %

Renewable
Energies

Security537

24+ 17 %+3%

Air Quality

Copernicus Market Report | Issue 2, February 2019 | Prepared by PwC |+ 12 %

Civil protection137+ 46 %

Expected average annual
growth rate up to 2020

670

8

+8%

OVERVIEW OF COPERNICUS PROGRAMME BENEFITSEXAMPLES OF KEY FACTS
Although the value chains analysed in this report can be complex and involve various dynamics, a selection of key messages is presented below for each. These statements are only examples and are notexhaustive depictions of the value chains.

20 to
100 %

Agriculture is a fast-growing sector when it comes to the utilization of
EO-based products, especially for smart farming. Copernicus ranges
from 20% all the way to 100% of the EO data used in solutions.

Forestry offers a high potential for growth in the coming years due to theimplementation of environmental protection policies at national andEuropean levels.

Growthpotential

Higherresolution

The improved spatial resolution of Sentinel data (compared toprevious open data satellite images) and the associated Copernicus
services (Urban Atlas, high resolution layers) are a huge driver for
the uptake of Copernicus in urban monitoring.

1% reduction of overall fuel consumption by big shipping companies
can be expected from using surface current models. This represents
about 17 M€ per year.

17 M€

Barrelprice

The heavy fluctuation of oil prices, which fell from US$115 per barrel
in 2014 to under US$35 in 2016 and up to US$ 60 by early 2019,significantly impacts the value chain, especially in willingness toinvest in major projects.

The extension of renewable energy farms, the management of theintermittency of renewable energies and the rising needs of smart cities
create a need for new types of jobs.

New
jobs

50 to
80 %

Share of data coming from the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring
Service (CAMS) in services related to air quality. This contributes tocompanies’ viability in a sector with low willingness to pay.

Estimated maximum share of overall insurance and reinsurancecompanies exploiting Copernicus data for their activities related tonatural disasters.

5%

80 %

Share of flood events in Europe for which the Copernicus Emergency
Management Service (CEMS) has provided forecasts and maps ofthe situation.

Total area of the combined Exclusive Economic Zone of EU Member
States, making it the largest in the world. This constitutes a challenge
for maritime surveillance and security operations at sea.

20M
km²

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OVERVIEW OF COPERNICUS PROGRAMME BENEFITSEXAMPLES OF USE CASES
The wide range of applications to which Copernicus contributes can be illustrated more concretely through relevant use cases on selected applications. In addition to the examples provided here, a more thoroughlist of use cases per value chain is provided throughout the rest of this report.

19 %Decreased consumption of water, fertilisers and pesticides
through Earth Observation-based smart farming services in
Greece. On top of this, the production also increased by 10%.

98 %Percentage of scenes that can be observed cloud-free morethan 4 times a year thanks to the 13 spectral bands of
Sentinel-2 satellites.

80 %Cost reduction per year for displacement monitoring service
while using Sentinel data instead of traditional monitoringsources.

-10 % economic losses

Allergy sufferers

The 20% economic losses undergone by the mussels
industry in 2017 due to the climatic conditions could havebeen reduced to 10% with the Rheticus project, using
CMEMS products and Sentinel-3 data.

Apps offering forecasts of pollen dispersion enable allergy
sufferers to plan better their outdoor activities.

25,000 images

2 hours

Individual SAR images contained in the NPA’s Global
Offshore Seepage Database (GOSD), covering 90% of theworld’s offshore sedimentary basins.

Delay between the activation of CEMS and the acquisitionof the satellite data, achieved in some situations, thanks to
the floods Early Warning System.

1 to 3 M€

2.4 Tons

Increased project return per 100 MW produced through windenergy, if using the Copernicus ERA5 to reduce
uncertainties.

Copernicus Market Report | Issue 2, February 2019 | Prepared by PwC |Cocaine seized by Spanish customs on a vessel that had
been monitored through the Maritime Surveillance
Service.

10EARTH OBSERVATION MARKETIN A NUTSHELL•

Earth Observation (EO) applications and technologies are used in a wide range ofapplications, covering land, marine and atmosphere monitoring.

•

Similarly to the global EO economy, the EO downstream sector in Europe shows stable
growth over the years, and is expected to maintain a CAGR above 6% in the coming years.

•

In 2017, the global EO economy was estimated to be between EUR 9.6 and 9.8 billion,
divided between EO satellites sales (the upstream section of the supply chain), and the EO
data acquisition, processing and transformation into information products for end users (thedownstream section). The global market is mostly driven by the upstream market, whichconstitutes about 70% of the total revenues. The global EO downstream market isestimated to be between EUR 2.6 and 2.8 billion, mainly driven by governmental
applications, which represent between 50% and 60% of the revenues.

•

The EO downstream market is undergoing strong trends such as changes in businessmodels towards near-real time applications, more and more integrated solutions, cloudcomputing and the use of artificial intelligence to improve the value of analytics.

•

EO 2.0 players are entering the market with an innovative approach. These stakeholders,vertically integrated, have in-house capabilities to manufacture satellites but also to handle
the data and develop and offer services.

•

In this context, Copernicus is ramping up in terms of user uptake, benefitting from anincreasing user awareness, a gain in maturity of the Services, and the progressive
adaptation of the intermediate market to fulfil end users’ specific needs.

••

While upstream revenues tend to oscillate over the years depending on the fluctuatingneeds for large EO satellites, the downstream market shows constant growth, at an
expected CAGR of 7% up to 2022.

In 2017, the European EO economy was valued at between EUR 2.7 and 3.1 billion. The
EO upstream segment was valued at EUR 1.9 billion, which represents about two thirds ofthe revenues of the European EO economy. The revenues of the downstream market
amounted to between EUR 750 and 1,200 million.

Copernicus Market Report | Issue 2, February 2019 | Prepared by PwC |11

OVERVIEW OF EARTH OBSERVATION
Principle of Earth Observation

What is Earth Observation?
Earth Observation (EO) refers to the use of remote sensing technologies to monitor land, marine (seas, rivers, lakes)
and atmosphere. Satellite-based EO relies on the use of satellite-mounted payloads to gather imaging data about the
Earth’s characteristics. The images are then processed and analysed in order to extract different types of informationthat can serve a very wide range of applications and industries.

Earth Observation satellite

EO technologies utilize different types of sensors on their payloads:• Optical or thermal sensors are payloads monitoring the energy received from the Earth due to the reflection andre-emission of the Sun’s energy by the Earth’s surface or atmosphere. They operate between the visible andinfrared wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum.
• Radar sensors are payloads operating in the lower part of the spectrum (longer wavelengths). Most of thesesensors send energy to Earth and monitor the energy received back from the Earth’s surface or atmosphere,
enabling day and night monitoring during all weather conditions.

Raw data
Ground segment

The second essential parameter in EO is the sensor resolution.
• Spatial resolution defines the size of the pixels analysed by the sensors. EO satellites can be distributed into 3
categories based on this parameter (the boundaries between these categories can vary depending on the source):• Low and medium resolution: more than 10 meters per pixel;• High resolution (HR): between 1 and 10 meters per pixel;• Very-High Resolution (VHR): less than 1 meters per pixel, also called sub-metric imagery. The use of
VHR imagery with a higher resolution than 0.3 meters is subject to restrictions that limit it to government
applications.
• Temporal resolution defines the frequency at which the data is acquired for a defined area. The needs can vary
substantially for this parameter as well, with applications requiring images every day or in only a few hours (foremergency operations for instance), whilst others require an update every few weeks.
• In the case of optical sensors, another type of parameter can differentiate the payloads, which is the spectral
resolution. This is defined by the width of the spectrum bands that can be distinguished by the payload, enablingsome applications that require the ability to analyse specific wavelengths.
The last key parameters considered for remote sensing techniques are the coverage and usually the associated revisit frequency. Flying in orbit enables satellites to offer a global coverage with a single spacecraft, while aerial or insitu sensors have regional or local coverage. Orbital geometry however limits the frequency of fly-by over a same
location (typically once per day to once every few days) while local monitoring allows a higher persistence, from a newacquisition every few hours down to near real time.

Copernicus Market Report | Issue 2, February 2019 | Prepared by PwC |Image processing

Pre-processed
data

Value Added Services

Raw images

Geographic Information
Systems (GIS)12

OVERVIEW OF EARTH OBSERVATIONThe 3 stages of the Earth Observation value chain

The Earth Observation value chain

The upstream industry refers to the space industry in charge of developing andmanufacturing the infrastructure. This includes the space infrastructure (the satellites) andalso the ground segment for satellite operations (mission control and management of the
payloads). The upstream also includes the launch operations.

•

The downstream industry is part of the EO value chain, and includes the companies andinstitutional actors whose activities revolve around the processing of EO data and the creationof Value Added Services (VAS) based on this data. These players tend to be experts in EO,
and can be perceived as “intermediate users”.

•

The end users consist of the wider base of businesses and institutional players for which EOderived products is an input, but whose core activity is not centred on EO. End users tend to
be non-experts in EO, and therefore typically rely on intermediate users to have access to therelevant input information and products for their activity.

€ 9.6 to 9.8 billion
Global revenues of the overall EO industry in 2017+27% / 2015

€ 7 billion
Global revenues of the EO upstream industry in 2017+39% / 2015

€ 2.6 to 2.8 billion
Global revenues of the EO downstream industry in 2017+12% / 2015

INFRASTRUCTURE
MANUFACTURINGLAUNCH SERVICESDATA ACQUISITIONDOWNSTREAM•

UPSTREAM

Earth Observation stimulates economic activity involving diverse categories of companies:

DATA STORAGE

DATA PROCESSINGCONSULTINGEND USERS
Sources: PwC, NSR, Frost & Sullivan, SIA

Copernicus Market Report | Issue 2, February 2019 | Prepared by PwC |13

OVERVIEW OF EARTH OBSERVATION
The variety of addressed markets implies a need for solution tailoring

EO-based solutions call for different levels of data integration

The ubiquity of geo-spatial tools, information and applications highlights the wide usage that is madetoday of satellite imagery. The users of Earth Observation (EO) data are present in many industries,
each with very specific needs.

Because the core activity of end users is not directed at EO products, they generally combine the geospatial products they receive with their own relevant sources of information for their business (forinstance the type of crops, the function of the infrastructure, the profile of their customers, the reports
from their agents, etc.). On top of this integration with their usual data sets, end users are also
embracing more and more the benefits of combining multiple digital sources in the frame of Big Data
applications.

However raw data cannot be exploited directly, as it is generally the information contained in theimages that is of value. Hence, EO data alone does not bring value, but creates it through theapplications that derives from it.
The role of intermediate users is crucial in the EO value chain, as the interface between the satellite
technical features and the end users’ specific needs.

Therefore the challenge for intermediate users goes further than that of the imagery features (pixel
size, revisit time, wavelength, geographical area, etc.), and is increasingly involving digital capabilities
and multi-source solutions.

Terminology and roles for Earth Observation intermediate users and end users
In-situ sensors / Meteorological data / Topographic data
/ Non-geospatial sources

Governmental users / Commercial users
Upstream and midstream•

Satellite data

•
•
•
•

Pre-processing
Analysis
Value Added Services
Display

Agriculture

Non-space community: Endusers

Downstream: Intermediate users••

Infrastructure management
Forestry

Input EO-based
products in theirbusiness
Tailored needs

Disasters monitoring
Management of natural resources
Renewable energies
Defence and Security…
“EO experts”“Non-EO experts”
Copernicus Market Report | Issue 2, February 2019 | Prepared by PwC |14

THE EARTH OBSERVATION UPSTREAM AT GLOBAL SCALE€ 7 billion

A global upstream market of EUR 7 B in 2017
The Earth Observation (EO) upstream market was estimated around EUR 7 B in 2017, down from around EUR 7.2 B in 2016. The market size is fluctuating from one year tothe other depending on the orders, which can vary substantially. For instance according to the Satellite Industry Association, in 2016 civil EO satellites represented only 12%of the satellite manufacturing market (the rest of the market being military surveillance satellites), while in 2017 they represented nearly half of the market.

Global revenues of the EO
upstream industry in 2017

Between 2011 and 2017, the number of EO payloads sent has been multiplied by more than 7, driven by the explosion of nanosatellites
While the number of satellites above 100 kg that are launched every year has remained relatively steady over the past years, smaller satellites have witnessed a skyrocketing increase, with the nanosatellites
segment jumping from no more than 10 a few years ago, up to 175 in 2017, experiencing a +250% growth just between 2016 and 2017. Planet’s constellation represented nearly 80% of these nanosatellites.
The presence in California of the current 2 leaders in terms of constellation size (Planet and Spire) gives a strong lead of the USA within the nanosatellites segment. China on the other side is the largest producer oflarge satellites (above 1 ton), driven in particular by the launches of Gaofen and Yaogan satellites to fulfil respectively civilian and military applications.
Evolution of EO payloads sent by mass category, 2011-2017 (Source: PwC)

Geographical repartition of EO satellites manufacturing , 2011-2017 (Source: PwC)

250
North America:
Sat > 100kg: 46
Sat < 100kg: 396

200
150

Europe:Sat > 100kg: 34
Sat < 100kg: 5

Middle East:
Sat > 100kg: 6
Sat < 100kg: 2

100
50
0
2011

2012

2013

Medium and larger

2014

2015

Small

Micro

2016

2017

Nano
Copernicus Market Report | Issue 2, February 2019 | Prepared by PwC |15

Russia:Sat > 100kg: 25
Sat < 100kg: 5

APAC:
Sat > 100kg: 102
Sat < 100kg: 30

THE EARTH OBSERVATION UPSTREAM MARKET AT GLOBAL SCALE
Governmental applications remain the main segment for satellites above 100kg, but recent nanosatellites constellations reverse the trend towards
commercial applications
Over the 2011 – 2017 period, more than 85% of the satellites above 100kg were serving governmental customers, balanced between civilian and military applications. The situation is different for smaller satellites.
Since 2014 and 2015, the Cubesat-based constellations of Planet and Spire, which are oriented towards commercial applications, represented more than 75% of the satellites below 100 kg launched. It can benoted that in terms of overall mass launched, governmental satellites still constituted more than 90% of the total on the 2011 – 2017 period.
The market for satellites above 100 kg is rather fragmented, with 15 manufacturers having produced 4 satellites or more out of the 216 total, and dominated by the Chinese Space Agency, Airbus Defence & Spaceand Lockheed Martin. For micro and nanosatellites, the market is consolidated, largely dominated by Planet (more than 300 satellites launched) and Spire (more than 50 satellites launched).

Number of EO satellites > 100kg by manufacturer,
2011-2017 (Source: PwC)

Number of EO satellites < 100kg by manufacturer,
2011-2017 (Source: PwC)
CAS - Shanghai Small
Satellite Center…

CAST
47

Others50

Thales Alenia
Space
4
DongfanghongSatellite Co
4

Airbus Defence
and Space
18

Space
Systems/Loral
5
NPP VNIIEM
6

Gov Military
16%

Others42
Spire
52

Gov Civil
16%
Planet327
Educational3%

Lockheed Martin
16

Boeing6

Orbital Sciences
Corporation
7

Dauria Aerospace,
Canopus Systems…

Zhuhai Orbita
Control Engineering
4
Satellogic
S.A.
4

TsSKBProgress
8

ISRO
Mitsubishi 10
SSTL Electric
108Number of EO payloads sent, bycustomer, 2011-2017 (Source: PwC)

SAST
15

Copernicus Market Report | Issue 2, February 2019 | Prepared by PwC |16

Commercial
65%THE EARTH OBSERVATION UPSTREAM MARKET IN EUROPE
The EO upstream segment represents
nearly EUR 2 B market in 2017

€ 1.9 billion

In 2017 sales of Earth Observation space systems by theEuropean space manufacturing industry reached EUR 1.9
billion, representing about 21% of all European space systems
manufacturing revenues. It is predominantly domestic, with
88% of revenues coming from European sources.

Revenues of the European EO
upstream industry in 2017

If the market had been relatively steady before 2014, it then experienced an aggressive growth of 82%
between 2014 and 2017. This growth could potentially be explained by the delivery of several EO
spacecraft systems by European manufacturers to European and Non-European customers in 2016,2017 and 2018, such as the Sentinel constellation provided by Thales Alenia Space and Airbus Defence
and Space for ESA (1A, 1B, 2A, 2B, 3A), the DMC-3 constellation (1, 2, 3) provided by SSTL for ISROand Jason 3 provided by Thales Alenia Space for CNES.

Evolution of European EO upstream sales, EUR B

European Earth Observation
upstream industry in 2017

1 101
1 030
10
1 643

228
30
259
10
3

€ 1.9 B

Sales in 2017

Public Vs Private customers
EUR M, 2017

Telecommunication
systems
EO
Systems
Navigation
systems

801
1 330
10
1 781
91
30
259
10
3

European customers

Public customers

Exports

Private customers

1,9

CAGR
13%

Sales by system

Sales by system
European Customers Vs Exports
EUR M, 2017

Destination unknown

Unknown customers

Source: Eurospace, 2017, Facts & Figures
Copyright by Eurospace, all rights reserved, reproduction forbidden.

12%

0,9

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

Source: Eurospace, 2017, Facts & Figures
Copyright by Eurospace, all rights reserved, reproduction forbidden.

Export market share

67%

Share of the European
EO economy

27%

Share of global EO
upstream market

The European upstream industry for EO remains largely driven by
institutional demand
Historically, governmental programmes have been the main source of revenues for EO
upstream activities in Europe. While the situation changed significantly for the markets oflaunch systems and telecommunication satellites over the past decades, as of 2017 it remains
true for EO systems, for which public customers still represented over 90% of the industry
revenues in 2017.

Copernicus Market Report | Issue 2, February 2019 | Prepared by PwC |17

THE EARTH OBSERVATION UPSTREAM MARKET IN EUROPE
Europe is mainly positioned on the large satellite segment

Vision of the supply and market shares

While the growth of the global EO payload manufacturing market was driven by the explosion of thenanosatellite segment between 2011 and 2017, the European market remained focused on the
traditional segment of satellites over 100 kg. It is expected to continue growing in the coming years with
the introduction of new rideshare capabilities of the new European launchers, Ariane 6 and Vega-C. All
in all, only 4 nano and 1 micro satellites produced in Europe were sent between 2011 and 2017,
underlining the absence of large constellations programmes to stimulate the manufacturing of thesesatellites. Recent contracts (such as the first units of the OneWeb constellation by Airbus Defence andSpace) could suggest a change in this trend.

The European EO payload manufacturing market is shared among a few historical players such as
Airbus Defence and Space, SSTL and Thales Alenia Space, responsible together of nearly 80 % of thetotal. Mainly positioned within the segment of satellites over 100 kg, they are foreseen to remain so inthe coming years, with for instance about 20 such satellites launched over 2018 and 2019. Other
players such as QINETQ Space, Spaceflight and GOMSpace are positioned within the micro and nanosegments, as well as research centres and universities such as CNES, DLR or Sapienza University of
Rome.

Share of all EO payloads by European
manufacturers, 2011-2017 (Source PwC)

European Upstream EO Payload market by mass, 2011-2017

Main European EO Payload manufacturers by mass

(Source PwC)

(Source PwC)

10

Total EO satellites: 38

9Thales
Alenia Space
10%

8

8
7

7

6

6
SSTL
21%

AirbusDefence and
Space
47%

Spaceflight
Industries
3%

4

7

3

5

5

1

1

2

2
1

Qinetic
Space
3%

La Sapienza University of
Rome

5

0
GOMSpace8%

Alcatel
Space
5%

Large
>1000kg

1
2011

1

2

5

3
3

3

2

1

3

2

2

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

Large

Medium

Small

Micro

Nano

1

2

Medium>500kg1

Small>100kg

2

Micro
>50kg

2017

Copernicus Market Report | Issue 2, February 2019 | Prepared by PwC |

18

Nano
<50kg

THE EARTH OBSERVATION DOWNSTREAM MARKET AT GLOBAL
LEVEL€ 2.6 to 2.8 billion
Global revenues of the EO
downstream industry in 2017

A nearly EUR 3 B market in 2017, with a 7% average annual growth rate
up to 2022, driven by information products and Big Data

Satellite imagery market worldwide, EUR B(Source: NSR)

5,0

Traditionally, the satellite imagery market was segmented between data sales and Value Added
Services (VAS).

4,0

However over the years, the sales of information products and Big Data analytics have become a sizeable share of the market revenues,
and are expected to be the largest share of the revenues by 2020. In 2017, Northern Sky Research estimated the global market ataround EUR 2.8 B, split between data and VAS for EUR 1.5 B, and information products and Big Data for EUR 1.3 B.

3,0Among the different segments, Big Data solutions remain a minor share for the moment, but experience the largest growth with aCompound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of over 25% on the 2017-2022 period. By 2022, the market is expected to reach EUR 4 B, driven
by information products and by Big Data (+60%).

1,0

Cloud platform holders, providing storage and easy access as well as cloud processing power and tools for basic image processing, areexpected to play a major role in the EO data market in the coming decade, as already witnessed for instance with Amazon Web Services
and its open data pilot project based on Landsat data.

2,0

0,0
2017
Data & VAS

2022
Information products & Big Data

World Market Share – Data, VAS, IP and Big Data products(Source: PwC)

2017

2022
Maxar (exDigitalGlobe / MDA)
30%

VAR & Big
Data firms
36%

New entrants on the market are expected totrim the shares of legacy players

DG/MDA
23%
VAR & Big
Data firms
39%Incumbent market leaders such as DigitalGlobe (Maxar
Technologies group) and Airbus Defence & Space are facing
increasing competition from new entrants who establish theirdifferentiation on analytics and insights.

Airbus DS
9%
Other
small sat
operators Urthecast
3%
3%

Airbus DS
12%
Planet7%

Others9%

Other small sat
operators
5%

Urthecast
6%

Planet12%

First movers on the market such as Planet and Urthecast have an
advantage among NewSpace players, although the large number ofcompanies with Big Data and Value Added Resellers profiles is
expected to also capture more market shares in the future.

Others6%

Traditional players tend to rely on well-established governmental
contracts and long term relationships with them, and still benefit
from the large demand for governmental applications, representing
about 57% of the total revenues.

Others: e-Geos, Antrix, DCMii, Earth-i / VAR: Value Added Resellers
Copernicus Market Report | Issue 2, February 2019 | Prepared by PwC |19

THE EARTH OBSERVATION DOWNSTREAM MARKET AT GLOBALLEVELThe EO downstream market is undergoing a shift in market shares,
aspiring for increasingly more high and very high resolution data
The majority of the satellite imagery market relies on the provision of high and very high resolution(spatial resolution below 1m), which together represent about 60% of the total revenues. The weight ofthis data should keep increasing in the coming years to reach about 68% by 2022. Subsequently, even if
the low resolution data market shares are expected to continue to increase slightly, the overall market for
medium and low resolution data (10m pixels and more) is likely to taper off and decrease by 6% in total
revenues between 2017 and 2022.

Although the revenue shares of medium and low resolution imagery isdecreasing, there is a growing demand for open data services
The user uptake for open source policy programmes is increasing, in particular for Copernicus as themost recent entrant on the market. This leads to an almost constant market share in terms of revenues
for the low resolution market (>5m spatial resolution), despite a strong pricing difference with sub-metricdata. In the meantime, the medium resolution segment (1m – 5m spatial resolution) is the only one
expected to shrink between now and 2022.

EO Optical Market by Resolution 2017 – 2022, M(Source: PwC)

5000
4500
4000
3500
3000
2500
2000
1500
1000
500
0
2017
Low Res Optical

Med Res Optical

2022
High Res Optical

Very High Res Optical

Segmentation of EO Optical High Resolution Market by Industry
Vertical Application, % (Source: PwC)
Services
Agriculture / 7%
Living Resources
8%
Energy & Natural
resources
11%
PublicAuthorities
18%

HR and VHR data are strongly driven by defence and intelligencemarkets, with commercial markets catching up

Industrial
5%

Defence &Intelligence51%

On sub-metric resolution data, defence and intelligence customers represent more than half ofthe market, totalling nearly 70% when accounting for public authorities. Defence customers focus
on ultra-high resolution, in particular since they have access to restricted resolutions (below
30cm or 50cm). Public authorities are important consumers mostly for city planning or traffic
management applications.
Commercial markets such as agriculture, living resources, energy and resources, although
representing about a third of the revenues, show higher growth rates, with CAGR between 12%
and 16% expected in the coming years. Agriculture tends to be driven by precision farming
applications (crops stress) while energy and natural resources rely on VHR for geologicalinsights.

Copernicus Market Report | Issue 2, February 2019 | Prepared by PwC |20

THE EARTH OBSERVATION DOWNSTREAM MARKET IN EUROPE
The European EO downstream market is expected to grow from around EUR
970 M in 2017 to EUR 1.3 by 2022 at an average annual growth rate of over 6%33 %€ 950 million

Share of European EO
downstream revenues in the
global EO downstream market

Revenues of the European EO
downstream industry in 2017

The EU EO downstream market is expected to experience a steady growth over the next decade, benefiting, justlike the EO upstream segment, from a growing non-domestic demand from emerging countries willing to access
EO applications. Depending on the sources, the market estimates vary considerably, between EUR 750 M and
EUR 1.2 B in 2017, and a CAGR between 6% and 12%, showing a similar strong growth in both cases.

The public sector, which has been driving the demand for EO services since 2012, is likely to continue doing so,
representing about half of the demand when combining civil and defence applications. This growth follows theglobal EO downstream market growth, even though it is less aggressive than the North American market.

European EO downstream market forecast by vertical(Source: NSR)

1400
Comparison of EO downstream sales by customer segment in the EU, EUR K

1200(Source: EARSC)

1000
Internationalorganisations

800

2012

50 000

2014
2016

600

220 000

Privatecompanies

400

130 000

175 000

200
Public R&D

0
2017

2018

WeatherIndustrial
Defense & Intelligence

2019

2020

Public Authorities
Energy & Nat. Resources

2021

2022

Services
Living Resources

415 000
330 000

Public sector

Copernicus Market Report | Issue 2, February 2019 | Prepared by PwC |150 000

21

THE EARTH OBSERVATION DOWNSTREAM MARKET IN EUROPE
Defence and Intelligence, Energy, Natural and
Living Resources are responsible for the
majority of the demand
Defence and Security needs in the wake of the migrant crisis andgeopolitical tensions are increasing, as the EU continues to increase
military spending to address armed and geo-political conflicts within
and around its regions. Similarly, and resulting from the strong will toachieve sustainable and performing energy production, resourcesrelated verticals are highly requesting EO services, for resource
identification, tracking, optimization and monitoring.

European SMEs are the main actors to address
the increasing demand for EO services
The availability of Sentinel data has benefitted the large European
SME sector, which is mainly into Value Added Services andInformation Products. Although traditional big players such as Airbus
D&S and e-Geos still have important shares as suppliers, developers
and sellers, the introduction of cloud-based platforms for data
exploitation has significantly helped SMEs to gain contracts anddevelop themselves.
European active EO companies in 2016

VerticalApplications

Weather

Commercial weather data enabling risk management foraviation, transportation and agriculture

PublicAuthorities

Policy making and regulatory enforcement, Population
demographics/epidemiology, Border control, Maritime security,
Strategic asset monitoring, Emergency response, Humanitarianrelief work, Urban planning, Maritime spatial planning

LivingResources

Sector monitoring, surveillance, mapping, tracking of crop yield,
optimization of irrigation, assessment of land-use, tracking ofscarce resources, fisheries and aquaculture

Industrial

Industrial asset monitoring (telecom infrastructure), Topology
monitoring for cellular network coverage, Shipping routemonitoring, Construction monitoring, Utilities monitoring, IoT
solutions, Performance monitoring, Competitive intelligence

Defence &Intelligence

Strategic theatre-level military surveillance, tactical surveillance/military preparation of the battlefield, monitoring of groundassets and critical structures

Energy & Nat.
Resources

All stages of exploration, build out, remediation, anddecommissioning with in-house analysis: Oil exploration, Mining
exploration, Oil spill preparedness and response, Crisis
management, soil erosion monitoring, optimization of renewableenergy production(Source: EARSC)

Large
1%

Medium
3%
Small
30%

Micro
66%

Services

Commercial mapping for urban mobility, Geo-Information
Services-based risk management for financial industry, EOenabled smart contracts for insurance

Copernicus Market Report | Issue 2, February 2019 | Prepared by PwC |22

Main suppliers

THE TRENDS IN EARTH OBSERVATION
Trend #1 – Diversification of users and theirdemands
The demand for EO satellites and their data is growing, as
markets for applications become increasingly diversified andproviders are able to deliver solutions for users who previously
would not have been targeted.

Two areas where demand is expanding rapidly is within emerging
economies, where solutions can support the growth of a country
in a multitude of ways, including urban expansion, agriculture,
natural disaster challenges, etc.; and in the intelligencecommunity, above all for security and defence.
Indeed, defence and intelligence is the largest vertical, accounting
for 43% of the market, followed by public authorities,
energy/natural resources, services, and then agriculture.1
There is also a growing interest in EO-based solutions by nontechnical end-users. These types of users especially require
intelligence rather than being provided raw data. This is because
they do not have strong technical knowledge or storage capacity
in-house; instead, they need specific insights to be delivered tothem in order to help their decision-making process.

Trend #2 – Evolution of business models
The recent emergence of low-cost small satellite technology has
helped enable EO companies to transform their business models,
based on the abundance of near real-time, low resolution
imagery. As microsatellites become cheaper to manufacture
thanks to commercial off-the-self components and miniaturization,
new entrants are disrupting the market by introducing large
constellations into orbit. This in turn provides ever-increasing
production and access to new data.
There has also been a shift in the value proposition of certain
manufacturers and data providers, who are seeking to evolvefrom providing infrastructure or data only, to a more integrated
solution approach. By extending down the value chain andproviding information/insights to the customers, it will help them tocapture more of the market – especially to those users who
specifically require intelligence due to the lack of technicalknowledge/infrastructure for performing their own analytics.
Companies that have traditionallybeen EO data providers, such as eGEOS and DigitalGlobe, have now

Digital services, especially those pertaining to Big Data solutions,are also enjoying a rising demand. Such actors normally havelarge internal repositories of data, which they cannot exploit to its
full potential without a provided solution that has the ability toprocess significant volumes of data in order to provide trends andinsights.

started to offer integrated solutions tocustomers such as intelligence actors,

in order to supply imagery and analytics
as quickly as possible for rapid
response.

1 Source: Strategy&, 2017, Earth Observation: Satellite Imagery Market Dynamic

Copernicus Market Report | Issue 2, February 2019 | Prepared by PwC |23

THE TRENDS IN EARTH OBSERVATION
Trend #3 – Cloud computing

Trend #4 – Data analytics and processing

Trend #5 – Data democratization and pricing

Cloud computing continues to be a fast-growing market, enabling
new, easier ways to access data, and facilitating large-volumestorage. As users do not need to download and store the data on
their own hardware, it reduces cost of access, giving users accessto a wide range of different sources of data with a unique entry
point. The strong competition amongst cloud providers, such as
Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google, Microsoft, Oracle or IBM,helps to decrease cost of storage also.

The introduction of new ways to process data and apply analytics
had led to the deployment of innovative solutions for producing
intelligence for the end-user, especially now that geospatial data
can be better integrated with other types of data. Trends in data
handling and analytics include the introduction of artificial
intelligence (AI) and machine learning, which is a branch of AI
based on the concept that systems can learn from data, identify
patterns, and make decisions with as little human intervention as
possible.

There has been a shift towards data democratization, which iswhere the data is accessible to all, and hence there is nobottleneck created at the gateway to retrieving the data. This is
obvious when it comes to social media data for example, but theCopernicus program has also led the initiative of allowing Earthobservation data to be free and easily accessible to any and all
end users.

Beyond simply accessing and storing the data, cloud computing is
the on-demand delivery of computing power, servers, databases,
networking, software, analytics and other resources that greatly
support the development of new applications and solutions. This
range of resources, combined with the low costs, helps feed into
new business models for the geospatial market.

Predictive analytics aims to use techniques such as data mining,statistical modelling/algorithms and machine learning to makepredictions about likely future outcomes.
Data fusion, which is the integration of multiple data sources andtypes in order to derive additional insights, has enabled thecreation of more complex solutions, with the inclusion of
geospatial data.

The addressable market is also seeing an overall decrease in
price for imagery, which is expected to drive a 4% decline in theexisting market, but which will be offset by the expansion of thecustomer base in existing and new use cases. This effect islimited to the price of the data itself only, whilst analytics remain
constant.
Willingness to pay is different depending on the market, with
defence and intelligence actors willing to pay more for highresolution imagery, versus a sector such as agriculture, which is
fast growing in the uptake of EO data, but is price sensitive. The
introduction of small satellite constellations, leading to broader
availability of lower-priced imagery, is expected to expand EO
usage for these types of sectors.
Source: PwC

Significant changes within the EO sector, with more satellite imagery
available thanks to small satellite constellations and data
democratization, combined with the evolution of innovative, efficient
ways to process and analyse data, has led to new opportunities fordeveloping solutions and addressing different markets.

Copernicus Market Report | Issue 2, February 2019 | Prepared by PwC |24

EARTH OBSERVATION IN THE CONTEXT OF BIG DATA
Trend #6 - EO is more and more exploited in the Big Data
context
The significant volume of data now being produced by Copernicus and other EO satellites
has introduced a challenge to EO companies on how to manage, process and disseminate
this data, whilst simultaneously creating an opportunity for large IC players, such as
Google and Amazon, who are well-positioned to tackle the question of big data.
Big data are large volumes of data that are too great or complex for traditional dataprocessing, but which can be analysed to reveal trends and associations.
The market of Big Data Analytics (BDA) based on satellite imagery relies on theprocessing, analysis and fusion of multiple images and other data sources in order tocreate intelligence not previously available. Hence, the current digital economy and big
data model are disrupting the market of intermediate users by driving traditional EO
services’ business models towards digital services based on strong computing power,
cloud-based platforms and the fusion of more and more data sources.
The Copernicus programme is one of the key originators of the Big data Analytics market
within Earth Observation. This is thanks to the volume and variety of data it provides, aswell as its ongoing continuity. New entrants to the sector are able to develop and test
algorithms on this large volume of standardized data free of charge before introducing theirsolution to the market, and this has helped lower the barrier to entry for start-ups and
SMEs especially. Future private constellations of small satellites may reduce the share ofCopernicus contribution to the EO big data analytics market over the years; with
Copernicus contributing 40%-60% of the overall European Big Data Analytics relying on
imagery by 2020-2021, and then stabilizing.

Forecast of the Global Big Data Analytics market(Source: Frost & Sullivan)$40 000,00$35 000,00$30 000,00$25 000,00$20 000,00$15 000,00$10 000,00$5 000,00
2015 2016 2017 2018 20192020 2021 2022

$0,00
Overall Revenues

EO big data revenues are expected to grow globally at an average
CAGR of 27% over the period 2015-2025, highlighting a strong

Source: PwC

commercial interest. Hence, there is a strong opportunity for EO
providers to capture some of this extremely fast growing market of
Big Data Analytics using imagery.

Copernicus Market Report | Issue 2, February 2019 | Prepared by PwC |25

EARTH OBSERVATION IN THE CONTEXT OF INTELLIGENCE
Trend #7 - Intelligence applications benefit from EO data

Current Big Data Analytics market – breakdown per segment (2018)(Source: Frost & Sullivan)

Others15,80%

One of the areas with growing opportunities in the market of Big Data Analytics withimagery is the government and intelligence sector, including defence, legal intelligence,disaster preparedness and law enforcement.
Defence customers especially are experiencing a growing need for improved intelligence
services in order to respond to threats on a global scale, from terrorism to natural
disasters. These threats demand more responsiveness and efficiency, whilst growing
collaborations between security actors, especially in Europe, lead to a higher requirementof interoperable solutions. These trends combined have encouraged defence and security
actors to shift focus towards digital services.
As stated in trend #1 “diversification in users and their demands”, there is an increase incustomers who are seeking intelligence and actionable insight from services providers inorder to support decision-making, rather than processed data to integrate into their own
solutions. Defence and security actors especially have large data repositories that require
specialized solutions in order to glean insight.
Defence actors often have strong analytical knowledge, but are facing the challenge of how
to process the significant volume of data they possess, whilst security protection andemergency actors are often lacking in technical knowledge, and require flexible and ondemand situational awareness.

Banking Financial
Services
17,70%

ICT
6,20%
Manufacturing
6,40%

EUR 5.5 B(2016)

Government &Intelligence (G&I)
15,10%

Retail
11,40%

Healthcare
10%
Telecommunication
Business
Services
10,10%
7,20%

Imagery-based solutions for providing intelligence can support cases such as bordersurveillance, civil disturbance, crisis monitoring, crisis mitigation and response, andterrorism.
Processing certain types of data, such as HR imagery data, where a person orproperty may be identifiable, highlights a risk regarding privacy. National
security objectives also need to be considered carefully. For example, the US
decided to limit access to HR imagery over some territories, such as Israel.

Copernicus Market Report | Issue 2, February 2019 | Prepared by PwC |26

THE COPERNICUS PROGRAMMEIN A NUTSHELL•

The Copernicus programme is the European Union’s Earth Observation flagshipprogramme. As of 2018, a total of EUR 6.5 billion has been co-invested by the European
Commission and the European Space Agency. By the end of 2020, the programme isexpected to represent a total of EUR 8.2 billion investments, covering the spacecomponent and the Copernicus services.

•

Through its set of components that collect data from various sources – EO satellites (theSentinels, contributing missions) and a multitude of in-situ sensors on the ground, at sea,or in the air – Copernicus responds to the needs of European citizens in their daily lives.

•

Copernicus has six thematic services (Land, Marine, Atmosphere, Climate, Emergency
and Security) supporting the development of many applications. The Copernicus services
process and analyse the data, integrate it with other sources, offering Geo-Information
Systems (GIS) products to their users, and serving public authorities and commercial
businesses.

•

The Copernicus programme provides data and services that support added value inseveral non-space domains, for diverse and numerous different user segments related toAgriculture, Forestry, Urban monitoring, Transport, Tourism, Climate change andEnvironment, Maritime exploitation and preservation, Energy and Natural resources,
Disasters management, Insurance, Health, Security and Defence, Development, andCooperation.

•

This report focuses on 10 promising downstream domains/user segment ensembles –referred to here as “value chains” – in which Copernicus programme output is currently
used: Agriculture, Forestry, Urban monitoring, Ocean monitoring, Oil & Gas, Renewables
energies, Air quality management, Insurance for natural disasters, Response to natural
disasters and Security.

Copernicus Market Report | Issue 2, February 2019 | Prepared by PwC |27

COPERNICUS, EUROPE’S EYES ON EARTH
The Copernicus programmecomponent and its dissemination to the users.

Copernicus is the European flagship programme on Earth
Observation. Its aim is to observe the planet and its environment
in order to improve the knowledge and understanding of different
phenomena occurring, and ultimately to bring benefits to
European citizens. The main rationale for Copernicus is to fillsome gaps in European EO capabilities, and to ensure European
institutions and industry have access to useful and key EO data,
in a free and open manner. It results from a joint initiative between
the European Union (EU), its Members States, and the European
Space Agency (ESA).

The in-situ component is under the central coordination of theEuropean Environmental Agency (EEA). In this mechanism,
Member States are involved in the provision and calibration ofdata from ground sensors, which support the production ofCopernicus products.

The implementation of the programme is under the responsibilityof the European Commission for its three components: theCopernicus services, the space component and the in-situ
component.
ESA is in charge of the development of the space component,
which includes the operation of certain Copernicus satellites
currently in orbit (e.g. Sentinel-1, 2). ESA, together withEUMETSAT, also coordinates the delivery of data from the space

weather satellites.

The space component
The space component includes the procurement, launch andoperation of the Sentinel satellites, the operation of the groundsegment, and the distribution of Sentinels and contributing
missions’ data. Indeed, Copernicus is built on two sets of spaceassets:Firstly, the Sentinels are a family of EU-owned satellites, whichhave been specifically designed to meet the needs of theCopernicus services and their users. Currently, Sentinel-1, 2, 3
and 5p have been launched. Sentinel-4, 5 and 6 are expected in
the coming years. Sentinel-1, 2, 3, 5p and 6 are dedicatedspacecraft with different sensors (e.g. radar, optical, altimetry),whilst Sentinel 4 and 5 are instruments on-board EUMETSAT’s

The Sentinels are complemented by contributing missions, which
exist independently. These missions are operated by theEuropean Space Agency (ESA) (e.g. ERS), the European
Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites(EUMETSAT), the EU Member States, other third party countries(e.g. Landsat or MODIS in the USA) or commercial providers (e.g.
Deimos, Pleiades). Contributing missions are particularly key as
they provide Copernicus with very high resolution data that cannot
be obtained through the Sentinels, or compensate for Sentinels
that have not been launched yet.
There are around 30 contributing missions, covering the following
features:
•
•
•
•
•

Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) to observe day and night theland and the ocean;
Optical sensors to monitor land activities and ocean dynamics;
Altimetry systems for sea-level measurement;
Radiometers to monitor land and ocean temperature;
Spectrometers for measurements of air quality

Actual and planned launch dates of the Sentinels (Source: European Commission, European Space Agency)

Sentinel-1A

2014

Sentinel-2ASentinel-3A
Sentinel-2B
Sentinel-1B

Sentinel-5P

Sentinel-3B

2015

2016

2017

2018

Sentinel-6A

2020

Copernicus Market Report | Issue 2, February 2019 | Prepared by PwC |28

Sentinel-1C/D, 2C/D, 3C/D,
Sentinel-4, Sentinel-52022 and beyond

COPERNICUS, EUROPE’S EYES ON EARTH
The in-situ component
Copernicus also relies on in-situ data that is on-site or fromlocal measurements, mostly belonging to EU Member States
or international research infrastructures, and which are madeavailable to Copernicus through agreements.
It includes observations from the ground, sea and airborne
sensors, as well as geospatial references and ancillary data
licensed or provided for use in the Copernicus programme.
More recently, in-situ data has found new sources in sensors
and imagery gathered by Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs)
or crowdsourcing (e.g. OpenStreetMap)

Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service(CAMS)

Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S)

CAMS is managed by the European Centre for Medium-Range
Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) and has the aim to continuously
monitor the composition of the Earth’s atmosphere at global andregional scales through the provision of near-real time data andforecasts products. It is mostly used for health, renewableenergy, or climatology issues.

C3S is managed by the European Centre for Medium-Range
Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) and has the aim to respond tochanges in the environment and society associated withclimate change, through the provision of information formonitoring and predicting climate change and help to support
adaptation and mitigation strategies. It is mostly used forclimate, weather and renewable energy monitoring.
Copernicus Emergency Management
Service (CEMS)

Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring
Service (CMEMS)

In-situ data has two roles:• To calibrate, supplement and validate satellite missions
data to ensure it is delivering sustainable and reliable dataover time.
• To help Copernicus service operators and the spacecomponent to produce products, and deliver services thatare requested by end users.

CMEMS is managed by Mercator Océan International, with theaim to provide regular and systematic information about thephysical state and dynamics of the ocean and marine
ecosystems. Its products cover the global oceans and theEuropean regional seas, through the provision of observations
and forecasts. It is mostly used for ship routing services, offshore
operations or aquaculture.

When multiple services require the same data, the data
access is coordinated by each Copernicus service operator orby the European Environment Agency (EEA).

Copernicus Land Monitoring Service (CLMS)

The service component
Copernicus possesses six services that address different
thematic areas, corresponding to daily needs of European
citizens: Atmosphere, Marine Environment, Land, Climate
Change, Emergency Management and Security. The services
exploit Sentinel data, contributing mission data or in-situ data
to provide products and information that support commercial,
institutional and research applications.

