Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - ERA-PLANET (The European network for observing our changing planet)

Teaser

In the last decade a significant number of projects and programmes in different domains of environmental monitoring and Earth observation have generated a substantial amount of data and knowledge on different aspects related to environmental quality and sustainability. Big...

Summary

In the last decade a significant number of projects and programmes in different domains of environmental monitoring and Earth observation have generated a substantial amount of data and knowledge on different aspects related to environmental quality and sustainability. Big data generated by in-situ or satellite platforms are being collected and archived with a plethora of systems and instruments making difficult the sharing of data and knowledge to stakeholders and policy makers for supporting key economic and societal sectors. The overarching goal of ERA-PLANET is to strengthen the European Research Area in the domain of Earth Observation (EO) in coherence with the European participation to Group on Earth Observation (GEO) and the Copernicus. The expected impact is to strengthen the European leadership within the GEO 2015-2025 Work Plan. ERA-PLANET will reinforce the interface with user communities, whose needs the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) intends to address. It will provide more accurate, comprehensive and authoritative information to policy and decision-makers in key societal benefit areas, such as Smart cities and Resilient societies; Resource efficiency and Environmental management; Global changes and Environmental treaties; Polar areas and Natural resources. ERA-PLANET will i) share advanced decision support tools and technologies aimed to better monitor our global environment and share the information and knowledge in different domain of Earth Observation; ii) develop a strategic research agenda to reinforce the ERA and to coordinate the cross- and inter-cooperation of European and national programs in key and selected EO domains; and iii) coordinate initiatives with the aim to improve the interoperability among the existing and future projects on EO and links to the GEOSS Common Infrastructure.

Work performed

During the first Reporting Period (01/02/2016 – 30/06/2017) the work carried out by the Consortium has been focused on the:
1. Official lunch of ERA-PLANET through the kick-off meeting
2. Establishment of the governance and the management team
3. Implementation of the communication and dissemination plan
4. Preparation and launch of the 2-step Joint Transnational Call (JTC) along the four selected Strands:
a. Strand 1 - Smart cities and resilient societies
b. Strand 2 - Resource efficiency and environmental management
c. Strand 3 - Global change and Environmental treaties
d. Strand 4 - Polar areas and natural resources in a highly climate-sensitive regions

The most relevant results are:
• Submission, evaluation and approval of four projects:
o Strand 1 - SMart URBan Solutions for air quality, disasters and city growth SMURBS
o Strand 2 - Essential Variables workflows for resource efficiency and environmental management GEOessentials
o Strand 3 - Integrated Global Observing Systems for Persistent Pollutants IGOSP
o Strand 4 - Integrative and Comprehensive Understanding on Polar Environments iCUPE
• Participation to:
o 10th GEO European Projects Workshop, Jun 2016
o UNOSD Expert Group for water food energy resilience in Mid-Lat Region, Nov 2016
o GEO-XIII Plenary, Nov 2016
o 11th GEO European Projects Workshop, Jun 2017
o to several GEO High Level Working Group (HLWG) meetings
o several European and internal conferences and meetings (i.e., ISPRS, AGU, EGU)
• Design and implementation of the website: http://www.era-planet.eu/
• Preparation of Brochures and Posters, and launch of the newsletter
• Launch of social threads on Facebook and Twitter
• Planning of the joint kick-off meeting of all four approved projects for funding to be held in Rome on 9-10 October 2017

Final results

Not applicable in this phase of the project

Website & more info

More info: http://www.era-planet.eu.