Copernicus is a European Union Programme aimed at developing European information services based on satellite Earth Observation and in situ (non-space) data. Copernicus is a source of free, open and reliable data.
The Programme is coordinated and managed by the European Commission. It is implemented in partnership with the Member States, the , the , the , EU Agencies and .
Copernicus uses a set of dedicated satellites (the Sentinel families), contributing missions (existing commercial and public satellites) and in situ systems.
1. Sentinel satellites are specifically designed to meet the needs of the Copernicus services and their users. Since the launch of Sentinel-1A in 2014, the European Union set in motion a process to place a constellation of almost 20 more satellites in orbit before 2030. Satellite data from the Sentinels are free of charge to users and can be easily downloaded from the .
2. Contributing Missions are missions from ESA, their Member States, EUMETSAT and other European and international third party mission operators that make some of their data available for Copernicus. Contributing missions deliver complementary data to the satellites in the following categories:
- Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) to observe day and night the land 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.
3. in situ data: Copernicus also collects information from such as ground stations, which deliver data acquired by a multitude of sensors on the ground, at sea or in the air.
4. address six main thematic areas:
- Marine Environment Monitoring Service
- Atmosphere Monitoring Service
- Land Monitoring Service
- Climate Change Service
- Emergency Management Service
- Copernicus Security Service.
The Copernicus ¸£ÀûÔÚÏßÃâ·Ñ transform satellite and in situ data into value-added information by processing and analysing the data. Datasets stretching back for years and decades are made comparable and searchable, thus ensuring the monitoring of changes. Patterns are examined and used to create better forecasts, for example, of the ocean and the atmosphere. Maps are created from imagery, features and anomalies are identified and statistical information is extracted.
5. Applications
The information provided by the Copernicus services can be used by end users for a wide range of applications. These include urban area management, sustainable development and nature protection, regional and local planning, agriculture, forestry and fisheries, health, civil protection, infrastructure, transport and mobility, as well as tourism.
6. National Contact Point
The Planning Authority, the Malta Council for Science and Technology, and the Environment Resources Authority are the combined partners which act as the Copernicus Network Relay for Malta. For queries regarding the Copernicus Program, kindly contact Dr Elaine Sciberras on elaine.sciberras@pa.org.mt as the contact point for Malta's Copernicus Network Relay.
7. Save-the-date
The following two Copernicus events will be held in Malta:
- Copernicus Training and ¸£ÀûÔÚÏßÃâ·Ñ Session, 26-27 (am) June 2017
- Copernicus Marine Service – an asset to the Maltese Blue Economy, 27 (pm) June 2017
Interested attendees may register for both events by clicking ‘REGISTER now’ on .
