Food Security TEP supports Extreme Earth Analytics

Extreme Earth concentrates on developing techniques and software that will enable the extraction of information and knowledge from big Copernicus data using deep learning techniques and extreme geospatial analytics, and the development of two use cases based on this information and knowledge and other relevant non-EO data sets. ExtremeEarth tools and techniques can be used for extracting information and knowledge from big Copernicus data and making this information and knowledge available as linked data and, in this way, allow the easy development of applications by developers with minimal or no knowledge of EO techniques, file formats, data access protocols etc.

As Extreme Earth develops cloud-based techniques and software, the ESA supported platforms Polar TEP (polartep.io) and Food Security TEP (foodsecurity-tep.net) are part of the H2020 project team. They provide an environment where new applications and tools can be deployed and tested. These platforms also provide input data and publish results for the thematic applications. The Extreme Earth Food Security Use Case aims at monitoring crop development and snow cover in two large European river catchments to derive water availability maps for irrigation support at the catchment scale. Crop development and crop type are mapped based on Sentinel-2 leaf area and reflectance products provided on Food Security TEP by VISTA GmbH, Germany, while snow cover is based on Sentinel-1 products produced on Polar TEP. Various results will be published later this year on both platforms.

If you like to learn more about the scientific and technical objectives of the project running from 2019 to 2021 read the first H2020 Extreme Earth Newsletter attached to this issue of Food Security Platform Insight, access the project's scientific publications or inform yourself about the Extreme Earth use cases.

If you like to stay updated then follow @ExtremeEarth_EU on Twitter!

Food Security TEP @ ESA for Agriculture Under Pressure

The European Space Agency (ESA) is organising a Workshop on Earth Observation for Agriculture under Pressure. The Food Security TEP team will be present at this event at ESRIN in Frascati, Italy to discuss opportunities on how specialised cloud platforms can leverage the use of Earth Observation applications in the domain of food security and sustainable agriculture.

The main scientific objectives of the week-long event are to

  • Discuss the role of EO for supporting evidence-based decisions for improving food security at national to global scale
  • Explore novel EO observation capabilities to advance the scientific basis to support resilience of agricultural productivity to climate change
  • Discuss how to transfer EO science results into mitigation measures and alternative management tools for a sustainable, climate-neutral agriculture
  • Exchange on latest developments of innovative algorithms and applications for agricultural monitoring including integration of in-situ data and modelling approaches
  • Discuss EO applications for monitoring of agricultural practices, irrigation management, water productivity, fertilizer and crop protection optimization, impact assessment of crop diseases and natural hazards, crop yield estimations and forecasts and pasture monitoring
  • Demonstrate the use of EO for policy relevant reporting and monitoring obligations such as the UN 2030 SDGs, the EU’s Green Deal, the Area Monitoring System of the CAP and national agricultural statistics
  • Integrate innovative technologies such as Big data analysis, digital platforms, Artificial Intelligence, drones, crowd-sourcing and Internet of Things in agricultural monitoring
  • Explore the potential of planned and future missions for food security and agriculture, e.g. the expansion and the next generation of the Sentinels, FLEX, new space and commercial satellite constellations
  • Provide inputs to guide ESA scientific agenda in the agricultural sector including ESA’s FutureEO program and collaboration with RTD on Food Systems and climate adaptation

More information to be found here: EO4Agri website

If you like to keep up to date on our activities at this and similar events then follow us on Twitter!

Our Early Adopter Program

Are you interested in testing the Food Security Platform for your initial project? Then apply for our Early Adopter Program!

Each user that is accessing the platform using the ESA Earth Observation Single-Sign-On (SSO) authentification can request some virtual TEP coins by sending us an email to test the platform functionality and our standard services. But if you want to do more, then you can apply to become an Early Adopter that receives free resources and support for your initial larger project. Just send us the filled-in request form for a quick review and you can start your work within a few days. You only will be obliged to give us your feedback and share some public results of your work.

In case you have some more questions, please send us an email to info@foodsecurity-tep.net