Copernicus Security Service

CLMS is split into three components: the Global component(managed by the DG Joint Research Centre (JRC), the PanEuropean component, and the Local component (managed by
the European Environmental Agency - EEA). It has the aim toprovide geographical information on land cover, land use, land
cover-use changes over the years, vegetation state and the water
cycle. It is mostly used for forest management, water
management, agriculture or food security.
Copernicus Market Report | Issue 2, February 2019 | Prepared by PwC |CEMS encompasses two components: the early warningcomponent is managed by the DG Joint Research Centre(JRC) and the mapping component is managed by DG for
European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Action (DG
ECHO). The aim of the former is to deliver warnings and risk
assessments of floods and forest fires, while the mapping
service provides map and geo-information products for all
types of natural and man-made disasters. CEMS intervenes
both at European and global levels.

29

The Copernicus Security service aims at improving crisis
prevention, preparedness and response in three domains:border surveillance (managed by FRONTEX), maritime
surveillance (managed by EMSA) and support to EU External
Action (managed by EU SatCen). It is mostly used to support
related European Union policies by providing information in
response to the security challenges Europe is facing.

COPERNICUS, EUROPE’S EYES ON EARTH
Date at which the Copernicus services were operational (Source: ESA, EC)
CAMS CEMS CMEMS CLMS

Security

C3S
Companies’ interest in Copernicus services(Source: EARSC)

2015

2016

Security
6%
Emergency
9%2018

The EO services sector and Copernicus

Climatechange7%

Although few EO services companies are large and well established with vertical integration (e.g. Airbus Defence & Space,
Deimos, e-Geos), the most common profile for EO services companies are small and very small companies (66% ofcompanies with less than 10 employees, 95% with less than 50 employees according to EARSC). This split in terms of size
has remained the same for the last 6 years.
According to the European Association of Remote Sensing Companies (EARSC), in 2016 the EO services sector comprisedof around 460 companies in Europe. The number of companies involved in EO services has increased by 13% compared to2015 and by about 65% compared to 2012, for an average of 7.3% p.a.. Of these 460 European companies, approximately
25% were Copernicus users as of 2017 and the number of companies focusing on the development and sales of value
added services and products based on Copernicus data has continued to increase in the last few years.
The Copernicus programme can benefit a wide range of actors: citizens, policy makers, researchers, commercial users,
private and public users and the scientific community. These actors provide data and services that support added value inseveral non-space domains. This support is ensured by the availability of Copernicus raw data (used by 60% of companies
that are Copernicus users) as well as the products from operational services (32% of companies are using Copernicus
products).

Land
57%

Companies generated a total of EUR 92.3 M revenues driven by Copernicus data and information in 2016, which represents
76% of the revenues these companies generate from the use of open and free data, putting Copernicus as a leader in thedomain of free EO data. Beyond this, companies are optimistic on the impact Copernicus can have on their business in the
future and these numbers should therefore increase in the next years.

Copernicus Market Report | Issue 2, February 2019 | Prepared by PwC |30

Atmosphere8%
Oceans13%

COPERNICUS, EUROPE’S EYES ON EARTH
Copernicus infrastructure and services investment

Impact of Copernicus spending on the EO upstream industry

The Copernicus programme is co-funded by the European Commission and ESA. As previously
stated, ESA, together with EUMETSAT on specific aspects, is predominantly in charge of thedevelopment of the space components, also referred to as the Copernicus infrastructure, whilst theEuropean Commission is in charge of the implementation and management of all three components.

The cascading effect of spending into Copernicus in the European economy generates Gross
Value Added (GVA) both within the space sector (for about 60%) and outside the space sector(about 40%). Based on past studies conducted1, the comparison of the total GVA generated in
the European upstream industry and the initial spending in the Copernicus programme gives a
GDP multiplier ratio of 1.4, leading to a total GVA impact for the Copernicus programme of
EUR 11.5 billion on the period up to 2020.

On the period 2000-2013, EUR 3.2 B were invested into the programme, with 76% of the budget(EUR 2.4 B) going to the space component and notably the development of the Sentinels in the firstyears. This investment into the space component was divided between the EC, which contributed with
EUR 0.8 B, and ESA with EUR 1.7 B. The services and in-situ components received the rest, at EUR
0.8 B. The EC funded the largest part (68%) and contributed with EUR 500 M, while ESA contributedwith EUR 240 M.
On the period 2014-2020, EUR 5 B were invested into the programme, with 86% of the budget (EUR
4.3 B) going to the space component. This investment was divided between the EC, which contributed
to EUR 3.1 B, and ESA with EUR 1.2 B. The Services and In-situ components received EUR 0.7 B,
entirely funded by the EC. While the Services are managed by the EC, the in-situ component ismanaged by the European Environmental Agency (EEA).
Investment into Copernicus, EUR B (Source: European Commission, European Space Agency)

Transactional impact of investment in the upstream of the Copernicus programme
up to 2020 (GDP impact) (Source: PwC, Cambridge Econometrics)

Total Initial
spending inCopernicus
programme

EUR 8.2

Total
GVA
EUR
11.5 BFor 1€ spent by public funds inCopernicus upstream
activities, the Gross Value
Added in the economy is 1.4€
(without accounting for any
impact from exploitation)

6
4

As one of the core impacts of Copernicus, it constitutes a great opportunity for companies tocapitalise on public expenditure, and leads to job creation and more global economic growth.
Based on the most recent data, total expected investment in the programme is expected tosupport a total of around 17,260 person-years in Europe, of which 76% are directly in thespace sector, and considered to be high-skilled employees.

202000-2013
EC funding - Space infrastructure
EC funding - Services & In-situ

2014-2020
ESA funding - Space infrastructure
ESA funding - Services & In-situ

In addition to these impacts, the Copernicus programme is expected to generate around EUR
1.65 billion until 2021 in government taxes, product taxes and employee social security
contributions.

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DATA DISSEMINATION: A CRITICAL DRIVER FOR USER UPTAKE
Architecture for the DIAS interfaces

The Copernicus Data and Information Access Services (DIAS)(Source: European Commission)

In 2017, the European Commission launched an initiative to develop the Copernicus Data and Information
Access Services (DIAS) that facilitate access to Copernicus data and information from the Copernicus services.
Today, data can be accessed through dedicated access portals set up by the Entrusted Entities for each
Copernicus service, each requiring a dedicated login. National access mechanisms for Copernicus data exist insome European Countries, which are called Collaborative Ground Segments and focus on the distribution ofdata and information (not only from Copernicus) that is of particular usefulness to national users.

End Users

The EC has identified the opportunity to federate this shared need to access the Copernicus data andinformation close to processing facilities that allow further value extraction from the data, and respond through a
dedicated service approach that is complementary to traditional data downloading. This new service approach,
the DIAS, offers access to Copernicus data and information close to processing facilities and, through this,creates the possibility to easily build applications and offer added-value services.

Copernicus
Services

EUMETSAT/ECMWF/
Mercator Ocean
International

ESA/EU
Projects

ESA

Commercial users

Developers

ESA launched a tender to establish DIAS services in 2017. Four consortia were chosen to set up DIAS
computing environments under ESA management, and a fifth consortium is managed by EUMETSAT, ECMWF
and Mercator Ocean International (MOI).

Consortium

Mundi Web
Services

Creodias

Sobloo

Onda

Wekeo

Copernicus
Services

Platform
provider

ATOS

Creotech

AirbusSerco

EUMETSAT /ECMWF / Mercator
Ocean Int.

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EUMETSAT/ECMWF/
Mercator Ocean
International

ESA

Other data
sets

Back office:
Storage Computer

DIAS interface services

List of DIAS consortia selected

User establishedfront office

However, most of these only allow the downloading and sometimes exploitation of the information accessed
through a web mapping service (WMS). Anyone wanting to process the data further would have to compute andvisualise the data with software on their own computer.

DATA DISSEMINATION: A CRITICAL DRIVER FOR USER UPTAKE
Copernicus DIAS structure and task
allocation

Tasks and contributions from the DIAS ecosystem(Source: European Commission)••

Provide Copernicus data and information
Ensure availability of Copernicus-specific tools•••

Setup, maintain and operate the DIAS system
Ensure availability of data, information and tools toservice developers and users
User management (quota, billing)
User support system (helpdesk)Management of systems and resource scalability
Provide virtual environment functionalities for service
developers
Report service usages, performances, anomalies

Intermediate Users(Front office)

•
•
•
•
•
•
•

Obtain a personal working environment
Acquire storage and processing power
Use the back office data and tools
Add own data and information
Develop and deploy tools and applications
Build user communities
Advanced programming environment

End Users•

Use application or data provided by DIAS consortia
and intermediate users

Data providers to DIAS

Back-Office

DIAS Consortia(Back office)

•
•
•
•

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All DIAS platforms provide access to Copernicus
Sentinel data, as well as to the information products
from Copernicus’ six operational services, together
with cloud-based tools (open source and/or on a
pay-per-use basis). DIAS consortia exists andoperate alongside the Entrusted Entity in providing
access to data.
Each of the five competitive platforms also
provides access to additional commercial
satellite or non-space data sets as well as
premium offers in terms of support or priority.
Thanks to a single access point for the entire
Copernicus data and information, DIAS allows theusers to develop and host new applications in thecloud, while removing the need to download bulky
files from several access points and process them
locally.
Each DIAS consortium runs its own back officewhere all storage and computing are performed.
These back offices are the starting point for thedevelopment of a front office and intermediate users
applications. This chain, starting with the back officeand ending with the users, generates a flow of
information that transforms hard data into usefulservices for society and businesses. This model
lowers the barriers to entry for users, enabling themto build applications.

COPERNICUS CONTESTABLE USER BASE
Copernicus could benefit a wider user base than the current one
Besides the European commercial base of EO companies, Copernicus data and products benefit a much wider user base, which includes public authorities, students, researchers, non-EO companies, NGOs andcitizens. The potential users of Copernicus who are not yet using it are also called “contestable user base”. Although precise figures on the exact potential user base remain challenging to obtain and would require athorough assessment, an attempt to provide an order of magnitude is performed for this report.

The contestable user base for public authorities, researchers and academics

Higher education students in Europe (Master’s degree and above)(Source: Eurostat, PwC analysis)

European public authorities represent a major source of potential users of Copernicus data and Services. The
number of potential users within European governmental entities is estimated based on the number of civil
servants employed in ministries (and affiliated authorities), whose activities can be directly related to the benefitsof GIS products, and hence of EO data: Agriculture, Environment, Urbanism, Civil protection, andSecurity/Defence. In order to have a more realistic figure, only the sub-administrations of these ministries withdirect relevance were selected. Based on a detailed analysis for France, the total number of civil servants was
extrapolated to Europe (assuming it could be used as a representative average for the EU Member States).
Potential Copernicus users in public administrations in Europe

Engineering, manufacturing,
construction

Highereducation in
EuropeOthers(Source: French DGAFP, Eurostat, PwC analysis)

Civil
servants inFranceAgricultural policies management
Meteorological, Geographical and Forestry institutes
Centre for atmospheric pollution studies
Urban development agencies
Civil protection agencies
Intelligence
Military Infrastructures and Operations Management

60,000 to 115,000
potential EO
users in public
administrations
in Europe

The number of skilled people who could use EO data and Copernicus is also reflected in the number of Masterlevel students in Europe. Out of the 1.6 million students graduating each year from a Master’s degree (orequivalent), the share of students considered in the contestable user base is defined based on the academic
courses in higher education that are relevant to EO data and products. About 30% of the students in tertiary
education study engineering, natural sciences or agriculture, out of which EO-related courses are isolated to:
Natural Sciences, Environment, Natural Environment and Wildlife, Earth Sciences, Environmental Protection
Technologies, Mining and Extraction, Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries. Overall it represents around 3% of thetotal number of graduating students. When considering the Master’s students base over the past 20 years, it
can be estimated that in the order of 950,000 students are knowledgeable and skilled in EO-relevant
topics.

Naturalsciences andmathematics
Agriculture,
forestry,
fisheries

Natural Sciences
Environment and Wildlife
Earth Sciences
Environmental protection
Mining and extraction
Urban planning
Agriculture
Forestry
Fisheries

Over the past 20
years:
950,000 Master’s
students graduatingfrom EO-relevant
academic fields

Assuming a similar share of EO-relevant fields in research fields as in academic courses, the
1.9 million people research community in Europe represents a total of 60,000 potential users.
Potential Copernicus users in the research community in Europe(Source: Eurostat, PwC analysis)
Private non-profit
organisations

State research institutes
200 000

Total
researchers
1.9 M FTE
Education
720 000

Enterprises

Copernicus Market Report | Issue 2, February 2019 | Prepared by PwC |34

60,000researchers
working in EOrelevant fields

COPERNICUS CONTESTABLE USER BASE
The contestable user base for commercial users
While Copernicus enabled revenues represent a limited share of the overall intermediate user market,(between 10% and 20%), the share of EO-knowledgeable professionals in Europe using Copernicus ismuch larger. This is partly linked to the fact that the cost of data influences the price of the derived
products. Hence open data-based products tend to have a smaller weight in revenues than their weightin “number of users”. In Europe, the latest EARSC survey within the industrial base of EO companies
suggests that at least 60% of the companies use Copernicus data or services. Considering the total
employment of the EO downstream sector in Europe (around 7,000 people in 2017), this represents inthe order of 180 companies who could contribute to the uptake of Copernicus in the future.

The European EO active community of commercial intermediate users(Source: EARSC, PwC analysis)

Revenues enabled
by Copernicus

Other EO revenues in Europe

Companies using Copernicus (over 60%)

Potential users of Copernicus“Contestable user base”

7000
Employees of European
EO companies

At least 60% of EO
companies using
Copernicus

Hence it is not possible to provide a number for the contestable user base on end user markets,
although the number is expected to be in a different order or magnitude than the intermediate market,
based on the size of the economic sectors.

Other user communities
Finally, on top of the commercial and institutional bases, statistics from ESA Open Access Hub
suggest that about 14,000 of its users are other types of users such as NGOs and EU citizens.

Overall Copernicus contestable user base in Europe
The final Copernicus contestable user base is obtained by comparing the total potential user base andthe current users of Copernicus. Out of the 300,000 registered Copernicus users, around 40% of theSentinel data users are European. It is expected to be higher for the users of Copernicus Services,being largely adopted by public authorities. Assuming 80% of the Copernicus Services users are
European entities, the total number of European registered users is assessed at around 162,000.

As the Master’s students who graduated in the past 20 years represent a risk of double counting withpotential users of other communities, the potential users of the other communities are deducted fromthe students number to ensure conservative value for the contestable user base.
Based on the figure presented above, the Copernicus contestable user base in Europe can be
estimated up to 780,000 potential users.

Up to 2,000 to 3,000
people not using
Copernicus yet

Copernicus contestable user base in Europe(Source: Eurostat, Serco, French DGAFP, PwC analysis)0
The sizing of the community for commercial end users (non-EO companies across all industrial
sectors) exploiting EO products is more challenging, due first to the number of sectors to beconsidered and secondly due to the discrepancies in EO data uptake and maturity from one industry toanother.

200 000

400 000

European current users of Copernicus

Copernicus Market Report | Issue 2, February 2019 | Prepared by PwC |35

600 000

800 000

1 000 000

Contestable user base in Europe

COPERNICUS CONTESTABLE USER BASE
The end-users value chains not analysed in this report can be qualitatively assessed at high level
As mentioned above, the user base for non-EO companies (“commercial end users”) is more challenging to estimate due to the varying number of companies, relevant jobs, applications and technology maturity
across all the possible industrial sectors potentially exploiting GIS products. To complete the detailed analysis of the 10 value chains presented in this report, a high level qualitative assessment of some of the mainother sectors is presented below, to capture the main applications and drivers, and stress that the quantified benefits of this assessment remain a partial vision of the overall Copernicus programme impacts.

Impact on the intermediateusers market

EO impacts andapplications for end users

Substantial share of the market
forintermediateusers,
representing close to EUR 50 M
per year in Europe.

Improved data veracity using multiple sensors enables better forecast
models, allowing cost avoidance. Commercial weather data servestransportation, energy needs forecasts, aviation, or agriculture, althoughstrongly competing with free datasets available from governments.
Applications could cover weather forecasts, risk management anddecision support.

Meteorology

Limited contribution to themarket for intermediate users,
estimated around EUR 25 M
per year in Europe.

Geology

Tracking ofBiodiversity

Substantial
marketshareestimated around EUR 90 M
per year in Europe, balanced
between land and marine
ecosystems-related activities.

Potential Contribution ofCopernicus

Overall expected impact

Copernicus could be valuable as meteo
data needs low spatial resolution(dozen meters to km scale), as
illustrated by the future operation of
Sentinel 4 and 5 by EUMETSAT onboard Metop-SG and MTG.

Increasing contribution of EO
and Copernicus tometeorology throughnumerical weather predictions

EO supports mineral exploration, not only for prospecting but also to
map potential access corridors to exploration areas. It helps to assess
environmental impacts of large projects. Applications could coverreflection and absorption properties of soil, interpretation of surface
lithology (clays, oxides, etc.), analysis of vegetation cover, etc.

Copernicus is an asset to geologists’needs for multi-wavelength images to
identify
differencesinstructuralfeatures. The near-infrared bands are
particularly useful. Geology does not
require a high revisit frequency nor very
high resolution, and is compatible withrather standardised products.

Monitoring biodiversity aims at improving our understanding of
ecosystems and assessing their vulnerability. The combination of
EO data with ground observations and robust modelling of socioecological systems is crucial to improving management practices.
Applications could cover habitat extent and condition monitoring,
species distribution, analysis of anthropogenic pressures, etc.

Open data policy has a critical impact
on the uptake of EO by users, fostering
the use of Copernicus. Standardisationof the data is also a key concern.
Biodiversity tracking also requires
monitoringatvariousspatialresolutions, revisit frequencies andspectral bands.

Copernicus Market Report | Issue 2, February 2019 | Prepared by PwC |36

High overall impact aseffective mapping of soil
composition has higheconomic stakes
€
€

€

€€

€ €

Medium to high overall
impact as highly strategic
for environment
preservation

COPERNICUS CONTESTABLE USER BASE
Impact on the intermediateusers market

Topography /Land use

Cultural
Heritage

Consumer
Research

EO impacts andapplications for end users

Potential Contribution ofCopernicus

One of the main segments for
EO products delivered byintermediate users, weighing
between EUR 100 M and 200
M per year in Europe.

Economic impact could be high with land use and urban planningbecoming a subject of importance in Europe, related to demographics.
Coupled with block chain technologies enabling smart contracts forland certificates and transactions, EO services can be expected tosignificantly benefit public and private end users. Applications could
focus on topography situation awareness, supporting land reform
programmes facilitating the issuance of land certificates, delineation of
titled land parcels, security of land property and agricultural
productivity, etc.

With strong interest for open dataservices, government and public bodies
could directly benefit from Copernicus
DIAS. In addition, technical capabilities
of Copernicus allowing the coverage oflarge areas could address topographyneeds for medium/low resolution as
well as high resolution for specificrequirements.

Limited impact as it is lessmature, with high discrepancies
between Member States.

There are high stakes on archaeology as Europe hosts a significant
number of important cultural sites facing a large amount of challenges(natural and pollution risks). Local entities having trouble protecting
their cultural assets could benefit from the Copernicus open data
policy. Applications could cover management and protection of cultural
assets, protection against global warming threats (ground motion, sealevel, flooding, acid rains), against pollution, and against humanthreats (illegal looting, oil spills, destruction from war, destruction for
religion reasons, etc.). Copernicus could also contribute to change
detection and thermal analysis to reveal buried buildings.

Copernicus could bring very interestingand direct contributions to Cultural
Heritage preservation, as it helps tocover large areas and deliver open dataservices for public local entities.
Furthermore, end users could benefit
from Copernicus’ added value for
accurate comparative analysis in time,using multi-spectral, radar and opticalsources in different resolutions.

Limitedsegment for EO
products
deliveredbyintermediate users, weighing
between EUR 70 M and 80 M
per year in Europe, mainly
aggregated in Urban Areas andfocusing on Services.

Economic impact could be high as private end users long for reliable
and actionable insights on their customers through data to support
strategic decisions. Yet, they often have limited exploitable geospatial
data and no infrastructure to efficiently collect it. Copernicus could
contribute to observation campaigns to study consumers’ habits,
behaviours, attendance and evolution, identification of best geospatialconfiguration for business networks and shops, or traffic monitoring.

Covering large areas to delivercomparative
analysisintime,Copernicus could significantly benefit
private end users to build strategic
knowledge on consumers, and creatinginterests for non-experts users toaccess evolved products through its
services.

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Overall expected impact

Strong expected economic
impact thanks to a variety
of field of applications
€
€

€

€€

€ €

High strategic stakes for
European cultural heritage
preservation andunderstanding

High economic impact
driven by the private end
user segment focused on
B2C services
€
€

€

€€

€ €

AGRICULTURE
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Copernicus economic impact (2018)(Source: PwC)•

The agricultural sector is beginning to emphasize sustainability in the face of global challenges, including climatechange, population growth and the increasing competition for land, water and energy resources.

•

The market is fragmented, with intermediate users including a variety of actors: start-ups, small and medium sizedenterprises (SMEs), larger corporations, and purely scientific players such as research organisations and universities.

•

The typology of end users is quite balanced between public players (such as governmental authorities needing precise
information for specific policies and regulations, or to monitor specific issues), and private players (agricultural
corporations, food companies, agronomic advisors, etc.).

318 EUR M•

156 EUR M

Farmers, who are the primary end users for agricultural products based on EO data, may face difficulties in accessingor paying individually for the service. Thus, the direct clients of intermediate users are in many cases agricultural
cooperatives which then distribute the products to the farmers they represent. Farmers may also struggle to implement
these services due to a lack of infrastructure (e.g. strong broadband connection) or digital knowledge.

19 EUR M
11 EUR M•

Sentinel-1 and -2 data is used by many public and private service providers in order to develop their products andapplications. The volume and accessibility of data has encouraged start-ups and SMEs within the sector.

COPERNICUS APPLICATIONS

Enabled revenues forintermediate users

Enabled revenues
for end users

KEY COPERNICUS PRODUCTS•

Smart farming applications such as yield mapping, input management and farm management recording•

Field scale and crop dynamics mapping and monitoring•

Irrigation management and drought monitoring•

Crop production and food security monitoring and agriculture development

Copernicus Market Report | Issue 2, February 2019 | Prepared by PwC |

•
•
•
•
•
•
•

38

Copernicus Land Monitoring Service (CLMS) Land CoverNormalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI),
Leaf Area Index (LAI),
Fraction of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (FAPAR)
Fraction of Green Vegetation Cover (FCOVER)
Surface Soil Moisture
Dry Matter Productivity

AGRICULTURE
A VITAL SECTOR THAT IS SHIFTING FOCUS TOWARDS SUSTAINABILITY
The agriculture sector plays a crucialrole in the global economy, and is
rapidly evolving due to the emergenceand development of numerous
techniques, especially in the face of achanging environment. In the coming
years, agriculture will have to tackle
severalsignificant
pressures,
including an increase in the world
population, the threat of climatechange,andtheintensifying
competition of increasingly scarceland, water and energy resources.
Indeed, the world’s population is
projected to grow from 7.4 billion in2018 to 9.7 billion by 2050, causing aneed to increase food production fromthe current 8.4 billion tonnes toaround 13.5 billion tonnes a year.

Total population in the world (Source: The World Bank)

A report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United
Nations (FAO) in 2018 found that the number of hungry andundernourished people increased from around 804 million in 2016 to
821 million in 2017 – and in fact has been rising since 2014.
Malnutrition can lead to illness or health crises.
These challenges have led to a push for sustainable agriculture.
Today, European farmers face the dilemma of continuing to produce
food to ensure food security and profitability, whilst also trying to
reduce their impact on the environment and climate, as well asprotecting the surrounding biodiversity.
The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in Europe is the primary sourceof funding for European farmers, and is a partnership between
agriculture and society. It seeks to support farms and improve theirproductivity, whilst ensuring they can make a reasonable living. It also
aims to help tackle climate change and the sustainable managementof natural resources. In order to benefit from the CAP, farmers mustensure they are compliant with the goals of the policy, including theenvironmental and sustainability aspects.

Number of undernourished people in the world (Source: FAO)

Climate change could cut crop yields,
especially in the most food-insecure
regions, whilst the agricultural sector
itself along with forestry and land usechange, are responsible for 25% of
greenhousegasemissions.1
Agriculture also accounts for 70% of
water
use,
whilstgenerating
unsustainable levels of pollution andwaste.

To increase global food production while ensuring a preserved
environment, agriculture will need to increase its productivity by using
innovative technologies, such as EO-data solutions.

Source: The World Bank, The Food andAgriculture Organization of the United Nations

Copernicus Market Report | Issue 2, February 2019 | Prepared by PwC |39

AGRICULTURE
A SECTOR WHERE EO DATA HAS A LONG HISTORY
Agriculture was one of the first downstream EO markets toemerge, and there continues to be a growing interest in how EO
solutions can support the challenges faced by the sector. Satellite
imagery can make a significant contribution to the efficiency ofmodern agricultural practices. Often EO data is combined with insitu data in order to produce more focused and localized results
for the farmer, whilst aerial data from drones can act ascomplementary data.
EO-enabled applications can add value to a number of subsectors, including crop-related activities (e.g. crop healthmonitoring, crop inventories, crop types monitoring), water
management (e.g. soil moisture, crop irrigation, droughtmonitoring) and land use optimization and management.
The market is rather fragmented, with a wide range of players
operating in the development of value-added services, including
start-ups and SMEs, large corporations, and scientific actors.

Smart/precision agriculture
Precision farming is the most prominent agricultural domain where
EO can play a significantly beneficial role. Farmers can utilize EO
data to help identify and quantify various farming inputs across thefarm, in order to tailor farming practices. This allows farmers toincrease productivity by optimizing the use of water, fertilizers,
seeds and pesticides, leading to improved profitability and cost
efficiency. By reducing the amount of inputs used, the farmer canalso help protect the environment by reducing pollution.

The monitoring of crops can have a variety of impacts. Land use
classification can help to assess crop location changes, and see if
there are any issues arising by identifying troubling changes ortrends.
Monitoring can also be used to support subsidy control, thereby
reducing the need for on-the-spot checks, which are both costly

Data such as wetness indicators can help identify the level ofirrigation needed in regions. On top of this, monitoring the crops
and surrounding land will indicate if there is unhealthy vegetation
and a lack of water, or if there is an increase in algae in the water,which could indicate fertilizer pollution.

BENEFITS•••

Yield mapping
Input management
Farm management recording & decision-making
supportCROP MONITORING••

Seasonal mapping of cultivated areas
Support to subsidy controls

WATER ANDDROUGHTMANAGEMENT•••

Wetness indicators, soil moisture
Crop mapping
Input management (to decrease water pollution)

SMART/PRECISIONAGRICULTURE

Water management and drought monitoring

Crop monitoring

APPLICATIONS

WHY EARTH OBSERVATION?

and limited in scale. In Europe, this has a significant impact on the
Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) especially. Projects such as
Sentinels for Common Agriculture Policy (Sen4CAP) andpeRsonalized public sErvices in support of the implementation of
the Common Agricultural Policy (RE.CAP) aim to utilize Sentineland other Copernicus data in order to improve compliance acrossthe CAP.
Above all, crop monitoring can help identify environmental factorsthat need to be taken into consideration.

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

END USERS

More efficient and appropriate use of agricultural inputs, helping
protect the environment
Increased productivity and yield, leading to improved profitability
and cost efficiency
Assessment of crop location changes
Better monitoring of food security issues
Efficient/cheaper controls, limiting need for on-the-spot checks
Reduction of the risks during performance of controls
Prevents pollution of water systems
Helps determine irrigation needs
Prevention/improved monitoring of droughts
Supports combatting food insecurity

Copernicus Market Report | Issue 2, February 2019 | Prepared by PwC |

40

•
•

Farmers
Agricultural cooperatives• Public authorities (national, regional) – whoare focused on food security• Farmers (performing the control)• Public authorities (providing the subsidies)•

Decision makers (e.g. national publicauthorities, international bodies)

AGRICULTURE
DRIVERS AND CHALLENGES FOR THE ADOPTION OF EO FOR AGRICULTURE
There has been a push towards promoting sustainable agriculture in recent years, aiming to have farms that areeconomically profitable whilst also balancing its social impacts and ensuring it is as environmentally-friendly as
possible. Many EO data solutions can be utilized to help support sustainable agriculture initiatives, such as
water management and preventing pollution of the soil, water and air.
Many developing countries are threatened by food security issues, arising primarily from natural conditions.
However, opportunities for solutions where EO data can contribute to monitoring the impacts of such events arecontinuing to emerge. The international initiative GEOGLAM (Group on Earth Observations Global Agricultural
Monitoring Initiative) helps monitor, amongst others, countries at risk for food insecurity, including providing
timely early warning on general food shortages, and the detection of hot spots affecting farmers’ livelihood.
Public end-users, such as governmental bodies and local authorities, are looking towards EO-data driven
monitoring solutions to help identify and measure main crop production areas and ensure farmers are compliant
with policies that require responsible farming. These solutions are helping to lower costs, as traditional methodsof monitoring have been on-the-spot checks, which are both high in cost and limited in scale.

CHALLENGE 1
Companies providing EO solutions for agriculture find it too complex to deliverproducts direct to farmers; their clients remain intermediate users, such as
cooperatives people already delivering agronomic services
CHALLENGE 2
For many farmers, there is a lack of broadband or infrastructure to support the shift
to digitalization, as well as a digital skills gap in utilizing the products.
CHALLENGE 3
Many farmers still remain unaware of these solutions and the added value they canbring.

DRIVER 1
There is a trend towards sustainable agriculture, where farmers aim to balance
economic profitability with being socially and environmentally responsible
DRIVER 2
Developing countries are facing food security issues, which can be addressed inpart by EO-based solutions that provide early warnings and detect hot spots
affecting the farmers.
DRIVER 3
Public authorities are starting a shift towards utilizing monitoring services and tools
in order to ensure compliance with regulation

Most companies developing EO-based solutions for agriculture are limited in how to approach customers. It is
too complex to sell directly to farmers, due to the number of farmers and the fragmented state of the sector.
Instead, they provide products to farming cooperatives or agronomic advisors. However, some countries do nothave many farming cooperatives, and private agronomic advisors can be too expensive for small farms. Hence,
there is a large proportion of the market not easily accessed by these companies.
Whilst the shift to digitalization is advancing within Europe, there are many countries where farmers struggle toimplement new technological features due to remote locations and hence a lack of broadband connectivity or
supporting infrastructure. There is also a digital skills gap amongst some farmers, who feel as if they do nothave the necessary knowledge to utilize technological solutions easily.
There is still a challenge in raising awareness amongst farmers regarding EO-based solutions, both for what iscurrently on the market as well as the benefits that utilizing such a product could bring. Education and training
for farmers for implementing these types of technology is still necessary, so that they understand how tointegrate these services into their decision-making process.

Copernicus Market Report | Issue 2, February 2019 | Prepared by PwC |41

AGRICULTURE
THE VALUE CHAIN OF EO DATA FOR AGRICULTUREACQUIRING EO DATAPROCESSING NEEDS AND CAPABILITIESUSERS & NEEDS

Overall data needs

Data format and in-house capabilities

Non exhaustive list•

Open data (Sentinels, Landsat, MODIS, Copernicus
contributing missions) for low and medium resolution data
to monitor variations over time and identify hot spots•

Data processing to turn satellite images into
solutions that provide decision-making support toend users•

Maps/images of parcels of land, that use colour codes
to represent crop disease or lack of irrigation•

Sentinel-2 is especially important for agriculture
applications, whilst Sentinel-1 is a good complementarysource•EO data is becoming increasingly combined within-situ data, such as soil samples, in order to havea better overall understanding of the scenario•

For precision agriculture, solutions can provide
information about amount of water or fertilizer needed
for a specific portion of the land parcel, for example•

Update frequency (revisiting time) of a few days an
attractive feature of Sentinels••

Farmers can use these types of solutions to improveyield productivity and hence become more profitable•

Sometimes Sentinels and contributing missions ofCopernicus do not provide high enough resolution for
applications for precision agriculture, and socommercial/private data will be purchased instead (e.g.
SPOT, Rapideye, Worldview)

Two main types of profiles needed for in-housecapabilities: experts with remote sensing
backgrounds, and agronomists•

Public authorities can utilize these tools to monitor theenvironment and ensure farmers are compliant withenvironmental regulations•

Trends build over time from this data can help farmers
with following year crops, and help public authorities
identify areas to focus on for policies•

Mapping of crop diseases or lack of water can highlightchallenges facing food security in developing countries•

Value added service companies have to provide
specific training for clients or end users (agronomists,
farmers) so that the information can be fully exploited••

Open source data is paramount for start-ups and SMEs
trying to develop new solutions. It is even important for
more established players, considering farmers to not wantto pay for high-price solutions. The ratio of open source tocommercial data varies greatly depending on theapplication/company.

••

Several service providers use dedicated platforms
to access or process the data specifically for
agriculture
Value-added service companies sometimes
establish partnerships with other organizations,such as research centres, in order to havespecialized knowledge in a specific topic•

There are many opportunities for SMEs and startups to build solutions – open, high quality, andeasily accessible data lowers the barriers for theintermediate market•

There is a trend towards seeking more automationand machine learning within certain applications

Aerial data, e.g. from drones, is complementary

Copernicus Market Report | Issue 2, February 2019 | Prepared by PwC |42

AGRICULTURE
THE OPEN DATA POLICY HAS SUPPORTED AN INCREASE OF SOLUTIONS ON THE
MARKET
Copernicus
strengths
Sentinel data often acts as a primarysource of data for agricultural solutions,especially Sentinel-2.
However, Sentinels are rarely the only
source of data utilized; usually, it iscombined with other EO sources (e.g.
Landsat for historical data, commercial
data if high resolution or specific tasking
required), aerial imagery (e.g. drones act
as complementary data) and in-situ data
(e.g. soil sample data). There has been
an increase in the number of start-ups
providing EO-based solutions within the
agricultural sector, and this can be
attributed in large part to the introductionof the Copernicus programme, with its
free and open data policy.
The principal uses of Copernicus in the
agriculture sector are for helping monitor
the agricultural land use and for thecompliance of farmers to EU-Agriculture
directives that are focused on achieving amore sustainable farming sector, as wellas helping to assess crop conditions andyield forecast in precision agriculture andfood security applications.

Copernicus is a first choice for many service
providers, thanks to the reliability of its service. The
quality of its data, such as its resolution and revisit
time, allows service providers to develop
dependable and qualitative agricultural products,that they may not be able to otherwise offer if the
programme wasn’t available.

SENTINEL DATAIS RELIABLE AND
POPULAR TO USE

Farmers are unwilling to pay large amounts ofmoney for EO-based solutions. Therefore, the free
and open data policy allows companies to develop,
improve and provide services at a lower cost,
thanks to the lack of data acquisition fees. It has
fostered a favourable environment for startups/SMEs.

PROVIDING FREEEO DATA ISCRUCIAL TOSUPPORT BOTH
INITIAL UPTAKEAND MATURE
PRODUCTS

The variety of EO products made available with thehelp of Copernicus helps to address sub-sectors
such as precision farming techniques, water
management techniques, products for publicauthorities, etc. The products are functional andhence easily adapted to different scales and userneeds.

THE VARIETY OF
EO PRODUCTSAVAILABLE
ALLOW FORMANY SUBSECTORS TO BE
ADDRESSED

Copernicus Market Report | Issue 2, February 2019 | Prepared by PwC |Copernicus
weaknesses

COPERNICUS ISHELPING TO
MODERNIZE THE
CAP MONITORING
PROCESSAt the heart of the Common Agricultural Policy
is the farmer subsidy system. To ensurecompliance with regulation and allow farmers
to receive these subsidies, a control system isin place. To date, this has been primarily onthe-spot checks and paperwork. Copernicus
monitoring solutions can help make this more
efficient, reducing the cost and time spent.

FOR SPECIFIC
PRECISIONAGRICULTURE
APPLICATIONS,SENTINELRESOLUTION MAY
NOT BE ENOUGH

Some applications of precision agriculture, forexample vineyard monitoring, can require
higher resolution than Sentinel-2 provides. For
example, the requirement may be around 3-5m
instead of the minimum 10m that Copernicus
provides.

43

AGRICULTURE
COPERNICUS BENEFITS FOR AGRICULTURE
Precision farming services represent a large proportion of revenues generated by EO services within
the agricultural sector, helping to improve profitability of the farmer.
For intermediate users, the majority stakeholders interviewed utilized Copernicus data within theirsolutions. However, the degree of reliance varied greatly, ranging from 20-30% of the EO data used, up
to 90-100%. Sometimes this was based on solutions requiring more precise resolution, and hence
utilizing more commercial data, and at the other end, there are start-ups who rely heavily on the factthat Copernicus data is free and easily accessible.
Revenues enabled by Copernicus are expected to rise in the upcoming decade, especially since themajority of intermediate stakeholders are utilizing more and more Copernicus data in their solutions. As
mentioned before, there is also a rise in start-ups and SMEs in the sector, who are capitalizing on thefree and easily accessible data. Benefits for intermediate users is therefore estimated to lie within EUR
11 to 19 M in 2018, which can rise to EUR 15 to 29 M by 2020. This is only considering precision
agriculture applications, which is where the majority of the commercial market is focused. For end
users, benefits are estimated as EUR 156 to 318 M in 2018, rising to EUR 259 to 570 M by 2020. This
is including precision agriculture, environmental monitoring, water management, and food security.

€
€

€

€€

Economic impacts€ €Intermediate users
PRECISIONAGRICULTURE

Need for ready-touse products

REVENUESCROPMONITORING

Need to incorporate
into products/
services

REVENUESPRECISIONAGRICULTURE

Yieldmapping

Highercrop yield

Input
mappingLessfertilizer
used/

Economic benefits of Copernicus through its contribution to agriculture sector

wastedFarmmanagement
records(Source: PwC)

600

Key

Max

500

Min

EUR M

400

End users

300

Max

200
100

Intermediate
users

0
2018

2019

Seasonal
mappingof crops

CROP
MONITORING

Min

2020
Copernicus Market Report | Issue 2, February 2019 | Prepared by PwC |44

Informed
decisionmakingEnd users
INCREASED CROPPRODUCTION

COST SAVINGS/HIGHER PROFITS

Improved
monitoring
for food
security

BETTER TARGETINGFOR FOOD AIDReductionof on-thespot checks

COST SAVINGSFROM IMPROVED
EFFICIENCY

Improved
crop
production
monitoring

MARKET STABILITYAGRICULTURE
COPERNICUS BENEFITS FOR AGRICULTURE

Social impacts

End users
Precision agriculture applications based on Sentinel-2
data help farmers to produce more food of better
quality, which has fewer risks for human health.
Decreasing the negative environmental impacts, suchas water and air pollution, helps protect human health
also.

CROP
MONITORING

Detecting change in crop health in a timely manner iscrucial in the support to early warnings and decision
making on food security. This aids in lowering costs andincreasing the effectiveness of reducing hunger instricken areas.

Seasonal mapping ofcrops

Improved monitoring ofdroughts

REDUCED RISK TO
FOOD INSECURITY FORHUMANS

Reduction ofenvironmental impacts

IMPROVED SAFETY TO
HUMAN HEALTH

Improved crop
monitoring production

PRICE STABILITY

Yield mapping

SMART/PRECISIONAGRICULTURE

Improved crop quality

Input mapping

Farm management
records

Copernicus Market Report | Issue 2, February 2019 | Prepared by PwC |45

REDUCED RISK TO
HUMAN HEALTHAGRICULTURE
COPERNICUS BENEFITS FOR AGRICULTURE

Environmental impacts
End users
Precision farming services reduce the potential negative
impacts of agriculture on the environment by enabling amore efficient and appropriate use of inputs such as
fertilizers. By confirming the crops are receiving thecorrect quantity of fertilizer, it protects the environment
by decreasing the likelihood of pollution to the soil, airand water. This in turn helps protect human health aswell as the surrounding biodiversity.
Monitoring services also help ensure that farming
activities are in compliance with regulation that seeks tosupport overall sustainability in the sector.

PRECISIONAGRICULTURE

Reduces use offertilizer and irrigation

CROP
MONITORING

Ensures land use iscarried out insustainable manner

DECREASESPOLLUTION TO AIR,
WATER AND SOIL
Promotes sustainability
PROTECTSBIODIVERSITY

Strategic impacts

Copernicus supports innovation in the EU through its
free and open data policy and provision, which
encourages the development of SMEs.

SUPPORTING INNOVATION THROUGH ITS FREE AND OPEN DATA POLICY

Copernicus also supports the development ofmonitoring tools and other services, which help ensure
the continued implementation of EU policies, especiallythose of the Common Agricultural Policy.

PROVIDING MONITORING TOOLS TO HELP ENSURE THE CONTINUED IMPLEMENTATION OF EU POLICIESPOSITIONING EUROPE AS A WORLD LEADER IN COMBATTING GLOBAL FOOD INSECURITY

Copernicus Market Report | Issue 2, February 2019 | Prepared by PwC |46

AGRICULTURE/ CASE STUDYEO FOR SMART FARMING

EO for smart farming and CAP performance
Gaiasense
THE CHALLENGE FACED BY GREEK FARMERSTHE ROLE OF GAIASENSE

Farmers in Greece are facing increasing challenges in today’s climate that can significantly impact
their crop yield, including climate change, the need for high irrigation, and crop susceptibility to pest
attacks. Moreover, many traditional practices utilized not just by Greek farmers, but by farmers allover the world, are non-sustainable, draining the natural resources and impacting the environment
by polluting water, air and soil systems with fertilizers and other inputs.

Gaiasense is a Smart Farming (SF) platform developed by Neuropublic, which provides EO-based
monitoring services to farmers, agricultural advisors, and researchers, collecting data from satellite
imagery, farm logs, and the Internet of Things sensors, amongst other information. It covers 10
different types of cultivations and its infrastructure is installed in 12 regions throughout Greece –covering over 200,000 acres.

Smart farming is an integrated approach for the management of agricultural activities, andunderstanding a way in which these challenges facing the farming community can be addressed. It
can provide digital, data-driven advisory services to farmers or agronomic advisors, and helps bothwith increasing profitability and yield, whilst also encouraging an environmentally-friendly approach
to farming practices.

COPERNICUS CONTRIBUTION TO FARMERSAND POLICY MAKERS IN GREECE

Advisory services provided often focus on fertilization, irrigation, and pest management, aiming tominimize the use of inputs such as water, fertilizes and pesticides. This also helps enable thefarmer to be compliant with the regulatory framework of the EU.

CONTRIBUTION OF GAIASENSE FOR FARMERSAND POLICY MAKERS IN GREECE
Gaiasense uses remote sensing methods to process Copernicus
raw data and services hosted on its hubs. The platform provided
incorporates three modules, which operate independently, andaim to:1. Search for new Sentinel-2 imagery
2.

Download the new images

3.

Perform required processing on the opticalsatellite images (e.g. atmospheric correction,
cloud masking)

The initial data is then output as higher-level products such as
NDVI or LAI vegetation indices, which can be extremely
informative for smart farming techniques. The platform
automatically assigns the extracted information to the agriculturalparcels/management units within the Gaiasense database, whilst

There are four dimensions to the Gaiasense service: remote, field, eye and farm. Remote sensing
data is collected via satellites and other aerial vehicles, allowing users to have a detailed and up-todate picture of the plant’s health and status of the soil. These are presented via indices such as forvegetation (e.g. NDVI) and water status (e.g. NDWI). It aims to provide not only an overview ofcrops and fields for their variabilities, but also the change over time during the growing season. The
field data meanwhile is collected by telemetric stations installed at selected points of certain parcels,in order to record, analyse and interpret atmospheric and soil data. The ‘eye’ dimension allows
agricultural consultants and producers to record information during observations during field visits,
whilst “farm” records the actions that the farmer carries out in the field and for the crops.

incorporating additional information such as meteorological data
for extra context.
The services provided are not only for farmers and their advisors,
but can support scientific research as well as introduce spatial
analytics intelligence for CAP performance and efficiency
management for policymakers. Through providing smart farming
services for two years, results have indicated that production canbe increased by an average of 10% whilst decreasing theconsumption of water, fertilisers and pesticides by an average of19%.
Future developments aim to include more data from Sentinel
missions, so that data from more wavelengths can be examined,
as well as providing a shorter revisit time. Other extensions may
include crop growth models and weather forecasts powered bysatellite data.

