Copernicus Knowledge Base

With the objective of supporting space entrepreneurship for a digitally sustainable Europe, the European Commission launched the Competitive Space Start-ups for Innovation Initiative (CASSINI) Hackathons in 2021.

These are competitions for students, graduates, researchers and early-stage teams/start-ups across Europe. Participants can unleash their creativity and build digital applications using EU space technology - including satellite imagery and positioning services - to respond to specific challenges. Taking place across ten European cities simultaneously, these hackathons provide the perfect environment to form dynamic teams, learn about space data access, understand customer needs and kick-start the development of innovative digital solutions.

Since the launch of the initiative, six editions of the hackathon have been held, each of them focusing on a different theme. In this week’s Observer, we'll take a trip down memory lane and look at those six editions and some of the ideas they generated.

1st edition: All about green spaces

Back in June 2021, participants were challenged to hack the future of our green spaces using European space technologies. As part of this challenge, teams could address one of three themes: “discover your city”, “stay fit and healthy”, and “protect rural areas”. One of the winning teams, TreeCount&Care, focused on using space data to empower citizens to take care of trees in their communities, tracking individual trees and their water needs to protect them from drought.

The team's model had several layers. First, the model detected trees using the DeepForest algorithm. Second, it assessed the current condition and life cycle of each tree using environmental data such as soil moisture and metrics such as the Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), which helps to assess vegetation health. Finally, the collected data was integrated into the 'water me' platform, which informs communities about the water status of individual trees.

The team made most of their project available under open-source licences and sought to offer the service to communities on a pay-per-use basis. The project was implemented on the team's platform.

2nd edition: Icy solutions for an icy landscape

In November 2021, during the second edition, participants focused on the challenge of connecting the Arctic with European satellite technologies. The main challenges focused on safe passage at sea, life on land and wildlife management strategies.

The winning team focused on soil erosion in Iceland. The team took up the challenge to help protect the top soil layer in Iceland, which stores up to 80% of carbon. Due to climate change, this top layer is being eroded away and carbon can be released into the atmosphere. There are ways to prevent this erosion, but first we need to know where it is most likely to happen. So, the team developed a tool to map erosion risk remotely using satellite data. They combined satellite imagery with local weather and land data such as vegetation cover and average rainfall to calculate various vegetation and soil indices. By combining these indices with statistical analysis, the team was able to assess the risk of soil erosion in specific areas and help land owners better manage the erosion risk.

3rd edition: Time to hit the road - a focus on tourism

The third CASSINI Hackathon in May 2022 focused on preserving destinations across Europe and how we access them. Participants were challenged to work on ideas that support sustainable travel, improve experiences in local cities and cultures and promote thoughtful exploration of nature in Europe.

The winning project Mind the Path, built an application that would let users find and share unmapped hiking trails in rural areas. The team employed a combination of artificial intelligence (AI) and data from Copernicus satellites. The AI's neural network architecture, originally developed for medical applications, played a pivotal role in the mapping process. It could segment individual images in a specific way, identifying structures such as hidden paths and tracks. The algorithm was trained on a small amount of Copernicus data and was then able to find hidden pathways in a much larger dataset. These AI generated maps were then verified by hikers using smartphones. The resulting application identifies uncharted hiking trails, providing key information about climate conditions and the user's location. 

4th edition: Space for the financial world

The fourth CASSINI Hackathon took place in November of 2022 and challenged participants to imagine the future of finance, insurance and investments with the help of European space technologies. They were presented with the challenges of enabling green and sustainable investments, innovating financial tools and technologies or advancing global financial intelligence.

One of the winning teams, Cropernicus (and no, that’s not a typo) presented an innovative solution that uses satellite data to forecast crop production, providing stakeholders independent and real-time predictions of future yields in a user-friendly format. This application aimed at assisting farmers and the broader agricultural industry in making informed decisions related to finance, strategy, risk management, sustainable investments, and social impact.

5th edition: An eye on defence and security 

The fifth edition took place in early 2023, in March, and challenged participants to help secure and strengthen Europe's defence by developing viable solutions which improve the EU's defence and security capabilities.

The teams were presented with three challenges: enabling off-road mobility, making the seas safer and protecting the EU's critical infrastructure.

The first place winner was Hiris Guider, a team which demonstrated how Copernicus data can be used by defence forces, emergency response teams and humanitarian organisations. The team combined Copernicus data on multiple assets like land cover, vegetation, humidity, and forests with data on population density to create a platform for evaluating evacuation plans and scenarios, allowing users to locate high-risk areas and take mitigation measures in advance.

