1. 09/09/2010
VITO and the DevCoCast project
an Introduction
Carolien Tote carolien.tote@vito.be
Tim Jacobs tim.jacobs@vito.be
II Encontro Sul-Americano para Aplicações dos Sistemas EUMETCast-GEONETCast Américas, 14-16 September 2010, Belém, Brazil

2. Outline
» VITO as organization
» Overview
» Application domains
» Remote Sensing Department
» Overview
» Example applications
» DevCoCast project
» Overview & concept
» 4 core activities (focused on Latin America)
DevCoCast http://www.devcocast.eu, info@devcocast.eu
VITO http://www.vito.be, vito@vito.be
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© 2010, VITO NV

3. Outline
» VITO as organization
» Overview
» Application domains
» Remote Sensing Department
» Overview
» Example applications
» DevCoCast project
» Overview & concept
» 4 core activities (focused on Latin America)
DevCoCast http://www.devcocast.eu, info@devcocast.eu
VITO http://www.vito.be, vito@vito.be
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© 2010, VITO NV

4. Who is VITO?
» Autonomous public research company in Belgium
» HQ in Mol, 2 smaller offices
» Established in 1991 by the Flemish Government
» Public body
» Flemish Government is only shareholder
» With 5-year framework contracts (2008 - 2012)
» Autonomous
» At least 50% income is from contract research
» Independent board of directors
» 600+ staff (15 nationalities)
» Annual turnover of 82 M€ (2009) and growing
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© 2010, VITO NV

5. VITO – Activity domains / units
Environmental Energy
modelling technology
Environmental Transition energy and
risk and health environment
Separation and
Earth observation conversion technology
Environmental analysis Materials
and technology technology
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© 2010, VITO NV

6. Outline
» VITO as organization
» Overview
» Application domains
» Remote Sensing Department
» Overview
» Example applications
» DevCoCast project
» Overview & concept
» 4 core activities (focused on Latin America)
DevCoCast http://www.devcocast.eu, info@devcocast.eu
VITO http://www.vito.be, vito@vito.be
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© 2010, VITO NV

7. Remote Sensing Dept - overview
» Around 70 staff organized in 3 research teams:
» Technology development
» Simulate and develop sensors,
systems/platforms and missions
» Examples:
» High and Low altitude UAVs
» PROBA-V
» hi-res and hyperspectral cameras
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8. Innovative EO systems: platform & instrument
400-800 km PROBA-V
15-20 km Mercator - MEDUSA
Altitude
1-5 km
APEX
<1 km
Low altitude UAV Different sensors
(video, also non-imaging)
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© 2010, VITO NV

9. Remote Sensing Dept - overview
» Around 70 staff organized in 3 research teams:
» Technology development
» Operational services
» Secures the processing, archiving
and provision of data
» Primary production & distribution centre
for SPOT-VEGETATION data
» Examples:
» Spatial Data Infrastructure
» GRID computing,...
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10. SPOT-VEGETATION – 1 km
daily synthesis
P-product
(segment) 10-daily synthesis
Global archive since Apr 1998 www.spot-vegetation.com
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11. SPOT-VEGETATION – 1km
NDVI - Normalized Difference Vegetation Index
Copyright CNES
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12. METOP-AVHRR – 1km
Since May 2010
Website & data portal:
http://www.metopS10.vito.be
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13. METOP-AVHRR – 1km
Annual MAX-NDVI from 36 dekads of year 2009
R=SWIR, G=NIR, B=RED
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14. Basic 10-day products - other EO sensors
NOAA-AVHRR
- Since 1982
- Europe 1 km
Produced for JRC-MARS and
ESA Global Monitoring for Food
Security (GMFS) project
ENVISAT-MERIS
- Since 2002
- Global 1 km
- Africa 250m
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15. Basic 10-day products - other EO sensors
MODIS
-Europe & E Africa
-250m
fAPAR: Fraction of Absorbed Photo-
Active Radiation (400-700nm)
March 2010
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16. Remote Sensing Dept - overview
» Around 70 staff organized in 3 research teams:
» Technology development
» Operational services
» Remote sensing applications
» From data to information
» From local to global scales
» Themes:
» Habitats & ecosystems
» Inland & coastal water
» Vegetation
» Agriculture & food security
» Risks
» Climate change
» ...
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17. Ecosystem monitoring
Legend
Not classified
Water
Shadow Townsend's Stinging Blackber
No Vegetation (inside the dike) Japanese Sea Couch- Sea Aster Cordgrass Common reed Alkali bulrush nettle(Urt ry
Vegetation (inside the dike) knotweed grass (Elymus (Aster (Spartina (Phragmites (Scirpus ica (Rubus
Paved (outside the dike) (Fallopia athericus) tripolium) australis) maritimus)
Bare ground (outside the dike) townsendii) dioica) fructicos
japonica) us)
Mud flat
Dry sand
Wet sand
Water saturated sediment
Wet silty sand
MFB low concentration
MFB moderate concentration
MFB high concentration
Brackish water vegetation
Aster tripolium
Elymus athericus
Phragmites australis
Scirpus maritimus
Spartina townsendii
Brackisch grassland
Sweet water vegetation
Scirpus maritimus
Pionier
Brushwood
Scrub
Forest
Phragmites australis
Bank vegetation
Fallopia japonica
Bank grassland
Urtica dioica
Rubus fruticosus
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18. Puerto Rico – Digicam classification
Classification results
RGB input Classification result, Majority filter,
25 classes removes speckle
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19. Inland and coastal waters
Vessel B
0.1
100 mg/l
80 mg/l
water-leaving reflectance
0.08
74 mg/l
0.06 99 mg/l
53 mg/l
0.04 73 mg/l
63 mg/l
0.02
0
350 450 550 650 750 850 950 1050 1150 1250
wavelength (nm)
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20. Derived vegetation / agriculture products
Seasonality Anomalies
Databases 11000
10000
y = 0,9866x + 50,155
R2 = 60,79%
9000
RMSE = 722 kg/ha
True Yield (kg/ha)
8000
7000
6000 Yield
5000 Forecasting
4000
WHEAT
3000
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3000 4000 5000 6000 7000 8000 9000 10000 11000 20
© 2010, VITO NV RS-Estimated Yield (kg/ha)