A demo view depicting fields in Central Macedonia(Source: contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data via Gaiasense,
Neuropublic)

AGRICULTURE/ CASE STUDY

COPERNICUS CONTRIBUTION TO VERIFYINGSUBSIDY CLAIMS IN ESTONIAEO FOR VERIFYING AGRICULTURALSUBSIDIES

Verifying agricultural subsidies
SATIKASTHE CHALLENGE FACED BY ESTONIAN PAYINGAGENCY
Farmers in the EU must follow the rules laid out in the European
Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in order to qualify for subsidy
payments, which ensure a farmer has a support system against
volatile market prices whilst also safeguarding the environment.
The role of sharing and verifying these farmer subsidy claims lies
with the Paying Agency (PA) of each Member State. The level of
non-compliance is very small; however, since the annual budget of
the CAP totals €50 billion, the overall EU-wide economic impact
can be significant. Currently, Paying Agencies have predominantly
relied on on-the-spot verification checks by inspectors. However,thanks to growing labour costs, these field visits are becoming
more expensive every year.

CONTRIBUTION OF SATIKAS IN VERIFYING CAPSUBSIDIES
In late summer and autumn, where cloud coverage can be over
70%, Sentinel-1 radar is extremely valuable. However, accuracy isbest when both Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 data are used. Within thevalidation results, overall accuracy increased from 85% with only
Sentinel-1 data, to 94% when combined with Sentinel-2.
An open web map publishes the results in virtual real time, which
can be accessed by the general public. ARIB specialists also
receive detailed reports, helping to reduce the need for costly fieldvisits, and saving the time of field inspectors, who now only need tovisit those fields that are indicating issues rather than wasting time
visiting ones that have none. By publishing on the web map, andsending ‘early warning’ reminders via email, it also works as areminder for farmers who have not yet fulfilled the mowing

THE ROLE OF SATIKASThe Estonian Agricultural Registers and Information Board (ARIB),
in cooperation with Tartu Observatory and CGI Estonia, built an
automated infosystem SATIKAS, which uses Sentinel-1 andSentinel-2 optical satellite imagery to verify if farmers are following
the mowing requirements set up under the CAP. This is one of themost common requirements for farmers, and is often violated onland that is not under intense agricultural use.
SATIKAS operates May to October each year, to cover the entire
growing season, and can detect all mowing activity on agricultural
grassland in Estonia. Each season, over 100 Sentinel-1 radar
images and more than 50 Sentinel-2 optical images are usedwithin SATIKAS. For each land parcel, deep learning technology isapplied to its Sentinel-1 and 2 parameters in order to detectmowing events, differentiating between areas that are mowed,
areas that are not, and those that have been mowed late.

Mowing detection results presented on public web map of LääneViru County.
(Source: contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data via SATIKAS

requirements.
By encouraging compliance and detecting more incidents of noncompliance, SATIKAS has helped to reduce false payments. The
economic impact in Estonia is estimated at being around €500,000
per year, whilst the total economic impact of similar systems if
operated at an EU-level would be around two orders of magnitude
greater.
The ultimate goal will be to extend the functionality of SATIKAS with
monitoring of grazing detection, harvesting detection, cropclassification and flooded fields mapping, and eventually reach alevel of capabilities that allow for subsidy decisions to be madewithout field visits.
Thanks to solutions such as SATIKAS, spending of the EU can be
reduced, and those freed resources can be utilized for futuretechnological developments.

Lääne-Viru County on false colour composite(Source: contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data via SATIKASAGRICULTURE/ CASE STUDY

EO for efficient farming against drought
FruitLook

COPERNICUS CONTRIBUTION AGAINSTDROUGHT IN SOUTH AFRICA

EO AGAINST DROUGHTTHE CHALLENGE OF DROUGHT IN THE WESTERNCAPE OF SOUTH AFRICA
The ongoing drought in the Western Cape of South Africa is one of
the longest and hardest-hitting in living memory. The agriculture
sector is especially vulnerable to droughts, and farmers are facing
loss of jobs, financial distress, an inability to grow crops, and adifficulty in finding and buying feed for their animals.

THE ROLE OF FRUITLOOKTo address the need for efficient use of water resources, theWestern Cape Department of Agriculture (WCDoA) collaborated
with the Dutch company eLEAF to produce an online platform
FruitLook. The goal is to monitor vineyards and orchards,
predominantly utilizing frequently updated satellite imagery andweather information.

This drought is currently affecting two of its largest industries: fruit
and wine production. These industries represent almost a third of
the province’s exports, and hence are of huge fiscal importance. It isvital that production is optimized at the same time as farmers reduce
their ecological impact and improve their efficient use of water
resources. Balancing these will bring both economic andenvironmental benefits.

One of the indicators needed in order to improve water use
efficiency is understanding how much water is consumed throughcrop production. This is known as ‘actual Evapotranspiration’(ETact), and it can be difficult information to obtain thanks to thecomplicated and costly in-situ measurements required.

CONTRIBUTION OF FRUITLOOK IN THE WESTERNCAPE OF SOUTH AFRICA

evaluate and improve water management. Overall, the aim is to
optimize resource use as much as possible, which is even moreessential during drought conditions, and improve management
decisions, which is reflected in the productivity and efficiency of theirwater use.

Sentinel-2 data is essential for the weekly data products provided by
FruitLook, where it services an area of 9 million ha, including
200,000 ha of fruit crops. By using satellite information technologies
such as Pixel Intelligence Mapping, farmers can analyse crop growth
and water consumption over time and space. They access thisinformation by a web portal, where the data is provided down to a
field-by-field basis.
The service offers 9 different information sets, including biomass
production to show how the crop is growing, and an
evapotranspiration deficit parameter to indicate if the crops areexperiencing stress.

Farmers can benefit greatly from FruitLook, using the platform tomonitor crop development, detect and locate growth problems, andIn contrast, FruitLook offers not only spatial variation, which is notprovided under in-situ measurements, but also provides the data tofarmers for free, as the service is fully-funded by the WCDoA.

200,000ha of vineyards & orchards are monitored by
FruitLook per week
(Source: Copernicus4Regions, FruitLook)

Results can already be seen: water use efficiency of FruitLook users
has increased by between 10% and 30%.
Farmers who make better-informed decisions help not only to savewater, but can bring about beneficial environmental impacts as well,such as understanding what inputs to apply and where. FruitLook
can help identify diseased blocks of plants, indicating what areas
need to be sprayed by pesticides. By targeting only the infected
block, the application of pesticides is reduced, saving costs andreducing the environmental impact.
Variation in crop growth(Source: Copernicus4Regions, FruitLook)

FORESTRYKEY TAKEAWAYS••

80% of forest area globally is under government control – where the emphasis is often on forest management, in termsof conservation and protection.

Copernicus economic impact (2018)(Source: PwC)

Global initiatives, such as the UN’s Programme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation(REDD), require participating countries to obtain highly accurate and precise data on forests and thus represent
opportunities for intermediate users.

•

Both Sentinel-1 and 2 data are recognised sources of valuable information along the forestry value chain.

•

Copernicus data provides forest authorities accurate forest mapping, which is particularly useful for storm damages
assessment, inventory and validation of forest strand for wood purchasers.

•

Intermediate users of EO data in the forestry domain include several private players (from micro-companies to larger
players), public research institutions, and forestry management organisations.

•

Forestry-aimed EO products are currently being used by public end users mainly (90%), rather than by private end
users (10%).

77 EUR M

53 EUR M

7 EUR M
4 EUR M
Enabled revenues forintermediate users

Enabled revenues
for end users

COPERNICUS APPLICATIONS•Specific land cover tools such as the High Resolution Layer (complementary to land cover in a 20m resolution)•

Products to support the EU network of nature protection areas, in order to foster biodiversity•

Maps to monitor land that is in proximity of freshwater ecosystems•

Inventories of land cover historical imagery to highlight changes in land cover•

An upcoming small woody features product, that is based on Very High Resolution data and will be able to monitor
small areas of trees•

Sentinel 2 Systematic Mosaic production tool

Copernicus Market Report | Issue 2, February 2019 | Prepared by PwC |KEY COPERNICUS PRODUCTS

50•

Copernicus Land Monitoring Service•

Forest maps, including type and tree-cover density, at
European scales•Continuous low-to-medium resolution biophysical variables
related to vegetative health at global scales

FORESTRY
A MARKET HISTORICALLY BENEFITTING FROM EO

80% of forest area globally is under government control – where the emphasis is often on
forest management, in terms of conservation and protection.
Both the formal and informal forest sectors include large numbers of small or microbusinesses, while at the other end of the scale there are also very large companies. On alarger scale, there may be a need to address potential barriers to investment, often financial
or infrastructure related.

By 2050, the world population is expected to reach 9.8 billion, while income
per capita is expected to triple.
This will lead to increased harvesting of many natural resources, including
wood, as well as more waste. Using wood (including wood waste andresidues) more efficiently to meet this demand is crucial to achieving amore resource-efficient, circular and bio-based economy.
In this sense, forest management and certification plays a significant role inensuring the efficient protection, development, and utilization of forest
resources. EO becomes a crucial tool to forest managers, through two
broad and interrelated categories: resource inventory and monitoring; andanalysis, modeling, and forecasting to support decision making.
EO spatial data input, editing, and mapping are extensively used during theinventory and monitoring phases. In the modeling phase, overlays,
reclassifications and suitability analyses are part of the decision making
process. More sophisticated forecasts and simulations are then used toassess management decisions before any intervention is made on the
ground.

Output of forestry and logging by type, 2015
(Source: Eurostat)
10 000
9 000
8 000
7 000
6 000

Sources: OECD

5 000
4 000
3 000
2 000
1 000

Total output

Wood in the roughNon-wood products

NorwaySwitzerland

CyprusGreeceLuxembourg

Croatia

Netherlands

Slovenia

Ireland

Belgium

Hungary

Estonia

Denmark

Bulgaria

LatviaSlovakia

Spain

Trees (net increment)

Portugal

Italy

United Kingdom

Romania

Lithuania (¹)

Austria

Czech Republic

FinlandSwedenFrance0PolandSeveral industries are connected toforestry, such as timber harvesting, toprovide a continuous supply of trees
for economically optimal wood
production, fuel wood supplies as anaffordable energy source, and also
indirect applications such as forest
management and certification. The
output of the forestry and logging
activity by type of output among the
EU-28, Norway and Switzerland isshown in the graph. Evidence also
shows that forests and trees
contribute to the global economy interms of livelihoods and food security
for many rural areas, sustainableconsumption and production, climatechange mitigation, as well assustainable economic growth andemployment.

Although a lack of systematic data makes it nearly impossible to provide precise figures, it isestimated that the number of people involved informally in the forest sector is in the order of
50 million.

Germany

When the formal sector is referred to,
and also taking into account its
indirect and induced effects, theforestry industry figures show an
estimated total of 45.15 million jobs
globally
and
labor
for
a
comprehensive income of $580 billion
per year. The European Union
accounts for approximately 5% of theworld’s forests, and the forested areaof the EU is slowly increasing.

Other

Copernicus Market Report | Issue 2, February 2019 | Prepared by PwC |51

FORESTRYFOREST MANAGERS CAN BENEFIT FROM EO THROUGH TWO TYPES OF ACTIVITIESResource Mapping
EO data provides forest authorities with accurate forest mapping, which is extremely useful for storm
damages assessment, inventory, and validation of forest strand for wood purchasers. Thanks to timeseries of satellite images, forest authorities are also able to detect change in the land cover/land use inforest areas, such as illegal clear cut for example, or urban area expansion threatening the ecosystem.
All this information supports the implementation of EU policies aimed at sustainably managing andeventually safeguarding the forests.

Resource Monitoring
Satellite EO is a fundamental tool for deriving statistics on deforestation and land use change and iscritical to monitoring sustainable development in local, national, regional and global scales.

At the global level, since 1990, information collected by FAO for its Forest Resources Assessments(FRA) through country reporting has been consistently supported by remote-sensing data, and by a
growing dataset of satellite imagery and new software for image processing and interpretation.

APPLICATIONS

WHY EARTH OBSERVATION?

RESOURCE MAPPINGRESOURCE
MONITORING

The World Resources Institute’s Global Forest Watch (GFW) also takes advantage of national
coverage satellite EO data (Landsat) to provide information with 30m resolution accuracy. Suchinformation is presented through an online forest monitoring system which helps forest management
stakeholders to create custom maps, observe forest trends, receive alerts or download data on theirarea or the entire world.
The UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) initiated a series of Good Practice Guidance
reports to aid countries in selecting, processing and analyzing databases to report against
deforestation and forest fire, with EO integrated solution.
Moreover, the REDD+ initiative of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) looks
to provide financial aid for countries, to encourage forest maintenance and preservation, aimed at
reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, boost conservation and sustainable
management of forests, and enlarge forest carbon stocks.
In support of REDD+, the Global Forest Observations Initiative (GFOI) strives to ensure readyavailable national coverage of EO data and to provide Guidance Documentation with Methods (MGD)that will facilitate reporting consistent with the relevant IPCC Good Practice Guidelines.

BENEFITSEND USERS•••

Inventory of forest resources
Monitoring changes in resources over time
Evaluating land productivity for forest types given
biophysical and climatic factors.

•••

Improved monitoring techniques
Provide basis for risk assessment
Identification of potential areas of intervention•••

Forest managers
NGOs
Governmental institutions

•
•
•
•

Timber harvesting
Silviculture
Fire management
Prediction of fuel wood and other resource supplies

•
•
•
•

Land use and post-fire erosion monitoring
Prevent deforestation
Demand assessment for wood related products and resources
Vegetation health management

•
•
•
•
•

Forest managers
NGOs
Governmental institutions
Timber managers
Fuel wood resources managers

Copernicus Market Report | Issue 2, February 2019 | Prepared by PwC |52

FORESTRY
DRIVERS AND CHALLENGES FOR THE UPTAKE OF EO BY FOREST MANAGERS
EO data is mostly used by national forest agencies to monitor the compliance of the forest owners to the law.
Indeed, rules have been implemented to prevent private owners of forests from depleting this national asset. In
these regards, the development of clear-cut maps will enable the authorities to enforce the rules in the forestry
sector. Forest agencies in other European countries use commercial satellite imagery to prepare their maps.
Preserving forest ecosystems and green infrastructure is crucial for peoples’ well-being. They are hosting global
biodiversity, and they provide benefits to society and the economy via the provision of ecosystem services (soils
erosion protection, watershed regulation, climate regulation, carbon storage and water/air purification). EO data
provides forest authorities accurate forest mapping. Thanks to time series of satellite images, forest authorities
are able to detect change in the land cover/land use in forest areas, such as illegal clear cut.

Lastly, sustainable management of forests requires activities like replanting within 3 years after the clear-cut
and one or even two pre-commercial thinning within the 10 years after replanting. These are costly investmentsfor private owners if they only looked at short term optimization of returns. However, in the long term
(approximately 80 years) the profitability of the forest is improved as this sound asset management results inmore wood for the final clear cut. EO leads to improved yields in the forest sector, by monitoring forest owners
compliance to sustainable practices.

CHALLENGE 1
For some parameters, the methodologies for producing maps at scale have notbeen developed or validated

CHALLENGE 2
EO data from satellites, manned aircraft, or UAVs still need major enhancements to
map given characteristics.

CHALLENGE 3
The change in the signal detected by the EO instrument(s) over time is notnecessarily related to changes in the forest characteristics

DRIVER 1
Cost reduction in monitoring compliance to forest management best practices (fornational forest agencies)

DRIVER 2
Improve and preserve forest ecosystems and green infrastructures

DRIVER 3
Improved yields in forest industry thanks to sustainable management (increasing
volume and quality of timber in the long term)

One of the main challenges of using EO data for forest mapping is constructing time series on given
characteristics. Large budgets do not guarantee the quality of forestry variation maps; for many aspects (e.g.
biodiversity) there is still a need to develop or validate methodologies for producing maps at scale, not tomention the impossibility to retroactively collect new data from past data gathering. Mapping variations overtime still relies on the analysis of suboptimal historical satellite datasets, while mapping certain parameters may
involve extensive ground research and data.
Secondly, there seems to be a gap between users’ expectations on actual quality of data, and what this data
can actually accurately map, especially within a reasonable budget for the users.
Moreover, the change in the signal over time detected by EO sensors does not necessarily reflect variations in
the forest features, but may indicate changes in atmospheric conditions, vegetation seasonal changes orhumidity conditions, or even the actual calibration of the sensor itself. The accuracy of such maps thus needs tobe assessed through further ground data or independent EO products, and to rely on EO data and methods thatare least likely to cause misconception in the resulting map.

Copernicus Market Report | Issue 2, February 2019 | Prepared by PwC |53

FORESTRY
THE VALUE CHAIN OF EO DATAACQUIRING EO DATA
Overall data needs

Data format and in-house capabilities•

Open data (Landsat, Sentinel, MODIS) for low andmedium resolution data to monitor variations over timeand identify hot spots
Needs for higher resolutions for forest restoration (10m or
less)Commercial satellite data for higher resolution on specificlocations••

Systematic and updated data available at several
resolutions
Mostly used by companies specifically dealing with EO
data processing and Forest Monitoring NGOs.
Roughly 60% of data is coming from Sentinel, thanks to
the improved resolution (10m) compared to other open
data sources

•

•
•

•

Resource
Mapping

PROCESSING NEEDS AND CAPABILITIES

•
•

•

•

Resource
Monitoring•••

Satellite data often not sufficient for some class of forest
characteristic changes over time
Low resolution more than often integrated with highresolution (about 30% of the data used is from commercial
satellites)•

USERS & NEEDSNon exhaustive list

Production of grid maps
Integration of EO data with other data sources,
UAVs and ground data for precision and variation
in forest mapping
Forest maps sold to local forest authorities andgovernment institutions.

Commercial users acquire and process forest dataand create spot maps on the forest status, basedon the end users’ specific needs
NGOs, governmental institutions and forest
monitoring agencies either directly acquire satellite
data or buy them by commercial data providers

Commercial users acquire and process forest
data, combine with different satellite sources tobuild time series, highlight variations and identify
hot spots
NGOs, governmental institutions and forest
monitoring agencies either directly acquire satellite
data or buy them from commercial data providers

Copernicus Market Report | Issue 2, February 2019 | Prepared by PwC |

54

•
•

Tree cover density maps
Forest type maps••

Inventory of land covers to identify potential variations
Riparian zone maps to monitor lands in proximity offreshwater ecosystems
Biodiversity monitoring (still need enhancements)•

FORESTRYCOPERNICUS DATA MAKES A DIFFERENCE IN TERMS OF UPDATE AND RESOLUTION,
BUT FACES THE CHALLENGE OF INTERNATIONAL AWARENESS AND DATA CONTINUITY
Copernicus
strengths
Historically Landsat has been used to answer
Forestry EO needs, but during the last two
years there has been a significant uptake in
Sentinel data related to forestry; more andmore Sentinel data is being exploited thanks
to its enhanced and higher resolution. In
addition, Landsat is nowadays more and more
integrated with Sentinel data at a country
scale.
Forest restauration is seen as a high potential
area for users uptake. Nowadays roughly 30%
to 40% of forest restoration data is from
Copernicus, and users agree in foreseeing
huge Copernicus data uptake for this activity
in the future. There has also been a shift incountries’ awareness on Copernicus, mainly
due to the enhanced data accessibility andprocessing granted by the DIAS initiative.
However, DIAS is still under implementationand the limited market awareness around it
leads players to sometimes revert either tolower resolution or to commercial providers.
Also, algorithms to monitor specific kind ofvariations over time are still based on Landsat
data, and the process of constructing
algorithms to integrate Sentinel data has only
just started.

The implementation of the DIAS makes it mucheasier to access and process Sentinel data. It
enhances Copernicus’ competitiveness withrespect to other EO international programs,
such as Landsat.

COPERNICUS
DIAS ISFACILITATINGDATA ACCESS
BOTH FOR
INTERMEDIATEAND END USERS

The improvement of spatial resolution of
Sentinels over previous open source satellite
data is a strong differentiator for forest resource
mapping and monitoring forest variations.

IMPROVEDSPATIALRESOLUTION

The open data policy allows for initial
experimental projects before developing deeper
EO skills. This is of particular importance forNGOs and Non-Profit organisations operatingin the forestry sector, often facing issues inbudget, or even SMEs with limited financial
capacity.

PROVIDING FREEEO DATA ISCRUCIAL TOSUPPORT INITIALUPTAKE

Copernicus Market Report | Issue 2, February 2019 | Prepared by PwC |Copernicus
weaknesses

AWARENESS OF
THE DATA IS
STILL LOW ANDACCESS TO THE
DATA IS NOTINTUITIVE

The access to the data hubs and the channels
to download data can be complex to find for
non-experts and players with limited resources.
In some cases, either lower resolution (Landsat
or MODIS) or commercial arrangements are
more attractive as they are readily accessible.

DIFFICULTIES ININTEGRATIONBETWEEN
DIFFERENTPROVIDERS

To monitor certain variation (i.e. deforestation),algorithms are based on older datasets(Landsat), with different resolutions andcharacteristics. It is still an issue to integrate
Sentinel’s data into such algorithms, resulting inflaws in monitoring given characteristics andvariations over time.

55

FORESTRYCOPERNICUS BENEFITS FOR FORESTRY
Based on the EARSC industry survey on the EO downstream market, intermediate users’
revenues in the forestry domain are approximately EUR 36.5 M. Some 90% of the stakeholders
interviewed are using Copernicus data and Copernicus data currently contributes approximately
11.5% of the total amount of EO data used (conservative estimate), suggesting a conservativevalue of Copernicus enabled revenues for forestry management around EUR 6.2 M in 2018. A
higher estimate based on the Geo-Information Systems (GIS) market for forestry leads toCopernicus-enabled revenues of EUR 12 M in 2018.

€
€

€

€€

Economic impacts€ €Inventory offorestresources

RESOURCE
MAPPINGThe value of Copernicus data to end users (e.g. forest owners) is estimated as the benefits
derived from the improvement and preservation of green infrastructures (Copernicus Land
Monitoring Services provide a common framework for a frequently updated monitoring system ofenvironmental change at European scale), and forest yields (Copernicus contribution, in thiscase, is the percentage of Copernicus data used to develop clear cut map replacing commercial
data), and the cost reduction in monitoring compliance to the EU policies (EO data is clearly the
optimal tool to develop clear-cut maps, which will enable the authorities to enforce the rules in theforestry sector). In 2018, it represented approximately EUR 53.3 M as a conservative value.

Intermediate users
IDENTIFICATIONOF AREAS OF
INTERVENTION

Land
productivity

Optimizationof crisis
workforceRESOURCE
MONITORING

DEFORESTATIONPREVENTIONCUSTOMERSATISFACTION

Economic benefits of Copernicus through its contribution to Forestry

EUR M(Source: PwC)

200
180
160
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0

Key

Max

Value of land forthe biodiversity
and environmental
protection

Min
End users

Intermediate
users
2018

2019

Value of land
for the woodindustry

Min

2020
Copernicus Market Report | Issue 2, February 2019 | Prepared by PwC |56

REDUCEDENVIRONMENTALDAMAGESREDUCED
DEFORESTATION
AND FIRESMax

End users

REDUCEDECONOMICDAMAGESFORESTRYCOPERNICUS BENEFITS FOR FORESTRY

Social impacts
End users

Copernicus plays a significant role in forest
preservation and monitors forests in urban areas
through programs such as the REDD+ initiative of the
UN or the High Resolution Layer (for urban green areas
monitoring).
Forests, urban forests and green areas can beincorporated into public health programs and policies topromote mental and physical health and help in puttinga halt to morbidity and mortality by producing
relaxation, alleviating stress, encouraging social
cohesion and physical activity, and reducing exposure
to atmospheric pollution, noise and excessive heat.
Another social benefits relies on the concept of Forest
farming, i.e. cultivation of high-value specialty crops
under a forest canopy that is intentionally modified or
maintained to provide shade levels and a habitat tofavor growth and enhance production levels. This is ofhigh importance for populations in developing countries
living in the neighborhood of rainforests.

GREEN AREAS
MAPPING

Identification of forests, urban
forests and green areas

Promotion ofhealthcare programs
related to green areas

ENHANCED QUALITY
OF LIFE FOR PEOPLE

FORESTCOMPOSITIONASSESSMENT

Identification of potential
forest areas to initiate forest
farming

Rising populations’awareness on forest
resources

SUSTAINABLE
RESOURCESEXPLOITATION

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FORESTRYCOPERNICUS BENEFITS FOR FORESTRY

Environmental impact

End users
The REDD+ initiative of the UN Framework Convention
on Climate Change (UNFCCC) encourages forest
maintenance and preservation for climate mitigation.
In support of REDD+, the Global Forest Observations
Initiative (GFOI) strives to ensure ready available
national coverage of EO data and to provide countries
with Methods and Guidance Documentation (MGD) thatwill facilitate reporting consistent with the relevant IPCC
Good Practice Guidelines.
Forests host a significant proportion of Europe’s richbiodiversity, and they provide very important benefits tosociety and the economy via the provision of ecosystemservices (soils erosion protection, watershed regulation,
climate regulation, carbon storage and water/air
purification). Hence preserving forest ecosystems andgreen infrastructure is crucial for countries’ well-being.
Copernicus products are enhancing a growing set ofdifferent analyses previously performed at lower
resolution (Landsat). They enhance assessment of theconservation status by covering more areas, andanalysis of, and by early change detection, thus helping
to ensure the sustainability of the ecosystem and thecompliance to global directives.

Fostered support of national forest information systems
EO IN
SUPPORT OF
REDD+RESOURCE
MAPPINGENVIRONMENTAL
PROTECTION
Support countries in the use of observations for their forest
information systems

Enhanced ecosystem services,protection of biodiversity

Quicker resource
identification

ENHANCEDRESOURCEPROTECTIONENHANCEDRESOURCERECOVERY

Awareness of critical areas torescueQuick variationassessment

RESOURCE
MONITORING

ENHANCEDRESOURCERESTAURATION

Better planning of intervention

Copernicus Market Report | Issue 2, February 2019 | Prepared by PwC |58

FORESTRY / CASE STUDY

COPERNICUS CONTRIBUTION TO HALTDEFORESTATIONSTARLING SUPPORT TO “NODEFORESTATION” COMMITTMENT

Starling-VERIFY YOUR FOREST IMPACT
Airbus Defence & SpaceAIRBUS DS TOOL FOR FOREST MONITORING
Starling is a global forest monitoring service that uses
satellite imagery, combining the expertise of both partners inremote sensing, massive image processing, food supply
chain management and forest conservation.

Malaysia, (where development of palm oil plantations is astrong driver of tropical deforestation), in order to help
companies all across the food supply chain to achieve their'no deforestation' commitment.

BASEMAPDATA PROCESSING
Integration of Sentinel2, Landsat, SPOTThe Starling production process began with the creation of areference Land Use map or 'basemap', for the target region;it then systematically processes satellite imagery acquired
during the year, from multiple sources, in order to detectchanges made to the forest cover as small as 0.5 ha. This
information is consolidated into quarterly monitoring reports,
which are delivered to the users.

CHANGE DETECTION

QUARTERLY REPORT

Since June 2017, the Starling service aims to provide areliable and near real-time monitoring tool in Indonesia andStarling workflow

CONTRIBUTION TO MONITORING DEFORESTATION IN INDONESIA
AND MALAYSIA
In 15 months of operation, Starling has already processed thousands of Copernicus
Sentinel-2 and Landsat-8 images. For the Sumatra Island alone (about 500,000 km2),
3500 Copernicus Sentinel-2 scenes and 900 Landsat scenes were exploited.

Change classificationand detailing

Data delivery

Sentinel-2, Landsat,
SPOT

Basemap of Indonesian Site

Sentinel-2

Deforestation classification
map

Starling monitoring reports

The capabilities of the Sentinel-2 mission of the European Union's Copernicus
programme, with its twin satellites and a combined imaging swath of 580 km (compared
to 185 km for Landsat), are key in this process.
Despite the challenging atmospheric conditions, with dominant cloud flocks, 98% ofscenes can be observed cloud-free more than four times a year.
Elise Boisliveau, Starling production operator, confirms, "Copernicus Sentinel-2 and the
Cloud technology enabled us to enter a new era. Thanks to the Cloud, the production has
never been so easy. A user-friendly interface helps us monitor the production chain andperform the final quality control before releasing the products."

Copernicus, integrated
with other services

Copernicus
SPOT 6The Basemap was produced using Copernicus Sentinel-2, Landsat, and SPOT images, at 20m resolution. Deforestation
classification map is based on Copernicus Sentinel-2 image. Starling monitoring reports displayed on SPOT-6 identifies deforested
areas from the last four quarterly reports. (Source: Airbus, ESA)FORESTRY / CASE STUDYAREAS OF INTERVENTIONCIFOR INDICATOR

PIN 11e EDF E-AD DRC program land use indicator for ecological integrity
CIFOR
CIFOR PROGRAMMES FOR FORESTPRESERVATION AND MANAGEMENT IN
CONGOIn the context of biosphere reserves, the relationship between
natural landscape conservation and agriculture is not so
dichotomous. The PIN 11e EDF E-AD DRC program will
therefore seek to strike a balance between the strict
conservation of protected areas and its natural habitats and thebetter management of forest and agricultural landscapes on theoutskirts of parks for the benefit of local people.

To benefit from this support, it is necessary to identify thezones and the surface to be analysed and to request inclusionof this zone in the capture and analysis of images protocol. An
analysis of past dynamics (2010-2015) is also possible. The
areas included in the program are:•

The Biosphere reserve of Yagambi;•

Salonga, Virunga, Garamba and l’Upemba National parks

The Salonga and Virunga NPs were included in the firstcontract starting in 2017. The other protected areas will be in
the second contract starting in 2018.

The indicator will be built on the basis of analyses provided by
the JRC Copernicus program.

SATELLITE DATA
Sentinel-2
LAND COVER MAPS
Integration with In-situ
data
LAND USE MAPS

IDENTIFICATION OF
AREAS OFINTERVENTION

COPERNICUS PRODUCTS AND POTENTIAL
FINAL OUTPUT

Project workflow(Source: CIFOR)CONTRIBUTION TO SUSTAINABLE FOREST
MANAGEMENT THROUGH A VARIETY OF
PRODUCTS
Several products
programme:

can be provided

by theRaster maps: in the form of pixels (identical size) having
been broken down individually in one of the identified landuse categories;•

Vector maps: identical pixels will have been merged to form
homogeneous polygons representing a type of land use;
Landscape metrics and land use variation.

•

Raster product: allows user to count the pixels for eachcategory and compare between different images, see thequantitative evolution of land uses;•

Vector product: calculates the expansion areas of different
land uses. The comparison of different surfaces gives a land
use transformation index. Vector representation also makes
it easier to represent conflict zones, uncontrolledextensions, or ecological restoration;•

Landscapemetrics
providecommonly-usedandstandardized indices to track the land dynamics of aterritory.

Copernicus••

Each product makes it possible to express the evolution
dynamics of land use change:

Land Use

Land Use threat 1

Land Use threat 2

Land Use threat 3

Land Use threat 4

Total score

Most effective visualisation of presentation(Source: CIFOR)URBAN MONITORINGKEY TAKEAWAYS
Copernicus economic impact (2018)•

Intermediate users are mainly Value Added Service companies, startups and SMEs.

•

End users are predominantly local, regional and national authorities.

•

Sentinel-1 radar data is used for change detection and the development of 3D models.

•Sentinel-2 optical data provides relevant data for urban growth monitoring thanks to its high spatial resolution opticalimagery.

•(Source: PwC)

21 EUR M

17 EUR M

10 EUR M
8 EUR M

A number of global urban datasets derived from EO have been developed, such as the Global Human Settlement Layer(GHSL) and the World Settlement Footprint 2015 (WSF2015).

COPERNICUS APPLICATIONS
Enabled revenues forintermediate users

Enabled revenues
for end users•

Indicators to help cities monitor their progress in implementing conservation efforts and their success in halting the lossof urban biodiversity•

Methods to map and assess urban adaptation to climate change, environmental/socio-economical characterization andmap green urban areas in and around cities•

Maps of green urban areas in and around cities’ ecosystems•

Inventories of land cover historical images to highlight changes in city boundaries and peripheral areas in order tomonitor urban sprawl•

Copernicus Land Monitoring Service•

Measurement of ground displacements before and after earthquakes in urban areas using multi-temporal InSAR
techniques to identify seismic precursor signals.

•

The CORINE Land Cover inventory, which includes data
related to urban fabricCopernicus Market Report | Issue 2, February 2019 | Prepared by PwC |KEY COPERNICUS PRODUCTS

61

URBAN MONITORINGA KEY TO CHARACTERIZE THE IMPACT OF HUMAN SETTLEMENTWith large concentrations of people,
property and wealth, cities are expanding
as never before, with half of the global
population now living in urban areas (seegraph). The world is urbanizing at an
unprecedented rate: more than 50% of
the world’s population live in cities, which
will grow to 66% by 2050, out of a total of
9.8 billion people. Alongside the multitudeof opportunities that rapidly expanding
cities face, there are also a number ofchallenges. Economic disruptions, social
strife, and environmental disasters are
increasingly occurring within cities which
are expanding boundaries.

Population of Urban and Rural Areas at Mid-Year (000), 2018
(Source: UN, “World Urbanization Prospects”, 2018)

Sub-Saharan Africa

Earth Observation, in this sense, represents a key tool in at least two
subsets of the whole framework of activities and markets which are nested
under the label of urbanization: urban planning and urban risk
management.

Low-income countries
Lower-middle-income countries

Urban planning is a process concerned with the development and designof land use and the construction environment, including air, water, andinfrastructures, such as transportation, communications, distribution
networks and the provision of municipal services to residents and visitors.
Urban planners work with the cognate fields of architecture, landscapearchitecture, civil engineering, and public administration to achieve
strategic, policy and sustainability goals.

Upper-middle-income countries
Middle-income countries
High-income countries

The world's urban population is growing
four times faster than its rural population.
90% of this growth is occurring indeveloping regions, and Africa currently
has the fastest rate of urban growth, at
more than 5% per year.

Less developed regions, excluding
ChinaLess developed regions, excluding least
developed countries

Such occurrences place huge pressure on
often limited infrastructure and public
services;
accordingtoOECD,governments worldwide will have to invest
approximately $71 trillion by 2030 toprovideadequateoverall
globalinfrastructure for electricity, road and railtransport, telecommunications, and water,which is 3.5% of the world’s annual GDP
from 2007 to 2030.

Less developed regions

Urban expansion definitely needs to be monitored to ensure it proceeds ona sustainable basis, does not impair or overexploit environmental
resources, nor worsen the quality and life and safety of urban population.
Thus, the ever growing area of cities can make urban monitoring incredibly
difficult to achieve.

Risk assessment is a methodology aimed at determining the nature andextent of risk by analyzing potential hazards and evaluating existing
conditions of vulnerability that could pose a potential threat, or harm, topeople, property, livelihoods in the urban environment. Results from therisk assessment should enable action and form the foundation for planningand implementing disaster risk reduction measures.

Least developed countries

More developed regions
WORLD
0

Urban

2 000 000 4 000 000 6 000 000 8 000 000

Rural

Sources: UN

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URBAN MONITORINGEO SUPPORTS URBAN AUTHORITIES THROUGH 2 TYPES OF ACTIVITIESUrban Planning

Urban risk management

A number of global urban datasets derived from EO have been developed, such as the Global Human
Settlement Layer (GHSL) and the World Settlement Footprint 2015 (WSF2015).

Urban Heat Islands occur when air temperatures in urban areas are higher than in surrounding rural
areas. They are caused by the density of buildings, the absence of green spaces and the accumulationof anthropogenic heat. EO products provide data enabling the analysis of the factors listed above, abetter understanding of Urban Heat Islands and therefore ways to design smarter cities which avoid theoccurrence of this phenomenon.

The former provides global spatial information about human settlements over time, including built-up
area, population density, and settlement maps.
The latter is the first global layer generated at 10 meters resolution based on both optical and radar
imagery. It will allow the precise mapping of human settlements in urban, suburban environment.
The Copernicus Land Monitoring Service (CLMS) provides products and data such as HR and VHRsatellite imagery, Land Cover, High Resolution Layers, and Land Surface Temperature.

APPLICATIONS

WHY EARTH OBSERVATION?
•URBAN PLANNING••

URBAN RISKMANAGEMENT•••

Satellite imagery can also support traffic management systems in increasing the level of road safety inurban areas by providing additional data on areas and road segments that are at risk for both road
users and pedestrians.
Lastly EO can measure ground displacements before and after urban earthquakes using multitemporal InSAR techniques to identify seismic precursor signals. Satellite imagery can provide
estimates of the ground deformation and its temporal evolution by exploiting large datasets of SAR
imagery that spans 72 months before and 16 months after the main shock.

BENEFITS

Spatial information about human settlements overtime
Land cover inventories on urban fabricLand cover and land use information for urban
areas

•

Information on road safety in specific roadsegments
Estimates on ground deformation to identify early
earthquake signals
Identifications of factors determining Urban Heat
Areas

•
•
•
•

•

END USERS

Responsive decision making on planning and environmental
issuesEnhanced resource management, allocation and urban
sustainability

•
•
•
•
•

Landscape architects
Civil engineers/architects
Public Administration
Government and institutions
Commercial users

Early warning
Anticipate threats to urban population and environment
Reduction of damages
Reduction to mortality rates linked to urban threats

•
•
•
•

Architects
Landscape architects
Civil engineers
Public Administration

Copernicus Market Report | Issue 2, February 2019 | Prepared by PwC |63

URBAN MONITORING
DRIVERS AND CHALLENGES FOR THE ADOPTION OF EO FOR URBAN MONITORING

Thanks to EO, researchers and decision makers no longer need to rely on classification products that are only
relevant for specific locations, points in time or according to a specific definition. With basic off-the-shelfsupervised image classification algorithms, publicly-available EO datasets and cloud-based computation
platforms, extraction of meaningful information about Earth across space and time becomes easier and moreaccessible.
The growth and densification of urban areas pose social, economic and environmental challenges as the health,comfort and consumption needs of city dwellers must be addressed, while environmental damages caused byhuman activities and excessive resource consumption must be avoided. Sustainable urban development can bereached by making cities smarter and by integrating the usage of information and communication technology
into the decision-making process of urban planning and development. The support of EO and remote sensing
technologies can facilitate access to the necessary data enabling the analysis of urban drivers and themonitoring of the urban environment.

CHALLENGE 1
Including and combining the relevant existing information from EO urban data, inorder to obtain multiscale inputs

CHALLENGE 2
Mapping land cover at a national or regional scale is challenging due to specificcharacteristics of the urban environment

CHALLENGE 3
Lack of historical reference data and other computational constraints

DRIVER 1
Need for improvement in resource management, resource allocation, andsustainability; EO can characterize urban environments to a degree of accuracy
simply not attainable only with in-situ data.

DRIVER 2
Growing urban areas demand more accurate and up-to date monitoring in order tospot problem areas and anticipate threats to urban population and environment

The process of using EO data to characterize urban areas cannot avoid the fact that more and more data inputs
on urban environments is being collected and stored. Combining the relevant existing information with satellite
imagery data is a significant challenge in building multiscale models that are vital to construct global models.

Secondly, mapping land cover on a national or regional scale is a challenge due to the lack of high-resolution
global imagery, the spectral heterogeneity and complexity of land, and the small and fragmented spatialconfiguration which characterizes many cities.
Lastly, clear issues are posed by the lack of historical reference data and other computational constraints. Whilethese studies map the land cover and land use with high precision in local settings, their transferability to otherregions is unknown and potentially problematic. In the last decade, several classification products have beendeveloped to map urban land and the human footprint globally. While these and other datasets provide
essential information about urbanization, they typically characterize urbanization in a specific point in time.
Promoting sustainable development requires monitoring urbanization in high frequency without being
constrained by the specific characteristics of existing products.

Copernicus Market Report | Issue 2, February 2019 | Prepared by PwC |64

URBAN MONITORING
THE VALUE CHAIN OF EO DATA FOR URBAN MONITORINGACQUIRING EO DATAPROCESSING NEEDS AND CAPABILITIESUSERS & NEEDS

Data format and in-house capabilities•

Roughly 90% of satellite data comes from commercial
satellites to monitor land use in urban areas.

•

Off-the-shelf supervised image classification
algorithms•

Remote data, which records the physical characteristics ofEarth to measure the spatial-physical characteristics ofurban environments.

••

Different sensors (radar sensors vs multispectral high-res)record distinct urban characteristics (brightness,
temperature, height, density, texture).

Cloud computing platforms, such as Google EarthEngine for land use/cover mapping by integrating
publicly available data and geographically specificreference data

Integration with airborne and ground data needed forspecific features (i.e. building characteristics).

•

Spatial resolution is a driving factor in monitoringfragmented and heterogeneous urban areas.

•

Thermal bands are inputs for classification to increase theaccuracy of detection of industrial and dense urban areas(typically warmer).

Institutional Users•

Private Users

Overall data needs•

Data processing, data analysis and data sale•

Storage of historical data to build long term
database (>10 years)•

Publicly available EO datasets, integrated withstatistical data collected by local authorities andaerial data•

Storage of historical data to build long term
database (>10 years)

Copernicus Market Report | Issue 2, February 2019 | Prepared by PwC |Non exhaustive list

65•

Low-cost tools taking advantage of publicly available
EO data and cloud-based computational platforms to
map urban land use and cover•EO data classification tools using administrative vector
data as reference for supervised image classification•

Models assessing the association between the extent
of built-up land cover and the distribution of the
population and economic activity•

Estimates of the ground deformation and its temporal
evolution by exploiting large datasets of SAR imagery

URBAN MONITORING
COPERNICUS DATA MAKES A DIFFERENCE IN TERMS OF UPDATE AND RESOLUTION,
BUT FACES THE CHALLENGE OF INTERNATIONAL AWARENESS AND DATA CONTINUITY
Copernicus
strengths
Sentinel-1 radar data is used for change
detection and the development of 3Dmodels. It provides all-weather imagery
with a rapid revisit period (6 days), a wide
area coverage and a millimeter accuracy.
Sentinel-1 data can also be used for roadand other transportation route mapping.
Sentinel-2 data provides relevant data forurban growth monitoring thanks to its highspatial resolution optical imagery.

Sentinel-1 is well suited to disseminate radar
images covering large areas and enabling temporalcomparison. Its spatial resolution is a strong
differentiator for monitoring fragmented urban
ecosystems.

IMPROVEMENT OFSPATIALRESOLUTION

The open data policy allows for initial
experimental projects before developing
deeper EO skills. This is of particularimportance for governmental institution
relying on public spending money, oreven SMEs with limited financial capacity.

The emergence of advanced algorithms to extract
data
from
satellite
imagery,orgreatercomputational power open new opportunities forurban remote sensing applications.
Technological progress opens new opportunities for
Copernicus’ Urban Monitoring application.

TECHNOLOGICALPROGRESS SUCH
AS ADVANCEDALGORITHMS

The main weakness of Copernicus forurban monitoring application lies in thedomain of land use, in which commercial
satellites imagery is still dominant due tothe need of high resolution. Uptakes inthis domain are foreseen at a very
experimental level, and will be detailed in
the case study.

The implementation of the DIAS made it mucheasier to access and process Sentinel data, andenhanced Copernicus competitiveness with respect
to other EO international programs such as
Landsat.

