This component of the Space Academy includes a series of webinars covering topics related to the use of EO to assess and monitor the state of water and food security-related spatial components. Each Webinar consists of three sections: theoretical background, applications examples a Q&A session.
The selected topics for the webinars include:
17th on the EO AFRICA R&D Facility Webinar Series
Advances in EO Cloud Computing: OpenEO
Details
This webinar explores the growing role of cloud computing in analyzing and processing Earth Observation (EO) data, with a primary focus on OpenEO. OpenEO is a relatively new and innovative initiative to connect to EO cloud back-ends in a simple and unified way. The project maintains the API and process specifications, and an open-source ecosystem with clients and server implementations. Participants will learn about the design and inner workings of the system, as well as existing capabilities and recent advancements of OpenEO. The session will cover interactive computing using the OpenEO web interface and JupyterLab, where attendees will be guided through a hands-on demonstration of a simple analysis workflow implemented on openEO. This practical demonstration will help participants understand the relative capabilities, flexibility, and application areas of openEO.
The webinar aims to equip participants with the knowledge to:
- Understand the key features and latest developments of openEO.
- Gain hands-on experience in implementing a simple workflow on openEO by using the web interface and Python.
- Recognize the strengths and limitations of openEO.
- Get an introduction to interactive analytical processes, demonstrated through Jupyter Notebooks.
The duration of the webinar is 1 hour, followed by a 30-minute live Q&A session. A live chat will be available throughout the webinar.
The webinar is organized under the framework of the EO AFRICA R&D Facility by the Faculty of Geo-information Science and Earth Observation (ITC) of the University of Twente.
Speakers:
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Associate Professor – Head of the Center of Expertise in Big Geodata Science (CRIB) – Faculty ITC of the University of Twente
https://people.utwente.nl/s.girgin
s.girgin@utwente.nl
Link to registration:
16th on the EO AFRICA R&D Facility Webinar Series
Flood extent assessment in East Africa with Sentinel-2 data
Details
A few months ago, East Africa faced the consequences of weeks of heavy rains and subsequent flooding, attributed in part to the El Niño weather phenomenon, impacting Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, and Somalia. According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the flooding has devastated communities, with over 750,000 people affected and 234,000 displaced across the region. Tragically, the death toll continues to rise, with at least 400 fatalities including over 155 deaths in Tanzania and 257 in Kenya, as per local authorities. Flooding in the area resulted in tens of thousands of individuals requiring necessities such as food, shelter, clean water, and healthcare, and thousands of hectares of crops damaged.
Satellite sensors, play a pivotal role in flood monitoring not only to assess hazards but also to support in early warning, mitigation and protection of lives and properties. The European Commission initiated the Copernicus program a few years ago, introducing a novel series of Earth Observation satellites called the Sentinels. In this webinar we’ll utilize commonly used methods to assess the extent of selected flooded area in East Africa. Presented techniques will include calculation of water radiometric indices from optical Sentinel-2 bands (e.g. MNDWI, NDWI2, SWM) to assess the water extent and change detection in selected area. Practical demonstration using open-access software will guide attendees through basic processing steps to achieve desired results.
The duration of the webinar is 1 hour, followed by a live Q&A session. During the webinar there is a live-chat available as well.
The webinar will be executed under the framework of the EO AFRICA R&D Facility by SERCO Italy S.P.A.
Staff:
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Remote Sensing Specialist – SERCO Italy S.P.A.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ewelina-dobrowolska-8180b717b/
ewelina.dobrowolska@serco.com
Downloads and recordings:
You can find the recording of the webinar in our YouTube Channel or you can watch it here:
15th on the EO AFRICA R&D Facility Webinar Series
Accessing cloud services using openEO and additional data processing capabilities offered by ILWISPy
Details
The EO Africa program has been making use of the Innovation Lab as backbone facility for cloud based access to remote sensing data and subsequent data processing. This webinar starts with the use of the Innovation Lab in conjunction with openEO / ILWISPy to access and process also data obtained from other cloud based data repositories.
Attention will be given to relevant cloud based data repositories which can be used to derive a multitude of datasets, like access to the Sentinel suite of satellite images, other relevant archives through API access, like FAO WaPOR, Copernicus Climate Data Store, Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute and EUMETSAT’s EUMETView. Last but not least some of the capabilities currently offered by WEkEO will be provided.
After a short introduction on openEO and ILWISPy capabilities developed, the webinar is of a highly demonstrative nature using Jupyter Notebooks showing how to access and process the data from the above mentioned cloud based services.
The duration of the webinar is 1 hour, followed by a live Q&A session. During the webinar there is a live-chat available as well.
The webinar will be executed under the framework of the EO AFRICA R&D Facility by ITC-UTwente.
Speakers:
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Assistant Professor / Project Manager – Department of Water Resources, Faculty ITC of the University of Twente
https://people.utwente.nl/b.h.p.maathuis
b.h.p.maathuis@utwente.nl
Downloads and recordings:
You can find the recording of the webinar in our YouTube Channel or you can watch it here: