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In this article you will read,

• why the Copernicus earth observation program plays an important role in combating climate change,
• what makes Copernicus unique,
• and how the European Space Agency (ESA) and T Cloud Public financially support geoservice providers.

The Copernicus Data Space Ecosystem (CDSE) is the world's largest collection of earth observation data. The Copernicus program plays an important role in the fight against climate change. The ESA also encourages companies to use the data to develop new geoservices – and, together with T Cloud Public, provides financial support to help them to do so.

The global average temperature is rising, throwing the Earth's climate out of balance. According to current calculations, it has already risen by 1.6 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels. Forecasts show that an increase of just two degrees will have dramatic effects. An increase of 1.5 degrees is generally regarded as the threshold beyond which the worst consequences of climate change can no longer be mitigated. In the global fight against global warming, Earth observation by satellites is indispensable.

Satellites provide precise data that form the backbone of climate research and policy. From measuring global average temperatures and monitoring ice melt to analyzing emissions in the atmosphere, these invisible orbital helpers provide a comprehensive, real-time picture of the changes taking place in our environment. Without this data, progress – or failure – in achieving the 1.5 degree target could not be accurately tracked, nor could urgently-needed measures be implemented in a targeted manner. The Copernicus program, launched years ago by the European Union (EU), makes substantial contributions to dealing with climate change.

ESA Copernicus is the EU’s Earth observation program. It offers information services based on satellite-based Earth observation and non-space data. A connection to the Géant high-speed scientific network enables the exchange of enormous amounts of data with other scientific disciplines. The Copernicus Earth observation program is coordinated and managed by the European Commission. The ESA, the European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT), the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), several EU agencies, and Mercator Océan are all operationally involved.  

The core component of the program is a fleet of Sentinel satellites that continuously collect measurement data and images of Earth. Every day, the Copernicus data “pool” grows by 12 TB. The CDSE has now grown to around 90 PB – making it the world's largest collection of Earth observation data. T-Systems leads the consortium behind CDSE. The data are made available free of charge to anyone who is interested. The EU even encourages companies to develop new services based on the geodata through a financial support program.

One of the most important applications offered within the Copernicus ecosystem is CAMS, the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service. It continuously provides data and information on the composition of the atmosphere and records concentrations of greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide and methane), reactive gases (e.g. carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, sulphur dioxide), ozone, and aerosols. It thus paints an up-to-date picture of the atmosphere and air quality. However, CAMS also looks back in time by analyzing historical data sets to highlight how the situation has developed. Last but not least, CAMS also allows forecasts to be made – at least for a few days in advance. Due to these analyses and forecasts, CAMS plays an important role in monitoring the Paris climate targets and as a driver of political decisions.

Other services such as the Copernicus Emergency Management Service (EMS) support emergency services and coordinators responding to natural disasters or humanitarian crises. The mapping component of the service (Copernicus EMS - Mapping) is available worldwide and provides disaster management authorities and humanitarian aid organizations with geographical information based mainly on satellite imagery. The generated products can be used to produce digital or printed maps or combined with other data sources to support the work of crisis managers or risk analysts. In addition to the map component, EMS also includes an early warning and monitoring component for the European Flood (EFAS), Forest Fire (EFFIS) and Drought (EDO) systems.

The cloud, with its scaling options, is an optimal basis for supporting these regular and event-related use cases. The integrated catalog service has adds value by ensuring user-friendliness: users can make specific requests by area, time or condition, such as moisture content. T Cloud Public provides high-performance computing resources that support high IOPS values and low latencies with 92 vCPUs, 324 GB of RAM, and local hard disks (10x 3.2 TB NVMe SSD). 

T Cloud Public not only supports the ongoing operation of the Copernicus data ecosystem but also offers geoservices developers from the CDSE access to high-performance resources for the development and testing of new services. One of the advantages of this is that development can take place where the data is located. These resources are even available free of charge via the NoR initiative.

Any user can apply for funding of cloud resources using data from ESA's Copernicus program. Projects may serve research, development or demonstration purposes. They may even be “pre-commercial,” but they must not generate revenue. The funding guidelines can be found here. The application process is described in detail here.