COPERNICUS
DIAS ISFACILITATINGDATA ACCESSFORINTERMEDIATE
USERS

Copernicus Market Report | Issue 2, February 2019 | Prepared by PwC |LAND USEAPPLICATIONSLARGELY
DEPEND ON
COMMERCIALSATELLITES

66

Copernicus
weaknesses

To monitor land use in urban areas, a vast
majority of satellite data comes fromcommercial satellites. Users do not foresee asignificant uptake possibility, unless theresolution is further enhanced

URBAN MONITORING
COPERNICUS BENEFITS FOR URBAN MONITORING
The revenues of EO intermediate users (i.e. downstream service providers) attributable to urban
monitoring are estimated to have amounted to some EUR 77 million in 2018. According to thestakeholders interviewed, Copernicus generates at minimum 10% of their revenues, leading to aconservative estimate of the Copernicus-enabled revenues of EUR 8 million in 2018 for downstream
providers. A more optimistic estimate based on the Geo-Information Systems (GIS) market for urban
monitoring leads to around EUR 10 million Copernicus-enabled revenue.
In addition, according to market studies, Smart Cities produces a 25% Return on Investment (ROI). It
is assumed that EO contributes positively to the development of smart cities, and generate acomparable ROI for investors, the estimated benefit for end users (i.e. the municipalities acquiring
intermediate users products and services) would represent between EUR 10 and 12 million in 2018.
The EO market for Urban Monitoring is expected to grow by 17% every year from 2015 to 2020.
Assuming a constant share of Copernicus-enabled revenue (10%), a conservative estimate of the
expected value of Copernicus data by 2020 is around EUR 35 million. This includes EUR 11 million forintermediate users and EUR 24 million of end user benefits.

€
€

€

€€

Economic impacts€ €Intermediate users
City mapping,Land detection ,3D imaging

URBAN
PLANNING

REVENUES FORDATAPROVIDERSREDUCED RISKLand use
products,

URBAN RISKMANAGEMENT

risk indexes

REDUCED DAMAGE

Economic benefits of Copernicus through its contribution to urban monitoring

EUR M(Source: PwC)

End users

50
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0

Key

Max

URBAN
PLANNING

Platforms fordelivering
products to users

URBAN RISKMANAGEMENT

Support todecisionmakingMin
End users

Max

ENHANCEDRESOURCE
ALLOCATIONREDUCED RISKREDUCED DAMAGE
Intermediate
users
2018

2019

Min

2020
Copernicus Market Report | Issue 2, February 2019 | Prepared by PwC |67

URBAN MONITORING
COPERNICUS BENEFITS FOR URBAN MONITORING

Social impacts

Global sustainability frameworks objectives involve theenhancement, by 2030, of inclusive and sustainableurbanization and capacity for participatory, integrated
and sustainable human settlement planning andmanagement in all countries. Achieving such target
requires supporting all countries in monitoring theirurban extent and delineating precisely the built-up
footprint of their cities.

End users

URBAN
PLANNING

Automatic urban extent mapping is based on a
combination of temporal statistics of C-band SAR
backscattering data from the Sentinel-1 and Envisat
satellites and multi-spectral optical data from Landsat
and Sentinel-2.
Such a global urban mapping service can help countries
and cities without technical and financial resources tohave a regular monitoring of their urban development
and to characterize their human settlements – even inremote regions where no other sources of information
are available.

Enhanced urban
services, readiness ofdata availability

Ready response tourban malfunctioning

ENHANCED URBANSUSTAINABILITYDAMAGE AND
MORTALITY RISKLIMITATION

Awareness of criticalareas to rescue
URBAN RISKMANAGEMENT

Quick intervention
ENHANCED URBANECOSYSTEMRECOVERY

Ready identification of
threats

Copernicus Market Report | Issue 2, February 2019 | Prepared by PwC |68

URBAN MONITORING
COPERNICUS BENEFITS FOR URBAN MONITORING

Environmental impact
Sentinel data can be used to identify and track urban sprawl. Urban
sprawl causes extensive environmental damages, mainly due toincreased traffic and energy consumption, as well as greenhouse gas
emissions, noise pollution, poor air quality, and so-called Urban Heath
Islands. Global gradual – and often unnoticed – urban sprawl has adirect negative impact on ecosystems, human health and quality of life.
The Copernicus Land Monitoring Service as well as the Urban Atlas
provide land use information over Europe’s main urban areas, and are
employed as a tool to analyze environmental trends.

End users

URBAN
SPRAWL
TRACKING

Implementation ofpolicies to protect
urban ecosystem

Identification ofprominent
environmental issues

REDUCEDENVIRONMENTALPRESSURE

Strategic impacts
The world has its first stand-alone Urban Sustainable Development
Goal (USDG) as part of the post 2015 United Nations Sustainable
Development Agenda.
Poor data, lack of strong city data collection capacities and localization
are challenges for using the USDG as a tool to improve urban areas.

ENHANCE PUBLIC AUTHORITIES WORKFLOW AND DECISION MAKING PROCESS BY INTEGRATINGSENTINEL PRODUCTS AND DATAUSDG encourages reforms if anchored in local institutions andinitiatives informed by open, inclusive data collection and monitoring.
Copernicus’ products related to urban monitoring are valuable tools in
improving the sustainability of urban areas. Copernicus’ international
competitive advantage on these specially designed products and its
more frequent updating as compared to traditional methods (survey
based ground and aerial data) and to Landsat, are crucial indetermining the characteristic of fragmented city landscapes.

INCREASE PRESENCE OF EUROPE ON GLOBAL SUSTAINABILITY FRAMEWORKCopernicus Market Report | Issue 2, February 2019 | Prepared by PwC |69

URBAN MONITORING/ CASE STUDYSPACE4ENVIRONMENT IN SUPPORT OF
CITY BIODIVERSITY INDEX

Innovators EO4CBI
space4environment
EO4CBI AS A TOOL FOR THE IDENTIFICATION
AND ASSESSMENT OF URBAN GREEN AREAS

The EO4CBI service comprises land cover maps for one
reference year (mostly 2015 or 2016) derived from highresolution EO data. It includes:

Space4environment is a company founded in 2007, and who isusing space data to provide space for the environment. It
developed the EO4CBI tool to monitor indicators in the CBI.

•The CBI index is conceived as a self-assessment tool toevaluate the state of biodiversity in cities. It includes 23
indicators, 4 of which (1,2,11,12) are assessable through EO
data.

•
•

SATELLITE IMAGE
ACQUISITION

5 major classes such as agriculture; buildings, roads, paved
grounds, mining areas; forest; meadows, grasses andpastures; and water.
Vegetated and not vegetated areas layer
Candidate natural areas levels 1 and 2 layers

Data processing

BASIC LAND COVER
MAPS
CALCULATION AND
ASSESSMENT OF
INDICATORSEO4CBI workflow(Source: Space4environment)

EO DATA IN SUPPORT OF CBI INDICATORSEO4CBI APPLICATION

The tool relied on EO data from Sentinel-2, RapidEye, and SPOT. It has been used andtested in 10 cities around the world, across 2014 to 2016.

•

Barcelona (Spain)•

Tallinn (Estonia)•

Edmonton (Canada)•

Buenos Aires (Argentina)•

Hamilton (New Zealand)•

Addis Ababa (Ethiopia)•

Lisbon (Portugal)•

Luxembourg (Luxembourg)•

Portland (USA)•

Stockholm (Sweden)

Sentinel 2 images

Example of the Indicators(Source: Space4environment)

Integration of Sentinel-2,
RapidEye, SPOT

Basic Land cover map

URBAN MONITORING / CASE STUDY

TRE-A PROCESSING CHAIN OVERVIEW
AND WORKFLOWCONTRIBUTION OF TRE ON DISPLACEMENTS
IN TUSCANY (2016)

TRE-A PROCESSING CHAIN DETAILEDAPPLICATION AND RESULTS

Continuous, semi-automatic monitoring of ground deformation
TRE Altamira

SQUEE-SAR
TECHNOLOGY
CLASSIFICATION

Scientific Reports, TRE-A has shown that the Sentinel-1
constellation can be used for continuous and systematic trackingof ground deformation phenomena at the regional scale. Thiscase study has been applied in Tuscany (Italy), starting from
September 2016.

TRE Altamira (TRE-A) engineers set up a systematic processing
chain of Sentinel-1 acquisitions to create continuously updated
ground deformation data, marking the transition from static
satellite analyses, based archive images, to dynamic monitoringof ground deformation.

EO DATA TIME SERIES

Sentinel 1

SQUEESAR PROCESSING
Identification of anomalies

Displacement time series, systematically updated with the mostrecent available Sentinel-1 acquisition, are analyzed to identify
anomalous points (i.e., points where a change in the dynamic of
motion is occurring).

TS ANOMALIES
CLASSIFICATION

The presence of a cluster of persistent anomalies affecting
elements at risk determines a significant level of risk, with thenecessity of further analysis. In an article published by Nature

APPLIED

Preliminary analysis –Displacement identification

Release of bulletin toregional authorities every 12
days

TRE-A workflow for monitoring ground deformation(Source: TRE Altamira)

TO

ANOMALIES
TS anomalies classification

Monitorig bulletin release

For the initial implementation of the continuous monitoring of Tuscany, the entire ESA
images archive of Sentinel-1 was acquired and then processed by means of the SqueeSAR
technique. SqueeSAR analysis is designed to identify a sparse grid of measurement points
for which it is possible to estimate, with millimetre accuracy the mean yearly velocity (inmm/yr) and displacement time series along the satellite line of sight.
Whenever a time series (TS) shows non-linear behaviour, a breaking point is identified anddefined. The average deformation rates before and after the breaking point are calculated:
whenever their difference is higher than a certain threshold, points are labelled as anomalous
points.
Information on persistent anomalies affecting elements at risk is routinely delivered every 12days to regional authorities in charge of the geo-hazard management practices, in the form ofmonitoring bulletins. All delivered data can be accessed via a web-service tool.

SqueeSAR data Sentinel-1
Illustration of the process from data acquisition, time series analysis and bulletin delivery(Source: TRE Altamira)

URBAN MONITORING / CASE STUDY

I.MODI FIELD OF APPLICATION

I.MODI OBJECTIVES OVERVIEW AND
WORKFLOW

I.MODI, Structural Services For Structural Monitoring
Survey Lab
I.MODI, A TOOL TO MONITORSTRUCTURAL DISPLACEMENTS IN
URBAN AREAS
The I.MODI project (Implemented MOnitoring
system for structural DIsplacement) aims to exploit
the business opportunity generated by theincreasing need to have a systematic monitoring
system able to detect the stability of buildings inlarge urban areas and to control critical civil
infrastructures threatened by natural and man-madeprocesses.
It focuses on the exploitation of Earth Observation
data to create an added value service where theintegration between EO technologies, aerial, groundbased data and ICT represent the core of the systemand becomes easily accessible from users. It
focuses on 3 major classes: buildings, roads anddykes.
A customized web service will be developed to fully
integrate EO data into standard procedures basedon in-situ technologies (GNSS and ground surveys).
EO and non-EO inputs will be linked and managed
using ICT technology to provide a value-added
service to end users (companies, professional
operators and private citizens). Large-scale testingand validation activities will be conducted incollaboration with end users, including publicauthorities and private companies.

I.MODI’S CUSTOMIZED WEB SERVICE•

Current satellite missions collect data with highfrequency, even every 15 days. Past missions
undertook a historical analysis using archived data,
which from 1992 to now cover the entire Earth.

A displacement indicator, derived from themagnitude of the settlements, is associated to eachstructure providing a ranking to be used forprioritizing further actions.

•

Wide Area Analysis•

Overview of the magnitude and distribution of thesubsidence process overlapped to surface andsubsoil interferences

Each map is associated with an information form
that summarizes the main conclusion of theinterpretation analysis.

Preliminary analysis –Displacement identification

EO DATA TIME SERIES

Sentinel 1, Cosmo
Sky MedPreliminary damage analysis

SQUEESAR PROCESSING

In situ data, survey

Preliminary damage analysis
Quantification of damage
evolution over time, past,present and future

QUANTITATIVEANALYSIS

Aerial, UAV, ICT

I.MODI workflow for Structural Monitoring

Buildings Classification

Sentinel 1,
COSMO SkyMedDInSAR
Data

In-Situ
Data

Territorial analysis

Aggregated analysis

Single-structure
analysis

Rationale of I.MODI customized web service (Source: Survey Lab)COASTAL AND MARINE EXPLOITATION AND PRESERVATIONKEY TAKEAWAYS•

Copernicus economic impact (2018)

This value chain is focused on several domains related to coastal and marine exploitation and preservation, such as
fisheries, water quality, shipping and maritime transport.

•

If final users remain mostly from the public sector, there is a strong uptake from the private sector as well as more andmore public-private interactions on marine and maritime activities.

•

Considering the current context of climate change, oceans and coastal areas are facing even more changing conditions
than they are used to, which makes this domain in search of accurate data, both near-real time, forecasted and also
long-term.

•

The Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service (CMEMS) counts more than 15,000 users today compared to5,000 users two years ago.

•

Sentinel-3 has been the main value-added in the recent product evolution of CMEMS.

(Source: PwC)

191 EUR M

59 EUR M

51 EUR M

33 EUR M

Enabled revenues forintermediate users

COPERNICUS APPLICATIONS•

Mapping of fishing zones•

Forecasting algal blooms•

Better forecasting of new areas accessible due to ice melting•

Water depth, winds, waves and current monitoring for renewable energies and ship routing•

Forecasts of regional sea level rising and storm surges•

Monitoring and prevention of coastal erosion•

Supporting environmental regulations and Marine Protected Areas

Enabled revenues
for end users

KEY COPERNICUS PRODUCTS

Copernicus Market Report | Issue 2, February 2019 | Prepared by PwC |73•

Raw data: mostly Sentinel-3, complemented by
Sentinel-1•

Products: CMEMS sea level, wave, currents, sea
surface temperature and chlorophyll-A

COASTAL AND MARINE EXPLOITATION AND PRESERVATION
A WIDE VARIETY OF ACTIVITIESContainer port traffic in the European Union (in million TEU)
(Source: World Bank)
Millions

The current assessment looks at the support a wide
variety of marine and maritime applications can receivefrom the use of Earth Observation data and ocean
modelling. More precisely, marine EO information canbenefit maritime exploitation (with ship navigation,
including in ice areas, fisheries management, ocean
surveillance, development of marine renewable energies,etc.) and marine and littoral preservation (with protectionof coastal areas, sustainable fishing, aquaculture,preservations of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), water
quality and biodiversity, respect of Marine Strategy
Framework Directive (MFSD) and Common Fisheries
Policy (CFP), monitoring of algal bloom, etc.).

120
100
80
60

For instance, European citizens consumed about 25.1 kgof fish each year in 2015, for 24.7 kg in 2013, over
350,000 people have jobs related to fishing and fishprocessing and 6.4 million tonnes of fish are produced
each year in Europe (making Europe the world’s fourthlargest fishing industry). This example emphasises thatfisheries is an important market for which the availabilityof marine data, which can improve techniques, should
generate benefits.

40
20
0

Total fisheries production in the European Union (in metric tons)
The second domain where most revenues from EO
products are generated is ship traffic. Indeed, this is a
growing domain as emphasised by the container port
traffic, which moved from 102 M Twenty-foot Equivalent
Unit (TEU) in 2015 to 113 M TEU in 2017 in the European
Union. Similarly, EO data and marine information
products that can support such activities have thepossibility to generate major revenues and also significant
cost-savings for the maritime industry.

(Source: World Bank)
Millions

These activities are broad and have a variety of different
needs, hence require the use of different types of
information. According to the European Association of
Remote Sensing Companies (EARSC) 2017 industry
survey, the proportion of revenues from products derived
by the EO services sector for the ocean and marine
thematic sector represented 20% of the sales mix, being
the second most important sector after the land sector.
This value has nevertheless decreased compared to 2012
when the ocean and marine sector represented about
27% of the revenues. This decrease is not due to a lack ofinterest from EO services product developers but rather
from a growth of other domains (such as atmosphere andclimate) for which EO offered less possibilities few years
ago.

More precisely, according to EARSC 2017 Industry
Survey, the current EO product sales mix encompasses
fisheries (about 4.4%), ships (about 4.1%), marine
ecosystems (about 3.8%), coastal (3.4%), metocean andsea and icebergs (about 2%) and snow and ice (about0.2%). As a result, these domains will be the ones wheremost focus is put within this report.

9
8
7
6
5

4
3
2

Sources: European Commission
10Copernicus Market Report | Issue 2, February 2019 | Prepared by PwC |74

COASTAL AND MARINE EXPLOITATION AND PRESERVATIONOVERVIEW OF THE TYPE OF SUPPORT PROVIDED BY EO DATA TO MARINE ACTIVITIESEO and modelled data can support most domains in the maritime and marine field
Information derived from altimetry and ocean colour are particularly key for all marine and maritime activities. For instance, ship routing can be optimised with the availability of measurements of sea surface waterheight, sea surface temperature and thus the development of current maps. Aquaculture requires EO data from water quality, chlorophyll-A content. Marine information results from the integration of many EO data
sources including additional meteorological or climatological ones, and many in-situ sources in ocean models. If forecasts, long term reanalysis of the past, and projections for the future are provided, real-timeobservation provided by Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imagery is the second top use for ice risk identification, ship traffic monitoring and marine safety. The interest in optical data, i.e. from Sentinel-2, is getting
higher especially in coastal areas. As a result, most of the spectrum of EO data is used in this activity sector.

APPLICATIONS

WHY EARTH OBSERVATION?

BENEFITSEND USERS

•
•
•
•
•

Mapping of fishing zones
Forecasting algal blooms
Fish stock numerical modelling
Fish farm site optimisation
Fishing site sitting

•
•
•
•
•

Increase productivity
Limit the waste of contaminated shellfish
Facilitates the performance inventory of aquaculture
More efficient and eco-friendly fishing
Support sustainability of fish stocks

•
•
•
•

Fish farmers and fishermen
Public authorities
Environmental agencies
citizens••••

Supporting icebreakers in routing
Optimization of navigation routes (safe, comfortable,
accessible)
Water depth, winds, waves and current forecasts
Drifts forecasts in case of loss at sea or icebergs

•
•
•
•
•

Reduced cost of navigation
Decreased ecological impact
Reduced marine accidents
Avoid loss of goods
Save fuel••••Ship owners and operators
Citizens
Public authorities
Maritime rescue centers and ice breakers

•
•
•
•

Impact of climate on marine ecosystems
Forecasting jellyfish blooms
Managing reef ecosystems
Bathing waters monitoring•

WATER QUALITY &MARINE ECOSYSTEMS••

Improved protection of aquatic species and marine
biodiversity
Reduced plastic waste in ocean
Increase tourism

•
•
•
•

Citizens
Research centers
Environmental agencies
International organisations

COASTAL
MANAGEMENT

•
•
•
•

Monitoring shoreline and prevention of coastal erosion
Managing reef ecosystems
Renewable energies development and operations
Bathymetry and sedimentation

•
•
•
•

Shoreline conservation
Improved coastal and marine spatial planning
Improve public health
Develop blue economy

•
•
•
•

International organisations and NGOs
National agencies
Environmental agencies
Industry••

Mapping of Marine Protected Areas
Supporting energy package and development of
renewables
Respect MFSD, CFP
Supporting environmental regulations
Supporting sustainable development goals•

Facilitate decision-making to protect marine
ecosystems
Facilitate conducting extensive monitoring
Control the fisheries and aquaculture production
Improved public healthSupport climate change; mitigation and resilience

•
•
•
•

Public authorities
Citizens
Municipalities
European administrations

FISHING &AQUACULTURE

SHIPPING & ICE
NAVIGATIONPOLICIES

•
•
•

•
•
•
•

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COASTAL AND MARINE EXPLOITATION AND PRESERVATION
DRIVERS AND CHALLENGES FOR THE UPTAKE OF EO DATA FOR MARINE ACTIVITIESWith EO data, a variety of products can be developed, whether maps (e.g. fishing zones maps), images of
specific locations, or forecasts showing the evolution of a specific parameter (e.g. color of the ocean). Thanks tothe combination of various data, the need of the user can be met. EO data integrated into marine informationfrom models has the advantage to be available on a regular basis along long time periods both past and future,
as well as in real time and short term forecasts.
Considering the rapidly changing environment in a global warming context, it is essential to build on thiscontinuous observation to both understand the changing environment while preparing for resilience to climatechange and to adapt to climate risks. Additionally, real-time observation supports day-to-day the development of
the blue economy, seas and oceans conservation and use of ocean as places of freedom and leisure.
All is based on EO data continuously assimilated into models and helping to provide correct solutions to often
complex problems.

Beyond this, environmental pressure has pushed public authorities to take measures towards a better
preservation of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) or biodiversity coupled with sustainable and eco-friendly
exploitation of resources. Therefore, EU policies like the European Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) regulates
fishing to avoid fish stocks collapsing, controlling and enforcing good practices. Thanks to EO data, such
regulations can be easier respected by fishermen.

DRIVER 1
Conditions in oceans and along the coasts can rapidly change and continuous
monitoring is key

DRIVER 2
EO has the ability to contribute to most of the main maritime and marine activities,
as different products can be derived (maps, images, forecasts, etc.)

DRIVER 3
In a context of global warming, the monitoring of ocean conditions (e.g. ice melting,biodiversity) is and is expected to remain a major stake

Ocean knowledge remains key for the future and the availability of continuous, consistent EO data on
temperature, chlorophyll, depth of the sea, wind, etc. is essential.

CHALLENGE 1
Long time series of EO data are necessary to combine various types of data andvarious scales into models

CHALLENGE 2
The sector is very diverse and products need to be tailored for specific applications

In such a vast environment as the ocean, developing performing models requires the ability to gather significant
amounts of EO data of various types, in long time series. Both real-time analyses and forecasts may be neededor a combination of optical, altimetry and radar data can be necessary. This implies a certain level of expertisefrom users, who often are EO experts or oceanographers. A wider audience can still be reached but remains
currently small in number, and who make direct use of value-added services developed by intermediate users
into legacy systems.
Depending on the type of activities performed, products will strongly vary in their content. This implies thatintermediate users often do not work cross-field but in niche markets, which have particular needs.

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COASTAL AND MARINE EXPLOITATION AND PRESERVATIONTHE VALUE CHAIN OF EO DATA FOR MARINE EXPLOITATION AND PRESERVATIONACQUIRING EO DATAPROCESSING NEEDS AND CAPABILITIESSatellite data

Use of data processing platforms

•
•
•
•
•

•
•
•
•

Jason satellites (Sentinel-6 series - future)
ENVISATNASA satellites (NOAA)
LandsatSentinel data
• Sentinel-1 for shipping & sea ice navigation, andfishing & aquaculture• Sentinel-2 for water quality & marine ecosystems• Sentinel-3 for most application domains••

Data bought from private satellite operators (Cosmos,
Radarsat, etc.)
Copernicus products (CMEMS)
Meteorological and hydrology data

Non exhaustive list

Copernicus marine service (CMEMS)
Nephelae (IFREMER)
SeaDataCloud
EMODNET (DG MARE)

Fishing & aquaculture• Origin tracing, algae and phytoplankton mapping,water depth charting and bathymetry, fish-shoals
mapping, inventory and monitoring of aquaculture andfishery structures

Use of in-house capabilities••

USERS & NEEDS•

Shipping & sea ice• Improved navigation routes

Combination of EO expertise and knowledge from
specialised oceanographers or biologists
Development of in-house capabilities on niche
sectors with specific needs

Water quality & marine ecosystems• Habitats mapping, applications to support research on
species movements and behaviours

Fusion of EO data with other types of data

In-situ data (in particular for environmental monitoring,aquaculture, water quality)••••

Physical oceanography networks (ARGO, drifters, arctic
buoys, gliders,…)
Bathymetry
Biogeochemistry sensors (BGC-ARGO)HF radars••

Coastal management• Weather forecasts, movements of marine soil, large
waves forecasts and mappingMarket trends
Historical data and harvesting trends for fishermen
and farmers

Policies• Development of new environmental measures

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COASTAL AND MARINE EXPLOITATION AND PRESERVATION
DEPENDING ON THE FIELD OF ACTIVITY, DIFFERENT TYPES OF COPERNICUS
DATA ARE USED
Copernicus
strengths

Fishing & aquaculture
Fishermen and aquafarmers require accurate real time andforecasts information on fish growth rates and fish health, which
depends on water conditions. Some of this information isavailable in models based on CMEMS products and Sentinel-1
and 3 EO data. Forthcoming CMEMS products (such as
Microneckton) should also support sustainable fishing.

Consideringtheconstantly
changing
environment of the oceans and coasts, nearreal time information proves very useful forusers. Sufficient data is also available for thedevelopment of forecasts.

CONTINUOUS
PROVISION OF
CMEMS DATA IN
NEAR-REAL TIME

The use of EO in the marine and maritime
sector is growing thanks to the availability ofmore and more free data and products ofgreat quality, notably thanks to the recent
launch of Sentinel-3. End users are moreaware of the reliability of this European
flagship programme and thus have trust in its
products.

MORE
AWARENESS AND
BIGGER TRUST IN
COPERNICUS

Sentinel-3 has helped to improve the type of
applications Copernicus can support, notably
by providing altimetry data, sea surface
temperature and ocean color. The coverage
is global and the provision of data frequent.

NEW DATAAVAILABLETHANKS TOSENTINEL-3

Copernicus
weaknesses

Shipping & sea ice navigation
Navigation can be supported through the availability of current
maps and sea ice conditions that enable real-time mapping for
winter navigation and fuel savings, decreasing air pollution.

Water quality & marine ecosystems
For water quality purposes, the key element is to have good
spectral characteristics. Sentinel-2 & Sentinel-3 prove useful
and are leveraged by CMEMS in its analysis and forecast
model products. CMEMS is also currently working on thedevelopment of acidity products that will prove crucial for
protecting coral reef and the biodiversity of MPAs.

Coastal management
Users of EO data often require very high resolution models.
However, CMEMS is currently working to improve theresolution of its observation products for coastal users, from a
1km spatial resolution to 500m, which is in line with users’
needs.

Policies
All Copernicus data and CMEMS products mentioned above
can support the implementation of policies aimed at regulatingfishing activities or protecting the environment. The health ofoceans is reported annually in the CMEMS Ocean State
Report.
Copernicus Market Report | Issue 2, February 2019 | Prepared by PwC |78

DATA ACCESSDIFFICULTIES OR
DELAYS

Although some actions have beentaken to address the issue, there arestill problems with delays or missing
data on the ESA Open Access Hub.
Users are able to select the tiles of
Sentinel data they need but facedifficulties with the large volumes ofdata that can be downloaded.

NOT SUFFICIENTRESOLUTION FORSOMEAPPLICATIONSResolution is improving but for some
activities, in particular coastal
monitoring, there is a need forhigher resolution (for instance,
waves can only be detected if theirheight is higher than 0.4m),
necessitating this gap to becompensated with commercial data.

COASTAL AND MARINE EXPLOITATION AND PRESERVATIONCOPERNICUS BENEFITS FOR COASTAL AND MARINE EXPLOITATION
AND PRESERVATION
Several business opportunities result from the use of Copernicus-derived products for marine andmaritime applications. For instance, the improvement of ship routing thanks to Copernicus helps tobetter plan the arrival into port and save 1 to 2% of fuel. Copernicus free and open policy canstimulate market opportunities, especially because products can significantly rely on Copernicus(about 80-90% for some water quality products, more than 50% for some aquaculture/fisheries
products).
Economic benefits for intermediate users are linked to the development of value-added services tomarine and maritime industries oriented towards profit (e.g. ship traffic, fishing). In 2018, thisrepresented between EUR 33 M and EUR 59 M.

€
€

€

€€

Economic impacts€ €Intermediate users

SENTINEL ANDCMEMSAVAILABILITY

Ability tocreate/improve
products fromfree data

End users benefits are rather linked to the development of products supporting environmental assets(e.g. biodiversity, support to policies) and are often combined with intermediate user products to makethe most of Copernicus and EO data. In 2018, this represented between EUR 51 M and EUR 191 M.
End users are most likely to be public authorities, who represent 80% of 15 000 CMEMS users(though private and public entities collaborate a lot).

ABILITY TO COVER
LARGE AREAS
COMPARED TO
USERS OF IN-SITU
OR AIRBORNE
INSTRUMENTS

End users

Economic benefits of Copernicus through its contribution to marine exploitation andpreservation (Source: PwC)
350

Key

MARKETSTIMULATION

Max

300

Bettermanagement offish farms

INCREASEDPRODUCTIVITY

SHIP ROUTING

Betteroptimization ofroutesLESS SPENDING ON
FUEL

COASTAL
MANAGEMENT

Better anticipationof coastal erosion

Min

250
End users

200

EUR M

FISHING &AQUACULTURE

150

Max

100
50

Intermediate
users

0
2018

2019

Min

2020
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INCREASEDATTRACTIVENESS
OF COASTAL AREAS

COASTAL AND MARINE EXPLOITATION AND PRESERVATIONCOPERNICUS BENEFITS FOR COASTAL AND MARINE EXPLOITATION
AND PRESERVATION

Social impacts

Improved monitoring of water quality and bacteria
spreading

The large amount of data available helps increase thelevel of knowledge on the marine and maritime sector
for scientists but also public authorities and citizens. It
gives a strong incentive to ask for more information andhelp protect the environment, because data is regularly
available (compared to once a month for in-situ as
before). New environmental plans can thus be
developed and there is a bigger willingness to takeactions and feel concerned about the environment.
Use of Copernicus and EO data by societal associations
on plastic litter detection, coral reef restoration are key
examples of the rise of social responsibility.

Improved awareness of the existence of monitoring
techniques to survey coastal areas
IMPROVEDKNOWLEDGE WITHIN
THE MARINE SECTOR
THROUGH CMEMS

End users

ADAPTED RESPONSE
TO PUBLIC HEALTHISSUES

Detection and monitoring of the 7th plastic continent

Improved monitoring of sargassum

Improved monitoring of coral reefs

Improved monitoring of jellyfish blooms

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INCREASED TOURISM

COASTAL AND MARINE EXPLOITATION AND PRESERVATIONCOPERNICUS BENEFITS FOR COASTAL AND MARINE EXPLOITATION
AND PRESERVATION
Environmental impacts

The increase in accuracy for several applications
brought by the availability of Copernicus data is key forthe environment. For instance, fuel saved from
improved ship routing helps reduce greenhouse gases(GHG) emissions. Additionally, the availability ofCopernicus supports the development of the marine
renewable energy market (e.g. Ocean Thermal Energy
Conversion - OTEC, SeaWater Air Conditioning SWAC); a 10% increase in accuracy for ocean currents
can lead to a 20% increase in energy produced, hence
the usefulness of Sentinel-3, which increased theprecision of CMEMS current products.

Diminished reliance on fuel thank to optimised routing
INCREASEDKNOWLEDGE
ON WATERCONDITIONSWITH CMEMSPRODUCTS

End users
REDUCED GHG
EMISSIONSSUPPORT TO THE
DEVELOPMENT OF
MARINE RENEWABLE
ENERGIES
Ability to monitor new aspects of the environment (e.g.
surveillance of fish farming, of coastal water)
SUPPORT TOSUSTAINABLE
FISHING

Strategic impacts
End users
Copernicus can prove a strong asset in supporting thedesign of environmental policies and to verify thevarious regulations are indeed applied (e.g. ensure fishstocks are sustainable). Copernicus can therefore be atool for law enforcement.
Use of ocean acidification pH products based on EO
data and CMEMS for Sustainable Development Goal
(SDG) 14 at the United Nations level reporting is a key
way to achieve recognition..

Provision of statistics and trends on marine and maritime activities

DESIGNENVIRONMENTAL ANDFISHERY POLICIESProvision of the Ocean State Report by CMEMSTRACK IFREGULATIONS ARE
RESPECTED

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COASTAL AND MARINE EXPLOITATION AND PRESERVATION / CASE STUDY

COPERNICUS CONTRIBUTION TO
AQUAFARMING ACTIVITIESNEEDS AND CHALLENGES OF
AQUACULTURE

Feeding of models boosting aquafarms’ profitability
Planetek Italia
THE EUROPEAN BLUE ECONOMY

THE RHETICUS® AQUACULTURE PROJECT

Aquaculture has been identified by the European Commission asa key component of both the Common Fisheries Policy and theBlue Growth Agenda, with high potential for sustainable jobs andgrowth. The aquaculture sector in Europe is highly competitive.
Companies face many costs and challenges, which represent agreat effort for them as the aquaculture sector is mainly
dominated by SMEs with limited funding capabilities. In thisregard, aquaculture activities need to be optimized in order tomaximize the profitability, fulfil constraints set by environmental
legislation and avoid risky situations for the production activities
and the marine environment.

The Rheticus® Aquaculture project intends to support
aquaculture professionals through the exploitation of EO
data for the optimization of their activities, the monitoring ofproduction sites and the maximization of profitability. The
project intends to provide aquaculture actors withinformation to:• Identify the best harvesting and selling time;• Estimate product growth rates, days to market size, start ofbreeding season, and product values in comparison withmarket prices and profitability trends;• Identify the best locations for new aquaculture farms;• Monitor and forecast environmental conditions for operational
aquaculture;• Analyze and characterize the marine environment with an ‘aposteriori’ approach.

USE OF COPERNICUS TO SUPPORTAQUAFARMS
Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service (CMEMS)
products and Sentinel-3 imagery regularly provide synoptic anduseful information on the coastal environment; however, to boost
their usefulness, the project has to combine such data withsimulation models of finfish and/or shellfish growing rate together
with other relevant information, such as records of in-situ
measurements done by some involved mussel producers of the
Adriatic sea or records of harvesting and market trends, to help
aquafarmers make critical and informed decisions.
Due to peculiar climate conditions, in 2017 there was an early
breeding season over the production sites of the involved mussel
farmers (central Adriatic Sea). After the breeding season,

Examples of Rheticus® Aquaculture Dashboards (Source: Planetek Italia)

mussels started losing most of their mass. When eventually
farmers harvested them, the mass reduction was so great that it
led to an economic loss of more than 20% with respect to theyear before. Ultimately, farmers were not aware of the earlyclimate conditions suitable for the breeding season and thiscaused the aforementioned economic disadvantages.
The results obtained by Rheticus® Aquaculture were able to give
precious suggestions about the early breeding season. If farmers
had had this information, they would have harvested mussels
earlier than they actually did, reducing the economic loss of morethan 50%.
Examples of Rheticus® Aquaculture Dashboards (Source: Planetek Italia)

COASTAL AND MARINE EXPLOITATION AND PRESERVATION / CASE STUDY

COPERNICUS CONTRIBUTION TO COASTALMONITORING

NEEDS AND CHALLENGES OF COASTALMONITORING

Copernicus helps to fill gaps in knowledge of the world’s coastal zone
TCartaTHE OCEAN ECONOMY

OCEAN WATER DEPTHS ANALYSISThe ocean-economy is estimated to have a value between USD 3 and 6 trillion per year. And with
40% of the world’s population estimated to live in coastal communities, the importance of having an
up-to-date and clear understanding of this region is critical. Ocean depth data is used for a myriad of
applications, including marine spatial planning, environmental impact assessments and aiding
navigation. Less than 10% of the shallow waters of the world’s oceans are charted to modern
standards. In many instances, where charts do exist these are based upon information captured in the
1800s using lead-line techniques involving lowering a line from the side of a boat until the sea bottom
is reached. This data gap is prohibiting decision making, resource planning and sustainable
development.

Earth Observation satellites, combined with Remote Sensing algorithms allow accurate depth data to
be calculated for shallow waters. The technique is known as satellite derived bathymetry. Satellite
Earth Observation methods allow large swathes of the world’s shallow waters to be mapped quickly
and remotely. Satellite derived bathymetry is up to 20 times cheaper than boat surveys, meaning thatdata becomes affordable to a larger user base. Although satellites do not offer the same level ofaccuracy as boat surveys, the output data is suitable for many end uses. Whether data is needed forreconnaissance work, ahead of more detailed data gathering, or is used stand alone to develop a
clear picture of coastal change, satellite derived bathymetry is a now a proven tool that is providing
critical understanding of the ocean environment. TCarta have been collating ocean depth data since2008 from many data sources. This data is provided to end users in standardised and easily
digestible formats that are ready for implementation within Geographic Information Systems (GIS).
TCarta have a satellite derived production facility that is continually, speculatively producing satellite
derived bathymetry data throughout the world.

USE OF COPERNICUS TO SUPPORT BATHYMETRY
The Copernicus programme, and specifically the Sentinel-2 satellites, have provided the source inputs to create bathymetry at 10m resolution inclear waters to depths of up to 20m. The launch of the Sentinel-2 satellites (2015 and 2017) has provided a vital data source for bathymetry
production that is readily accessible and frequently updated. The Sentinel-2 satellite imagery archive (now over 3 years old in many locations)has allowed multiple images to be processed and trends and changes in coastal geomorphology to be clearly understood. Prior to the launch of
the Sentinel-2 constellation, satellite derived bathymetry was restricted to either utilising imagery from commercial operators (at very highresolution, and increased costs), or from USGS LandSat satellites (at a coarse resolution). TCarta are now using Sentinel-2 satellites to provide
bathymetry that is in the mid-range of these 2 approaches.
Projects that have specifically utilised Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellites have been commissioned by oil and gas companies with a focus onhydrocarbon exploration, as well as governments who are undergoing large marine spatial planning exercises. Better knowledge of shallow water
depths is key to improving these activities also reduces environmental impacts as there is a reduced need for deploying boats and aircraft to aregion.
10m resolution Satellite Derived Bathymetry createdfrom Sentinel-2 in Jamaica (Source: TCarta)

COASTAL AND MARINE EXPLOITATION AND PRESERVATION / CASE STUDY

COPERNICUS CONTRIBUTION TO WATERQUALITY MONITORING

NEEDS AND CHALLENGES OF ENSURING
WATER QUALITY

Using Copernicus data to support water quality monitoring
SYKE
ALGAL BLOOMSSYKE SERVICES

Cyanobacteria, blue - green algae, are of high interest to the
public and the press in all Baltic countries, as they form toxic
surface floating blooms during the summer holiday periods. In
the Northern Baltic Sea, the cyanobacteria bloom season
typically starts when the waters warm up by the end of June andcontinues to September. In 2018, the blooms were especiallyintensive in certain parts of the Baltic Sea, namely in the Gulf ofFinland and in the Northern Baltic Proper. During a two-weekperiod in July, extensive cyanobacterial blooms were packed
tightly in the coastal waters of Finland, and were of serious andintensive concern to the public, authorities and press. As anorganization responsible to this national concern, SYKE formeda special group to provide information on the algae and its
toxins.

The Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE) has over twenty
years of experience in utilizing satellite observations formonitoring surface algal blooms in the Baltic Sea. SYKE’s EO
services and methods are notably supporting the H2020
EOMORES project (eomores-h2020.eu). For distributing EO
products as images, SYKE utilizes web map interfaces
TARKKA(www.syke.fi/tarkka/en)
and
PINTA
(www.syke.fi/pinta/en). EO data is also condensed as periodical
statistics, histograms and time series in the web interface
STATUS. During the intensive algal bloom weeks of July, theEO services of SYKE provided daily information on the extent of
surface blooms. As a result, EO images of algal blooms were
widely displayed in newspapers and TV. During the intensive
phase of cyanobacteria bloom in summer 2018, SYKE’s algae
monitoring was mentioned in the media daily.

USE OF COPERNICUS TO SUPPORT WATERQUALITY MONITORING
The algae bloom service of SYKE covers the whole Baltic Sea
with medium resolution instruments - such as Sentinel-3 OLCIs- for generating the surface algal bloom maps and daily RGB
images visualizing the cyanobacteria features in water.
However, the coastal waters of Finland in the northern Baltic
Sea are characterized by fragmented coastline and thousandsof islands of various sizes. Thus, in 2018, the algal bloom
monitoring was upgraded with high resolution data from
Sentinel-2 MSI and USGS Landsat-8 (LC8) OLI. OLCI andS2/MSI captured the most intensive blooming days with almost
no cloud over the Gulf of Finland and the central Baltic Sea.

Number of service requests to SYKEs true color data interface during summer
and fall 2018 (Source: SYKE)In Finland, the reporting obligations set by the EU as part of theWater Framework Directive (WFD) concern about 4500 lakes
and more than 250 coastal water bodies. In the currently
ongoing WFD status assessment for 2011 – 2017, SYKE has
effectively exploited the Sentinel satellite series instruments MSI
and OLCI complemented with Landsat-8 OLI over numerous
lakes and coastal water bodies. The authorities responsible forthe assessment now have access to EO water quality products
from approximately 40% of Finnish lakes and practically all
coastal water bodies. The rest of the Finnish lakes are either too
small or too shallow for monitoring with EO instruments.
Naturally, this helps to diminish the enormous costs usually
linked to monitoring activities.
S3 OLCI true color image taken on July 16, 2018 showing extensive algal blooms(Source: SYKE)

COASTAL AND MARINE EXPLOITATION AND PRESERVATION / CASE STUDY

COPERNICUS CONTRIBUTION TO WATERTURBIDITY MONITORING

NEEDS AND CHALLENGES OF
MONITORING WATER TURBIDITY

Characterisation of natural water turbidity to support sustainable maritime projects
I-Sea
THE OCEAN ECONOMY

I-SEA SERVICES

For Europe, maritime regions have long been drivers for
economic development and prosperity. Nowadays, extraction of
non-living resources, maritime transport, port operations andmarine-based renewable energy represent, altogether, anestimated gross added value of about EUR 215 billion andemploy at least 3.5 million people. The continuous growth ofthese industrial activities around coastal areas constantly raises
new challenges for local authorities in charge of the maintenanceand the improvement of the overall water quality and the related
protection of natural habitats.

Since the risks and severity of impacts from sedimentdisturbances on biological species are primarily related to theintensity, duration and frequency of exposure to increased
turbidity and sedimentation, knowledge on natural patterns ofturbidity is needed to support the prevention and mitigation ofenvironmental damages to natural resources and thereby toachieve sustainable use of the marine environment.

Turbidity image (Source: ESA)USE OF COPERNICUS TO SUPPORTCHARACTERISATION OF WATER TURBIDITY
Medium to high-resolution optical satellite sensors are ideal
providers of long-term observations on large coastal regions. The
French company I-SEA provides dedicated services based on
the statistical analysis of long historical time series to help in thedefinition of thresholds to be respected during marine
construction works, in order to protect marine life. Sentinel-2 andSentinel-3 are among the most consistent image sources feeding
this service.

With uncertainties on turbidity retrieval below 40%, the remotelysensed turbidity regimes allow the identification of locations andperiods of time to favor, in order to prevent the impact of maritime
works. Fish or shellfish farming, coastal fisheries and natural
mollusk bed exploitation represent an estimated gross value
added EUR 5 billion, employ more than 300,000 people and feed
all coastal regions in the world, including the most vulnerable
segments of the population. Monitoring coastal regions with
Copernicus constellation can significantly contribute to thesustainability and safety of maritime projects and helps inmaintaining healthy oceans for populations relying on it for jobs
and food.

i-Sea dashboards (Source: i-Sea)

OIL AND GAS
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Copernicus economic impact (2018)•

The Oil and Gas (O&G) value chain is the most private sector-oriented value chain, where the value chain targets
private end users from the upstream O&G industry.

•

The upstream O&G industry is heavily impacted by the fall in oil price, which negatively impacts the dissemination of
EO in general, including Copernicus data and products, since the O&G industry is very traditional and risk averse whenit comes to new products such as Copernicus.

•

The usage of EO data within the O&G upstream industry varies a lot from one actor to another, but in general the use of
EO is widely spread among upstream O&G end users when compared to other private sector value-chains.

•

The O&G upstream industry is heavily consolidated, with very large players involved in most of the supply chain andwho dominate the market.

•

Environmental legislation requires O&G companies to ensure compliance with policies and reduce risks to theenvironment. Hence, EO solutions are a useful tool for monitoring the effects of activities.

•(Source: PwC)

417 EUR M

170 EUR M

19 EUR M
6 EUR M

Most of the industry has already switched to Geographic Information System (GIS) products and services. Upstream
O&G players are in most cases using imagery incorporated into more complex GIS products, including EO (allresolutions), Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) data, in-situ data, internal data and statistics, etc.