6th edition: International development and humanitarian aid

Last but not least, the 6th edition of the CASSINI Hackathons took place in early November 2023. The theme of this edition was "Space for International Development and Humanitarian Aid". Participants had to develop solutions to three overarching challenges: how space technologies could help support sustainable infrastructure development, improve food security and access to clean water, and understand and predict forced migration.

The winning team, Upstream, focused on improving aquaculture. In a warming world, parasites can thrive in aquaculture farms, threatening production. One way to combat this is through biosecurity planning, which is required by both the EU and local authorities. This is often done through marine spatial planning but can be challenging due to conflicting interests and the dynamic nature of the sea. Upstream used several data sets from Copernicus, such as ocean currents, ocean salinity and temperatures, to develop a tool to help with biosecurity planning for aquaculture sites. The solution can simulate the spread of harmful particles in aquaculture sites and identify parasite hotspots, helping aquaculture farmers to better understand where sites should and shouldn't be placed to avoid contamination.

Looking to the future, the winning team would like to offer this service through the NextOcean Store, an EU-funded project that aims to provide Earth Observation services for fisheries and aquaculture.

Over the last six editions, more than 1200 participants have participated in the CASSINI hackathons. By providing a competitive environment which allows for support from experts and ample opportunities for cross-pollination of ideas, the hackathon series showcases and enables innovative projects and fosters creativity. Furthermore, by supporting the overall winning projects to accelerate and become profitable, the CASSINI hackathons contribute to building an environment around European space services and making them accessible to everyone.

As the world struggles to cope with the impacts of climate change, accessible tools to understand our changing climate have never been more urgently needed. Launched on 20 February by the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), the Copernicus Interactive Climate Atlas (C3S Atlas) is a powerful new tool designed to help policymakers and other climate service users to analyse and interpret climate data. With the upcoming publication of the European State of the Climate report by C3S, we are excited to discuss this new tool that can help users develop evidence-based policies and strategies to work to mitigate the consequences of and adapt to global warming. 

Evolving climate information 

The last few decades have seen a gradual but constant increase in the societal relevance of climate information. Starting with the establishment of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and the World Meteorological Organization’s Global Framework for Climate Services (GFCS), the focus has gradually shifted away from pure climate science and towards climate services in support of policies and decisions. The Copernicus Climate Change Service, or C3S represents another step in this process.

The IPCC’s Sixth Assessment Report (AR6), released in August 2021, was also a critical milestone in this journey. For the first time, the Report included the IPCC Interactive Atlas (IPCC-IA), an interface that supports and expands the Report’s regional climate assessment. The IPCC-IA as published was designed to be static until the next Assessment Report (AR7). 

The new C3S Atlas introduces an interactive, live, and continuously evolving tool that customises climate data for specific users and regions. The Copernicus Climate Change Service carried out the work in collaboration with a data management company, Predictia, and the Spanish Research Council’s (CSIC) Cantabria Institute of Physics, IFCA.

So, what’s new?

The C3S Atlas now includes observational, reanalysis, and climate projection datasets from the C3S Climate Data Store. It displays updates with the latest data and new viewer functionalities.

30 variables and indices

The C3S Atlas includes 30 basic variables and indices, which can help scientists and policymakers understand what the climate is like now, and what the future might hold. For example, users can refer to the Atlas to examine different scenarios, such as what could happen if the world gets warmer by 1.5, 2, 3, and even 4 degrees Celsius. 

The Atlas also contains different datasets about the past. It includes observations like the E-OBS gridded observational database, which tracks the temperature in Europe since 1950. It also offers reanalyses from ERA5 and ERA5-Land, which give climate information from as far back as 1940 for ERA5 and 1950 for ERA5 Land, up to 2022. 

The ORAS5 ocean reanalysis from 1958 to 2014 supplies data for the oceans.

Nine indices and variables not featured in the IPCC-IA were added. These focus on the "wet and dry," "wind and radiation," and "circulation" aspects of the climate. You can explore all of the included variables here.

Go global or local

One standout feature of the C3S Atlas is its use of new Regional Climate Model (RCM) information from two specific datasets: CORDEX-CORE and CORDEX-EUR-11.

CORDEX-CORE data presents a high-resolution view of the globe as a mosaic, focusing on land areas. It shows how climate patterns shift in different regions, even at the city level. CORDEX-EUR-11 zooms in even further, providing detailed information about Europe, with a resolution of 12.5 kilometres. 