21. Derived biophysical parameters
Leaf Area index, Fraction of Green Cover and Albedo, 1st dekad of Aug 2010
Produced globally in frame of Geoland2 BioPar
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22. Application: vegetation monitoring
http://endeleo.vgt.vito.be/
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23. Application: websites and bulletins
4/4. Websites &
Bulletins
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24. Adapting LSA-SAF MSG products for JRC-MARS
SPOT-VGT: NDVI MSG: Radiation
EUROPE
Inspire-LAEA
5 km
Daily & 10-daily
remapped &
composited MSG
for spatial/temporal
compatibility with
products from other
sensors
AFRICA
LonLat
4 km
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© 2010, VITO NV

25. Outline
» VITO as organization
» Overview
» Application domains
» Remote Sensing Department
» Overview
» Example applications
» DevCoCast project
» Overview & concept
» 4 core activities (focused on Latin America)
DevCoCast http://www.devcocast.eu, info@devcocast.eu
VITO http://www.vito.be, vito@vito.be
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© 2010, VITO NV

26. GEONETCast for and by Developing
Countries (DevCoCast) project
» European Community, 7th Framework Programme
» 3 years, started 2008-05-01, 16 partners
» With Support from
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© 2010, VITO NV

27. DevCoCast - Concept
Many Developing Countries face serious
environmental risks…
…and need adequate Earth Observation data
and derived environmental information for their
sustainable development.
GEONETCast provides
reliable and continuous access
to environmental information
all over the world!
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© 2010, VITO NV

28. DevCoCast – Concept (2)
EO systems & R&D Starting from existing data production
Operational Reliably & timely disseminate
data production 50+ environmental EO products
EUMETCast & Using and extending EUMETCast
GEONETCast & GEONETCast infrastructure
EO Experts in Supporting and training a broad range
Developing Countries of user communities.
Policy makers / Embedding the received data in research,
End users monitoring & decision making processes.
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© 2010, VITO NV

29. DevCoCast: 4 core activities
Sharing cross-cutting
Earth Observation products
Setting up receiver and hub
infrastructure
All for and by the Developing
Countries and using GEOSS Core
GEONETCast infrastructure as
Capacity building: supporting central technology
& training user communities
Building on capacity:
Making everyday use of
GEONETCast
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© 2010, VITO NV

30. DevCoCast: 4 core activities
Sharing cross-cutting Existing products created in Latin
Earth Observation products America, Africa & Europe
Gathered centrally by ocean &
land hubs and EUMETSAT in
Setting up receiver and hub Europe
infrastructure
Broadcast across Africa, the
Americas & Europe through
EUMETCast
Capacity building: supporting
& training user communities
GEONETCast exchange with
CMA for pilot user in China
Building on capacity: Received using low cost receiving
Making everyday use of stations
GEONETCast
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© 2010, VITO NV