COPERNICUS APPLICATIONS

Enabled revenues forintermediate users

Enabled revenues
for end users

KEY COPERNICUS PRODUCTS•

Real-time global sub-surface current forecasts, wave product,
including the Significant Wave Height (SWH), Global ocean windobservations climatology (CMEMS)

Maps and methods to prevent risk of disasters (e.g. maps of flooding, detection of hurricanes and typhoons,
underwater currents, etc.)•

Global and regional ocean 1/12° 1/36° physics analysis and forecast- updated daily

Maps and processes to support infrastructure construction and safety (e.g. maps to monitor construction and buildings,
climate series of large waves, ocean current forecasts, measures to monitor oil rigs and flares, etc.)•

SAR oil pollution observations•

Maps and processes to support exploration and drilling activities•

Procedures for environmental monitoring (e.g. coastal ecosystems, marine habitats, pollution at sea, etc.)••

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OIL AND GAS
A RECOVERING SECTOR WITH CHALLENGES STILL LYING AHEAD

Between mid-2014 and early 2016, the global economy
experienced a shocking decline in oil prices, tumblingfrom a peak of $115 per barrel in June 2014 to under$35 by the end of February 2016, caused by a
combination of declining supply as well as a drop in
demand. Several years later however, and production
has picked up again, especially in the US, with theindustry appearing more stable than it did a year ago.
The price of oil has begun to increase once more, witha prediction by JP Morgan that Brent Crude Prices will
average $73 a barrel in 2019.

However, challenges still lie ahead for the sector, above
all in relation to supply:

There is, however, a risk of a supply shortage inupcoming years, where oil demand is growing and yet
investment in major projects has still not recovered fromstalling due to the downturn, and oil supply growth has
also eased. Hence, oil companies will have to find away to boost production.

1.

There is a decline in new discoveries – only 3.5
billion barrels of liquids (crude, condensate andnatural gas liquids) were discover in 2017, meeting
only 10% of demand.

2.

Exploration spending has been slow to rise after
the downturn of 2014-2016. It fell from around
US$153 billion in 2014 to around US$58 billion in2017, with a modest recovery rate.

3.

Supplies are being disrupted, which can often belinked to geopolitical issues.

4.

Maintenance has been deferred, and now there isa rise in aging asset infrastructure.

5.

There is an overall momentum towards a lowercarbon world.

Growth in world oil supply and demand(Source: IEA Oil Market Report; PwC analysis)

The North American market is driving an uptick in oil
and gas rig activity levels, and recovery of the sector
can be seen in new projects being approved. For
example, Shell approved a decision to invest in the
Penguins field redevelopment, which will be its first new
staffed installation within the northern North Sea innearly 30 years. There has also been a rise in
exploration activities.

Sources: CNBC, PwC

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OIL AND GASCOMPANIES CAN BENEFIT FROM EO SOLUTIONS PRIMARILY THROUGH EXPLORATION
AND MONITORING
The importance of EO data in business models for oil and gas companies varies extensively from one
company to another. For some actors, EO is one of several tools to help with their activities, whilst forothers it plays a more integral part of their competitive advantage in the market. Some of the large oilcompanies have their own in-house remote sensing capabilities, especially for on-going activities. For
smaller companies or for general sporadic activities, it is more likely to be outsourced to a third party
service provider.

surveys and determining position of seismic equipment, helping produce topographical maps toconfirm/correct sub-surface structures derived from seismic activities, or even detecting small oil leaks
that are not located near current operations (natural reservoirs can also emit leaks).

EO in the oil and gas industry requires a variety of very different temporal and spatial imagery
resolutions. Very high resolution data is required for extremely specific and local applications, whilst
low/medium data and high resolution data can be used also for large area monitoring or mapping. EO
is for supporting and calibrating existing activities, and helping improve planning activities, and is not a
substitute for traditional techniques such as ground surveying.

Monitoring

Digitalization is also a trend within the O&G upstream industry, with GIS products and services being
very popular. Digital platforms with integrated solutions can provide added-value business intelligence.

EO allows for large scale prospecting in a more efficient manner for offshore and onshore exploration,
and allows for more confidentiality than sending helicopters or boats over specific areas of interest.

Monitoring solutions using Earth Observation are useful in a variety of ways for the oil and gas sector.
Firstly, environmental legislation and policy has obliged O&G companies to conduct environmental
assessments of their work, and ensure compliance in their activities. EO monitoring can detect oil spills
and leaks, or track water quality levels during infrastructure installation such as underwater pipelines.

Exploration

Secondly, it can help in the protection of rig/platform workers, by assessing extreme weather eventsand hazards such as ice floes in offshore locations.

As seen in the overall sector, there is a rise in the demand for supply in oil and gas, and yet there has
also been a decrease in discoveries of new reservoirs. EO can provide solutions such as planning

Finally, it can help with decommissioning purposes, by ensuring there are no leaks/spills as the
rigs/platforms are decommissioned.

APPLICATIONS

WHY EARTH OBSERVATION?

•EXPLORATION•••MONITORING••

BENEFITS

Detection of oil seeps from deep-water petroleum
reservoirs
Topographical maps can help confirm/correct the
sub-surface structure derived from seismic data
Detecting oil spills/leaks during operations
Detecting oils spills/leaks from malfunctioning/aging
infrastructure (which may be remote, e.g. pipelines)
Detecting hazards to workers and theplatforms/rigs, e.g. ice floes
Monitoring of dangerous sub-surface currents

END USERS•••

Better confidentiality than sending helicopters or boats
Cost efficient method for large scale prospecting
Allows preliminary exploration in remote areas without
sending in workers

•
•

•
•
•

Ensuring compliance with environmental legislation
Protecting workers from natural hazards
Protecting infrastructure from damage• Oil and gas companies• Environmental consultancy/research firms• Decision makers (e.g. national publicauthorities, international bodies)

Copernicus Market Report | Issue 2, February 2019 | Prepared by PwC |88

Survey companies
Oil and gas companies

OIL AND GASDRIVERS AND CHALLENGES FOR THE ADOPTION OF EO FOR OIL AND GAS
Environmental legislation continues to be a key driver in the O&G industry in seeking EO-based solutions,especially for those conducting offshore production. The European Union has set out the Safety of Offshore Oil
and Gas Operations Directive, which states that companies are fully liable for environmental damages caused
to protected marine species and natural habitats, with a geographical zone covering all EU marine waters,
including exclusive economic zones and continental shelves. O&G companies are therefore seeking new ways
in which to monitor environmental factors when undergoing operations such as extractions or pipeline
installations.
As the demand for oil grows, and the sector improves with the rise of oil prices again, companies are beginningto turn their attention back towards exploration. With this comes an interest in investing in new technology tosupport exploration activities, including EO-based solutions.
EO solutions have also been able to support O&G companies in assessing the risk to operations, especiallythrough the monitoring of hazards such as encroaching ice, where large ice floes and other extreme ice features
can damage offshore platforms and rigs, as well as endanger the workers. It also supports the monitoring of
extreme weather events that will impact offshore oil and gas infrastructure.

CHALLENGE 1
The oil and gas sector faces a volatile and cyclical market, meaning that thewillingness to invest in new solutions changes depending on market strength.
CHALLENGE 2
Oil and gas actors are rational and traditional, and are hence unwilling to take toomuch risk on new technologies
CHALLENGE 3
Oil and gas companies remain reactive rather than proactive, so it can bechallenging to persuade them to invest a share of their budget into these solutions

DRIVER 1
Environmental responsibility driven by environmental legislation means that O&G
companies are seeking ways to help monitor the environment as operations areundertaken.
DRIVER 2
Increase in oil demand means exploration activities may require new technologicalsolutions
DRIVER 3
EO solutions are able to support risk assessments, such as the risk from floating ice
to offshore platforms.

The oil and gas sector tends to be cyclical in nature, with rising and falling prices. The uptake of new technology
is hence connected closely with the pricing. High price of the barrel for oil correlates directly to higher
investments in the upstream and an increase in drilling activities, and of course the opposite is also true.
Investments in technologies, methods or products, such as ones based on EO data, are dependent therefore on
the Brent Crude Daily Price (indicator representing the price of oil on the stock exchange market).
Historically, oil and gas companies have been very rational and traditional. Actors are often unwilling to take toomuch risk, and are cost-oriented. Therefore, investment into new technologies need to be supported by someform of assurance of return.
It can be challenging for service providers to persuade oil and gas companies to dedicate some of their budget
towards investing in EO solutions to support activities such as exploration or ongoing monitoring, since theyremain reactive actors rather than proactive ones. If something goes wrong, such as an oil leak/spill, then they
are willing to invest in a solution to find the cause of the issue, but they may not be so encouraged to invest in
solutions for preventative measures.

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OIL AND GAS
THE VALUE CHAIN OF EO DATA FOR OIL AND GASACQUIRING EO DATAPROCESSING NEEDS AND CAPABILITIESUSERS & NEEDS

Overall data needs

Data format and in-house capabilities

Non exhaustive list•

Open source data (Sentinel, Landsat, MODIS) for low
and medium resolution data to monitor infrastructure,spills/leaks, the environment, and hazards•

Data processing required to turn satellite images
into a product that can offer information anddecision-making support to oil and gas companies••

Sentinel-1 data is especially useful, above all for offshore
activities, whilst Sentinel-2 is increasingly used foronshore activities•

Large oil and gas companies often have their own
internal capabilities for remote sensing and its
utilization

Supporting surveys (onshore and off) – EO allows forlarge scale prospecting in an efficient way.
Topographical maps may be used to reconfirm/correct
the sub-surface structure derived from seismic data•

Commercial data can also be required, for more specificor high resolution focus on certain areas•

Copernicus data and other open source EO
providers have allowed value added services
companies to develop more off-the-shelf products

GIS (including EO data) can help integrate data fordifferent geological analyses, e.g. prospect analysis,
land management, field geology maps, basin analysis•

Surveillance of production and pipelines – especiallypipelines/infrastructure in remote areas•

There is an interest in digital platforms to access
EO data, products and services••

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are alreadyutilized by many actors in the oil and gas sector

Environmental impact and assessment of activities –ensuring no spills/leaks, as well as construction of
infrastructure in an environmentally-friendly manner•

Safety of workers – ensuring extreme weather andhazards such as ice floes don’t endanger the workers.
EO in early exploration also ensures workers are lesslikely to have to go into remote locations for groundsurveys with no purpose•

Transport and logistics planning•

Decommissioning monitoring•••

Other sources of data besides EO are used also,
including: Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) data,internal data from the oil and gas company, ground data,
marine data, meteorological data
Other services include: ocean and wave forecasts, andlong time series - surface and sub-surface, and ice
conditions•

EO data is often fused with other sources of data,
both GIS and non-GIS. It is rarely the only data
source/solution•

Some trends observed towards introducing
automation and machine learning capabilities into
the products

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OIL AND GASEO PROVIDES USEFUL INSIGHT TO OIL & GAS, BUT OFTEN AS ADDED-VALUE RATHER THAN
SUBSTITUTES
Solutions utilizing EO data are already widespread within the oil and gas industry, and amajority of large O&G actors have their own inhouse activities related to remote sensing.
Hence, the dissemination and integration ofCopernicus products will be easier to facilitate.
Geographic Information System (GIS) products
especially are widely used. Indeed, a lot of thegeospatial data utilized in the O&G sector willbe through the implementation of GIS systems.
Therefore, the more Copernicus data/products
are integrated within GIS systems, the more it
will be utilized by O&G actors.
Copernicus data/products are not supposed tobe perceived as substitutes for traditional
methods in the O&G sector; for example,
ground surveying in exploration will still have to
be carried out. However, it can act as acomplementary tool that can bring acompetitive advantage to its users, by adding
efficiency to exploration activities, and coveringa much larger area via satellite imagery than
could be obtained by other, more traditional
methods (helicopters, for example).
The open access data policy has been criticalin allowing service providers to develop more
off-the-shelf tools, enabling them to develop
solutions and approach customers with results
and information.

Copernicus
strengths
Copernicus data/products are not perceived as
substitutes for more traditional methods used in
the O&G upstream industry, for example groundsurveying. Rather, they are complementary tools
for helping to bring added value and efficiency tothe activities, and bring cost reduction thanks to thelarge coverage area offered by satellite imagery.

COPERNICUS
DATA SUPPORTS
MORE
TRADITIONALMETHODS, AND
CAN HELP COST
REDUCTION

Sentinel data can be provided quickly andreliably, thanks to its revisit time, for a large
area, which is often what is required whenmonitoring a situation undergoing changes such as
oil spills. The availability of Sentinel-1 radar data
is a key advantage for offshore activities, whilst
Sentinel-2 is starting to be used more and more inonshore activities.

SENTINELS
OFFER RELIABLE
SURVEILLANCEFOR A LARGE
AREA

Accessing Copernicus data and services easily
and without high data acquisition fees has
allowed some companies to develop solutions forthe market that can then be taken to prospective
customers and used as a demonstrator to prove
potential return. This can help encourage
investment by traditionally conservative actors
within the sector.

OPEN & FREEDATA ALLOWSCOMPANIES TO
DEVELOP NEW
SOLUTIONS

Copernicus Market Report | Issue 2, February 2019 | Prepared by PwC |Copernicus
weaknesses

THE EASE OFACCESS OF DATA
HAS ALLOWEDCOMPETITION TO
GROW

The
transparency,
consistency,
andstability over time of the Copernicus project,
as well as the large volume and easy accessto data that it provides, means that it has
encouraged competition to grow amongst
companies providing EO solutions for oil andgas. Hence, there are more options on themarket for EO companies to choose from.

THERE ARE SOME
LIMITATIONS TO
THE DATA, E.G.
GEOGRAPHICAL
COVERAGE VS
REVIST TIME

In certain areas of the world, especially nonEuropean, offshore regions, Sentinel-1 is notable to provide as efficient a revisit time asother locations, since the demand for imagery
is not as significant as in populated or busier
areas. However, since oil and gas activities
can occur in these remote areas, it can limit
solutions.

COPERNICUS
DATA CAN BESLOWER AND
MORE COSTLY
THAN
TRADITIONALMETHODS

Whilst remote sensing helps remove the risk tohuman life, it can also be slower and morecostly. Human eyes from an airplane/
helicopter can be better at detecting leaks frompipelines or proxy, rather than ensuring
sensors can do the task. No data processing isrequired after the fact either, meaning faster
results.

91

OIL AND GASCOPERNICUS BENEFITS FOR OIL AND GAS
Revenues enabled by Copernicus for the oil and gas upstream industry is estimated as being alreadyas high as EUR 170-417 million, with a steady increase up to a projected EUR 254-520 million by 2020.
Benefits are predominantly felt by the end users (oil and gas companies themselves). Copernicusbased solutions help the oil and gas industry save costs, which in turn makes it cheaper for thecompanies to supply oil and gas. Conversely for intermediate users, the revenues are estimated as
being EUR 6-9 million, rising to a projected 9-24 million by 2020.

€
€

€

€€

Economic impacts€ €End users
Detection of oil
seeps

The environmental monitoring sector is expected to grow, offering new business opportunities in theupcoming years. However, no market figures were specifically found for this sector yet. Instead, thesefigures include the EO intermediate players, integrated players and those actors involved in the oilfields.
The projected increase in market value can be connected to the expected rise in oil prices in the next
few years, as the sector continues to recover from the 2014-2016 collapse, as well as the growing
concern of increase in supply demand in the face of a decline in new discoveries. Added to this is thefact that whilst Copernicus products are not considered as substitutes for ground surveys and othertraditional methods, they can help add value compared to other exploration methods; for example, EO
data covers much larger areas compared to airborne instruments, helicopters, etc.

COST SAVINGSEXPLORATION
Topographicalmaps
confirming subsurface
structure

Economic benefits of Copernicus through its contribution to oil and gas sector

HELPS ADDRESSRISING OIL
DEMAND VERSUSTHE DECLININGDISCOVERIES OF
NEW OIL SUPPLIES(Source: PwC)

600

Key

Detects
naturalhazards

Max

500

Reducesrisk ofdamage

Min
EUR M

400

End users

COST SAVINGSMONITORING

300

Max

200
Intermediate
users

100

Detects oil spills/
leaks

Min

0
2018

2019

2020
Copernicus Market Report | Issue 2, February 2019 | Prepared by PwC |92

OIL AND GASCOPERNICUS BENEFITS FOR OIL AND GASSocial impacts

End users

Infrastructure
monitoring,extremeweathermonitoring and other risk assessment activities
help ensure the workers are better protected whenworking on rigs/platforms.

EXPLORATION

Reduces need forhumans on the ground

Reduces risk of
injury in remote
areas

PROTECTS WORKERS’SAFETY

Detects natural hazards
and ocean extreme events

Reduces risk toworkers on rigs/
platforms

PROTECTS
WORKERS’ SAFETY

Detects oil spills/leaks

Reduces risk toenvironment

REDUCES RISK TO
HUMAN HEALTH

Utilizing EO data for preliminary exploration
measures can also ensure workers do not have to
go into remote and potentially dangerous areas forground surveys where there may be no purpose.
By decreasing the risk of pollution in theenvironment, it will also ensure protection to thehealth of citizens who could be affected.

MONITORING

Copernicus Market Report | Issue 2, February 2019 | Prepared by PwC |93

OIL AND GASCOPERNICUS BENEFITS FOR OIL AND GAS

Environmental impacts

Monitoring of infrastructure can give produce early
warnings if there is a leak or spill at the site ofoperation. This in turn reduces pollution of the soil,
water or air. In a similar manner, monitoring thesurrounding environment at extraction sites, both
onshore and off, will also help ensure that there is not
an on-going pollution issue.
Decommissioning activities also run the risk of polluting
the environment, so ongoing monitoring activities duringdecommissioning will ensure preventative measures.
Ensuring less risk of pollution helps protect thebiodiversity and ecosystem within the water bodies andland, and EO can also provide critical habitat monitoringin potentially affected areas.

End users
Helps ensure no oil
spills/ leaks during
operations
Decreases risk of pollution

MONITORING
Supports
decommissioning
activities in safea manner

HELPS PROTECTBIODIVERSITY ANDCRITICAL HABITATSStrategic impacts

By implementing EO solutions for monitoring andprotecting the environment, the company highlights that
it is acting responsibly. This in turn feeds their corporatesocial responsibility (CSR) as well as the company
perception, in a world where sustainability is becoming
ever more important for its clients.
Environmental
monitoring
also
supports
implementation of EU environmental policies.

the

ACTING ENVIRONMENTALLY RESPONSIBLE SUPPORTS A COMPANY’S CSR AND PUBLIC PERCEPTIONSUPPORTS THE IMPLEMENTATION OF EU ENVIRONMENTAL POLICIESCopernicus Market Report | Issue 2, February 2019 | Prepared by PwC |94

OIL AND GAS/ CASE STUDY

The detection of newly active oil seeps
NPA Satellite Mapping – CGG

COPERNICUS CONTRIBUTION TO OIL SEEP
DETECTION IN THE GULF OF ADENOIL SEEPS FROM SATELLITESTHE CHALLENGE OF DETECTING OIL SEEPAGE
An oil seep, as opposed to an oil spill, is a naturally occurringleak of crude oil and gas that is released from fractures in theseafloor and rises up to the surface. Globally, oil seepage is thelargest source of oil entering oceans. However, it can be achallenge to differentiate between oil polluting the environment
from a spill, and naturally-occurring oil on the ocean surface.
Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellites, such as theCopernicus Sentinel-1 satellites, provide the ability to detect oil
films on the surface of water, under favourable weather
conditions. Using these images as a base, rules can then be
applied concerning the oil slick shape and size, the local
geology, the geographic setting and the anthropological activity,with the resulting information making it possible to characterise
the source of oil as natural or pollution.

USE OF COPERNICUS IN THE DETECTION OF
OIL SEEPAGE IN THE GULF OF ADEN
GOSD was originally formed predominantly of SAR data from thelong-running ERS and Envisat satellites. However, theintroduction of the Copernicus twin Sentinel-1A and -1B satellites
has enabled NPA Satellite Mapping not only to continue
recording sea surface oil slicks, but also to evolve their detection
technique further, especially as the Sentinel imagery archivecontinues to expand.
One of the main challenges in utilising SAR data is that
atmospheric and oceanic forces are the key drivers for slick
formation and observations, and hence only a fraction of allavailable SAR data falls within the strict weather complianceguidelines. However, Sentinels regularly capture imagery of anarea four times larger than historical missions, providing two

THE ROLE OF THE GLOBAL OFFSHORE SEEPSDATABASE (GOSD)
CGG’s NPA Satellite Mapping business unit has developed an
offshore seepage detection technique, utilising satellite SAR
imagery to detect offshore sites of naturally-occurring oil
seepage, including deep and ultra-deep waters, as well as
untested offshore frontier basins. These oil slicks are organised
into a number of confidence categories, and compiled within
their world-leading Global Offshore Seeps Database (GOSD).
GOSD acts as a low cost and non-invasive method for firstindication that a mature source rock is present. By establishing
the presence of a mature source, and hence the inference of oil
and gas accumulation, it reduces exploration risk for a company
seeking a new location for operations.

Global Offshore Seeps Database coverage map(Source: NPA Satellite Mapping)significant benefits:
1.

Larger areas are observed in advantageous weather
conditions for the formation of oil slicks

2.

Increased temporal repetition opportunities are observedwith fewer images

Overall, the Sentinel-1 satellites can provide a higher quantity ofimagery than was possible with previous SAR satellites, with
better revisit time over a given area.
An example of the benefits that the Sentinel satellites haveprovided can be observed in the Gulf of Aden, where theSentinel-1 satellites were the first to highlight seepage activity ina new frontier area in 2016, occurring over 100km away from thenearest exploration wells. 19 satellite images acquired acrossthis site between 1997 and 2005 showed no prior indication ofthis seepage activity.

Seepage activity in the Gulf of Aden in 2016 and 2017
(Source: Sentinel-1 data processed by NPA Satellite Mapping)OIL & GAS / CASE STUDYUSE OF COPERNICUS FOR NATURAL GAS
STORAGE MONITORING

MONITORING OF NATURAL GAS STORAGE

Monitoring infrastructure in the case of natural gas storage
e-GeosCHALLENGES FOR THE NATURAL GAS SECTOR
Natural gas consumption is subjected to seasonal strong
fluctuations. In fact, as it is used predominantly for heating, its
natural production in warm seasons is usually higher than what
the market requires. On the contrary, the demand for thisresource in cold seasons is usually higher then the production. In
this context, it is therefore important to store this resource
properly. One of the methods is to store the gas into natural
underground hollows, where the gas is injected in warm seasons,and extracted again in cold seasons. According to the terrain, thismay have an effect on the surface that has to be monitored.
These natural hollows usually cover very wide areas, and hence
satellite InSAR technology, with its characteristics of highaccuracy and wide coverage, can support these monitoring
activities.

USE OF COPERNICUS IN THE CASE
NATURAL GAS STORAGE MONITORINGOFOne of the strongest points for the use of Copernicus data is theaffordability of the acquisitions. For interferometric analysis, longstacks of interferometric acquisitions (same acquisition
parameters) are needed: Copernicus Sentinel-1 acquisition plans
ensure this continuity. The Sentinel-1 data are used to generateinterferometric analysis of the area subjected to theinjection/extraction process provide more understanding of thearea impacted by it. The InSAR analysis helps to extract theevolution of the deformation and, consequently, to measure theamplitude of the displacement of the terrain. Sometimes natural
phenomena may influence the terrain fluctuation; it is possible tosubtract those seasonal deformation components to obtaincorrelation and deformation parameters highlighting the area
most affected by the gas injection or extraction.

HOW COPERNICUS CONTRIBUTES TOINFRASTRUCTURE MONITORING
Stacks of Sentinel-1 data have been used as input for theinterferometric analysis. Sentinel-1 SAR data allows the detectionof slow deformations over wide areas, where buildings and otherinfrastructures are located. It means that, with respect toinfrastructures, interferometric analysis obtained by Sentinel data
can be used to identify areas subjected to major deformations, inorder to then focus more detailed analysis (interferometricanalysis with commercial high resolution sensors, or in situ realtime monitoring with standard instruments).

InSAR analysis derived by Sentinel-1 data. Red points represents
movements with velocity higher than 18 mm/year(Source: e-Geos)

IMPACTS OF MONITORING
Thanks to the use of satellite InSAR technology, it is possible tomonitor slow deformations with very high accuracy (millimetre
measurements) over very wide areas. This is very useful in casemajor deformations are detected - in fact it allows the analysis of
the overall area, and provides understanding of where it could be
more useful to install sensors, saving absolute costs,
maintenance costs and reducing the use of people in the field(which has always a certain level of risk).

Correlation among gas injected volumes and measured deformation by
the use InSAR analysis derived from Sentinel-1. Red points have higher
correlation. Graph compares gas volume I/E with INSAR measures(Source: e-Geos)OIL & GAS / CASE STUDYPREVENTION/MANAGEMENT OF MARINEPOLLUTION FROM OIL OPERATIONSRISK OF MARINE POLLUTION FROM OIL
OPERATIONSATHENA PREVENTION AND RESPONSESYSTEM

Thanks to new legislation, oil companies are often legally
responsible for ensuring their operations do not contaminate
the surrounding environment, especially since oil spills canhave disastrous environmental, social and economic
consequences.

Athena is a system for the prevention and management ofmarine pollution caused by oil operations in both offshore andport environments. It has three different modules. Module 1 isan oil spill forecast and backtracking system with real timeshort-term oil spill trajectories and weather forecasting andbacktracking using oil spill model TESEO. Module 2
meanwhile is a decision support system with operability
conditions in real time, including warning criteria regarding thenecessity of whether to halt or continue operations, andrecommendation measures to reduce risk of contamination,
as well as increasing security in operations. Finally, Module 3
is a planning system providing the probability of contaminationfrom the critical scenarios identified. These are presented in a
web service.

USE OF COPERNICUS IN PREVENTION OF
MARINE OIL POLLUTION

Preventing and managing oil spills
ATHENAUSE OF COPERNICUS IN THE PREVENTION/
MANAGEMENT OF MARINE POLLUTION FROMOIL OPERATIONSWhen working in offshore locations or in ports, it is therefore
essential for the companies to monitor for leaks, especiallywhen performing loading and unloading operations. If a leakdoes occur, it is also important for the company to be able tomanage the fallout and understand where and how the oil spill
may impact.

The ATHENA system was developed by the Environmental
Hydraulics Institute “IHCantabria”, which is a joint research
center that carries out research, knowledge transfer andtraining of specialists in the fields of fresh and saltwater.
Compañia Española de Petróleos (CEPSA), a Spanish
multinational oil and gas company, had ATHENA installed atthree CEPSA refineries, in Gibraltar, Tenerife and Huelva.
First implemented in 2015, it has now provided more than
3,000 reports, with daily metocean reports for CEPSA
operations. The web application allows ports to run the system
in a way that is easy to use and obtain rapid information for
efficient oil spill prevention and response.

ATHENA(Source: IH Cantabria, CEPSA)

The ATHENA system utilizes the Copernicus Marine Service
Iberian Biscay Irish Ocean model for a near-real-time shortterm (5-day) forecast for currents, waves and otheroceanographic variables. It then utilizes the variable currents
to strengthen the modelling of the spill trajectory for Module 1.
The two products used are the physics analysis and forecast,and the ocean wave analysis and forecast.
ATHENA is beneficial for its users in a variety of ways,
including:•

Providing the operating system with assistance in loading
and unloading operations•

Providing the probability of arrival of pollution at the coast•

Providing the prediction of trajectories of possible spills
during the loading and unloading operations and theirinverse trajectory

ATHENA(Source: IH Cantabria, CEPSA)MONITORING OF RENEWABLE ENERGYKEY TAKEAWAYS•

This value chain focuses mostly on the main domains where Copernicus can provide crucial support, namely solar power,
wind power and hydropower•

The global renewable energy market has been growing steadily in recent years, from representing 8.6% of the global
energy mix in 2010 to a foreseen 22.5% in 2020.

•

EO data are in most cases associated with meteorological data to support renewable energy activities.

•

Environmental benefits resulting from the use of EO data and information in the renewable energy sector are significant
and even bigger than economic benefits.

•

Several Copernicus services can prove useful depending on the type of renewable energy supported. Both products from
Copernicus services and raw Sentinel data are currently used by actors in the renewable energy sector.

Copernicus economic impact (2018)(Source: PwC)

137 EUR M

25 EUR M
2 EUR M

4 EUR M

Enabled revenues forintermediate users

COPERNICUS APPLICATIONS•

Siting plants and facilities (energy potential, environmental and social impacts)•

Optimised design•

Output estimates (e. g. based on plant characteristics coupled with forecasts)••

Enabled revenues
for end users

KEY COPERNICUS PRODUCTS•

Raw data from Sentinel-1

Production of forecasts (e. g. irradiance forecasts)•

C3S ERA4 reanalysis

Comparisons of actual output with the estimates•

CAMS aerosol, ozone, solar irradiance•

CMEMS ocean climatology and forecasts

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MONITORING OF RENEWABLE ENERGY
THE GROWING MARKET OF RENEWABLE ENERGIESThe current assessment evaluates the support renewableenergy growth can receive from the use of Earth
Observation
data.
Thoughrenewableenergyencompasses several types of energies (solar, wind,geothermal, tidal, wave, hydropower, biomass etc.), thisreport will only focus on the most developed ones
currently utilized in Europe, which are wind and solar
energy and hydropower, and will complement it withinformation on the other renewable energy sources. A
particular focus will be given to renewable electricity,
since this is one of the domains where Copernicus cancontribute the most.

In 2009, the EU set within its renewable energy directive abinding target of 20% of final energy consumption fromrenewable sources by 2020, which varies in different
targets among EU countries, the highest being the 49%
renewable energy target of Sweden. In order to reachthese, EU Member States have issued national renewableenergy action plans detailing what they intended to do toachieve their targets. The objectives of this directive were
further extended in 2014 as part of the EU's energy andclimate goals for 2030, with EU Member States agreeing
on a target of at least 27% of final energy consumption
from renewable sources by 2030.

Share of energy from renewable sources in EU Member States in 2016 (in% of gross final energy consumption) (Source: Eurostat)
60
50

40
30
20

10
0

2004

2016

Target not reached

Target reached

EU energy-related CO2 emissions (Mt CO2/year) – 1990, 2015, 2030
(Source: IRENA - Renewable Energy Prospects for the European Union, 2018)
4500
4000
3500

2030 target:
40% GHG reduction

3990

3000
3142

2500

2740

2000
1500

Sources: European Commission, IRENA

Results from these measures already started tomaterialize, as using more renewables resulted in EUR 16
B saving in fossil fuel imports in 2015, projected to rise up
to EUR 58 B in 2030. This ultimately leads to reduced
CO2 emissions thanks to the transfer from a polluting
energy source to a non-polluting one.

1000
500

0
1990

2015

2030

Copernicus Market Report | Issue 2, February 2019 | Prepared by PwC |99

Solar and wind energy as well as hydropower are thebiggest contributors to the targets for electricity andshould continue to be so in the future. In recent years,
these renewable energies have faced major cost
reductions, in particular solar PV infrastructure andoffshore wind energy, and these lower costs can pushtowards a bigger focus on these renewable energies toachieve the intended targets. In 2015, hydropower
represented 38% of the renewable electricity production in
the EU (compared to 70% in 2005, since this number has
decreased due to the importance of solar and windenergy for electricity production), wind accounted for 31%(compared with 14% in 2005) and solar for 11%(compared with 0.3% in 2005).
Sources: European Commission, European Environmental Agency

MONITORING OF RENEWABLE ENERGYEO DATA IS USED FOR HINDCAST, NOWCAST AND FORECAST OF RENEWABLE ENERGYPRODUCTION
Use of EO data for solar energy

Use of EO data for wind energy

Use of EO data for hydropower

EO data, and more specifically atmospheric (aerosol, ozone,
irradiance) and meteorological (cloud, ozone) data can support
both site selection, efficiency monitoring and production of solar
power plants. Site selection is particularly key, as it is not only
about determining the irradiance on a site, but is also about
ensuring no dirt will affect solar panels (e.g. dust) and that sky
conditions will be clear the majority of the time. As for energy
monitoring and forecasting, the main interest of EO is to reduce
uncertainties and ensure reliability of the estimations whose errors
can lead to unforeseen costs.

EO data can support both onshore and offshore wind power plansite selection by providing information on wind conditions (past)that are key to power plant owners but also to researchers. As forforecasting, EO data can be useful; however, the final productsthat can currently be developed are often unable to address all
end user requirements. EO data is mostly used as inputs inreanalysis models for onshore activities or in wind observations
for offshore activities. In both case, EO data is needed at global
level, considering wind has no boundaries. The wind energy
market is, however, not very mature yet, and intermediate actors
in this sector remain predominantly research centres, andresearch and development units of major VAS companies.

Combined with in-situ data, EO data can be key in the business ofhydropower. The data used ranges from temperature data, toprecipitation and meteorological data, land cover and landchange, and water flow models. The data is mostly free but canbe complemented by commercial data for applications specific tolocalized areas. EO is notably used to analyse the volume anddistribution of snow, as well as its melting, but also to understandcurrent water resource availability on the market. All this enables
the provision of crucial information to managers of dams.

APPLICATIONS

WHY EARTH OBSERVATION?

RENEWABLE ENERGYMONITORINGRENEWABLE ENERGYEXPLOITATION

•
•
•
•
•
•

•
•
•

BENEFITS

Site selection and design of plants or facilities
Production efficiency monitoring
Energy production forecasting
Energy production surveying
Environment monitoring
Tracing biomass and monitoring production

Energy trading
Environment monitoring
Enhancement of energy production

•
•
•
•

•

•
•
•
•
•
•

END USERS

Selection of the most productive energy production site
Competitive advantage
Understanding of the causes of productivity losses
Reduced negative impact of a plant or piece of infrastructure on
the environment and healthCompliance with regulations

•
•
•
•
•
•
•

Suppliers to energy providers
Energy providers
Electricity grid managers
Public authorities
State and local decision makers
Biomass producers
Dam managers

Environmental and social impacts
Gain in competitiveness
Early and cost-effective detection of failure
Improved integration of the produced electricity on the grid
Optimized trading revenues
Compliance with regulations

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

Utilities
Energy providers
Electricity grid managers
Energy and carbon traders
Public authorities
State and local decision makers
Biomass producers
Dam managers
Citizens

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MONITORING OF RENEWABLE ENERGY
DRIVERS AND CHALLENGES FOR THE UPTAKE OF EO FOR RENEWABLE ENERGYMONITORING
Renewable energy development appears as one of the targets found in most policies, directives andagreements aimed at fighting global warming or fostering clean energy. EO has the potential to support thegrowth of renewable energy by providing information that can reduce production costs, improve profitability andthus lead to a competitive advantage.

One of the major costs linked to renewable energy power plants are O&M (operation and maintenance)
activities. EO images have the ability to provide information to help avoid failures of power plants by anticipating
damaged infrastructure but also to avoid unnecessary preventative repair and maintenance activities.
Fewer failures would enable an increased productivity of the power plants. This increased productivity is linked
both to an improved site selection, by choosing the location that should enable the greatest yield, and to better
forecasting.
As a result, bigger reliance on renewable energy activities thanks to the provision of key inputs by EO data can
support the goal of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

CHALLENGE 1
Renewable energy sources are particularly sensitive to environmental conditions(e.g. clouds for solar energy) and satellite images cannot always help anticipate
these

CHALLENGE 2
The accuracy provided by EO data does not make errors fully disappear

DRIVER 1
There is an increasing demand for renewable energy over the globe and in Europe,
considering directives such as EUROPE 2020 strategy or the COP21 agreement

DRIVER 2
The potential scarcity of fossil energies makes it easy for renewable to appear as areliable and sustainable energy source from a long-term perspective

DRIVER 3
EO is an interesting tool from the perspective of increasing the share of renewableenergy, as it enables optimization of the production

Environment conditions are key for efficient functioning of renewable energy power plants and the production of
the expected amount of energy. For instance, a solar photovoltaic (PV) power plant subject to desert dust or dirt
will not be able to work at full efficiency, leading to energy losses. As such, elements such as dust winds or air
pollution need to be monitored precisely through EO data to ensure forecasts are done precisely. However,
irradiance products are often only efficient under clear sky conditions, and hence not all of the time. Considering
errors in forecasts can have significant economic consequences, EO is still facing challenges in that field.
Indeed, errors in forecasts or nowcasts can have two consequences: first, it can lead the power plant owner tothink there is a problem in the infrastructure and to engage in costly repair and maintenance activities fornothing; second, on the energy trade side, penalties can be given in order to enable the energy buyer tocompensate for what he was expected to receive (this is particularly true for solar PV electricity). As such, EO
data used as inputs for production prevision need to be as accurate as possible.

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MONITORING OF RENEWABLE ENERGY
THE VALUE CHAIN OF EO DATA FOR THE RENEWABLE ENERGY SECTORACQUIRING EO DATAEO Data• Copernicus• CAMS (Aerosol analysis, ozone, dust, water
vapour, solar irradiance, clear sky products suchas McClear, near-real time parameters) notably
for solar• CLMS (digital elevation models, land cover typeand change data, land surface temperature data,snow cover information) for wind and solar• CMEMS (wind, current, tides, sea surface
temperature climatologies and forecast) for
marine renewables• C3S (ERA5 reanalysis) notably for wind
• Sentinel-1 notably for hydropower and highresolution winds• Sentinel-4 notably for solar (future mission)• Polar mission for hydropower (potential future
mission)• National missions (NOAA, JAXA)• Meteorological satellites• ECMWF data (reanalysis products) notably for wind
• NASA data (MERRA2)• MODISPROCESSING NEEDS AND CAPABILITIESUSERS & NEEDSNon exhaustive list

Data processing platforms• ESA Urban TEP, PEPS
Systems and data logging devices• Area-specificIn-house capabilities• Data assimilation• High-end climate modeling and computing• Area-specific knowledge• SAR expertise
Plant characteristics
Socio-economic data

Site selection• Siting plants and facilities (energy potential,
environmental and social impacts)• Optimized design• Output estimates (e. g. based on plant characteristics
coupled with forecasts)• Mappings and elevation maps (e.g. wind farms,
biomass)• On demand maintenance

Plant output forecasting• Production of forecasts (e. g. irradiance forecasts)• Economic analyses of investment

Efficiency monitoring• Comparisons of actual output with the estimates• Better integration into the grid
Carbon sequestration estimation

Historical information• ENVISAT• Climate aerosol mean models notably for wind

Risks management

In situ data
• Measured output

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MONITORING OF RENEWABLE ENERGY
DEPENDING ON THE FIELD OF ACTIVITY, DIFFERENT TYPES OF COPERNICUS DATA ARE
USEDCopernicus
strengths

Solar PV
Actors involved in solar energy and using EO aremostly relying on CAMS products through aerosol
analysis and forecasts, global solar irradiance, ozone
and water vapours. Raw Sentinel data is currently
barely being used in this field. Without Copernicus
services, an alternative would be aerosol
climatological averages that are not as high quality or
accuracy.

The global coverage provided by Copernicus
is key to all renewable energy sectors.
Indeed it implies that final models, once
developed, can be sold anywhere in theworld. Moreover, wind, solar or water are
domains that are transboundary, hence theneed to survey them on a large scale.

GLOBAL
COVERAGE

Before the availability of Copernicus, therenewable energy sector was reliant on
climatological averages that were notrenewed regularly, thus increasing theuncertainty of their models. Copernicus
reinforces the reliability of the models built
on it.

PROVISION OF
HIGH QUALITYDATAWind energy
Several Copernicus services are key to the windenergy sector. First, CLMS provides global
observation of wind characteristics, CORINE Land
cover (used for positioning wind turbines) or the
Digital Elevation Model (used to study the relief).
Second, the C3S ERA5 reanalysis product is key toderiving wind information. Finally, CMEMS offers a
product dedicated to sea surface winds (essential foroffshore wind turbines).

Hydropower
In the hydropower sector, it is rather raw Sentinel-1
data that raise interest and are key to forecastingwater evolution. Raw data is preferred to the currently
available Copernicus products because they serve as
inputs to existing models and leave more flexibility forthe service developer to adapt to the specific needsof its clients. Indeed, products can strongly vary fromone region to another, as well as between clients.
Copernicus usually only represents about 20-25% of
the final product delivered.

Copernicus Market Report | Issue 2, February 2019 | Prepared by PwC | 103

Copernicus
weaknesses

PARTIAL ACCESSTO INPUT DATAUSED IN
PRODUCTS

The reluctance to use some Copernicus
products often lies in the fact that the user
lacks precise information on the input datathat feed a product, and hence do not always
have confidence in the results. This is often
due to the fact that this input data come fromContributing Missions and are not available
as such for free.

SENTINELRESOLUTION NOTSUITABLE FORSOMEAPPLICATIONS

Even if users are globally satisfied with theresolution provided by Copernicus forapplications in the field of renewable energy,
it does not enable users to study the area atthe level of a dam or a wind turbine. That
implies that there is still a need for costlycommercial data to compensate for this.

FREQUENCY OFUPDATESIn the case of hydropower, clients would
expect daily updates whereas Copernicus
data provides only 2 to 3 updates per week.

MONITORING OF RENEWABLE ENERGYCOPERNICUS BENEFITS FOR THE RENEWABLE ENERGY SECTOR
Out of the 10.3 million people employed in the renewable energy sector in 2017, 1.268 million were inEurope, compared to 1.16 million in 2015. 27% of these jobs are in the wind power sector, 6% inhydropower and 11% in solar energy. The availability of Copernicus data to support site selection andproduction forecasting should further increase job creation in this field, in particular for solar PV, whichis the renewable sector that has faced the biggest employment increase in the last 5 years. This job
creation will result from the extension of the renewable energy farms, from the creation of new types
of jobs linked to the management of the intermittency of renewable energies, and from the rising needof smart cities management.

€
€

€

€€

Economic impacts€ €Intermediate users

Improvement ofexisting
products orcreation of newones

Economic benefits for intermediate users are linked to site selection and management (cost reduction
on maintenance) and production forecasting (linked to a decrease in penalties). In 2018, it amounted
to between EUR 2 M and EUR 3.6 M.
End user benefits are larger and encompass both economic impacts such as increased profitability
from renewable energy production, as well as environmental and social impacts such as reduced
GHG emissions and saved water. In 2018, it amounted to between EUR 25.3 M and EUR 137.3 M

Economic benefits of Copernicus through its contribution to renewable energy monitoring(Source: PwC)

250

Key

IMPROVEDACCURACY OF
COPERNICUS
DATA ANDINFORMATIONOPPORTUNITIESOUTSIDE EUROPE
THANKS TO
GLOBAL COVERAGENEWOPPORTUNITIESLINKED TO NEW
RENEWABLE
ENERGYTECHNIQUES WILLCREATE JOBS
End users
COST SAVED ON
REPAIR AND
MAINTENANCE
ACTIVITIES

Max

200

Min
End users

EUR M

150
100

Precise andreliable products
for RE

Max

50
Intermediate
users

0
2018

2019

Source: International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA)

Min

2020
Copernicus Market Report | Issue 2, February 2019 | Prepared by PwC | 104

BETTER RETURNON INVESTMENTDUE TO IMPROVED
SITE SELECTION
INCREASEDQUALITY OF
POWER
PRODUCTIONFORECASTS

MONITORING OF RENEWABLE ENERGYCOPERNICUS BENEFITS FOR THE RENEWABLE ENERGY SECTOR

Environmental impacts

End users
Reducing negative impacts of climate change
The availability of Copernicus data and products that
support the fostering of renewable energy is key forthe environment, as it will help to decrease thereliance on fossil energies and thus the emissions of
GHG resulting from the use of such polluting energies,
as well as on nuclear energy, hence diminishing therisk of industrial accidents and the impact ofradioactive waste. This should also contribute to thetargets fixed as part of environmental directives suchas the COP 21.