Another new feature of the Atlas is that users can draw their own boundaries on the map instead of being limited to predefined areas like countries or larger continental areas.

The regularly updated combination of data means that the C3S Atlas can empower researchers, policymakers, and anyone interested in climate science to explore and analyse climate data in unprecedented detail, both globally and locally.

Climate and seasonal stripes

The C3S Atlas also offers versatile visualisation tools for exploring climate data.

Through climate stripes, they can customise climate projection time series data to show the projections from different models for a particular area and time period. Each coloured stripe can be used to represent the temperature of each year in the time series compared with the long-term average, with cooler years shown in blue and hotter years in red. 

Seasonal stripes are similar to the well-known climate stripes, but instead of including all the models, they show monthly values on the vertical axis.

Time series

This tool shows the values from all available models for a particular variable across a chosen region. It also indicates selected reference and baseline time periods. The variation among models is depicted by shading: darker shades represent where half of the models fall within a range of values. 

Accurate and reliable information

The C3S Atlas team has meticulously ensured the reliability and accuracy of all data within the Atlas through rigorous quality control measures. This helps policymakers make informed and science-based decisions rooted in the best and most reliable climate information available. "We are excited about the possibilities that the Copernicus Interactive Climate Atlas offers. With its expanded scope, which is aligned with future C3S and IPCC requirements, and its intuitive, accessible interface, the C3S Atlas will give users access to quality-assured climate information. This represents another important step towards the operationalisation of climate services in support of their growing role in informing the international climate adaptation and mitigation effort,” said C3S Director Carlo Buontempo.

You can find all the details on practical navigation in the C3S Atlas in the comprehensive User Guide.

More information

Copernicus Interactive Climate Atlas: a game changer for policymakers

Copernicus Interactive Climate Atlas: guide to the powerful new C3S tool

A decade after Sentinel-1A's launch on 3 April 2014, it continues to deliver large amounts of data to users each month. This mission, built on the legacy of pioneering European satellite missions like ERS and ENVISAT, has provided invaluable data across diverse applications—from ocean monitoring to disaster response, far exceeding initial expectations. Despite Sentinel-1B's retirement due to an electrical failure, the mission's legacy continues, with Sentinel-1A still operational and future satellites poised to replenish the constellation. In this week's Observer, we take a close look at Sentinel-1 and celebrate its important contribution to the understanding of our Earth.

Almost 10 years ago, on 12 April 2014, the first radar images of Earth were captured by Sentinel-1A, just nine days after its launch. The “first light” image below shows Brussels, Belgium and its surroundings. Its vibrant colours provided a tantalising glimpse into the imagery which this new mission would contribute to Europe’s ambitious new Earth Observation programme. Copernicus is now integrated into the larger EU Space Programme, and the data from Sentinel-1 satellites have become an important part of many global efforts to understand and address some of the most pressing environmental challenges of our time.

The Sentinel-1 satellite mission, instruments, and capabilities

Europe has a long history of radar Earth Observation satellites that stretches back to the 90s. The first were the European Remote Sensing (ERS) satellites ERS-1 and ERS-2, launched in 1991 and 1995 respectively. These satellites were the first radar-equipped satellites designed in Europe specifically for environmental monitoring. Prior to the ERS missions, radar satellite technology had primarily been exploited by the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War era, focusing on military and reconnaissance applications. This transition towards scientific and non-military use marked a significant shift in the application of radar satellite technology and set a new standard for Earth Observation. After the ERS mission would come ENVISAT, launched in 2002, adding new capabilities with its Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR) sensor. 

Sentinel-1 represents the next evolution of Europe's radar-equipped satellites, building upon the foundations of its precursors. The mission is designed as a two-satellite constellation, initially made up of Sentinel-1A and Sentinel-1B. The satellites orbit in a Sun-synchronous, near-polar (98.18° inclination) orbit, ensuring a consistent long-term data archive. Each satellite is equipped with a C-band synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) instrument which operates in four modes and provides a spatial resolution down to 5 metres and a swath of up to 410 km. The SAR instrument allows for data collection in all weather conditions, including through cloud cover, as well as at night. Although Sentinel-1B was retired on August 3, 2020 due to an electrical failure, Sentinel-1A remains fully operational, and has far exceeded its life expectancy of 7 years. Even when one of its solar panels was damaged by a collision with a millimetre-sized particle of space debris in 2016, this was not enough to affect Sentinel-1A’s routine operations.