31. Sharing EO products across the continents
Product flow
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© 2010, VITO NV

32. S-America Product Overview
Source Product(s) Sat / Sensor Coverage Broadcast
INTA NDVI, NDVI Anomaly NOAA AVHRR Argentina 3/month
Evapotranspiration NOAA AVHRR Pampas 3/month
Fire Risk NOAA AVHRR Argentina 3/month, dry
season
Flood, Fire affected areas MODIS Argentina Event
(+AVHRR +
GOES)
Hail affected area Radar (or Argentina Event
GOES)
Hydric balance, Pasture MODIS Argentina 3/month
Productivity
INPE- CCD and HRC Colour Composite CBERS CCD + Approx 2/day
CPTEC (CHC) HRC 27x27km
GOES-MSG IR composite GOES + MSG S America + 15 min
Africa
Fire detection, Rainfall Satellite, GOES South America 15 min
Fortracc, Lightning discharge
Current broadcast status: Green: operational – Orange: trial
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Red: being set up or production being improved
© 2010, VITO NV

33. S-America Product Overview (2)
Source Product(s) Sat / Sensor Coverage Broadcast
INPE- Fire detection NOAA AVHRR South America 1-2/day
CPTEC
Number of days without rain GOES South America 1/day
Ultra-violet index (UVI) Aura-OMI + South America 15-30min
SBUV + GOES daytime
15d and monthly NDVI NOAA AVHRR South America 1-2/month
VITO NDVI SPOT South + Central 3/month
VEGETATION America
NDWI, Dry Matter Productivity SPOT South + Central 3/month
VEGETATION America
LAI, green cover fraction, SPOT South + Central 3/month,
albedo VEGETATION America Exp soon
SDVI or VPI SPOT South + Central 3/month,
VEGETATION America Exp soon
Burnt Area, vegetation growth SPOT South + Central 3/month, Exp
season VEGETATION America 2011
Current broadcast status: Green: operational – Orange: trial
Red: being set up or production being improved
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34. Latest product news
» New ocean data off the coasts
of Africa and Brazil
» Starting trial broadcast
» INPE Fire products (FAN/FAG)
changing to shapefile format
» DMP & NDWI over South
America operational
» Burnt Area product available
over Africa
» Starting move to global
» Green vegetation dynamic map
(desert locust) available (Africa)
» Water body product improving
(Africa only)
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35. A wide variety of products
2
» Combining operational production systems
» GMES Land service (Geoland2) geoland
» ChloroGIN network, part of
Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS)
» YEOS Yellow Sea forecasting
» INTA, INPE,...
» Cross-cutting application themes &
GEO Societal Benefit Areas:
» Vegetation & agriculture
» Inland water & ocean
» Severe weather
» Fires, floods,...
» Nearly all with free and open access
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© 2010, VITO NV

36. A wide variety of products (2)
» From basic satellite imagery
» 15 min GOES-MSG IR composites produced at INPE
» Over added value land data
» Vegetation index, Leaf Area Index, ...
» Over added value ocean data
» Ocean colour (SST, Chl-a, etc) , harmful algae blooms, ...
» High resolution CBERS
» To model outputs and information bulletins
» Fire risk in South Africa, weather over Yellow Sea
» Agro-meteo bulletins for W Africa, weather/climate bulletins
» Sensors: GOES, MSG, SPOT-VEGETATION, NOAA AVHRR,
MODIS, SeaWIFS, MERIS, CBERS,...
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37. INTA Samples
NDVI, NDVI Anomaly, 1st dekad of May 2010
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38. INTA Samples
Fire risk, 3rd dekad of April 2010 Evapotranspiration, 1st dekad of May 2010
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39. INPE samples
Fire detection NOAA, 5 May Fire detection GOES, 27 May 19h45
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40. INPE samples (3)
Fortracc convective systems forecast, 27 May 18h 30 minutes rainfall
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41. INPE samples (2)
Lightning discharges image Ultraviolet radiation index
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42. INPE samples (4)
» CBERS CHC data (27x27km, 10m resolution)
» Quality improved in DevCoCast
» GeoTiff format
» Trial EUMETCast broadcast since April 20th 2010 scene from 21 Jan 2009
CBERS CHC
» Operational broadcast since
May 2010
» Open access in EU,
Africa & Americas
» Still to be extended
to “on demand” system
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© 2010, VITO NV