AVAILABILITYOF PRODUCTS
SUPPORTING
RENEWABLE
ENERGYMEETINGENVIRONMENTALOBJECTIVESREDUCED GHG
EMISSIONS HENCE
REDUCED POLLUTION

Increasing the share of renewable energy sources
DIMINISHED RISKS OF
NUCLEAR INDUSTRIAL
ACCIDENTS

Copernicus Market Report | Issue 2, February 2019 | Prepared by PwC | 105

MONITORING OF RENEWABLE ENERGYCOPERNICUS BENEFITS FOR THE RENEWABLE ENERGY SECTOR
Social impacts

The use of renewable energy helps to save water that is
usually used for cooling purposes during fuel combustion offossil energies. Considering how important water is today,
this impact is non-negligible. Copernicus can also indirectly
have social impacts on end users as the bigger the share of
renewable energy sources, the less GHG emissions (toxic
for human beings) there will be. Thus, improved publichealth and smaller health expenditures should occur.

End users
INPUTS DATAFOR GREATER
RENEWABLE
ENERGYPRODUCTION
MODELLING

IMPROVED AIR QUALITY
Decreasing the share of fossil fuelenergy sources
SAVED WATER

Strategic impacts
End users

By supporting the development of renewable energies,
Copernicus will ultimately favour the security of energy
supply. First, because it enables the diversification of theenergy mix by installing renewable energy power plants andsecond by helping to ensure the amount of energy that canbe produced thanks to more accurate forecasting. This
aspect is all the more strategic as some fossil energies will
be scarce in the near future and the others are highly
volatile in terms of price. Being able to accurately determine
the location and future production of a renewable energysite is thus key to avoid the negative impact scarcity andimports have on energy prices

HELPING MATCH
NATIONAL STRATEGICCHOICES THAT PUSHTOWARDS RENEWABLE
Bigger accuracy on energy production
POSITIVE IMAGE AND
PRESTIGE WORLDWIDEFOR EUROPE AS A LEADER
IN THE FIELD OF EO

IMPROVED SECURITY OF
ENERGY SUPPLY
Decreased default production
SMALLER FINANCIAL
BURDEN

Copernicus Market Report | Issue 2, February 2019 | Prepared by PwC | 106

MONITORING OF RENEWABLE ENERGY / CASE STUDYTO SOLAR PV

COPERNICUS CONTRIBUTION

NEEDS AND CHALLENGES AROUND THE
RENEWABLE ENERGY SECTOR

Using Copernicus to support solar PV forecasting
Steadysun
SOLAR PRODUCTION CHALLENGES

STEADYSUN’S WORK ON SOLAR PV

The European Union has recently established a policy aimed atreaching a 32% target of energy coming from renewableenergy sources in the final energy consumption by 2030.
Among these renewable energy sources, solar energy (and inparticular solar PV) is expected to play a growing role. However,forecasting solar production is a significant challenge as it
requires the anticipation of the down-welling surface solar
radiation variability - which is mainly driven by clouds and theatmospheric composition (aerosols, ozone, water vapor, etc.).

Steadysun is a leading French solar production forecasting
provider. Their business solutions are designed to anticipate thesolar energy injection variability into the electrical networks(transmission and distribution), to reduce power plant operation
costs, to optimize portfolio asset management, to maximize selfconsumption and, at the end, to allow an efficient integration of
the solar energy in the grids. Steadysun’s solar production
forecasting services cover all types of solar technology, any sizeof installation and aggregation (from a few kW to a wholecountry), and a worldwide geographic area. They deliver highaccuracy forecasts at horizons spanning from 1 minute to several
days ahead using Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) models,satellite imagery and ground-based sky images. For instance,
Steadysun’s services can anticipate the impact of dust daily

USE OF COPERNICUS TO SUPPORT SOLAR PV

pollution event, where only the McClear-CAMS model was able
to estimate accurately the Global Horizontal Irradiance (GHI).
Steadysun shows that the forecasting errors due to aerosolradiation interactions reduce significantly using a state-of-the-art
clear-sky model combined with real-time forecast of theatmospheric composition provided by CAMS. The observed
accuracy improvements compared to a standard model without
CAMS data is about +20% and +30% regarding the GHI and DNI
components respectively, based on Root Mean Square Error
over clear-sky instants on average over 57 sites during one year
under different climate conditions worldwide (figure on the right).

In order to estimate the solar resource in cloudless conditions,
Steadysun’s forecasting solutions rely on the McClear clear-sky
model. The model ingests aerosols and ozone concentrations
from the CAMS real-time forecast up to 5 days ahead. This
helps, amongst others, to correct the down-welling surface solar
radiation from NWP models that only take into account normal
atmospheric aerosols concentrations through climatologies.
Steadysun has conducted a clear-sky model inter-comparison
study in order to quantify the benefits from using the McClearCAMS clear-sky model compared to the use of classical models
that are based on climatologies of Linke turbidity factor (ESRA)or on the sun position only (Haurwitz). The figure at left shows anexample over one day for a site in China during an extreme air

variability, which may reduce the Direct Normal Irradiance (DNI)
by 40-50% in extreme cases, with a strong impact on solar
production. This is especially true for Concentrated Solar Power(CSP) technologies located in Northern Africa and Middle East
region.

Clear-sky model inter-comparison over one day for one site
(left) and for 57 sites worldwide (right) (Source: Steadysun)

MONITORING OF RENEWABLE ENERGY / CASE STUDYTO WIND ENERGYCOPERNICUS CONTRIBUTION

NEEDS AND CHALLENGES AROUND THE
WIND ENERGY SECTOR

Reducing wind project feasibility uncertainty and boosting site screening
Vortex
WIND ENERGY CHALLENGESVORTEX’S ACTIVITIES

12% of EU power demand is provided by wind today –corresponding to 173 GW. The wind industry is a European
industry: European wind turbine manufacturers represent 46% of
the global market. The full supply chain represents 263,000 jobs,
EUR 5 billion fossil fuel savings and EUR 22 billion investments in2017. Wind will become the largest power source in the EU,reaching 32% by 2040 according to the International Energy
Agency. Wind energy is a global market which is expanding
rapidly to new regions; therefore, the need for global and local
accurate model information where no other sources are available
is a must to boost project develop and to scale-up wind energy
across different markets.

Long-term uncertainty is one the main drivers of wind project
feasibility uncertainty. Virtual wind time series have been adopted
by the industry as a reliable source of information to calibrate
energy estimation in the long-term. The lower the uncertainty inthe project feasibility, the higher the return on investment and the
profitability of the project.
Vortex delivers information and solutions for the wind industry
which fulfill users’ demands for accurate resource information at
any stage in the project lifecycle and for any location in the world.
Vortex wind resource data production is based on a multiscale
downscaling model driven by hindcast data provided by
Copernicus ERA5 Reanalysis. Vortex provides on-demandregional mapping products, site-specific assessments and longterm virtual series through a user-friendly online interface:interface.vortexfdc.com.

USE OF COPERNICUS TO SUPPORT WIND
ENERGYThe implementation of ERA5 as part of the Vortex system can be
estimated to have an impact of a net average reduction of
uncertainty of 1-3 %, depending on the regions of the world, which
can thus be translated into EUR 1-3 million per 100 MW project
return. Copernicus ERA5 has been proved to reduce substantiallyuncertainty in the Vortex modeling stream and, as by product,
increased the project feasibility robustness which facilitates the
profitability of funded projects.

Copernicus ERA5 data stream has been implemented in the
Vortex system since mid 2017. Vortex has carried out an intensive
validation program to assess the performance of the windresource virtual using ERA5 and based on measurements sharedby Vortex users for more than 1500 sites across the world.
Results from the validation exercise confirm the added value of
ERA5 as input data. In particular, a reduction of 3% of global
average wind speed bias and increase in correlation of ~ 0.1 formore that 75% of the sites have been found. As rule of thumb, a
reduction of 1% in the project uncertainty implies an increase of
the project feasibility by EUR 1 million for a typical 100MW
windfarm project. Vortex provides information for more than 50
wind farm project developments per day.

World Bank Global Wind Atlas layer produced by
Vortex modeling system using ERA5 as input
dataset (Source: Vortex)

Sites employed in the validation of Vortex virtual time series, using ERA5
data (Source: Vortex)

MONITORING OF RENEWABLE ENERGY / CASE STUDYNEEDS AND CHALLENGES AROUND THE
SOLAR ENERGY SECTOR

Photovoltaic power production forecast using CAMS
Reuniwatt
SOLAR PV MARKETREUNIWATT FORECASTING TECHNIQUES

Once a solar PV power plant central is operational, the power plant owner sells the PV electricity to
the local network manager and the production is then bought by a utility. Network managers havespecific requirements for PV production forecasts:• Day-ahead forecasts need to be sent each day at 9:00 and 21:00 (local time)• The 9:00 forecast covers the hours from 9:00 to 0:00 (time horizon of 15h)
• The 21:00 forecast covers the hours from midnight until 9:00 of the next day (time horizon of 9h)• Forecasts are delivered under the form of hourly time series

The main variable to the forecasts is the GHI (Global Horizontal Irradiance), that is derived bymultiplying a cloud cover index with the GHIcs (i.e. the GHI under clear sky). It is forecasted andconverted into power according to PV plant characteristics (capacity, PV technology, PV panels
orientation, thermal capacity of PV panel).

These forecasts are key: if the daily production represents less than the forecast, the utility will buy
what has been produced, but if the daily production exceeds the forecast, the utility will buy the lowest
value between the effective daily production and an additional 8% to the forecasted PV power. If theerror between the forecast and the production is greater than 8%, the power plant owner will receive
penalties that results in the energy output that the utility is obtaining but not purchasing from theproducer (daily production minus 108% of the PV energy forecast).

TO SOLAR ENERGYCOPERNICUS CONTRIBUTIONUSE OF COPERNICUS TO SUPPORT SOLAR PV FORECASTING
Copernicus is key to obtaining an accurate GHIcs. GHIcs necessitates three components: the solar
zenith angle (which is perfectly known with astronomical computation); the ground albedo (which isavailable through open source databases and depends on ground color of the surrounding area); andatmospheric components (e.g. water vapor (delivered by CAMS after 2 days or by regular weather
services), aerosol concentration (delivered by CAMS both in real-time and forecast), ozone
concentration).

GHI

Radiation
decomposition

Directanddiffuse

Projection on
PV panel

Total radiation
receivedPowermodellingPower

Two inputs are used by Reuniwatt for GHI forecasting techniques:• Satellite data for short-term forecasts (up to 6 hours)• Weather models for long-term forecasts (from 6 hours)
Forecasts are delivered as a time series mixing both technologies with weighted smoothing between
satellite forecast and weather models.

1.51% whereas it is of 1.61% without CAMS. This represents respectively 1602.7 MWh and 1708.2
MWh, hence a gain with CAMS of 105.5 MWh less in penalties. This would represent for such a
power plan USD 8,440 saved per year.

Should Copernicus not be available, the alternative to obtaining aerosol concentration would be to use
monthly climatology averages. The advantage of this technique is that it is operationally easy to use.
However, the drawback lies in the fact that if aerosol concentration suddenly increases (because of
remote dust storm, heavy pollution, volcano eruption, high sea waves, etc.) or decreases, theclimatology provides wrong values. Generally, the forecasts without CAMS impact the instantaneous
GHIcs value of 7% in relative error.
For a power plant located in a savanna tropical climate with a capacity of 50MWpeak, 1 MWh costs
USD 80. The annual production is of 105 885 MWh per year and the relative penalty with CAMS is of

Forecasts of total aerosol optical depth (left) and monthly mean of total aerosol optical depth (right). The map of themonthly mean shows a smooth pattern neglecting higher temporal variations which are better taken into account by
forecasts data (Source: CAMS)MONITORING OF AIR QUALITY
KEY TAKEAWAYS•

Copernicus economic impact (2018)

EO data on atmospheric composition has only recently started to contribute to air quality models, which used to rely mostly
on meteorological data, air composition statistical data and measurements, and on ground measurements.

•

Intermediate users remain mostly public actors (public authorities, meteorological and environmental agencies, research
centres, etc.); however, a market is starting to develop among private companies. As of 2018, it remains a niche but is
expected to expand with the improved accuracy and quality of EO input data in models.

•

End users can be any citizen (as emphasised by the applications and services freely available to inhabitants of a city or
tourists). Besides this, public authorities tend also to pay attention to air quality products in order to implement the rightpolicies on pollution, as well as to provide advice to citizens on potential allergy risks.

•

There is still a reluctance from end users to pay for air quality information, though this is slightly changing with the
improvement of the services offered. Some categories of the population are more willing to invest in such a service thanothers, notably families with children and the elderly.

•

CAMS is the Copernicus service that can best support activities in the field of air quality thanks to its near-real time
analyses and forecasts provided, such as the global and regional air quality models(Source: PwC)

537 EUR M

269 EUR M

0.1 EUR M

0.6 EUR M

Enabled revenues forintermediate users

Enabled revenues
for end users

COPERNICUS APPLICATIONSKEY COPERNICUS PRODUCTS•

Support to policy making related to environment•

Estimation of policy efficiency and target achievement•

Development of maps providing air quality information, enabling conscious decisions to be taken•

Monitoring of compliance with limit values set for private companies

Copernicus Market Report | Issue 2, February 2019 | Prepared by PwC | 110•

CAMS global and regional air quality analysis

MONITORING OF AIR QUALITYAIR QUALITY: A PUBLIC HEALTH MATTERThe current assessment looks at the monitoring of air quality for different purposes (pollution,
allergies, etc.) that can all have an impact on public health.
DALYs* attributable to ambient air pollution (per 100 000 population) in 2016
Indeed, exposure to polluted air affects everyone (though the type of pollution may differ fromone region to another): young and old people, all parts of the world, whether urban or rural
areas, High-Income Countries (HICs) as well as Low and Medium Income Countries (LMICs),etc. Of course, among these categories, some are more affected by air pollution than others.
For instance, 98% of all children under 5 years in LMICs are exposed to levels of fineparticulate matter (PM2.5) higher than the World Health Organisation (WHO) air quality
guideline levels whereas it is the case for only 52% of all children under 5 years in HICs.

(Source: WHO – Global Health Observatory (GHO) data)

As a result, each year 7 million people die because of polluted air, which makes air pollution
the world’s largest environmental threat to public health. Bad air quality can not only be thedirect cause of these deaths but it can also exacerbate existing diseases in an individual (e.g.
cancer, asthma, heart problems, pulmonary issues). The main substances found in the air andaffecting the health are nitrogen oxides (NOx), sulphur oxides (SOx), ozone and particulatematter (especially those below 2.5 microns (PM 2.5)). Even though air quality has improved
significantly in past decades, notably in Europe, air pollution concentrations remain high and alarge proportion of Europe’s population lives in areas with air pollution above EU limits. For
instance, in Europe, 90% of the citizens are exposed to annual levels of outdoor fineparticulate matter that are above WHO air quality guidelines.
Air quality information is useful for both individual matters, as every citizen disposing of
information on the air quality in his/her environment can decide to knowingly take actions (e.g.
avoiding doing sport when the pollution rate is too high, not going in specific areas when there
are risks of allergies due to significant pollen rate) and for collective matters, as publicauthorities and policymakers can use air quality data to propose policies aimed at reducing
pollution and meeting the EU air quality targets. If it appears that near-real time information is
key for individual use, forecasts and hindcasts are also necessary to take longer term actions.

* One DALY (Disability-Adjusted Life Year) can be thought of as one lost year of "healthy" life. The sumof these DALYs across the population, or the burden of disease, can be thought of as a measurement of
the gap between current health status and an ideal health situation where the entire population lives toan advanced age, free of disease and disability.

Besides a direct impact on public health, air quality information is also a good indicator ofclimate evolution and an incentive to take action to protect the environment.

Sources: World Health Organisation, United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, European Environmental Agency

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MONITORING OF AIR QUALITYEO DATA CAN BE A SUPPLEMENTARY TOOL IN THE RETRIEVAL OF AIR QUALITY
INFORMATION
Air quality has a cost that EO can help diminish
In 2015, the cost of premature deaths from APMP (Ambient
Particular Matter Pollution) and AOP (Ambient Ozone Pollution) in
Europe represented about EUR 750 M in Europe, which is 4.5%of its GDP, and health expenditure related to pollution amounted
to about EUR 580 M in 2016. Considering the importance of theeconomic impact of air pollution, the improvement of air quality
models accuracy is key and there is room for services as the air
quality monitoring market is growing. Indeed, the air quality
monitoring market is expected to grow at a rate of 4.6% perannum from 2017 to 2022, reaching EUR 430 B by 2022.

Sources: OECD ; A.L. Preker et al. “Helath Care Expenditures Associated with
Pollution: Exploratory Methods and findings ; MarketsAndMarkets

ALLERGY
MONITORING

In the early-2000s, there was only one satellite able to provide
information to support the monitoring of air quality: ENVISAT.
Since then, several satellites have been launched (and some areplanned to be launched, such as Sentinel-5) and are able toprovidemeasurementsofcarbonemissions,ozone
concentrations, and several other pollutants emissions such as
particulate matters. As a result, satellite data on atmosphericcomposition has recently been incorporated into air quality
models. Before, on-ground measurements were the basis of air
quality models, but satellite data provides the advantage of being
able to cover large areas, and therefore to anticipate trends bycomparing regions. The combination of satellite data and onground measurements is key to the improvement of the accuracyof air quality models.

APPLICATIONS

WHY EARTH OBSERVATION?

AIR POLLUTION

Satellite data combined with on-groundmeasurements for improved products

•
•
•
•

•
•
•

Use of EO data in the air quality monitoring sector
The main reasons why EO data has been incorporated in air
quality products is that these products contribute to policy andregulations by helping set limit values and control whether they
are met, and also that there has been a growing demand from the
population to distribute applications enabling them to take actions
when there is a pollution peak for instance.

BENEFITS

Urban air nowcasting and forecasting
Pollutant fluxes tracking
Local scale air quality analysis
Hot spots detection

Pollen fluxes tracking
Environmental health issues mapping
Pollen trend forecasting

END USERS

•
•
•
•
•
•
•

Provision of inputs for local public health and climate change policies
Transparency with the citizens
Identification of polluters
Scientific research
Local environmental impact assessment
Identification of critical areas in a region
Stimulate tourism for people with health issues

•
•
•
•
•
•

Citizens
Municipalities
Public authorities
Research centres
Companies such as industries, airports,
waste management companies etc.
Institutions

•
•
•
•

Local environmental impact assessment
Ability to decrease risks linked to allergies
Decision of public authorities to issue allergies alerts
Identification of allergy causes

•
•
•
•

Citizens
Medical institutes
Research centres
Public authorities

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MONITORING OF AIR QUALITY
DRIVERS AND CHALLENGES FOR THE UPTAKE OF EO FOR AIR QUALITY MONITORINGACTIVITIES
According to the European Association of Remote Sensing Companies (EARSC) 2017 Industry Survey, out of
all of Copernicus’ six services, the interest in the atmosphere service represented 8% of the interest of thecompanies surveyed, which made this service the 4th most interesting one to users, slightly behind theemergency service (9%) and the marine service (13%). This represents an improvement compared to the
EARSC 2015 Industry Survey, where atmosphere was the service industries were least interested in. The
growing interest of the industry sector for air quality matters represents an opportunity for the EO sector, as EO
data presents some advantages over on-ground measurements in the development of an operational service:
the ability to provide a global coverage (which is key in a domain where there are no borders), the ease of
downloading data on specific areas without having to engage with local in-situ data owners, and the ensured
provision of continuous data availability.

DRIVER 1
Industry starts to become interested in being involved in air quality matters, whichused to be mainly dealt by public sector bodies

DRIVER 2
Citizens pay bigger attention to air quality and how pollution affects themThis growing interest from the industry also takes form in the increased willingness of citizens to become awareof decisions for their activities. For instance, tourists, and more specifically elderly and families with young
children, are more and more willing to pick a travel location that would cause minimum health risk to them,hence a bigger market for air quality applications.

CHALLENGE 1
Key users are often public authorities who do not have the necessary budget to turnto the commercial data they need for their project

CHALLENGE 2
The lack of willingness of end users to pay for air quality services implies specificattention should be paid by industries on the investment made into data

Air quality is a topic that has traditionally been dealt with by public authorities and was thus under the burden of
the availability of public funding. Public authorities were working jointly with research centres that made use of
local in-situ data through partnerships with dedicated providers. The availability of free EO data proves to be a
supplementary source of information; however, even if air quality is a global issue, the product that is interesting
to the user is a local one. This implies that high to very high resolution data is needed and this data is most of
the time fee-based. This represents a major hurdle, notably for public authorities or for starting businesses withvariable revenues.
Moreover, if interest from citizens on air quality products and services is growing, they are still reluctant to pay asignificant price to access such products. That implies free EO data will be massively used but commercial data
will be carefully used.

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MONITORING OF AIR QUALITY
THE VALUE CHAIN OF EO DATA FOR AIR QUALITY ACTIVITIESACQUIRING EO DATAPROCESSING NEEDS AND CAPABILITIESUSERS & NEEDS

Raw EO data

Capabilities

Non exhaustive list•

Nowcast• Near-real time maps of specific air pollutants oroverall air quality at a global, regional or urban
scale.

Public authorities

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

Copernicus (current (Sentinel-3 & 5p) and future Sentinels(Sentinel-4 & 5))
CAMS & CLMS to a lesser extent
Aura, Aqua, Terra (MOPITT)
EUMETSAT
MODIS Aerosol
AIRS CO (total column) and Sulfur Dioxide (day and night)
OMI
NOAA
ENVISAT (Schiamachy)
Japanese Space agency
Chinese Space agency

Other type of data••••

In-situ
Background stations
UAVs
Ground sensors

Forecast• Forecasts of specific air pollutants or overall air
quality at a global, regional or urban scale.
Hindcast• Simulation of past air fluxes
Needs
Data processing platforms• CAMS• CLMS• Space agencies warehouses• Services of specialized companies
Data combining methods• Data integration• Data fusion• Data assimilation
Required skills• EO data processing• Mathematical models• Atmosphere physics• Meteorology• Health
Copernicus Market Report | Issue 2, February 2019 | Prepared by PwC | 114

•
•
•
•
•
•

Support to policy making related to environment
Estimation of policy efficiency and target achievement
Identification of best measures to adopt in case of air
pollution peak
Improved understanding of climate change
Ability to inform citizens on air quality
Survey pollutants flow over large areas

Private companies•

Monitoring of compliance with limit values set for
private companies

Citizens•

Development of maps providing air quality information
enabling conscious decisions to be taken

MONITORING OF AIR QUALITY
THE AVAILABILITY OF MODELS THROUGH THE COPERNICUS ATMOSPHERE
MONITORING SERVICE IS KEY TO USERS
Two types of air quality product developers can be
distinguished:- Users that have launched their business or
research projects thanks to the availability ofmodels as part of CAMS: their activities often rely
about 50-80% on the availability of CAMS
products, and more precisely on the global andregional air quality models, which are comprisedof EO data, in-situ data, and meteorological data.
They usually do not make use of raw data from
Sentinels.
- Users involved in air quality activities before
Copernicus and for whom alternatives toCopernicus could be found. In this case, CAMS
data and products are mostly used as inputs fortransboundary conditions to existing models they
have developed and represent about 10-30% of
their inputs. The availability of Copernicus has
enabled them to improve the quality of their final
product. Indeed, CAMS products have seen their
quality improved in the last two years with the
integration of Sentinel-3 and Sentinel-5p data,(which respectively provide additional data on
dust aerosol, particulate matters and water
vapour and on pollutants fluxes), and the quality
should keep on improving after Sentinel-4 and 5.
Another Copernicus service, the Copernicus Land
Monitoring Service (CLMS), is also used for thedevelopment of air quality maps though its CORINELand Cover product. It notably enables thedevelopment of urban or street level air quality
models.

Copernicus
strengths
Copernicus enables its users to have both a global
and regional coverage, which is key in the air
quality domain as pollution has no borders. It
represents a major opportunity for companies
considering the product is operational, reliable andencompasses an interesting range of pollutants
information. However, the global coverage is notavailable for everything, for instance not for pollens.

REGIONAL AND
GLOBAL
COVERAGE

The web interface has been updated recently tosmooth user access, notably for heavy archives.
Quality of data has also improved while theproducts remained free, which is a key aspect forusers.

OPEN AND EASYACCESS

As one of the flagship European programmes,
Copernicus gives trust to both users of CAMS dataand of final products relying on Copernicus in termsof continuity of the programme and of reliability ofthe data provided. The free, full and open strategy
seems sustainable and users can confidently build
business or products on it.

REFERENCE THATGIVES TRUST TO
USERSCopernicus Market Report | Issue 2, February 2019 | Prepared by PwC | 115

Copernicus
weaknesses

VARIETY OF DATA

Through CAMS service, users are able todownload in near real time, and forecasts
air quality information as well as archives.

EXTENSION OFDATASETSFURTHER BACKIN TIME

Today, CAMS archives go back to a few
decadesago.
However,
extendeddatasets would be useful to users as themore data you have, the easier it is tobuild trends.

HIGHER SPATIALRESOLUTIONCAMS global and regional air quality
models provide a resolution of 10km andmany users would like this resolution to be
improved, in order to provide data at street
or house level. Moreover, documentationon the inputs of the models are difficult toaccess and not exhaustive enough.

MONITORING OF AIR QUALITY
COPERNICUS BENEFITS FOR AIR QUALITY ACTIVITIESCopernicus, through the availability of CAMS products that combine EO data, in-situ data andmeteorological data into modelling systems, creates a lot of new opportunities to deal with air quality
at a global scale, especially because products are available openly and for free, and the programme isoperational today and for the years to come.
Economic return of intermediate users due to the use of Copernicus for air quality, and more globallyin the air quality monitoring sector, remains quite low. This is due to the fact that air quality is still aniche market mostly handled by public authorities. However, the provision of increased accuracy anddata quality should bring potential for bigger revenues. For instance, when air quality variations atstreet level will be measurable, economic revenues will be generated as most citizens live in urban
areas, so that is where the demand will come from. In 2018, economic benefits for intermediate users
represented between EUR 0.1 M and EUR 0.6 M for 2018.
There is no direct economic impact on end users; however, the social impact, notably on improved
visibility in cities and on health can be monetized and is significant. Indeed, economic benefits of end
users represent between EUR 269 M and EUR 537 M for 2018.

€
€

€

€€

Economic impacts€ €Increase in
resolution

CAMS GLOBALANDREGIONAL AIRQUALITY
MODELLING

Network effectthanks tostandards set by
Copernicus

Opportunities
outside Europe
thanks to global
coverage

Intermediate users
INCREASE IN
REVENUE

MARKET
EXPANSION

End users
SUPPORT TO NICHE
MARKETS SUCH AS
TOURISM

Economic benefits of Copernicus through its contribution to air quality monitoring(Source: PwC)

600

Key

Increased ease toaccess theinformation

Max

500

Min

EUR M

400

End users

AIR
POLLUTION

300

Max

200
100

Intermediate
users

0
2018

2019

Min

ALLERGY
MONITORING

2020
Copernicus Market Report | Issue 2, February 2019 | Prepared by PwC | 116

Improved
nowcasting andforecasting
Ability todetermine areas
subject togenerate allergies

TIME SAVINGBETTER
IDENTIFICATION OF
HOTSPOTS

INCREASEDTOURISMMONITORING OF AIR QUALITY
COPERNICUS BENEFITS FOR AIR QUALITY ACTIVITIESSocial impacts
End users
INCREASED VISIBILITY
DUE TO AVOIDEDPOLLUTION PEAKS

Copernicus provides the necessary datasets todevelop tools that are able to raise awareness onenvironmental health (e.g. on pollen dispersion or UV
index). This matches with the current trend of citizensof paying attention to lifestyle/healthy applications. In
the end, it should help to positively impact healthexpenditures and society as a whole.

Bettermeasures toavoid pollution
peaks

Reduced air pollution

IMPROVED PUBLICHEALTHGLOBALCAMS
MODELS

Improvedknowledge on
the air quality
trends

Improved ability tounderstand the origins
of health issues linked
to air fluxes

Copernicus Market Report | Issue 2, February 2019 | Prepared by PwC | 117

AWARENESS RAISINGON DISEASES IN THE
POPULATIONMONITORING OF AIR QUALITY
COPERNICUS BENEFITS FOR AIR QUALITY ACTIVITIES
Environmental impacts
End users
If health represents the biggest impact of all frombad air quality, it should not be forgotten that thepollutants or other fluxes also impact the state of
our environment. The ability to trace carbon orother emissions contributes to the level ofknowledge scientists have on our environment
and to the understanding of the cause of global
warming. Thanks to such information over a long
period of time, the cause of emissions can betackled.

GLOBAL CAMS
MODELS

Increased knowledge for climate change monitoring

DIMINISHED IMPACT
OF POLLUTION ON
ECOSYSTEMS,INFRASTRUCTURE,
BIODIVERSITY OR
ANIMALS

Strategic impacts
End users
In a context of global warming induced byclimate changes and pollution, local and global
actions need to be taken. Copernicus provides atool for air quality analysis and forecasts, both tohelp set targets of emissions and to ensure that
European countries are staying within therequested limits. This improves transparency
between countries whereas, before, groundmeasurements not available outside the borders
were used.

EASE OF COLLECTIVE
ACTION FROMCITIZENS AT
EUROPEAN LEVEL
Improved transparency on results of European countries on the state of their air
quality
DEFINITION OF
PRECISE AND
REACHABLE AIRQUALITY TARGETS

Copernicus Market Report | Issue 2, February 2019 | Prepared by PwC | 118

MONITORING OF AIR QUALITY / CASE STUDYAN IMPORTANT SHARE OF THE POPULATIONIS FACED WITH SEASONAL ALLERGIES AND
ASTHMA
Asthma and seasonal allergies can be a real burden for thepeople affected. Today, about 10-30% of the global population
is afflicted by allergic rhinitis. In Europe, asthma and allergies
linked to airborne particles have drastically increased in the last
decades and pollen is one of the airborne particles responsible
for the most chronic diseases. Sharing accurate knowledge on
the presence of the pollen allergen enables allergic people toplan their outside activities accordingly and improve their qualityof life.

PASYFOPASYFO (Personal Allergy Symptom Forecasting System) is aservice designed for pollen allergy sufferers, which is currently
available in Lithuania and Latvia but could be extended further
to the rest of Europe. It is split into 3 products, including amobile app on which generalized allergy symptom forecasts areprovided. People can also fill out their eyes, nose or lungs
allergy symptoms on a daily basis and gather personalized
overall symptom forecasts. Indeed different people responddifferently to different varieties of pollen and PASYFO enables
correlation between specific symptoms and air particles.
Information on symptom forecasts, pollen forecasts and air
quality forecasts are available for the next three days.
Examples of PASYFO Dashboards(Source: PASYFO)USE OF COPERNICUS TO SUPPORT ALLERGYMONITORING
TO ALLERGY MONITORING

COPERNICUS CONTRIBUTION

NEEDS AND CHALLENGES AROUNDPOLLEN ALLERGIESForecasting personal allergy symptoms thanks to CAMS
PASYFO

The main input dataflow for PASYFO are CAMS pollen and air
quality forecasts and are complemented by meteorologicalconditions. These are downloaded on a daily basis. The use of
the CAMS data vary depending on the availability of thedownscaling high-resolution SILAM (System for Integrated
modeLling of Atmospheric composition) forecasts for Northern
Europe, which have no guaranteed availability, timeliness, andcompleteness. If the high-resolution forecasts are not available,
symptom predictions for +1 and +2 days use CAMS data. Days
+3 and +4 of the symptom forecasts are always computed with
CAMS input because the high-resolution forecasts do not reachbeyond +54 hours. Additional pollen taxa computed within both
SILAM high-resolution and the CAMS operational suites

conclude the input-preparation steps.
Users of PASYFO are the allergy sufferers themselves orparents of allergic children. It can also support allergy doctorsthat could recommend the app to their patients. PASYFO is aunique product that currently has no equivalent. User feedback
shows that the Personalized Allergy Symptoms Forecast has
facilitated planning of outdoor activities for families, especiallyduring the weekends and on holidays. It also paves the way tothe future of "personalised medicine“.

Principal scheme of PASYFO(Source: PASYFO)MONITORING OF AIR QUALITY / CASE STUDY

COPERNICUS CONTRIBUTION

TO AIR QUALITY MONITORING

NEEDS AND CHALLENGES AROUND AIR
QUALITY

Planning ahead and organizing a stay in Greece
DiscovAir
BIGGER HABITS AROUND HEALTHY
LIFESTYLES FOR EUROPEANS
Tourists and citizens pay higher attention than before on theirlifestyle and their environment. This translates into an increased
willingness to dispose of accurate services on weather (e.g. to
avoid sunburn) and air quality conditions (e.g. to prevent
breathing difficulties or allergies being triggered) that helps tomake conscious decision on where to travel and when to plan
outdoor activities.

USE OF COPERNICUS TO SUPPORT AIRQUALITY MONITORING
To make the user as comfortable as possible, DiscovAir provides
air quality information taking into account the user's personal
preferences and current location. To do so, DiscovAir makes useof the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) data.
The service is fed and updated hourly by CAMS atmosphericcomposition data related, for example, to ozone (O3),atmospheric pollution (PM2.5 and PM10) and birch pollen.
Additionally, CAMS data helps DiscovAir provide comfort
suggestions based on weather conditions such as air
temperature, relative humidity, total cloud cover, wind speed,
dust aerosols and UV index.

DISCOVAIR
DiscovAir is an hybrid mobile application in-between genericweather applications and tourism applications. It is targeted totourists, tourism operators and citizens in Greece and Cyprus. It
provides information about environmental health and comfort
conditions for tourists and citizens (UV index, pollen, Ozone
concentration, Air quality (PM10, PM2.5)); up-to-date, locationspecific and personalized indices and alerts; and personalized
advice on protection measures. The provided air quality andweather-related information, forecasts and alerts, are tailored tomeet the personal needs of the users at their specific location.
For instances, the application provides the optimum time to visit
a location for a specific person (e.g. children or elderly) as they
do not face the same risks.

Parameters monitored by DiscovAir(Source: DiscovAir)

Through the provision of personalized advice, DiscovAir and
CAMS contribute to improve the travelling experience of theusers, by reducing risk of health issues such as allergies orbreathing difficulties due to polluted air or by enabling a better
protection of the environment. As such, the final result is
improved comfort and health of citizens staying in Greece or
Cyprus.

Examples of DiscovAir dashboards(Source: DiscovAir)

MONITORING OF AIR QUALITY / CASE STUDY

COPERNICUS CONTRIBUTION

TO AIR QUALITY MONITORING

NEEDS AND CHALLENGES AROUND THE
STUDY OF AIR QUALITY

QualeAria: from Copernicus to city scale air quality forecast
ARIANET
AIR QUALITY IN EUROPE

QUALEARIA

Several stakeholders, including regional air quality
agencies, are interested in the availability of air quality
forecasts to support their activities. ARIANET, an
environmental consulting company focused on
atmosphericmodellinganddeveloping
andimplementing air quality forecast systems, provides
national
tools
such
as
Qualearia(http://www.qualearia.eu/) that can be key for thesestakeholders.

Since 2007, QualeAria has provided an operational
forecast over Italy and a large portion of Europe for theforthcoming 5 days, and feeds high resolution local scale
forecast systems. QualeAria provides boundary
conditions to local/urban scale air quality forecast
systems, matching long range pollutants transport withlocal emissions to better resolve geographic andatmospheric circulation features. Its data is presently
delivered to seven Italian regional air quality agencies.
Downstream services include the Rome city air quality
forecast and the early warning system for Taranto city,
located besides the largest steel factory in Europe

USE OF COPERNICUS TO SUPPORT AIRQUALITY MONITORING

are assigned as a combination of data coming from the
Italian national emission inventory and CAMS emissions
for Europe.

CAMS is the reference system in Europe for air quality
forecast at global and regional scales, which guarantees
reliable input for smaller scale air quality forecast andassessment systems. Providing information free ofcharge, it enables SMEs like ARIANET to develop
competitive downstream tools and services possibly
applicable worldwide without being conditioned by theburden of information fees. QualeAria is fed by boundary
conditions from the global scale chemical weather
forecast produced by CAMS. Those also include thecontribution of Sahara dust, allowing to account for its
advection across the Mediterranean and its contribution
on air quality in Italian areas. Anthropogenic emissions

QualeAria fostered the development of F-Air (ARIANET
Integrated Forecast System Manager), a softwareenvironment where data sources, modelling components
and data delivery tasks are connected and scheduledaccording to users needs. This notably enabled toeffectively implement forecast systems integrating local
sources’ knowledge with wider context on a regional
scale. The connection with CAMS services improved theair quality forecast of ozone and particulate matter inMediterranean areas exposed to desert dust.

Lombardia

FVG

VdA

MoliseLazio/RomaPugliaNapoliCalabria

QualeAria

Local scale air quality forecast systems (redboxes) linked to QualeAria(Source: ARIANET)

Rome city local air quality forecast fed by
QualeAria (Source: ARIANET)

Sahara dust on local scale modelled through injection of CAMS boundary conditions(Source: ARIANET)MANAGEMENT OF NATURAL DISASTERS
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Copernicus economic impact (2018)

Response to natural disasters•(Source: PwC)

Satellites images are used not only for emergency responses but also for risks forecasts and early warning
operations.

•Because anticipation measures are the most efficient to mitigate disasters effects, early warning and forecasts
have the biggest impact on the response to natural disasters.

•

The Copernicus Emergency Management Service (CEMS) is a crucial asset for civil security teams in Europe as
the unique and central interlocutor for all types of Earth Observation (EO) requests.

705 EUR M

427 EUR M

Insurance•

EO still has a limited contribution to the traditional insurance and reinsurance policies for natural catastrophes.

•

Parametric insurance, although still marginal in terms of market size, relies more extensively on EO and tends toexpand its insurance policies portfolio beyond the agricultural market.

43 EUR M•

15 EUR M
Enabled revenues forintermediate users

The slow increase of adoption rate reflects a mix of challenge to meet operational needs with current EO
capabilities and traditionally conservative mind-set in the insurance industry.

COPERNICUS APPLICATIONS

Economic benefits
for end users

KEY COPERNICUS PRODUCTS•

Floods forecasts at short term and long term for riverine floods and fast floods•

Early Warning and alerts to national authorities•

Fire Risk Index at short and long term, assessing the risk of fire ignition and the difficulty to control it•

Rapid Mapping of disasters in emergency and in the following days•

Computation of indexes for parametric insurance products, mostly for agriculture

Copernicus Market Report | Issue 2, February 2019 | Prepared by PwC | 122•

CEMS European Flood Awareness System(EFAS) - Early Warning System•

CEMS European Forest Fire Information System(EFFIS) - Fire Risk Index•

CEMS Rapid Mapping Service

MANAGEMENT OF NATURAL DISASTERS
A RISK FOR CITIZENS AND FOR THEIR GOODS, AT GLOBAL SCALE

Between 350 and 500 disasters occur
every year globally, with a clear
increasing trend over the past
century, but which can be associatedpartly to the improvement of thereporting.
The
mostcommondisasters over time are floods
followed by storms, totalling together
about 75% of the reported events. In
terms of people affected by the events
however,droughts,
althoughrepresenting less than 5% of thereported events, have the largest
footprint, due to their impact on
agriculture and water management.
As a consequence of this, Asia
concentrates the vast majority of thenumber of people affected by thesecatastrophes, in particular in the caseof the severe droughts in 1987, 2002
and 2015, where more than 350
million people were affected eachtime.

Number of disasters per disaster type at global scale(Source: Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED), International
Disaster Database EM-DAT)

Earthquake

Flood

Storm

Drought

Epidemic

Others

600
500
400
300
200
100
0

The high records witnessed in recent years are unfortunately expected to
set the trend for the coming decades. The frequency of various events
have shown an increase (such as hurricanes and wildfires), and climatechange – in particular temperatures rising – is likely to also contribute tomore frequent extreme weather conditions.
In 2017 the global claims for losses from natural disasters reached theirhighest value ever recorded, at nearly EUR 130 billion. Most of the losses
covered by insurance policies were attributed to tropical cyclones andhurricanes (in particular the trio Harvey, Irma and Maria in North Atlantic
for more than EUR 80 billion), while wildfires reached a new record of
insured losses at more than EUR 12 billion.
Europe constituted about 8% of the global insured losses in 2017,
representing EUR 11 billion of insured losses. The agriculture sector has
been severely affected by a sequence of warm conditions, cold wave anddrought, leading to more than EUR 3.5 billion economic losses.

Number of people affected by natural disasters at global scale(Source: Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED), International
Disaster Database EM-DAT)

Earthquake

Millions

The current assessment looks at the
management of natural disasters fromthe perspective of both civil protection
and of insurance of properties. In bothcases, the access in a timely mannerto the right information on the eventsis crucial to be able to take to best
measures for the protection of citizen.

Flood

Storm

Drought

Epidemic

Economic losses and share insured at global
scale and European scale in 2017
(Source: Swiss Re)

Others

700
600
500
400
300
200
100
0

Global economic
losses in 2017
EUR 290 B

Economic losses
in Europe in 2017
EUR 21 B

Non-insured

Copernicus Market Report | Issue 2, February 2019 | Prepared by PwC | 123

InsuredINSURANCE FOR NATURAL DISASTERS
3 TYPES OF ACTIVITIES BASED ON EARTH OBSERVATION CAN BENEFIT INSURERS
Risk modelling

Parametric products

Insurance core activity relies on evaluating the levels of risk exposure, using probabilistic approaches of the events, exploiting
historical data and performing climate reanalyses over hundreds to thousands of years.
Satellite images have been recently exploited as a complementary source of data to traditional sources (hydrological,
meteorological, atmospheric, seismological etc.). Their main contribution to risk modelling is the analysis of post-event images tocalibrate the models, assessing which ones are more accurate and refining the different hypotheses. In some cases they can also
be exploited as inputs to digital models, for instance for digital elevation maps (useful for the assessment of floods exposure risks)and for ground assets mapping.

Since the 1990s, an alternative type of insurance policy has emerged usingparametric products, largely driven by agriculture insurance, and by
emerging markets in Asia, South America and Africa. The payment of
indemnities is correlated to the computation of a numerical index, which
triggers the payment when it exceeds a pre-defined threshold. As the index
targets the state of the production directly (yield-based), the insurance
policies are multi-perils, covering potentially any source of disaster(droughts, diseases, heavy rains etc.). Largely driven by agriculture
insurance, the challenge for these products is the accuracy of the index(basis risk), which should reflect as much as possible the reality of thesituation to be trustworthy. For this reason, the indexes require an
expertise of the lines of business for which they are designed, for instanceagronomists for crops insurance, in order to link the reading of EO datawith local knowledge and local parameters. Today, index products still
represent a marginal market compared to the rest of the market for natural
catastrophes.

Event footprint
The availability of satellite images right after a natural catastrophe can also be an efficient way for (re)insurance companies toobtain a comprehensive view of the situation and of the distribution of damages in the area. The aim is not to remotely assess theindemnities claims from the images, and a ground presence of insurers agents and experts is always required. However thisinformation enables appropriate planning and organisation of the operations for insurance companies in terms of sizing of theworkforce, and ground deployment of the experts. The benefits of such anticipation is both for the (re)insurance companies and forthe policies owners who benefit from a better customer service.