Use cases

The capabilities of the radar instrument on the Sentinel-1 satellites make them able to support a wide variety of applications such as monitoring the oceans, including shipping lanes, sea ice, and oil spills; mapping changing land cover, ground deformation, ice shelves, and glaciers; and supporting emergency response to disasters like floods and humanitarian relief efforts during crises.

Monitoring of oceans and ice

Sentinel-1's radar data is important for the Copernicus Marine Service (CMEMS), providing essential information regarding the state and dynamics of coastal zones. These applications not only help protect and manage the marine environment and its resources but also aim to keep vessels safe at sea. Radar images from Sentinel-1 generate timely maps of sea-ice conditions for safe passage in increasingly busy Arctic waters, distinguishing between thinner, more navigable first-year ice and the dangerous, much thicker multiyear ice. This capability is particularly suited to generating high-resolution ice charts, monitoring icebergs, and forecasting ice conditions. Additionally, data from Sentinel-1 can be used to track the paths of oil slicks and other pollutants, contributing to environmental protection and maritime safety. Users can now easily access relevant derived information products using the viewers in the new Copernicus Arctic and Coastal Hubs.

Monitoring land changes

The Sentinel-1 satellite mission has opened up new possibilities for many land applications. The satellites’ frequent revisits over the same area allow for the close monitoring of land changes, which is particularly useful in applications related to agriculture, forest management, and ground motion analysis. The Copernicus Land Monitoring Service (CLMS) provides a wide range of products based on Sentinel-1 data, including land cover and land use maps, vegetation monitoring, soil moisture, and water resource monitoring. Products such as Soil Moisture Index are relevant for agriculture as they can be used to make informed decisions about water usage to optimise crop health and productivity. For forest monitoring and management, numerous products based on Sentinel-1 data are available. These products facilitate the detection of clear-cut and partial-cut areas, forest type classification, biomass estimation, and disturbance detection, supporting deforestation monitoring in Europe and beyond. For ground motion analysis, the European Ground Motion Service (EGMS), part of CLMS, uses Sentinel-1 Interferometric SAR (InSAR) data to monitor ground motion with millimetre accuracy, allowing authorities to keep an eye on the structural integrity of infrastructure such as dams, bridges, railways, and buildings effectively. It also supports urban planning by providing data-driven insights into the likelihood of natural hazards such as landslides or subsidence, enabling informed decisions about where to build new infrastructure. 

Support to emergency and disaster response

Data from Sentinel-1 is used extensively by the Copernicus Emergency Management Service (CEMS), as the ability of SAR instruments to delineate flooded areas, see through clouds or thick smoke, and detect land changes is particularly useful for emergency situations. Sentinel-1 SAR data facilitates the identification of shifts in terrain and infrastructure damage following urban disasters, enabling precise assessments crucial for recovery planning and community impact evaluations. Moreover, this data is invaluable in land movement scenarios, like landslides or earthquakes, where it aids in detecting terrain alterations through the comparison of pre- and post-event images. Finally, the ability of radar imagery to quickly and efficiently detect the extent of flooded areas is very effective in supporting emergency response and disaster relief operations. This capability was recently demonstrated during the 2022 floods in Pakistan, where Sentinel-1 imagery used by the CEMS GloFAS Global Flood Monitoring (GFM) system, proved instrumental in the real-time monitoring and assessment efforts coordinated by various international and local agencies.

A decade of data production with much more to come

Since its launch, the Sentinel-1 satellite mission has provided a vast amount of data across a myriad of applications, from environmental monitoring to disaster response. The Sentinel-1 satellites currently publish over 95,000 products monthly, with over 2.3 petabytes of data downloaded by users worldwide, and are the only radar satellites whose data is available to users on a full, free, and open basis.

Looking to the future, the Sentinel-1 satellite mission is set to be bolstered by the upcoming launches of Sentinel-1C and 1D, with Sentinel-1C launching first to replace the now retired Sentinel-1B. These new additions will continue the Sentinel-1 legacy and ensure that users will have the data needed to feed their services in the future, as well as improve the overall performance and data quality of the constellation. 

Copernicus Sentinel-1 has made a significant impact on our ability to observe and understand the Earth. As we look back on a decade of innovation and forward to the future, we celebrate Sentinel-1’s contributions and the potential of Copernicus to support us in addressing some of the most important challenges of our time.