1. Arno KASCHL DG Environment
Update GMES & floods
Arno KASCHL
DG Environment
16 February 2011

2. What is
GMES?
GMES – Global Monitoring for Environment & Security

3. Where are we heading with GMES?
GMES Regulation (EU No. 911/2010)
has entered into force 9 November 2010!
establishes a Programme
gives money for Operations („GMES initial operations“ ), on top of research!
Establishes User Forum
This is a game changer:
away from R&D, towards operational services & products!

4. Some relevant products for floods, e. g
Some relevant products for floods, e.g. Preparatory action on reference data
Tender 2009 (€2 MIO) in support of land monitoring/emergency services:
DEM over Europe: 38 countries, 1 arcsec horizontal resolution, average 5 m vertical resolution
freely accessible!
(2) Hydrographic layer: homogeneous European wide coverage of a hydrographical network that is fully connected, geometrical accuracy consistent with the resolution scale (1: to 1: range)
based on ECRINS, and CCM (JRC), basins from km2 (100 km2 on average), incorporated lakes and dams
A step towards integration of various existing datasets and convergence to single reference at EU level
enables considerable improvement of spatial modelling for Community environmental policies  MS reporting under WFD directive in WISE
DEM: commercial product NEXTmap Europe 1m vertical resolution

5. Some relevant products for floods, e. g
Some relevant products for floods, e.g. Initial operations Land Monitoring
Pan-European Land Cover services (€17 MIO, )
to produce up to 5 High Resolution layers of dominant land-cover classes EEA39 (wall to wall coverage)
Spatial resolution 20x20m, MMU 1 ha
„Imperviousness“: sealing density, builtup areas (change)
Forests: cover, type, crown density
Small Waterbodies
Wetlands: RAMSAR def., pressures/changes
Grasslands: natural/cultivated  intensity/dynamics
to ensure the continuity of CORINE Land Cover time series; and
to support the harmonisation effort of MS for aggregating their national products at European level
Coordinated by EEA

6. Some relevant products for floods, e.g. URBAN ATLAS
300+ larger urban zones, CORINE classes  Repeat of 2009 exercise in 2012
in addition, further action on biodiversity-relevant zones envisaged (up to €3MIO)
„Zooming on hotspot areas“
Ca. 50x50 km
Based on multispectral VHR
2.5m satellite data
MMU = 0.25ha
Positional Accurarcy: 5m
€3 MIO

7. Some relevant products for floods, e.g. SAFER project

8. Some relevant products for floods, e. g
Some relevant products for floods, e.g. emergency actions in initial operations
€12 MIO
“SAFER follow on”
(i) emergency response maps (rush mode  impact, damage, follow evolution of disaster in the hours and days after the crisis
(ii) geographic reference maps, basic topographic on area, especially infrastructure
(2) Prevention (EWS):Contribution to EFAS (European Flood Alert System)
(i) Twice-daily pan-European flood forecasts provided to MS national and regional hydrological services, and the European Commission
(ii) A daily updated pan-European overview at low scale of ongoing floods available on a public website

9. User Involvement in GMES  User Forum
In the past, GMES mostly provider-driven. New framework enables to better bring in users!
 „User Forum“ in GMES Regulation
advises EC on defining and validating user requirements
a focus on public users
on a thematic basis (Land monitoring, Atmosphere, Marine,..)
thematic facilitators such as ENV, EEA (plus EIONET)
and national processes to underpin the User Forum

10. User Involvement in GMES
DG ENV ambition for GMES:
technology programme  environmental info  reporting requirements
Need to make user needs of particular communities clear -> YOU!
This has been a first step: an awareness raising, communication campaign
For the future,
(i) establising the links at national level
Link to GMES coordinator Or GMES User Forum representative in your country
(ii) use collective feedback from European groups such as yours