APPLICATIONS

WHY EARTH OBSERVATION?
•

BENEFITS••

Higher accuracy of risk models, higher accuracy of exposure risk
Better control of financial risk•••

Reinsurers
Insurers
Catastrophe modelling companies•

Improved customer service through better sizing of the workforce
during crises
Costs savings through optimised ground intervention for fieldagents and experts

•
•
•
•

Reinsurers
Insurers
Insured people
Emergency services

New markets accessible in remote areas
Access to insurance products for new populations•••

Reinsurers
Insurers
Farmers or local authorities•

Calibration of risk models and refinement ofhypotheses
Inputs for digital models such as elevation maps

EVENT FOOTPRINT••

Comprehensive vision of the affected area
First estimates of the extent of the damages•

INDEX PRODUCTS••

Computation of indexes based on image analyses
Provision of informative maps for farmers••

RISK MODELLINGEND USERS

Copernicus Market Report | Issue 2, February 2019 | Prepared by PwC | 124

INSURANCE FOR NATURAL DISASTERS
DRIVERS AND CHALLENGES FOR THE ADOPTION OF EARTH OBSERVATION BY INSURERS

Traditional insurance policies are difficult to implement on some markets due to the limited presence of local
sensors for data gathering. Parametric products offer a good potential for remote areas, in particular for
agriculture. Earth Observation data enables a wide coverage, recurrent fly-by and data stability. Droughts are
one of the main types of event that can be addressed for crops, but other potential markets are also envisaged,such as forestry, fisheries, and renewable energies.
The vision of the event footprint on large areas and the ability to have estimates of the damages in the few days
following the catastrophe enable better planning of resources for crisis cells of insurance companies (hotline
teams, indemnities management, field experts, etc.), which can last for weeks. In addition to the cost efficiency,
the better responsiveness of their service has an impact on customer satisfaction, which has larger and longer
term impacts on insurers business.
Insurers, as non-EO experts, need products tailored to their risk modelling activities. There is an opportunity forspecialized companies at the interface of EO technical aspects and insurance technical aspects. There remaina substantial margin for improvement for the accuracy of both post event analyses and parametric indexes(reduction of the basis risk).

CHALLENGE 1
Contribution of Earth Observation data curbed by the statistical nature of insurers
needs for risk models

CHALLENGE 2
Many insurers are derivative users of Earth Observation products, with limited
internal expertise

CHALLENGE 3
Basis risk is improving but still far from being accurate

DRIVER 1
Although still a niche, index products offer a steady approach for insurance policies

DRIVER 2
Post event images allow insurers to anticipate crises management, improving
customer service

DRIVER 3
Opportunities for intermediate market to fill the gap between required Earth
Observation expertise and insurers businessInsurers rely extensively on statistical models for risk modelling, and use long historical datasets to simulate
thousands of years of events. The data from satellites can be used for calibration or marginal improvement onsome inputs, but is not able to replace these stochastics approaches.
Investing in EO capabilities is subject to prior demonstration of the added value to their business. Apart fromlarge reinsurance groups, initial experiments are conducted with limited means, with challenges to acquire andmanipulate satellite images, hindering the potential for initial investments in this direction. The limited
improvements expected from EO do not justify the required investments, especially in a risk-averse industry.
Overall, despite some challenges and a moderate potential in terms of maximum uptake, insurers tend to show
optimism on the trends for satellite data adoption. Most of them have noted a clear improvement of awarenessin the past 5 to 10 years, a generalisation of EO data presence within insurance companies, and in particular aclear take-off of parametric products, starting from zero a decade ago.

Copernicus Market Report | Issue 2, February 2019 | Prepared by PwC | 125

INSURANCE FOR NATURAL DISASTERS
THE VALUE CHAIN OF EO DATA FOR INSURANCE COMPANIESACQUIRING EO DATAPROCESSING NEEDS AND CAPABILITIESOverall data needs

Data format and in-house capabilities

•
•

•

•

Landsat and MODIS satellites are prevalent sources
Sentinel data emerging, though on niche markets(parametric insurance)
Raw data not exploitable by insurers, needs to be tailored•

Index products

Event footprint

Risk modelling••

EO used mostly by Value Added Services (VAS)
companies, and few large (re)insurance groups
In best cases, EO constitutes about 10% of the input
data, mostly for wind modelling and floods
Few cases where High Resolution data is used forbuildings models

•

•
•
•
•
•

Satellite source driven by first availability
Hectare scale to 10m-scale resolution sufficientHigh Resolution data for roofs damages assessment
Data expected to be freely available
Procured from public entities or reinsurers•••

Landsat and MODIS satellites largely used
Sentinel 1 and 2 constitute more than 50% of the data
for some Value Added Services companies
Open source data is paramount
Revisiting time of few days of Sentinels is suitable

•
•

•
•

•

•
•
•

USERS & NEEDSNon exhaustive list

Data processing to turn satellite images into insurancefriendly inputs
Large (re)insurance companies tend to have internal
capabilities, and are able to ingest varied types of data
Other insurance companies require packaged data

EO data mixed with both other Geographic Information
Systems (GIS) and non-GIS: hydrological,
meteorological, rain gauges and river gauges
measurements, seismologic, administrative informationetc.

Gap remains between intermediate user offers andinsurers’ needs
Improvements observed on the algorithms and machinelearning capacities in the past years

Externalized service: strong EO and machine learning
expertise required
Available archives important parameter
Satellite data mixed with industry-specific data:
agronomy, high precision meteorology, in-situ sensors,and farmers experience

Copernicus Market Report | Issue 2, February 2019 | Prepared by PwC | 126

•
•
•
•

Calibration of risks models (both internal andoutsourced)
Digital elevation models
Winds analysis for surface roughness
Grounds assets mapping•••

Impact sizing prior to event
Assessment of event geographical extent
Estimates of total damages and per area•

Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) for
meadow and crops insurance
Biomass index for livestock insurance
Other indexes for forestry, or renewable energies••

INSURANCE FOR NATURAL DISASTERS
COPERNICUS MAKES A DIFFERENCE WITH ITS OPEN DATA POLICY AND DATARELIABILITY, BUT STILL FACES ISSUES OF AWARENESS AND ACCESSIBILITY OF DATA
Copernicus
strengths
Besides the case of parametric products,
for which experts acknowledge an
improvement of the user uptake for
Sentinel 1 and 2 data in the past 3 years,
there remains strong discrepancies
between insurers in the uptake ofCopernicus data.
It is estimated that for insurancecompanies owning in-house capabilities,
Copernicus images are used in no morethan 5% of the cases.
For post disasters analysis, the choice ofthe source of data is not possible, butmany cases of images provided by theCopernicus Emergency Management
Service have been mentioned.
For risk modelling the impact ofCopernicus remains anecdotal, and the
few traditional sources such as MODIS
are still used today, largely for simplicity
and continuity issues.

The open data policy allows for initial exploration
projects before developing deeper EO skills. It alsoenables an affordable pricing of index products andfree post event images in a market with limited
willingness to pay.

FREE EO DATA ISCRUCIAL TOSUPPORT BOTH
INITIAL UPTAKEAND MATURE
PRODUCTS

Copernicus is a first choice option for many index
products for its transparency, consistency, stability
over time (trustable providers), and its higher
resolution than Landsat and MODIS satellites.

SENTINEL DATAIS VERYSUITABLE FOR
INDEX PRODUCTS

The improvement of spatial resolution of Sentinels
over previous open source satellite data is a strong
differentiator for event footprint assessment andpreliminary damages assessment. The availabilityof Sentinel-1 radar data is also a key advantage,
especially for floods and storms.

SENTINELSRESOLUTION
OFFERS ANADVANTAGE
OVER OTHER
OPEN SOURCES

Copernicus
weaknesses

LACK OFASSURANCE ON
THE TIMELINESSTO RECEIVE THE
FIRST POSTEVENT IMAGE

The delay between the catastrophe and theavailability of the images is crucial. For quick
events such as heavy rains, the uncertainty on
the response timeliness curbs the interest for
Copernicus.

AWARENESS OF
THE DATA IS
STILL LOW ANDACCESS TO THE
DATA IS NOTINTUITIVE

The access to the data hubs and the channels
to download it are complex to find for nonexperts and insurers with limited resources. In
some cases, commercial arrangements are
more attractive as they are tailored and allow
for automated data delivery

Copernicus Market Report | Issue 2, February 2019 | Prepared by PwC | 127

INSURANCE FOR NATURAL DISASTERS
COPERNICUS BENEFITS FOR INSURANCE AGAINST NATURAL DISASTERS
As of 2018, the economic benefits of Copernicus for the insurance sector concentrates on the nichemarket of parametric products, driven by agriculture insurance (meadows and crops).

€€

At global scale, the revenues for intermediate users (Value Added Services companies) that can beassociated to Copernicus data in 2018 are estimated between EUR 7 M and EUR 12 M. The earlystage of the market and the confidentiality of insurers makes challenging the forecasts of the market
growth. Based on the expected growth of EO information products and the experts feedback, it can be
expected that the market, will grow at an average annual growth rate around 5% up to 2020.
The benefits for end users (insurance and reinsurance companies) materialise in different ways. The
market for parametric products is a niche market compared to the overall Natural Catastrophes
market, but the sizeable contribution of Copernicus in the index generation leads to revenues for
insurers up to EUR 11 M in 2018, and foreseen to grow to EUR 13 M in 2020. The growth, which is
expected by the many of the insurers consulted, remains dependent on the general uptake ofCopernicus data and on the improvement of parametric products as the indexes become moreaccurate and reliable. The other applications of Copernicus data for insurers also have economic
consequences, but in a lower range of values, estimated to not exceed EUR 3 M per year.

€€€

Economic impacts€ €Intermediate users
PARAMETRICPRODUCTSREVENUES FORINDEXPROVIDERS

End users
RISK
MODELLING

Economic benefits of Copernicus in Europe for the insurance market

Production ofindexes

Greater model
accuracy

LOWER FINANCIAL
RISK(Source: PwC)

30

Key

25

Min

EUR M

20

COSTS REDUCTION

Max
EVENT
FOOTPRINT

Optimisation ofcrisis workforce
CUSTOMERSATISFACTION

End users

15

Max

10
5

Intermediate
users

0
2018

2019

PARAMETRICPRODUCTSMin

2020
Copernicus Market Report | Issue 2, February 2019 | Prepared by PwC | 128

Index-based
policies

ADDITIONALREVENUESRESPONSE TO NATURAL DISASTERSCIVIL PROTECTION ACTIVITIES RELY ON ANTICIPATION AND QUICK RESPONSE
viewer. At global scale, the Global Wildfire Information System (GWIS) is a joint initiative of the Groupon Earth Observations (GEO) and CEMS, building partially on the EFFIS data.

Risk analysis
Civil protection action begins before the actual disasters, through anticipation of events and regularmonitoring of the risks.

In the case of floods, the European Flood Awareness System (EFAS) component of the Copernicus
Emergency Management Service (CEMS) provides short term (between 1 day and 10 days) and longterm (up to 4 months) forecasts of floods risks, looking at river levels and rain intensity. The data is
made available to the Emergency Response Coordination Centre (ERCC) or directly to national
authorised users such as civil protection authorities, and the EFAS issues alerts to its users in order towarn them when a flood risk is detected, allowing for confirmation and subsequent measures by local
authorities. At a global scale, the Global Floods Awareness System (GLOFAS) is also operational as a
CEMS since 2018.
Almost equivalent to EFAS for fires within CEMS is the European Forest Fires Information System(EFFIS), which provides a regular analysis of the fire risk (Fire Risk Index), describing how dangerous
the conditions are if a fire is ignited and how it would be to control, based on statistical anomalies ofrain. EFFIS provides short term (up to 10 days) and long term (up to 6 months) forecasts, however withno alert mode as for floods. The EFFIS data is freely accessible and can be displayed on a dedicated

APPLICATIONS

WHY EARTH OBSERVATION?
•••

Floods risk forecasts
Fires risk forecasts
Flood alerts (EFAS), including Early Warning

POST EVENT RISKANALYSIS••

Delineation maps of past events
Analysis of historical data of similar events••

Urgent response after the event
Representing about 80% of the requests of CEMS, rapid mapping of the situation just after or during adisaster is of high interest for civil protection authorities, which require information of the event extent
and levels of damages (status of bridges, blocked roads, grading maps etc.) to organise their fieldintervention accordingly. Flood mapping lead to delineation maps, while fire fighting operations rely on
burnt areas, and fire origin, type of land etc. European and international entities can request the
support of ERCC, through activations triggering a mapping request, which can includes regular maps
provision in the following days, depending on, the event.

BENEFITSRISK FORECASTS

RAPID MAPPINGThe risk analysis phase also includes a post event analysis (after the crisis), during which recovery
mapping allows for a deeper investigation of the events. Spatial extent of past events can be used to
identify areas exposed to certain types of disasters, subject to mitigation measures, or qualified as nonbuildable.

Provision of situation maps immediately after theevent
Provision of analysis layers on the images

END USERS•••

Better preparedness for disasters
Better planning of field operations
Warning of areas at risks for local action•••

Civil protection authorities
Hydrological institutes
Meteorological institutes•••

Understanding of risk exposure for urban infrastructures andpopulation
Implementation of mitigation measures
Appropriate financial protection schemes•••

Local authorities
Urban monitoring authorities andcompanies
Banks and insurers••

Quick overview of the event extent and infrastructures affected
Better planning of field interventions••

Civil protection teams
Local authorities

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RESPONSE TO NATURAL DISASTERS
DRIVERS AND CHALLENGES FOR THE ADOPTION OF EO FOR CIVIL PROTECTION

Satellite images benefit from a large swath, offering a wide view of the scene in a single delivery. The various
analytics layers that can be applied to the images allows for information on the situation that are tailored to theevent (earthquake, floods, fires etc.). This is applicable to all the potential disasters locations on the globe,
regardless of local in-situ sensors’ availability.
The Emergency Response Coordination Centre (ERCC) of the European Commission (DG ECHO), byconstituting a unique contact point for civil protection authorities, greatly simplifies the process to acquire
images by operational units. As non-EO experts, this optimize the efforts required and enables them to remain
focused on field operations planning and management.
Satellites are also valuable for the forecasts phase, in which in-situ sensors are efficient only during the very
short term. In the case of floods and heavy rains, satellites allow for about 1 week of anticipation. Based onthese images, civil protection teams can anticipate their intervention plans, warning of local authorities andtaking mitigation measures. In the case of absence of satellite data available, it would be considerably moredifficult and less efficient for rescue teams to spot the most urgent areas.

CHALLENGE 1
Civil protection teams are not EO professionals and few are familiar with EO data

CHALLENGE 2
The delay to obtain post-disaster images can curb the overall contribution ofsatellites

DRIVER 1
Satellite data is the only means to obtain an exhaustive vision of the situation in
many types of disasters

DRIVER 2
Emergency Response Coordination Centre acts as a common point of contact fordata requests

DRIVER 3
Satellite images allow for longer term forecasts and anticipation of some events,
such as floods

The main contribution and expertise of civil protection entities is on ground operations management. Very few
individuals are knowledgeable on how to manipulate satellite data and how to extract information out of it, with arisk of misinterpreting the data if not appropriately trained. As a consequence, civil protection units are strongly
dependent on data delivery and interpretation services. Local initiatives to develop EO capabilities usuallydepend on the personnel's’ own motivation and own skills, and on local political will to support it.
Post-event responsiveness of mapping services is a crucial parameter for civil protection teams, as the potential
to prevent casualties quickly decreases as hours pass. Although satellite data is always helpful for overall
rescue operations, receiving interpreted images a day after the activation of Copernicus Emergency
Management Service substantially reduces their added value. This aspect is relevant in particular forinternational partners requesting European support.

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RESPONSE TO NATURAL DISASTERS
THE VALUE CHAIN OF EO DATA FOR EMERGENCY RESPONSE TO NATURAL DISASTERSACQUIRING EO DATAPROCESSING NEEDS AND CAPABILITIESOverall data needs

Data format and in-house capabilities

•

•

•
•
•

Disaster risk reduction (floods, landslides, earthquakesetc.): largely based on Sentinel, completed with higher
resolution data in some cases
Longer term past analysis: MODIS, Radarsat and Landsat
satellites
Data completed with in-situ and aerial
Data potentially provided by national partners(cartography services, space agencies)•••

USERS & NEEDSNon exhaustive list

Analytics largely performed by CEMS, based onneeds expressed by national civil protection
authorities
Few civil protection teams have EO capabilities.
Disaster risk reduction subcontracted tointermediate market companies (Value Added
Services companies)
Analytics performed offline, but online interfaces
include visualisation of data

Fires

Floods

•
•
•
•

•
•
•

Forecasts: no use of Copernicus, mostly EUMETSAT
satellites, and national weather services
Fast floods: based on in-situ sensors
Post event images: extensively relying on radar data

Fire danger forecasts: meteorological satellites
Fires detection: MODIS, VIIRS and SEVIRI sensors
Mapping of burnt areas: MODIS, VIIRS, progressive
incorporation of Sentinel 2••

Forecasts from EFAS: checked and re-analysedby national hydrological or meteorologicalinstitutes•

Fire Risk Index maps: produced every day
superposed with active fires and burnt areas maps••

Copernicus Market Report | Issue 2, February 2019 | Prepared by PwC | 131•>70 EFAS authorized users – From EU Member
States, Balkan region and neighbouring countries
Partners are hydrological institutes, meteorologicalservices, and 3rd parties (research and scientists)
For GLOFAS, users also include development
agencies, Non Governmental Organisations, insurance
sectorMain user of CEMS is DG ECHO (ERCC)
National services are also users

RESPONSE TO NATURAL DISASTERSCEMS IS A GAME CHANGER AS THE SYSTEMATIC INTERLOCUTOR FOR DATAREQUESTS AND PROVIDER OF READY-TO-USE INFORMATION PRODUCTS
Copernicus
strengths
The strengths of the Copernicus
Emergency Management Service lie in its
ability to provide Geographic Information
Systems (GIS) products tailored to civil
protection needs, that can directly be
exploited by the operational planners,
who are, for the most part, not experts insatellite data reading or manipulation.
The main challenge remaining, on the
delay to deliver the images, is incumbent
to the nature of satellite orbits, and ispartly addressed through early warningand risk forecasts.

The professional interpretation of images is a
crucial feature of CEMS, as no expertise isavailable among operational agents. The quality ofinterpretation strongly improved over time to extract
intelligible information out of the images, with noneed to re-process it afterwards.

Copernicus
weaknesses

PROVISION OF
END PRODUCTSTAILORED TO END
USERS NEEDSCEMS ISSUSTAINABLE

The announced sustainability of the CEMS is
an incentive for civil protection authorities torely on it, and to anticipate long term
collaboration

CEMS has demonstrated over time that it delivers
high-end data and products. This is crucial in time
constraint contexts where trust in the inputs allows
users to focus on the operations. Copernicus
brought significant added value over previously
used sources such as aerial, which were notalways available nor relevant.

DATA ANDPRODUCTSPROVIDED ARE
RELIABLE

SINGLE
INTERFACE WITH
CEMS, WITHUNIQUE POINT OF
CONTACT FOR
ALL REQUESTS

Sending data requests to ERCC for all events
through a unique national relay greatly
simplifies and streamlines the administrative
process. It saves a lot of iterations anddiscussions, supporting Copernicus uptake ina context where people are not experts of EO
networks or data formats, and can focus on
emergency operations.

The fact that the service is free supports theuptake, in particular by local civil protection units
with constrained budgets. Commercial data would
not be affordable or a regular use basis, and so asa MS-funded initiative, governmental authorities
find valuable return in using CEMS.

DATA ANDPRODUCTSPROVIDED ARE
FREE

DELAYS TO
RECEIVE
PRODUCTS CANIMPEDE THE
IMMEDIATERESPONSE

As for satellite images in general, CEMS
mapping service delivery time from the request
is dependent on satellite orbit, downlink
window, and data processing time. For events
exploiting radar data only, such as floods, thereduced satellite options increase the risk ofhigher delays.

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RESPONSE TO NATURAL DISASTERS
COPERNICUS BENEFITS FOR THE RESPONSE TO NATURAL DISASTERS
The revenues for the intermediate users are the sales of data used by the Service for its activities.
Although other internal expenditures can be expected, the total amount is capped by the budget of the
CEMS, representing EUR 8.5 M in 2018.
Regarding end users, the monetisation of the civil protection activities can be performed for fires andfloods. The burnt areas are estimated to be reduced by about 230,000 ha per year thanks to civil
protection actions. CEMS have provided its services for about 25% of the area, and its contribution to
the results (through EFFIS and mapping services) is estimated between 10% to 15%. Reduced
environmental damages based on a valuation coefficient represent between EUR 30 M and EUR 40 M
of prevented environmental damages in 2018. Economic damages based on losses for the woodindustry of around EUR 9 K per hectare amount to between EUR 225 M and EUR 335 M in 2018. The
number of avoided fatalities raised too much uncertainty, hence could not be quantified.

€
€

€

€€

Economic impacts

€ €

•

RISK
ANALYSIS•EARLYWARNING•

MAPPING

Intermediate users
Purchase ofdata by CEMS
to satellite
operators

Early warning for floods reduces by up to 33% the economic damages, for about EUR 2 B in 2018,considering the CEMS forecast success rate of 55% and the fact that other sources exist for floods
forecasts, leads to a total of between EUR 135 M and EUR 270 M. In addition, the improvement ofground response by 1% in the 80% of floods mapped by CEMS leads to a total of EUR 25 M in 2018.

End users•

Economic benefits of Copernicus through its contribution to civil protection(Source: PwC)

900

Key

800

700

EUR M

400

Max

300
200
100

Intermediate
users

0
2018

2019

Min

Value of land forthe ecosystem

Value of land forwood industry•

End users

500

REDUCED
BURNT
AREAS

Max

Min

600

REVENUES FORDATAPROVIDERS•EARLYWARNINGFOR FLOODS

Anticipation of
measures

MAPPING OF
FLOODSDURING THE
EVENT

Betterresponse
strategy forremote areas

2020
Copernicus Market Report | Issue 2, February 2019 | Prepared by PwC | 133

REDUCEDENVIRONMENTALDAMAGESREDUCED ECONOMICDAMAGESREDUCED
MATERIAL LOSSESMANAGEMENT OF NATURAL DISASTERS
COPERNICUS BENEFITS FOR THE RESPONSE TO NATURAL DISASTERS

End users

Social impacts

Through index products, Copernicus financially supports
farmers in remote areas. These products are well suitedfor emerging countries where there is no or few
alternatives to be insured. By protecting the livestockand crops of farmers, Copernicus helps themstrengthen their business and envisage a better future.
Although its contribution is more limited for post event
assessment, Copernicus, by improving the claims
management timeliness, also reduces the exposure ofcustomers after natural catastrophe events.

The activation of the CEMS by civil protection
organisations and rescue teams gives them access to
crucial information improving the field interventions, toanalyse the extent of the catastrophe, identify the criticalareas to be rescued or the state of infrastructures suchas roads and bridges. This goes beyond the fires andfloods, and includes other disaster response managed
by the CEMS, such as earthquakes, storms or
epidemics.

Remotely produced index
INDEX
PRODUCTS
Automated indemnity
trigger
EVENT
FOOTPRINTAFTERCATASTROPHE

Better timeliness for
insurance handlingprocess

Early Warning andforecasts
DELIVERYOF CEMSPRODUCTS

Ability to offer
insurance to isolated
farmers

REDUCED
PRECARIOUSNESS

Quicker recovery
after material losses

REDUCED
PRECARIOUSNESS

Detection of disease
outbreaks

REDUCED CROPSLOSSES

Anticipation of floods
and fires
REDUCEDCASUALTIES

Awareness of criticalareas to rescue
Reduced time forintervention (all disasters)
Better planning anddeployment

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MANAGEMENT OF NATURAL DISASTERS
COPERNICUS BENEFITS FOR THE RESPONSE TO NATURAL DISASTERS

End users

Environmental impacts

Forest fires release CO2 in the atmosphere, with around
28 tons of CO2 emitted for each hectare of forest burnt(contributing to negative impacts on the environment
such as the green house effect). Based on thecontribution of CEMS to the reduction of burnt areas, it
represents a total reduction of around 150,000 tons of
CO2 per year.

DELIVERY OF
CEMS
PRODUCTS

Awareness of critical areas
to rescue

Reduced burnt area

REDUCED CO2
EMISSIONS

Better planning of meansand deployment

Strategic impacts

CEMS products enable MS with no or limited national
capabilities to access appropriate tools for disaster
resilience and to strengthen their vulnerabilities.
Through its global coverage, CEMS also provides
strategic information to rescue teams in all affectedareas in the world and helping to protect populations on
all continents, and Copernicus strengthens the bonds
with international partners in critical situations.

Increase of the share of European capabilities in strategic
operations for EU MS, providing civil protection support toEuropean states with limited national capabilities.

SUPPORT TO STATESWITH LIMITEDCAPABILITIESContribution of Europe to global initiatives for civil protection,
on an open access mode, strengthening the bonds withinternational partners.

CONTRIBUTION ON
THE GLOBAL SCENE

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NATURAL DISASTERS / CASE STUDYEARLY WARNING SYSTEM WITHIN EFAS

THE CHALLENGE FACED BY THE EFAS

COPERNICUS CONTRIBUTION TO THERESPONSE TO FLOODS IN FRANCE

Improving the delay for image delivery after floods
The European Flood Awareness System (EFAS)

CONTRIBUTION OF EFAS TO FLOODS IN FRANCE (2016)

One of the key issues faced by emergency services when acatastrophic event occurs is the need to receive the maps andspatial analyses for situational awareness as fast as possible.
The rapid mapping workflow can be broken down into 4 phases:••••

The decision to trigger or activate a mapping
The remote sensing data acquisition process
The downlinking and data acquisition procedures
The production of crisis geo-information.

The data acquisition phase is the most time consuming,
representing about 2 days on average for the Copernicus
Emergency Management Service (CEMS) in 2017, or between
70% and 90% of the total time to deliver the final products.

THE ROLE OF THE EARLY WARNING SYSTEM
OF EFAS
A part of the solution to improve the time to deliver the image isthe use of Early Warning Systems (EWS) to pre-emptively
trigger image acquisitions, as soon as an event is predicted or
detected. Hydro-meteorological events, since they can beforecasted few days ahead, are well suited for EWS, and they
represent the most frequent activations of the International
Charter for disasters and of the CEMS in the past 20 years. The
EWS of EFAS provides maps of flood probabilities, and inparticular some risk forecasts, enabling to identify Areas ofInterest for satellite tasking. Alerts above a certain level trigger
the Rapid Mapping pre-tasking of satellites.

Some pre-tasking operational applications have been demonstrated, suchas during the floods in the Loiret (France) in 2016. A early warning alert wassent on the 30th May for a high flood risk for the 31st May onward for the
Seine and Loire river basins, forecasting a 20-year return period event.
A pre-emptive programming of satellite data and Rapid Mapping value
added products was requested, enabling, on the 1st June, to receive thefirst acquired data less than 2 hours after the official activation of the CEMS.
This represents a gain of about 14 hours, and the first cartographic products
were delivered about 5 hours after the activation. The EWS not only
ensured rapid availability of satellite images, but also enabled the value
added service provider to be already focused on the event and to deliver
the products in less than 3 hours after the images’ reception.

EWS

SATELLITE TASKING
Approximate peaktime

Data request
SATELLITE OPERATORS

Emergency event

Data delivery
VAS

CEMS workflow for floods Early Warning Systems(Source: EFAS)

Sentinel-1
CEMS
acquisition activation Receiving Sent-1
dataset 18:40
17:40
16:45

EFAS Alert
13:03

30/05

31/05

Satellite data
request to REACT
14:45
EFAS alert
message and AOI
for rapid maps
produced(Source: EFAS)

Severe impact
expected less than 24hours ahead

Early Warning alert

1 JUNE
1st post event
map available
21:15

Timeline of the EWS and data delivery during the floods(Source: EFAS)

NATURAL DISASTERS / CASE STUDYDANGER FORECASTS AND CURRENTSITUATION ASSESSMENT BY EFFISTHE ROLE OF EFFISCOPERNICUS CONTRIBUTION TO THERESPONSE TO FIRES IN PORTUGALSupporting fire fighting operations through informative maps
The European Forest Fires Information System (EFFIS)SITUATION OF PORTUGAL IN 2017

The European Forest Fires Information
System (EFFIS)
is a component of theCopernicus Emergency Management Service.
EFFIS provides 2 types of products to support
civil protection teams in fire fighting.
1 – The forecasts of fire danger provides mapsof the area with a 6-grades scale (very low to
extreme), with forecasts between 1-day up to
6 days upfront.

In 2017, Portugal faced highly dangerous
meteorological conditions for fires, with a large
share of the country assessed by the EFFIS as
facing “Extreme” danger (6/6). It resulted innumerous fire outbreaks on the 17th June, of
which 2 large fires burnt over 16,700 ha in the
district of Coimbra. Throughout Portugal, 64
fatalities and 251 injured people were reportedby the 22th June, and the National Authority
for Civil Protection (ANPC) requested aerial
and terrestrial support, which was provided by
France, Italy and Spain.

2 – After the beginning of the fires, the Rapid
Damage Assessment (RDA) module of EFFIS
delivers:- Maps of burnt areas, showing theperimeters of burnt areas for fires larger
than 30 ha. These maps are updated twice
a day, exploiting MODIS images.
- Since 2016, maps of active fires (“hotspots”) are also available, which are
generated once per day, using images
from the VIIRS sensor.
The fire danger forecasts and the RDA module
are used by fire fighting teams to plan for theiroperations (sizing of the teams per location,
deployment of equipment, monitoring of theevolution of the situation).

Left: Fire danger forecast map, 19 June 2017
Right: Active fires and burnt areas map, 2018 fire season(Source: EFFIS)CONTRIBUTION OF COPERNICUS
TO GROUND OPERATIONS
On the 18th June, the ANPC activated theCopernicus Emergency Management Service,and the maps produced by EFFIS and themapping service were analysed by Joint
Research Centre (JRC) for the Emergency
Response Coordination Centre (ERCC).
By the 18th June, EFFIS provided maps on theevolution of the ongoing fires and by the 22ndJune, maps of burnt and damaged areas wereavailable. In total, 42 maps based on
Copernicus satellite images had been provided
to the ANPC, helping to fight about 580 fires
between the 15th June and 21st June.

Left: Burnt areas (red) and hotspots (green) mapped by the EFFIS for the ANPC, 19 June 2017
Right: Damaged areas (negligible to high) mapped by the CEMS Mapping Service for the ANPC, 22 June 2017
(Source: EFFIS)NATURAL DISASTERS / CASE STUDYCONTEXT OF THE CATASTROPHE AND
ROLE OF THWCONTEXTCOPERNICUS CONTRIBUTION TO THE
WORK OF EMERGENCY OPERATIVES

Response to large wildfires in Germany
German Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW)

COPERNICUS PRODUCTS ACQUIRED•The first images received were the extent of the burnt areas,
based on visual interpretation of Sentinel-2 data. On top of it, amap of the active fires was superposed.
After removing the non-exploitable acquisitions due to clouds, 7
successful snapshots of the fire spreading were obtained,
covering more than 4 weeks.

••

ROLE OF THE THW

2018 was the driest year in Germany since weather records
began. On September 3rd a wildfire broke in the Emsland
region, which took over one month to be fully extinguished,burning about 1,200 hectares and mobilising at some times over
2,000 emergency operatives simultaneously on the field. The
challenge in fighting this fire was its spread over several
contaminated sites, which were not accessible by emergency
teams.

The Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW) is a partner incivil protection in Germany, providing assistance after
catastrophes, both in Germany and at international level. During
this event, THW units were mobilised along with operatives fromfire stations and the military.
Large amounts of equipment and personnel were required forthe event, and the headquarters of THW started to build up theiroperations staff on September 18th.
Among the first activities undertaken by the teams was theactivation of the Copernicus Emergency Management Service(CEMS), in order to acquire satellite imagery of the scene.
During the operations, the satellite images were completed withairborne infrared images from military forces.

CONTRIBUTION TO THE FIELD OPERATIONS
The images received from CEMS served multiple purposes:• Overview of the fire extent and development• Verification of the accessibility of areas and key
infrastructures, planning of the staff deployment andassurance of their safety••

Estimates of the flame front movement based on prevailingwinds
Planning of potential evacuation plans for villages at threat
Identification of areas for supply stations, accommodations
and standby operatives
Monitoring of active fires and success of fire-fighting
operations
Inform the politicians, medias and Federal MinistryFire
ignition

Constitution of
First
THW
imagesCEMS
operational staff activation available

03/09 05/09

17/09

Activation+ 18H

Last fire
extinguished

06/10 10/10

Coverage of images acquisitions through
CEMS: 4 weeks
Timeline of the event and of CEMS contribution(Source: THW)

Spreading of the fire:
5th September (red),
18th September (orange)
26th September (green)
based on CEMS products(Source: THW)CEMS products therefore enabled time saving, increased safety,
and more effective coordination by emergency managers.

Burnt area on the 6th
October, based on
Pléiades-1A images(Source: THW)SECURITY / CASE STUDYCONTEXT OF THE CATASTROPHE AND
ROLE OF AITCONTEXTCOPERNICUS CONTRIBUTION TO THE
OPERATIONS IN SULAWESISupport to response after an earthquake and tsunami in Indonesia
Asian Institute of Technology (AIT)EXPLOITATION OF SATALLITEIMAGES TO SUPPORTOPERATIONS IN SULAWESIOn 28th September 2018, a 7.5 magnitude earthquake struck in
the Minahasa peninsula in Indonesia. Following the earthquake,a localised tsunami hit the coast of Sulawesi island, affecting inparticular the city of Palu.
Although earthquakes are rather frequent in this area due tohigh tectonic plates activity, the twin effect of the seism and thetsunami increases the potential damages to the population andinfrastructures.
The event led to over 2,000 casualties, 10,000 injured and morethan 70,000 persons evacuated.

ROLE OF THE ASIAN INSTITUE OFTECHNOLOGY

Sentinel Asia

The Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), and more specificallyits Geo-informatics Centre, ensures the relay between data
providers and national civil protection organisations in SouthEast Asia, acting as a single access point for satellite data.
Depending on the situation, they use their EO data analysis
capabilities, sometimes in collaboration with national space
agencies, to translate images received from satellite operators
into intelligible and relevant maps for the local authorities. On
top of their images processing, the AIT exploits web information
to provide a more exhaustive vision of the situation.

Asian
Institute ofTechnology

Int. Charter for
Nat Disasters
Asian National
Space
Agencies

National
civil
protection
National
GIS
authorities
National
Space
Agencies

Typical role of the AIT within civil protection action loop
(Source: AIT)The scale of the disaster in Sulawesi led to
escalation of Sentinel Asia to theInternational Disasters Charter. Being the
Project Manager, AIT received images from
CNES, DLR, CNSA, ESA, JAXA, KARI,ROSCOSMOS, USGS and ABAE.
The first images, received from a Pleiades
satellite (50cm resolution), arrived one day
after the activation of the Charter.
The analysis of the images was performedin collaboration with the Indonesian

National Institute of Aeronautics and Space(LAPAN) and local universities in order totailor the information products to the local
needs for field intervention by civil
protection teams. It enabled governments
and the army to plan the rescue operations,and to provide a first estimate of thedamages in the city with around 5,000
buildings damaged (final estimated around
8,000).
Based on the images received, AIT also
provided an analysis of the state of criticalinfrastructures, enabling for instance toidentify alternative routes to damaged
roads.

Optical view of the area affected by the tsunami (left) and analysis of building damages in the area affected by theearthquake and the tsunami (right)(Source: AIT)NATURAL DISASTERS/ CASE STUDYUSE OF COPERNICUS FOR RIVER ICE
MONITORING SERVICESMONITORING OF RIVER ICE COVERSAGAINST FLOODING

Developing river ice satellite monitoring services in remote areas
C-CORETHE DANGERS OF RIVER ICE

C-CORE’S RIVER ICE MONITORING SERVICE

During the winter season, rivers throughout Canada experience thedevelopment of ice covers from freezing over. These ice covers
can become “ice jams”, blocking the river and causing water levels
upstream to rise, which in turn can spill over and flood the adjacentland.

C-CORE is a Canadian not-for-profit corporation that conducts
applied research, develops technology and delivers services toimprove safety, efficiency and cost-effectiveness for clients
operating in challenging environments. With core technicalexpertise in Earth Observation (EO), Ice Engineering andGeotechnical Engineering, C-CORE has more than 40 years
experience in the advancement of satellite remote sensing,navigational and communication technologies for environmental
and industrial monitoring.

The economic impact of ice-jam floods is estimated to be in thehundreds of millions annually. The overall severity is exacerbatedby the risk of post-flooding freeze-up.
Key factors to assess in regards to the danger of ice-jam flooding
include location, extent and structure of ice field; however,accurate monitoring of these is difficult to achieve over large areasusing conventional, field-based or aerial surveillance methods.
Therefore, in remote and difficult-to-access areas, surveillance canoften be cost-prohibitive.

USE OF COPERNICUS FOR RIVER ICE
MONITORING
The monitoring of river ice covers, with particular emphasis on thefreeze-up and break-up periods, is an integral part of flood
forecasting for many northern rivers.
C-CORE relies on Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 imagery, together
with field-based reference data and hydro-meteorologicalobservations, to deliver time-critical, operational satellite-based
river ice monitoring services.
The reliability and quality of Copernicus data has been
instrumental in achieving the desired spatial and temporal
coverage and guaranteeing satisfactory service levels.
The severity and economic impact of floods related to ice jams has
been proven to be significant. In February, 2003 the Town of

C-CORE’s EO-based river ice monitoring service uses methods ofvisual interpretation, automated image classification and change
detection to generate information related to location of the ice front,
ice type and changes to the ice cover. Its project offers advanced
prediction and delineation of ice-related flooding, offering reliable
and consistent assessments of ice-related flood risk.

Image of typical rough river ice(Source: C-CORE)

Badger on the Exploits River, NL (a remote area in eastern
Canada) was flooded as a result of a collapsing ice dam.
Damages ran to $10 M, with significant negative impact for bothresidents and the Canadian insurance industry.
Hence, responding to the need for accurate and reliable ice
observations, C-CORE is using Copernicus imagery to deliver
satellite-based river ice monitoring services across Canada, and inturn this helps:•

Prevent or plan for flooding, to alleviate social and economic
impacts in northern communities (e.g. cost of flood damage,loss of human life)•

Share critical information with local stakeholders•

Execute a cost-effective and reliable surveillance program

Example of a river classification on Exploits River using Sentinel-1(Source: C-CORE)

EMERGENCY RESPONSE/ CASE STUDYOPERATIONAL USE OF COPERNICUS
EMS

CONTEXT AND CONTRIBUTION TO THE
EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT

Rapid Mapping services after flooding events in the USA
e-GeosNATURAL DISASTERS: AN INCREASING
CHALLENGE

COPERNICUS CONTRIBUTION TO THE
EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT

In the past few years the climate change is amplifying the impact
of extreme weather events in Europe and worldwide. Tropical
cyclones are severely affecting the EU outermost regions and theEuropean overseas territories. Over one million hectares ofwildland areas were destroyed during summer 2017 by wildfiresin Europe, an area four times the size of Luxembourg.

The Copernicus EMS (Emergency Management Service) Rapid
provides maps of damage assessment and reference pre-event
situation maps based on satellite images, to support civil
protection and humanitarian aid operators in their tasks related to
the reaction to natural/man made disasters. Access to the service
is centrally coordinated at European Commission level by theEuropean Response Coordination Centre (ERCC) at DG ECHO.
It is made available free of charge to all Authorized Users
operating in Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aids sectors, bothfor European Member States and international organizations
such as the United Nations, the World bank or other NGOs. The
results of the service in near real time are published on theCopernicus portal, and are made publicly and openly available inaccordance with the Copernicus policy on free and open data.

Natural disasters imply loss of properties and major impacts on
the economy including to network infrastructure, businesses,
agricultural and forestry activities. In this challenging context it isof outmost importance to grant fast access to fresh information
over disater areas to the authorities involved in the emergency
management: the more informed humanitarians are, the better
they can react

BENEFITS OF COPERNICUS EMS DURING THE
HURRICANE SEASONe-GEOS has been involved in the satellite based map production
within Copernicus EMS during a number of seasonal hurricanes
and typhoons that rage in the Atlantic and Pacific sea.
In 2017 Harvey caused prolonged heavy rains, flooding andstorm surge along the Texas coast. President Donald J. Trump
issued a Major Disaster Declaration for the state of Texas,
making federal funding available for emergency work and toaffected individuals and businesses owners who sustain damage
as a result of the storm.
The EMS was activated for Harvey, producing 17 post event
maps over six areas spread along the US east cost: Houston,Austin, San Antonio, Mathis, Beaumont/Orange (all in Texas)
and Lake Charles (Louisiana).

Areas of interest identified for the post disaster analysis following
hurricane Michael (USA) – October 2018 (Source: e-geos)

In 2018 the EMS was activated to support the US on threeoccasions: for hurricane Michael, hurricane Florence that hit the
Carolinas and Typhoon Mangkhut that made landfall in Guam (aU.S. island territory in Micronesia). A total of 54 maps weredelivered to FEMA and helped the coordination structures as well
as local emergency managers to assess the extent of flooding
and the magnitude of damage inflicted to buildings andinfrastructure after the cyclonic episodes.

“U.S. emergency managers have found great value in the nearreal-time, geospatial analytical products prepared by theCopernicus operation centres in Europe. As the 2018 hurricane
season ends this month, U.S. emergency management agencies
are grateful for Europe’s “full, free, and open” data policy.”, US
Department of State.

Flooded areas identified in the area of Beaumont Orange (USA) after the
Hurricane Harvey (Source: e-geos)

SECURITY
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Copernicus economic impact (2018)(Source: PwC)•

Security actors in Europe cover a wide range of applications, on land and on the sea, from border surveillance tovessel detection, oil spill detection, support to police forces and customs, monitoring of illegal fishing or support toEuropean Union (EU) citizens in foreign countries.

•

Satellite data offers the strong advantage of providing monitoring capabilities over large areas , especially at sea,
which would not be possible with other means such as aircraft, drones or ships.

•

Earth Observation (EO) is mostly used to detect behaviours or objects that require further investigation, hence itenables the optimization of the use of EU Member States capacities (aircraft, drones, vessels, human resources).

•

The provision of EO services by Frontex, EMSA and SatCen is a clear stimulant for the adoption of EO by end users,
since they can directly access services serving their day-to-day operations rather than spending resources in EO
capacity.

•

308 EUR M

100 EUR M

19 EUR M

For some applications EO is not suitable due to the high reactivity required, in the case of quick movements (e.g. gofasts) or border crossing on short distances (e.g. between Morocco and Spain).

COPERNICUS APPLICATIONS•

Risk analysis on EU external land borders•

Vessel detection and identification•

Detection of abnormal behaviour•

Oil spill detection•

Monitoring of ship traffic•

Detection of icebergs

Enabled revenues forintermediate users

Economic benefits
for end users

KEY COPERNICUS PRODUCTS

Copernicus Market Report | Issue 2, February 2019 | Prepared by PwC | 142•

Maritime Surveillance – Vessel detection•

Oil spills detection and support to pollution response

SECURITYSECURITY OPERATIONS ADDRESS A VARIETY OF STRATEGIC GOALSThe scope of Security operations
covered in this report covers all thecivil applications under responsibilityof governmental authorities aiming atensuring European Union (EU) citizen
security and safety. It typically
includes the mandates of police
forces, customs, Maritime Rescue
Coordination
Centres(MRCC),
Fisheries authorities or military forces
involved in civil actions. Such
operations can take place both onland and on the seas.
By nature, security operations are
strategic for EU Member States, as
described in EU regulations such as
the Global EU strategy, the EU Space
Strategy and the European Defence
ActionPlan.
Theabilityforgovernments to protect citizens and tohave sovereign capabilities to do so
are among key concerns in theseregulations.

Services provided by Frontex, EMSA and SatCen as part of the Copernicus Security
Service (Source: European Commission, Frontex, EMSA, SatCen)
Coastal Monitoring

Cross-border crime
surveillance

Vessel Detection

Pre-frontier monitoring

Vessel tracking andreporting

Reference mapping

Vessel anomaly
detection

Large area pre-frontiermonitoring

Environmental
assessment

Maritime Surveillance ofan AoI

Multi-sensor monitoring

Fisheries control

Earth Observationrecon

Law enforcement

Maritime Safety andSecurity

Maritime environment(pollution monitoring)

Other uses (support tointernationalorganisations)Customs

Critical infrastructure
analysis

Conflict damage assessment

Support to evacuation
plan
Non-EU borders map

Road Network Status
Assessment
Reference Map

Camp Analysis
Activity report

In Europe, although practices vary between MS, the satellite data
exploited for civil security operations is largely procured through the 3
entrusted entities of the Copernicus Security Service.

