Copernicus Downstream Service Supports Nature-Based Flood Defense: Use of Sentinel Earth Observation Satellites for Coastal Needs

This is a copy of the article published in Sea-Technology Magazine, which the authors have bought the rights to redistribute.With an uncertain future that includes climate change, sea level rise and increasing coastal populations, being able to make informed policy decisions in coastal zones will be critical for ensuring the well-being of citizens, the environment and the sustainability of economic activities. Earth observation (EO) can be used to efficiently and systematically provide the key information needed to make these decisions. However, getting access to the right EO in- formation can be a complicated and costly business, limiting availability. However, the launch in April 2014 of the first Sentinel satellite from Europe’s flagship EO program, Copernicus, represents a major advance in the availability of EO data, which has great potential to benefit numerous sectors involved in marine and coastal activities. We discuss some examples of applications being developed and give an example of a new service which intends to support nature-based flood defense schemes.The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Program (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement n° 607131. All views presented are those of the authors. The EU is not liable for any use that may be made of the information contained herein.PDF, 5 pages, 20.4 M