Officers on Duty of the CEMS Hydrological Forecast Centre Analytics and Dissemination (CEMS DISS) monitor EFAS forecasts and compile the Pre-Tasking requests, including area of interest and time interval of the requested satellite acquisition.

• 4.5.1 Summary of the key steps for EFAS partners

The Pre-Tasking request is then sent to the relevant EFAS partners, to the CEMS Rapid Mapping Authorised User, to the CEMS Rapid Mapping entrusted entity (European Commission Joint Research Centre), and to the ERCC. EFAS partners are required to coordinate with the CEMS Rapid Mapping Authorised User the decision on whether to request the activation of the CEMS Rapid Mapping Service for the acquisition of the satellite images. It is important to underline that Pre-Tasking requests do not automatically result in CEMS Rapid Mapping activations.

The image below shows the Pre-Tasking workflow. The boxes highlight the contributors of the Pre-Tasking process:

• Orange: CEMS Rapid Mapping team actions – management of satellites and products;
• Green: CEMS DISS actions – creation and drafting of documents for activation;
• Red: Authorised User actions – official processing and request;
• Blue: EFAS partners actions - assessment of the request.

  The Pre-Tasking Workflow

An email including the scheduled of the planned acquisition(s) is sent to the relevant EFAS partners, to the CEMS Rapid Mapping Authorised User, to the CEMS Rapid Mapping entrusted entity, and to the ERCC, a few hours after the Pre-Tasking request.

The EFAS partner is strongly recommended to connect as soon as possible with the CEMS Mapping Authorised User (and, if needed other Early Warning Services local authorities) to compare information and make a joint decision about a possible Rapid Mapping activation.

In case the EFAS partner and the CEMS Mapping Authorised User consider the risk to be high, the Authorised User confirms with the ERCC that they would like to act on the Pre-Tasking and activate CEMS Rapid Mapping service. Discussions on the details of CEMS Rapid Mapping activation will follow. This exchanges can concern the location and extent of the area(s) of interest (edits to the proposed area of interest can be required), the type of product(s). The acquired satellite images will be analysed.

Conversely, if the risk is deemed low by the EFAS partner and the CEMS Mapping Authorised User, the CEMS Mapping Authorised User can answer negatively to the ERCC. In case of negative answer or no answer by the CEMS Mapping Authorised User, the satellite images acquired will not be analysed but instead directly archived.

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