Crisis situation picture

Copernicus Market Report | Issue 2, February 2019 | Prepared by PwC | 143

The European Border and Coast Guard agency (Frontex) is
responsible for the management of EU external borders. Frontex
provides support to national authorities of EU Member States andSchengen Associated Countries in fighting irregular migration andcross-border criminality. Copernicus services, provided in theframework of EUROSUR Fusion Services, enhance the situationalawareness at the EU external borders and strengthen the risk analysis
component of Frontex activities.
The European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) was established in
2002 with the mission to ensure a high, uniform and effective level ofmaritime safety, maritime security, prevention of and response topollution caused by ships and installations. EMSA became theentrusted entity for the Copernicus Maritime Surveillance (CMS)
service in 2015, which enhanced existing EMSA services by offering
new and extended access to maritime Earth Observation (EO) data.
CMS provides services to European maritime authorities with
operational tasks in areas such as fisheries control, maritime safety,
law enforcement, customs and environmental monitoring. EO products
are combined with other data from EMSA systems (e.g. vessel
information) and delivered through a dedicated user interface.
The third entrusted entity, the European Satellite Centre (SatCen),supports Frontex and EMSA by providing data and analytics, and also
coordinates the Copernicus Security Service in support to the EU
External Action (SEA). As such SatCen assists the EU representatives
and citizen dealing with crises or emergency situations in third
countries. It supports for instance the monitoring of political and armed
conflicts, provides situational awareness, and support humanitarian
operations or border surveys.

SECURITYSITUATIONAL AWARENESS IS A CRUCIAL NEED ACROSS USER COMMUNITIES
Although land and sea environments follow different dynamics, the effectiveness of Security operations
is largely supported by having access to an exhaustive understanding of the situation, or “situationalawareness”.

SECURITY ON LAND
The regular monitoring of EU external land borders by Frontex, supported by SatCen for the provisionof some images, provides vulnerability assessment and risk analysis for land operations, exploited forintelligence needs. To a smaller extent, Frontex provides EU Member States with the last available
analyses to support planning in the frame of joint operations, both on land and at sea.

SECURITY AT SEA
Besides the border operations managed by Frontex, sea operations encompass a wide range ofactivities, for which EMSA provides EO products and analyses.

APPLICATIONS

WHY EARTH OBSERVATION?

Law enforcement operations through maritime surveillance includes activities such as:• Detection of illicit activities by non-reporting vessels• Border surveillance for illegal immigration (in particular in the Mediterranean Sea)
• Support to customs operations• Monitoring of illegal fishing activities
Oil spills monitoring and mitigation is also a crucial area of contribution for satellite images and inparticular Sentinel-1, as illustrated by the wide uptake of the CleanSeaNet service provided by EMSA.
Maritime safety is a strategic activity for EU governments, where satellite data can support Search andRescue operations (typically by analysing currents and waves) and can improve ships routes safety
through monitoring of the traffic and, in polar regions, of icebergs.
These operations are performed by different authorities from EU MS, each with their specific needs,
but remain interconnected, typically from the command chain perspective, creating potential synergies
on EO data requirements.

BENEFITSLAND BORDERSURVEILLANCE•••

Vulnerability assessment
Risk analysis
Near-real time analysis for joint operations••

Intelligence on critical infrastructures in pre-frontier areas
Better informed operations planning and coordination

MARITIMESURVEILLANCE•••

Vessel detection and identification
Anomaly and abnormal behaviour detection
Search & Rescue•••

Detection of suspect activities over large EEZInitial insights to commission in-situ means
Evidence support to prosecutions

POLLUTION COMBAT••

Detection of oil spills
Drift models for oil spill development and origin•••

MARITIME SAFETY•••

Monitoring of ship traffic
Icebergs detection
Drift models for Search & Rescue••

END USERS•••

Frontex
Coast guards
Police and law enforcement authorities•••

Frontex
Coast guards and law enforcement
authorities
EFCA and national fisheries agencies

Recurrent monitoring over large areas
Better informed planning for mitigation operations
Evidence support to trace back the origin••

Maritime Rescue Coordination Centres
EMSA

Reduced risk of traffic incidents
Improved efficiency of Search & Rescue operations•••

Maritime Rescue Coordination Centres
Commercial vessels companies
NGOs

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SECURITY
DRIVERS AND CHALLENGES FOR THE ADOPTION OF EO FOR SECURITY OPERATIONS

The first benefit of the availability of satellite images for security actors is undoubtedly the large swath offered ateach fly-by, in particular for sea operations as the Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) of EU Member States canbe extremely wide, and also extremely remote around the globe. Satellite monitoring is a game changer in theapproach for surveillance, as an initial scan of the area of interest, enabling the identification of regions where tocommission aerial means, official vessels, drones, or which vessel of opportunity to contact for confirmation.
Similarly to many end user communities, EO capabilities and manipulation skills tend to be limited within law
enforcement authorities, coast guards, fishing authorities or rescue centres. The role of EU agencies Frontex
and EMSA is a key driver as providers of not just EO data but analysed products and intelligible inputs for
operational units. This allows EO to be smoothly integrated in the decision chain.
The improvement of data resolution contributes to expanding the base of targets that can be detected andidentified (such as vehicles and boats below 10m length), stimulating the interest of authorities for satellite
images.

CHALLENGE 1
Persistent monitoring is crucial at sea, for it is a permanently evolving environment

CHALLENGE 2
High reactivity required for border surveillance

DRIVER 1
Seas and Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) are wide areas where satellites are theonly effective approach for surveillance

DRIVER 2
Provision of professional services by Frontex and EMSA stimulate EU Member
States to adopt EO services

DRIVER 3
Increasing need for Very High Resolution data at sea, when targeting small boats

Seas and oceans are constantly moving environments, where the analysis of historical data is not relevant andwhere movements and changes are furtive. The effectiveness of surveillance activities is closely related to their
persistence, raising barriers to the contribution of satellites, which are constrained by orbital geometry.
In addition, operations at EU borders sometimes require a high reactivity, when cross-border movements need
to be monitored, due to the proximity of the non-EU territories. This can be the case for both land borders (ineastern Europe and around Turkey) and sea borders (Gibraltar strait, North Africa and Malta or Italy). Provided
an image can be quickly acquired, the processing time is another constraint that can obviate EO products inthese situations.
This also illustrates how user requirements for EO data vary with the situation and context, inevitably with cases
where it contributes less than in others.

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SECURITYTHE VALUE CHAIN OF EO DATA FOR SECURITY APPLICATIONSACQUIRING EO DATA
Overall data needs

Data format and in-house capabilities

•

•

•
•

Land

•
•

•
•
•

Sea

PROCESSING NEEDS AND CAPABILITIES•••Security applications characterized by large needs forhigh resolution data, procured from Copernicus
contributing missions
EO data complemented with aerial observations
In the future, expectations to integrate other sources such
as Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) and High
Altitude Pseudo Satellites (HAPS)
Data for Frontex operations on land obtained through theCopernicus Space Data Access System (CSDAS) andthrough SatCen
Drones start to be used as a complement to satellites for
emergencies

Radar is the main type of EO images used
Historically, use of Envisat and Radarsat-2, with
Sentinel-1 now replacing Envisat
EMSA acquires EO data for its own needs as well as for
Frontex (for sea operations)
Size vs. resolution dilemma: low resolution enables
larger swath but difficult to distinguish targets (e.g. ships
vs. vessels) while higher resolution creates more noise
Images can also be provided by national services (e.g.
iceberg detections, oil spills detection)
New types of sensors such as infra-red expected to be
integrated in the future

•
•

•

•

•

•
•
•

USERS & NEEDSNon exhaustive list

Beside image analysis, EO data requires fusion withother data sources to become meaningful
EMSA, Frontex and SatCen all partly rely on consortiums
of private service providers
Integration of commercial images with Sentinel data
done by EU entities

EO data merged with other sources such as open
sources (OSINT) and Human Intelligence (HUMINT)
Use of in-situ data for internal calibration and validation

For maritime surveillance, EO data merged withsatellite and terrestrial Automatic Identification System(AIS), Long Range Identification and Tracking (LRIT)
and Vessel Monitoring System (VMS)
Multi-sources intelligence required for some
applications (e.g. smuggling)
Currents models, waves models and ice conditions
provided by CMEMSOil detection services in the EU largely rely on
CleanSeaNet (EMSA) largely using Sentinel-1 images,
completed by national services for the few Member
States equipped

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•
•

•
•
•
•
•
•

Law enforcement forces of EU MS in the frame of
Joint Operations
EU Member States authorities for their own national
needs

Frontex for sea operations
Law enforcement authorities
Fisheries agencies and the European Fisheries
Control Agency (EFCA)
Maritime Rescue Coordination Centres (Search &Rescue)Non Governmental Organisations, in particular for
Search & Rescue operations
Commercial vessels companies

SECURITYTHE COPERNICUS SECURITY SERVICE ENABLES MORE USERS AND PROVIDESVALUABLE LEADS ON GROUND OPERATIONS TARGETS
Copernicus
strengths
The surveillance services provided by
Copernicus differentiate from traditionalcommercial providers as they give accessto affordable monitoring of the large areas
under security actors jurisdiction, allowing
the use of local capabilities more
efficiently.
This occurs in a context where many EU
Member States face increasing pressure
on the budgets and resources available toconduct the operations, and wheredetection services on hundred-km scales
are mandatory to be able to have an
impact on illicit activities.
On top of it, the provision of security
products tailored to EU authorities
enables the uptake of satellite-based
inputs by non-expert users.

By providing free products to its customers, the entrusted
entities of the Copernicus Security Services ensure theaffordability of surveillance means over the large areas
under security actors’ jurisdiction. Based on it, national
authorities can greatly improve the efficiency of use of theirlocal capabilities (ships, aircraft, etc.) and humanresources.

COPERNICUS IS AGAME CHANGERFOR EFFICIENCYOF
SURVEILLANCE
MEANS

As for many end users, the expertise and skills required tomanipulate and interpret EO data is a barrier. The accessto end products through the Copernicus Security service
saves time and effort, encouraging the users to adopt
satellite data. As an illustration, the user uptake greatly
increased since such services have been provided by
EMSA and Frontex.

COPERNICUS
USERS CAN
FOCUS THEIREFFORT ON
SURVEILLANCE

For some applications, routine monitoring is valuable,
typically over geographically defined areas such as
Exclusive Economical Zones. Where commercial services
quickly become too expensive, the Copernicus Security
Service provides an affordable answer, boosting themaritime awareness over these areas.

ROUTINE
MONITORING
BECOMESACCESSIBLE TO
USERSCopernicus Market Report | Issue 2, February 2019 | Prepared by PwC | 147

Copernicus
weaknesses

COPERNICUS
EXPANDS THE
ALLOWED USERBASE FOR
SECURITYPRODUCTS

Historically, security products and analyses
performed by EU entities are restricted interms of dissemination. The Copernicus
Security Services increase the eligible userbase (such as for the European Fisheries
Control Agencies), expanding the scope of
mandate of the Entrusted Entities.

SENTINELRESOLUTION IS
NOT ENOUGH FOR
SOME MARITIMESURVEILLANCEAPPLICATIONS

Vessel detection requires the ability to spotships with a size down to a few meters, forwhich Sentinel-1 resolution is not always
suited. When complemented with opticalimages, Very High Resolution is requiredfor identification. In such cases, commercial
satellites are better adapted.

SECURITY
COPERNICUS BENEFITS FOR SECURITY OPERATIONSThe enabled revenues for the intermediate users are the sales of data to EU agencies (SatCen,
Frontex, EMSA). The budgets of Frontex, EMSA and SatCen for the provision of the Copernicus
Security service represent a total of EUR 25.2 M in 2018.
Combatting illegal fishing improves the revenues of the fishing industry, supports the preservation offish stocks in the long term, and enables prosecution and fines by the EU Member States. Current
estimates of illegal fishing catches amount to about 17,700 tons per year, representing combined
benefits between EUR 30 K and EUR 90 K in 2018 for Copernicus*.
Oil pollution monitoring also leads to both a direct economic impact (fishing industry losses, tourism,
maritime transport, cost of cleaning operations) and an ecological impact (destruction of marine andbird ecosystems) quantified through a valuation factor. The contribution of Copernicus to the reductionof these impacts is estimated in 2018 between EUR 30 M and EUR 50 M*.
Law enforcement benefits are quantified based on the value of illegal goods seized at EU borders(drugs and counterfeit goods), and the reduced treatment costs in Europe, assuming an impact on
drugs consumption. The yearly value of counterfeit goods intercepted stands between EUR 600 M
and EUR 700 M, while the value for drugs vary between EUR 1.8 B and EUR 3.5 B. Out of this, thebenefits from Copernicus are estimated between EUR 70 M and EUR 250 M in 2018*.

(Source: PwC)

Key

350
300

EUR M

€

€€

Economic impacts€ €BORDERSURVEILLANCEMARITIMESURVEILLANCEIntermediate users
Large scaledetection
products

OIL SPILLMONITORING
End users
Reduction of fishstock depletion

PRESERVATION OF
FISH STOCKSReduction of
unfair competition

INCREASED FISHING
INDUSTRY REVENUESOIL POLLUTION
MONITORING

Dissuasion ofpolluters

REDUCED ECONOMICDAMAGESREDUCEDENVIRONMENTALDAMAGESEnd users
DRIFTING
MODELS

200

150

More efficient
response

Max

100
50

Intermediate
users

0
2018

2019

ASSOCIATEDREVENUES

Max

Min

250

€

CONTROL OF
ILLEGALFISHING

Economic benefits of Copernicus through its contribution to security operations

400

€

Min

SEIZURE OF
ILLEGAL
GOODS

2020

* Source: PwC, 2017, Copernicus ex-ante societal impact assessment
Copernicus Market Report | Issue 2, February 2019 | Prepared by PwC | 148

Counterfeit
goods
Drugs

VALUE OF SEIZURESREDUCED DRUGSTREATMENTS COSTSSECURITY
COPERNICUS BENEFITS FOR SECURITY OPERATIONS

End users

Social impacts

The detection of vessels also contributes to Search & Rescue
operations, mainly through 2 modes. For reported incidents,
authorities can benefit from a more precise location of the boat
based on satellite images combined with drifting models, dependingon the delay between the signal and the image acquisition. In thecase of refugees boats, which is a major concern in the
Mediterranean Sea at the moment, boats that cannot signal theirposition can also be spotted as uncorrelated vessels, triggering
further investigation before sending field support.

In the frame of border surveillance activities, suspicious vehicles orvessels based on satellite images can be targeted more precisely
by border police forces and customs (on the same model as forillegal goods), helping preventing some cases of human trafficking
or other illegal entry on EU territory.

In the cases of crisis situations in foreign countries, the monitoringof the situation by Copernicus enables EU authorities to build
appropriate evacuation plans for their citizens, ensuring the righttiming and access through understanding of the local movements
and dynamics. Such monitoring is also an important contribution tohumanitarian operations, as it provides awareness on the
movements and location of displaced populations and refugees,
anticipating influxes in certain areas and risk of accumulation of
precarious populations.

REDUCEDCASUALTIES INREGULAR TRAFFICVESSELS
DETECTION
Quicker intervention

REDUCEDCASUALTIES AMONGREFUGEESDRIFTING
MODELSBORDERSSURVEILLANCESUPPORT TO
EXTERNAL
ACTIONS

Increased effectiveness todetect smuggling vessels

REDUCED ILLEGALIMMIGRATION

Increased effectiveness todetect suspicious vehicles

REDUCED VICTIMSOF TRAFFICKING IN
HUMAN BEINGS(THB)

Monitoring of crisis areas
on non-EU territories

SUPPORT TO
EVACUATION PLANS

Monitoring of displaced
populations and refugees

SUPPORT TO
HUMANITARIANRESPONSE

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SECURITY
COPERNICUS BENEFITS FOR SECURITY OPERATIONS

End users

Environmental impacts

Through their action to detect and mitigate oil spills, EU
authorities have a direct impact on the reduction of damages on
local ecosystems, mainly fishes but also birds and the littoral
wildlife.
Control of illegal fishing also supports the renewal of fish stocks
and species by reducing the risks of depletion, both when illegal
anglers are caught in action, and in the longer term as theirsurveillance and action becomes more effective, dissuading theanglers and reducing the attempts of illegal fishing.

OIL POLLUTION
MONITORING
Better timeliness for mitigation response

REDUCED IMPACT ONECOSYSTEMSDRIFTING MODELSCONTROL OF IUUFISHING

Reduction of fish stock depletion

PRESERVATION OF
MARINEECOSYSTEMS

Dissuasion ofillegal activities

Strategic impacts
The monitoring and awareness of strategic areas such as the
EU pre-frontiers (Russia and eastern Europe, Turkey, MiddleEast and North Africa) enables EU governments to remainaware of the situation evolution with regards to criticalinfrastructures (ways of circulation, airports and ports, energy
and nuclear plants, weapon sites etc.). It provides valuable
information to adapt diplomatic relations for instance. The aim is
to be able to avoid potential conflicts, as better anticipation gives
time to build dialogue and appropriate solutions.

Better understanding of pre-frontier areas at risks, to anticipate
potential crises and conflicts

DEFUSING OFPOTENTIAL CRISESIntelligence for critical infrastructures and movements of military
troopsBETTER
PREPAREDENESS TO
CONFLICTS

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SECURITY / CASE STUDYCONTRIBUTION OF COPERNICUS TOVESSEL APPREHENSION IN SPAIN

CUSTOMS ACTIVITIES AND ROLE OFSATELLITE IMAGES

Supporting customs activities at sea
European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA)THE ROLE OF CUSTOMS FORCES AT SEA
The role of European customs authorities at sea is to ensure thesmooth flow of trade activities, and the prevention of illegal
imports of goods into the EU. Sensitive goods under scrutiny
include counterfeit goods, drugs, weapons, medicines andsometimes protected wildlife species.
With around 16% of the worldwide trade transiting by the EU
every year, the large quantity of goods to be controlled is achallenge for customs. Most of these goods are transported bysea, representing about 1,800 million tonnes of ship cargo every
year.

TRAFFICKING RISKS IN SPAIN AND PORTUGAL
Spain and Portugal, by their geographic location, constitute key
entry points in Europe for ships crossing the Atlantic. Routes fromSouth America or from West Africa are closely monitored by antidrug-trafficking authorities and lead to frequent detection ofsuspect vessels and field operations to investigate.
In this context, the Spanish Directorate of Customs Surveillance
makes routine requests to CMS service, both for regularmonitoring and for short notice requests in order to complement
needs based on other sources of intelligence. The CMS service
is provided by the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA), aspart of the Copernicus Security Service.

THE CONTRIBUTION OF SATELLITES TOCUSTOMS ACTIVITIESSatellites constitute valuable assets for the customs mandate, as
they allow the monitoring of the wide areas under their authority,and provide an oversight of the traffic at sea. Using satellite
images, customs can detect suspicious activities and intervene
to investigate potential criminal activity.
In this context, the Copernicus Maritime Surveillance (CMS)
service provides• Vessel detection to monitor ships suspected to be involved intrafficking or smuggling• Monitoring of abnormal behaviours such as ship-to-shiptransfers at sea• Early warning and identification for criminal vessels

Main targets of customs for prevention of illegal goods trafficking(Source: EMSA)CMS ACTIVATION FOR INTERCEPTION OF DRUG
SMUGGLING VESSELIn May 2017, the Spanish Customs Surveillance, in cooperation
with the Portuguese Authorities, the US Drug Enforcement
Agency and the UK National Crime Agency had identified asuspect vessel, based on combined intelligence from several
organisations. The vessel, suspected of transporting large
quantities of cocaine, was searched for between South America
and Europe.
The Spanish Authorities requested the CMS services to monitor
the vessel. Combining radar images and vessel detection, theVenezuelan-flagged fishing vessel Ali Primera was located andidentified, enabling Spanish Authorities to intercept it South Westof the Canary Islands. After investigation and search, around 2.4
tons of cocaine were seized by the customs, worth about 100 M€,
and 7 crew members were arrested.

TerraSAR-X image provided through CMS in support to theoperation(Source: EMSA)SECURITY / CASE STUDY

Support to interception of smuggling vessel in Greece
FrontexSUPPORT TO VESSEL INTERCEPTION IN
GREECETHE COPERNICUS BORDERSURVEILLANCE SERVICESCOPE OF THE COPERNICUS BORDERSURVEILLANCE SERVICEThe Copernicus Border Surveillance Service implemented by theEuropean Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) improves
the situational awareness at the EU’s external borders,
contributing to saving lives at sea and tackling cross-bordercrime.
The Copernicus Border Surveillance Service includes automatedvesseltracking
anddetection
capabilities,
softwarefunctionalities allowing complex calculations for detecting
anomalies and predicting vessel positions, as well as precise
weather and oceanographic forecasts. Services use optical andradar satellite technology to locate vessels requiring search andrescue operations or those that are suspected of being engaged

in criminal activities, such as drug or weapon smuggling.

LEVEL OF ACTIVITY OF THE BORDERSURVEILLANCE SERVICE
In 2018, under the Copernicus Border Surveillance Service,
Frontex has delivered 2208 radar images, which were used for
the Vessel Detection activities, and 1787 optical images forsurveillance and analytical purposes.
In comparison to 2017, there was a significant increase indelivery of Earth Observation imagery. In case of SAR imagery it
was due to the migratory pressure in the central Mediterraneanarea; as for optical imagery, it was linked to the enhancement ofsurveillance of ports of departures for activities related to crossborder crime.

Land border surveillance analytical products(Source: Frontex)

SUPPORT TO A VESSEL INTERCEPTION IN
GREECEA vessel was of interest after being intercepted in 2015 for
tobacco smuggling. In 2018, following the detection of arendezvous and cargo transfer at sea, the vessel was identified,
and was located in the port of Beirut, still based on satellite
images.
After its departure from Beirut, the ship was tracked using theCopernicus Border Surveillance service. When reaching
Greece, she was intercepted by the authorities, in March 2018.

Ship identification in the port of Beirut and images of the cargo loading at sea(Source: Frontex)

Maritime surveillance picture in Greek seas
(Source: Frontex)

SECURITY / CASE STUDYEXPERIMENTATION OF THE EUROSURSERVICES

CONTEXT AND CONTRIBUTION OF
SATELLITE IMAGES

Supporting combat of illegal immigration in Indian Ocean
French Coast Guard (COFGC)CONTEXTCONTRIBUTION OF SATELLITE IMAGESThe French maritime area in the South Indian Ocean includes
the territorial waters around the island of Mayotte. Located halfway between Madagascar and the Mozambique in East Africa,
Mayotte is less than 70 km away from the island of Anjouan, partof the Union of the Comoros. This proximity fosters the illegal
migratory flow through seas, in particular in the context of
extreme poverty of the Union of Comoros. As a consequence,
Mayotte has been facing a persistent migratory pressure in thepast years.

The challenge for satellite monitoring is that kwassa-kwassa
have a very low radar signature (by their size and construction),and perform the transit between the islands in about 3 hours.

In order to rally Mayotte, Comorian migrants use light traditional
fishing vessels (about 7m long), called kwassa-kwassa. These
motored vessels usually have no pavilion, no matriculation nor
safety equipment.

USE OF EUROSUR SERVICES TO DETECTKWASSA-KWASSA
In an attempt to offer support to the fight against illegal
immigration in Mayotte, an experiment of 3 services provided by
the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (FRONTEX) in
the frame of the European Border Surveillance system(EUROSUR) has been conducted between May and July 2018 in
the area of Mayotte.
The experimented services included optical satellite imagery(service 8) and vessels detection based on radar images (service
4). The purpose of using satellite images was to detect kwassakwassa in migrant departure areas in Comoros, then to monitor
their displacement before their arrival near Mayotte departureusing the satellite-based services. This information was thenThe combined use of multiple sources of information must allow
for detection as upstream as possible of vessels with potential
migrants on-board, in order to be able to intervene on time.
Optical images constitute a preliminary support for visual
detection confirming or not the departure of the vessels, theirtransit or their arrival at Mayotte. The users of the images, theFrench Coast Guard authorities in the case of Mayotte, use
these images and analyse them in order to potentially trigger thecommissioning of operational means in the area.

Example of a kwassa-kwassa used to transport migrants(Source: French Coast Guard Authority)

exploited to commission intercepting vessels in charge ofmeeting the ships at sea and apprehending them.

USE OF SENTINEL IMAGESIn the frame of EUROSUR services, Frontex provides the satellite
images to the Member States, using data potentially comingfrom various sources and various satellites. This enables theadaptation of the types of images (resolution, revisiting time) tothe users needs. In the frame of the experiment in Mayotte, theresolution of Sentinel images appeared to be too low todiscriminate between regular fishing vessels and the boats usedby the migrants.
Detection of a kwassa-kwassa through EUROSUR services
experiment conducted in Mayotte(Source: French Coast Guard Authority)

SECURITY / CASE STUDY

COPERNICUS CONTRIBUTION TO THE IUUFISHING DETECTION IN ICELAND

COAST GUARDS MISSIONS AND
CHALLENGES FACED

Detection of illegal activities on the seas
Icelandic Coast Guard
THE CHALLENGES FACED BY ICELANDIC COASTGUARDPURPOSEVESSELS

Among the various missions of coast guards, the maritime
surveillance serves multiple purposes, spanning from law
enforcement at sea, the management of traffic safety, or of fishingactivities or oil spills monitoring. The areas of responsibility of
Icelandic Coast Guard extend well beyond the territorial waters (12nautical miles from the coast), and include the entire Exclusive
Economic Zone (EEZ, 200 nautical miles from the coast) and a
Search & Rescue region of 1.9 million km².
In this context, satellite images are a crucial source of information
to complement aerial means and vessels, providing a moreexhaustive vision of the events of interest occurring in thesedifferent areas.

A number of illicit activities carried out at sea are correlated to thepresence of vessels not reporting their position through maritime
systems such as the Automatic Identification System (AIS), or the
Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) for fishing boats. Satellite images
are used to detect objects on the surface of the sea, and canidentify non-reporting vessels when compared with the picture
provided by ships reporting systems. This triggers further
investigation and the commissioning of local means in-situ, such as
aerial vehicles or vessels.

CONTRIBUTION OF COPERNICUS TO COAST
GUARDS SURVEILLANCE OPERATIONSCONTRIBUTION TO ILLEGAL FISHING DETECTION

As part of their EO sources, the Icelandic Coast Guards use theCopernicus Maritime Surveillance service provided by the European
Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA). The service provides maritime
situational awareness using Sentinel-1 data and Radarsat-2 data,as one of the contributing missions to Copernicus. Both satellites
provide radar data, which is particularly suitable to detect objects on
the surface of the seas.

OF

DETECTING

NON-REPORTING

Satellite images procured
Detection of objects
Vessel, iceberg,
whale, noise…
Surveillance aircraft

Other in-situ assets

Availability, weather
conditions…
Further investigation:
Aircraft, vessels etc.

Field intervention
Chain of action or detecting non-reporting vessels by Icelandic
Coast Guard (Source: Icelandic Coast Guard)

On the 1st June 2018, the Icelandic Coast Guard received animage from the Copernicus service, showing an uncorrelated targetof about 63m length, with a high confidence level in theinterpretation. As a first verification, a nearby vessel was contacted,
which was able to provide information on the activities of thedetected target. A surveillance aircraft was then diverted to perform
an in-situ investigation, and it identified the target as a foreign statefishing survey vessel (exact length 76m). Although legally acting in
the area, the ship was operating without shining its AIS. When
notified by the coast guard’s maritime surveillance aircraft, the shipturned on its transmitter.
The event demonstrated the benefit of large area coverage bysatellites, the usefulness of image analysing services, and enabled
Iceland authorities to be more effective in their law enforcement
activities at sea.

Radarsat-2 images showing the vessel detected(Source: Icelandic Coast Guard)

SECURITY / CASE STUDYCONTEXT OF THE CAMPAIGN IN THE
CARIBBEAN SEA

Supporting interception of “Go-Fast” boats
Airbus Defence & Space
PRINCIPLE OF GO-FAST ON THE SEASSITUATION IN THE CARRIBEAN SEAS

Among the vessels of interest for law enforcement authorities,some consist of small embarkations moving at very high speed,
also called “speedboats”. Similarly to the high speed cars
targeted on roads, such vessels are sometimes used totransport illicit goods (often drugs), in which case they arelabelled as “Go Fast”. The purpose for smugglers is use theirvelocity and short travelling time as a mean to avoid interception
and controls by the authorities.

During the month of February 2018, an observation campaign
has been conducted in the Caribbean Sea in the frame of theTrimaran II service. The objective was to detect and identify
speedboats coming from the Venezuelan coast and aiming forthe north-west or north-east, as they constitute potential go-fastvessels.

These boats usually do not exceed few meters in length, hence
are challenging to detect using satellite images; however, theyalso have a specific wake that eases their detection.

This campaign has been performed using Sentinel-2 images(optical data) with a 10-m spatial resolution. The aim was todemonstrate to the French Armed Forces of the Antilles (FAA)
the feasibility of Go-Fast detection during the day using Sentinel
data.
Situation in the Caribbean Sea (22nd February 2018)(Source: Airbus Defence & Space)

DETECTION OF SPEEDBOATSCAMPAIGN RESULTS

There were a total of 35 speedboats detected within the area ofinterest over the 5 day period of the campaign.
Out of the 35 detected vessels, five have been tagged as ‘GoFast’. In addition, three further objects have been located west of the
Antilles Arc, out of territorial waters and two others have been
observed leaving the coast of Venezuela within the southern part ofthe observation area.
To conclude, the satellite image and related value-added products
reinforces custom authorities’ capacity to maintain oversight of goods
that are transported at sea. In particular, to detect and intervene
when criminal activity is suspected, customs and other anti-drugtrafficking authorities frequently use intelligence information based onsatellite images to detect and intercept suspicious vessels.

Detection of vessels and identification of potential Go-Fast (26th February 2018)(Source: Airbus Defence & Space)© ESA – Processed image of Sentinel-2

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METHODOLOGY FOR THE STUDYOVERALL APPROACH
The Copernicus Market Report 2019 is an update of the previous Copernicus Market Report, published in 2016.
• The assessment of the GDP impact, based on the investments in the industry carried out by the European
Commission and the European Space Agency, has been updated considering the expected overall spending
up to 2020.
• The update relies on the re-assessment of the 8 value chains characterised in the previous report, andincludes 2 additional value chains on the Response to natural disasters and Security.
The characterisation of the value chains relied on a mix of bibliography review and stakeholder consultation
across the industrial sectors of interest.
The different steps to calibrate, prepare and conduct the consultation are the following:
Characterisation of
the additional value
chains••Understanding and characterising the value chain stages
Based on past experience with these sectors and discussions with Copernicus
experts

Mapping of the main
players in the value
chains••Identification of the relevant players involved in each stage of the value chain
Screening of companies and organisations involved•

Sizing of samples to be representative, based on players stages, country andprofile (private/institutional)
Targeting of large samples to anticipate response rate

Select company
samples••Engageorganisations in
direct interviews•

Extrapolate theresults to the wholevalue chain••

Copernicus Market Report 2016

Copernicus Market Report 2019

GDP impact Assessment
2016 estimates of the total
investments in the Copernicus
Programme up to 2020

GDP Impact Assessment
2018 estimates of the total
investments in the Copernicus
Programme up to 2020

Impact Assessment per Value
Chain
Agriculture
Forestry
Urban Monitoring
Ocean monitoring
Oil & Gas
Renewable Energies
Air Quality
Insurance for Natural Disasters

Impact Assessment per Value
Chain
Agriculture
Forestry
Urban Monitoring
Coastal and marine exploitationand preservation
Oil & Gas
Renewable Energies
Air Quality
Insurance for Natural Disasters

Acquisition of qualitative data: scope of activities, types of products, usage of
EO and of Copernicus, drivers and barriers for users uptake, alternative
solutions and substitutes, impact of Copernicus data and services
Acquisition of quantitative data: revenues distribution, contribution of EO,
distribution of satellite sources, dependence of operations on EO data,
investments made to support business

Extrapolation of sample to the overall value chain
Consideration of sample profiles, expertise and representativeness

Copernicus Market Report | Issue 2, February 2019 | Prepared by PwC | 157+ Response to natural disasters+ Security

METHODOLOGY FOR THE STUDYCONSULTATION OVERVIEW
To support this impact assessment, the following organisations have been consulted. Not all the companies are cited, as some of them preferred to remain anonymous.

Institutional stakeholders
Asian Development Bank (ADB)
Asian Institute of Technology (AIT)
Bantry Marine Research Station Ltd
Copernicus User Forum Members
Center for International Forestry
Research (CIFOR), UN
DiscovAir
DTU Space
ECMWF
European Association of Remote
Sensing Companies (EARSC)
European Broder Surveillance andCoast Guard Agency (Frontex)
European Commission – DG for
European Civil Protection and
Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO)European Commission Joint ResearchCentre (JRC)
European Maritime Safety Agency(EMSA)
European Topic Centre on Urban, Landand Soil Systems
Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE)FRONTEX
French Coast Guard (COCGC)
Geoscience Australia
German Federal Agency for TechnicalRelief (THW)Commercial companies
German Federal Office of Civil
Protection and Disaster Assistance(BBK)
German Space Agency (DLR)
Global Forest Watch
Icelandic Coast Guard
Institute of Geography and Spatial
Planning
LEGOS
Mercator Ocean International
National Land Survey of Iceland
NILU
Ocean Energy Europe
PASYFO
SKYE Sustainable Urbanisation
Programme
Swedish Agency for Marine and Water
Management
Swedish Meteorological Hydrological
Institute (SMHI)
Switzerland Federal Customs
Administration
Turkish Disaster and Emergency
Management Presidency (AFAD)
WindEurope
WEM

82 entities interviewed

Airbus Defence & Space
ArcadisArianet
AXA
Beach & Associates
C-CoreCatInsight
CGG NPA Satellite Mapping
Copa Cogeca
Covea
Deimos Imaging
e-GeosEarth-i
Edinsights
Environment Systems
Generali
Geo Smart Decision
Green Triangle
i-Sea
JBA Consulting
Mission Risque Naturel
NEXT INGEGNERIA DEI SISTEMI
S.P.A
Oasis Loss Modelling Framework
Penta Technologies
Planetek Italia
Plumelabs
Rezatec

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Reuniwatt
Satellio
SCOR
SinergiseSpace4environment
SteadySun
Swiss Re
TCartaTerramonitor
TerraNIS
TRE Europa
UniflyVortex
Willis Towers Watson

METHODOLOGY FOR THE STUDY
GDP IMPACT ASSESSMENT
Principle of the GDP impact

Methodology

The GDP impact represents the straight economic impact derived from an injection of spending into theeconomy. In the space sector specifically, spending that is injected in the upstream industry leads to acascade of spending and economic activity through the supply chain. The space industry spends a
portion of the funding through its suppliers (e.g., for components or subsystems) which, in turn, spend
a part of those funds further down the supply chain (e.g., for raw materials). Meanwhile, all companies
within the supply chain pay their employees’ salaries. These salaries, in turn, provide consumer
spending in the wider economy. The compounded effect of all the spending originated from the initial
upstream spending constitutes the GDP impact associated to the initial investment. As part of thegenerally accepted best practices, the GDP impact is calculated by combining these threecomponents.

The methodology applied is standard in order to produce results that are comparable with similar
studies carried out in for other space programmes and in non-space sectors.
The approach chosen uses a General Equilibrium Matrix, modelled by Cambridge Econometrics. The
resulting E3ME model enables to compute the wider knock-on effects on the European economy.
Cambridge Econometrics performed a dedicated modelling of the space supply chain in order toprovide the E3M3 model with spending inputs associated to non-space industrial sectors.
Spending inCopernicus

Modelling of thespace upstream

Spending into nonspace sectors

This step takes as input the institutional spending in the programme, andproduces as output the space Gross Value Added (equal to labour plus
profit) and the spending into a number of non-space industrial sectors thatare modelled in the E3ME.
• Input spending decomposed by company, by country and by year
• The cost structure is retrieved for each company (labour, profit, imports,
untracked spending in other industrial sectors of the E3ME model

The spending into non-space industrial sectors is fed into the E3ME model,
producing as output the overall GDP impact (total GVA), employment
impact and government revenues.

E3ME model

The total GDP impact is then the sum of the three types of impacts (direct + indirect + induced).

Gross Value Added

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Employment

Government taxes

METHODOLOGY FOR THE STUDY
INTERMEDIATE AND END USERS ASSESSMENT
Catalytic impacts - Copernicus enabled revenues

Catalytic impacts - Economic impacts for non-commercial value chains

Most of the economic impacts on value chains are computed as revenues enabled by the use ofCopernicus data and services (also called Copernicus enabled revenues).
These enabled revenues are computed for- The intermediate users of all the value chains (revenues of the EO downstream companies)- The revenues of end users for commercial value chains, which are the 8 value chains from theprevious market report.

For the end users of the Civil Protection and Security value chains, the economic impacts do notmaterialise as revenues. By their institutional profile, civil protection forces and security authorities
have economic impacts through:- The reduction of damages caused by natural disasters- The improvement of law enforcement and rescue operations effectiveness

These revenues are computed using a microeconomic approach inspired from the BETA methodology.
Such an approach allows dealing with a complex phenomenon that differs strongly from one end user
to another. This methodology is able to catch the diversity and the complexity of effects derived fromthe use of EO data and requires direct interviews with a representative sample of end users in the
different value chains under scrutiny.
Micro-economic approach for quantifying the enabled revenues
1. Picking a representative sample of organisations
2. Defining with them the impact of Copernicus on their business• Market effect: the availability of Copernicus data enables an innovative offer for the users byincreasing sales of existing products; increasing sales of new products on existing markets;and creating a new department/company on a new market.
• Commercial effect: the availability of Copernicus data enables the development of a new or
better commercial network for the users by developing new networks and partnerships.
• Organisational effect: the availability of Copernicus data enables organisational
improvements within the organisation.

The methodologies to quantify these economic impacts are tailored to each use cases, based on a
how the operational consequences can be translated into economic values

Quantification of economic benefits for civil protection for natural disasters
1. Quantifying benefits of forest fires mitigation
The assessment of the reduced burnt area relies on dedicated studies, assessing the avoided
burnt areas and the recovery time of lands depending on the types of vegetation. To these areas,a value for each hectare is associated based on the ecosystem value (valuation coefficient) andon the cost for the wood industry, independently assessed by experts. The statistics from EFFIS
provide a quantification of its contribution to European fires.
2. Quantifying benefits of floods mitigation
Mitigation of floods enable cost savings, mostly through their anticipation (thanks to Early Warning
Systems), as estimated by independent studies. Where the floods cannot be avoided, better
response also reduce the damages, taken at a fraction of the cost savings enabled by anticipation.

3. Assessing the dependence of their businesses on Copernicus data and services
A range of dependence on Copernicus is estimated. On this range, the smallest figure is taken inorder to provide the most robust estimation of the dependence on Copernicus data. The aim of
this methodology is indeed to show the existence of the phenomenon rather than providing anexact figure, to prevent overestimation of benefits

3. Assessing the dependence on Copernicus to mitigation operations
Consultation with experts and end users helps to provide a range of the contribution of satellite
data to civil protection operations:• For fire prevention (EFFIS)• For preparedness for field operations through mapping of the fires (CEMS)• For floods prevention (Early Warning Systems)• For floods response logistics through mapping of the events (CEMS)

4. Extrapolating the enabled revenues to the rest of the sector
For the intermediate/downstream users, the reference sector is the EO sector (minimal estimation)or the Geographic Information Systems (GIS) sector (maximum estimation)

4. Extrapolating to the overall disasters in Europe
Statistics on Copernicus Emergency Service and overall disasters in Europe enable to scale thebenefits to the average situation in Europe each year

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METHODOLOGY FOR THE STUDY
INTERMEDIATE AND END USERS ASSESSMENT
Societal and wider impacts analysis

Quantification of economic benefits for security and safety
1. Quantification of benefits for combatting illegal fishing
Fighting Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing activities captures the commercial
impact (value of fish stock at sale), the environmental impact (valuation factor for the ecosystems
in the sea, based on independent studies) and the economic value of associated sanctions
against criminals (perceived by Member States).

2. Quantification of benefits for law enforcement
The value of law enforcement reflect the value of seized illegal goods at EU borders (counterfeit
goods, drugs, weapons and stolen vehicles), the reduced on healthcare costs based on the
reduced drug consumption (based on independent studies), and the reduced revenues for
traffickers of human beings (for each victim intercepted).
3. Quantification of benefits for oil pollution combat
Based on the oil spills released from ships (either by accident or voluntarily) and from offshore
platforms, economic damages take into account the losses for the fishing, tourism and maritime
transport industries, and the cost of cleaning operations. On top of it, environmental damages are
based on a valuation factor per ton of oil, reflecting the destruction of marine and bird ecosystems.
Both are based on independent dedicated studies.
4. Assessment of the dependence on Copernicus
Consultation with experts and end users helps to provide a range of the contribution of satellite
data to the different field operations, considering the contribution of satellite data and the share ofsuch data provided through Copernicus.
5. Extrapolating to the overall security operations in Europe
The benefits for each unitary mitigation (ton of IUU fishing, ton of seized drugs, ton of oil, etc.) are
extrapolated to the overall extent of operations at EU borders and within EU territories.

The analysis for the sizing of economic impacts for Civil Protection and Security relies on a substantial
and thorough analysis that was conducted shortly before the issue of this Copernicus Market Report,
published in a study prepared by PwC France (PwC, 2017, Copernicus ex-ante societal impact
assessment) for the European Commission.
Additional details can be found on the quantification methodologies in this study.

In addition to the monetary impacts (GDP and catalytic), societal and wider impacts include all socioeconomic impacts that are quantifiable but not monetary in nature. Examples are increased safety andsecurity, national prestige, environmental impacts, outreach impacts (for example, impact on university
enrolment in science-related disciplines), etc. Those impacts are extremely important to assess. It’s
worth noting that although there have been attempts to attribute monetary values to these sorts ofimpacts, the task is quite difficult to achieve due to the lack of generally-accepted methodology.

Assessment of societal and wider impacts
1. Categorisation of the impacts
In the frame of this report, societal and wider impacts have been segmented in 3 categories.
Besides the presentation of the results, this allows a systematic approach for their identification.
Social impacts

Environmental impacts

Strategic impacts

Effects on the quality of lifeof people, their day-to-day
environment, their health,safety and security

Effects on the land, waterand atmospheric naturalcharacteristics andecosystem sustainability

Stakes for Europe and its
Member States in a global
context, both to maintainsovereignty and foster
international cooperation

2. Consultation of stakeholders
This assessment was carried out based on the consultation with relevant stakeholders throughphone interviews and face-to-face meetings as appropriate and needed.
3. Characterisation of the impacts
Since no proper methodology is perfectly suitable neither transversal to the impacts or value
chains, a mix of qualitative and quantitative approach had to be used.
Quantitative impacts (examples)

Qualitative impacts (examples)

•
•

•
•

Reduced CO2 emissions
Reduced number of casualties

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Forests and ecosystem sustainability
European contribution to global civil protectionABOUT THE AUTHORSThe European Commission
The European Commission (EC) is responsible for the management of the European satellite Earth
Observation programme Copernicus, including:••••Management of funds allocated to the programme,
Supervising the implementation of all activities related to the programme,
Ensuring clear division of responsibilities and tasks in particular with the European Space Agency
and the delegated entities,
Ensuring proper reporting on the programme to the Member States of the EU, to the European
Parliament and to the Council of European Union

The Copernicus programme is entirely financed by the European Union.

PwC Advisory France
PwC is a world leading firm in audit, legal services and advisory.
With a team dedicated to advisory for the space sector, PwC Advisory France built a strong expertisecovering space-specific strategy studies, socio-economic impact assessments, programmemanagement and operations implementation.
PwC Advisory France is a privileged partner of the European Commission on different assessments
and studies on the Copernicus programme.
To find more about our offer and expertise: www.pwc.com and www.pwc.fr/space

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Copernicus Market Report | Issue 2, February 2019 | Prepared by PwC | 163

ET-04-19-024-EN-N
ISBN 978-92-79-98973-5

Publications Office

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