43. SPOT-VGT samples
NDVI and NDWI, 1st dekad of May 2010
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© 2010, VITO NV

44. DevCoCast: 4 core activities
Sharing cross-cutting EUMETCast receivers
Earth Observation products In Brazil (4)
In Argentina (2)
In Africa (7)
Setting up receiver and hub CMACast receivers
infrastructure In China (1)
Central product gathering hubs
Land products: VITO, Belgium
Capacity building: supporting Ocean products: PML, UK
& training user communities
Schedule & prioritize products
before passing them to EUMETSAT
for EUMETCast broadcast
Building on capacity:
Making everyday use of
GEONETCast
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© 2010, VITO NV

45. Setting up infrastructure
EMBRAPA
CREAN CONAB
INPE-CPTEC
INTA
UNICAMP
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© 2010, VITO NV

46. DevCoCast: 4 core activities
Several international workshops in
Sharing cross-cutting Africa, Argentina & Brazil
Earth Observation products
Online courses
Stand-alone, free land & ocean
Setting up receiver and hub training packages
infrastructure
Support for EUMETCast users &
product providers through
documentation & e-mail help desks
Capacity building: supporting
& training user communities
Using free software
Opportunities for MSc / PhD level
Building on capacity: research & application development
Making everyday use of
GEONETCast
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© 2010, VITO NV

47. Capacity Building
» Workshops in Argentina and Brazil
» May-June/2010
» Report available
» Virtual training courses by INPE-CPTEC
» June 2009
» May 2010
» Various training events in Africa:
» Kinshasa (Dec 2009)
» Nairobi (February 2010)
» Niamey (May 2010)
» Gaborone (later in 2010)
» IEEE IGARSS pre-conference short course
(July 2009)
» GEONETCast + land + ocean
» Trainers from EU, South Africa and Brazil
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48. Capacity Building (2)
» Still to come:
» ocean user feedback workshop Africa
» 2 week in depth training for selected participants, Feb 2011
» 2nd workshop in Brazil, with focus for CBERS
» Other, related GEONETCast training workshops
» Regular ITC trainings, refresher courses
» Regular EUMETSAT trainings and user forums (now!)
» Stand-alone training packages
» Ocean package: 1st release available
» Land package: under development
» Freely available
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49. Free software
VGTExtract for dealing with
SPOT-VEGETATION products
ILWIS + GEONETCast
Toolbox to quickly import &
work with GEONETCast data
GEONETCast Data Manager
...
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© 2010, VITO NV

50. DevCoCast: 4 core activities
The ultimate goal of DevCoCast is
Sharing cross-cutting to embed the provided products into
Earth Observation products every day research,
environmental monitoring,
planning and decision making
processes
Setting up receiver and hub
infrastructure Large number of products
large variety of potential
applications
Capacity building: supporting
& training user communities Share and distribute within your
network!
Building on capacity:
Making everyday use of
GEONETCast
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© 2010, VITO NV

51. Building on existing capacities:
» Drought monitoring and impact assessment
» Crop monitoring and production assessment
» Rain and convection monitoring for weather now- and forecast: distribution
and maintenance of energy networks (Eletropaulo and Elektro, Brazil)
» Fire risk and flood mapping
» Vegetation cover rehabilitation assessment
» Desertification processes and land use relationships in semiarid regions
» Monitor marine ecosystems (ocean colour, sea surface temperature)
» Improve food security and environmental monitoring in several countries
and regions in Africa, in cooperation with MARS (agriculture), GMFS (food
security) and ENDELEO (forest & rangeland monitoring) projects
» ...
» (and many, many more)
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52. Use cases developed in DevCoCast
» Brazil
» agricultural monitoring and crop forecasting systems (CONAB)
» agriculture-oriented projects (network of 40 EMBRAPA research institutes)
» increasing access to and use of GEONETCast products in INPE′s network of
universities, State Environmental Secretaries, energy companies
» Argentina
» e-bulletins on vegetation, crop condition, yield estimates, drought impact
(CREAN, University of Córdoba)
» training of end users and product improvements by researchers (INTA)
» improve the monitoring of 4 large marine ecosystems (African marine
institutes)
» 3 pilot national Desert Locust centres in Eritrea, Mali and Sudan
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53. www.devcocast.eu
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54. Gracias por su atención!
Obregado por sua atenção!
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© 2010, VITO NV