1. CEOS Coastal and Ocean Observations & Applications Strategy
Committee on Earth Observation Satellites
CEOS Coastal and Ocean Observations & Applications Strategy
Paul DiGiacomo, NOAA, CEOS SIT Team
CEOS 2019 Technical Workshop (Day 2)
Session 7, Agenda Item 7.2
Fairbanks, Alaska, USA
12 September 2019

2. Previous Coastal/Ocean
Observing Plans
Coastal GTOS, 2005
e.g., deltaic systems;
urbanization and changes
in coastal land use/cover
IGOS Coastal Theme, 2006
e.g., land-sea interface;
coastal populations &
ecosystems at risk
Coastal GOOS, 2012
eutrophication/hypoxia;
pathogens; HABs; benthic
habitats; flooding; acidification,
fisheries; integration
GEO Blue Planet, 2019
e.g., island flooding, hazards,
marine debris, aquatic diseases,
coral reefs, fisheries

3. Coastal and Ocean Observations & Applications
Internal CEOS activities and initiatives
Ocean/coasts still an emerging area for CEOS; mostly VCs so far
That said, there is increasing interest & work across CEOS entities
GEO/LEO/SAR Integration – flooding; water quality/hazards?
WGDisasters; potential WGCV, WGCapD,WGISS engagement
CEOS ARD potential coastal pilot to complement existing work
COVERAGE; SDG-AHTs (SDG-6/14 potential); Role of VCs
External partner activities and initiatives
Many international groups, initiatives etc dealing with coastal & ocean observations and applications, e.g., IOC/GOOS, WMO, UN Environment, GEO Initiatives (Blue Planet et al.)
CEOS direct engagement with stakeholders has not been extensive to date, but opportunities exist (esp. via Blue Planet)

4. WGDisasters: GEO / LEO Progress
GEO/LEO participants and members of the WGDisasters team have met virtually in a series of conference calls following the last SIT gathering in Miami – emphasis in discussions have been on how to explore integration of SAR as a LEO contribution.
GEO/LEO and WGDisasters see opportunities for collaboration:
Identify a small number of impactful flood (and inundation) events with known, rich volumes of GEO/LEO and complementary SAR data
Identify additional past cases and new, unfolding cases emphasizing availability of multi-frequency and new SAR missions
Bring together GEO/LEO optical and additional SAR maps to explore practices for combining their information.
Leverage ongoing work in the community to infer water depth from extent mapping to improve mapping of impacts
Explore integration opportunities with CEOS ARD Strategy, Data Cube, WGISS and WGCapD efforts.

5. WGDisasters: Blue Planet Collaboration
Follow up action to assess areas of shared interest and opportunity, including data access and visualization
Dialogue 8/12 identified EO for coastal risks
Modeling and mapping of coastal reef-lined islands prone to flooding and inundation
Combining improved satellite-derived model parameters and bathymetry data
Areas of interest include Caribbean and South Pacific developing island nations
Oil spill monitoring and response in coastal and marine ocean areas
Combining satellite-derived model parameters, UAS, and other marine/coastal data detection
Areas of interest include Caribbean, Baltic and Arctic seas and coasts
Possible cross-cut on polar coastal ice, snow and flooding activities

6. 2019 SIT Technical Workshop Analysis Ready Data Strategy
CEOS Analysis Ready Data Strategy
Presented a comprehensive, and expansive, ARD Strategy for CEOS review
Resources for implementation of the Strategy need to be considered, and specifically to be brought to the Plenary with concrete requests
The distance between data standards and data formats should not be underestimated based on experience (e.g. SST work on machine-to-machine interoperability)
Good initial progress for the land imaging elements of ARD (CARD4L), and 3 land pilots are identified in Strategy
More general ARD applicability for CEOS needs to be demonstrated with non-land imaging examples
Two potential pilots were identified, one supporting a coastal theme

7. COVERAGE Initiative
Cross-cutting, collaborative effort within CEOS relevant to the 4 Ocean Virtual Constellations (SST, OST, OCR, OSVW) and GEO projects (MBON, Blue Planet, GOOS) to enable more widespread use of ocean satellite data in support of applications
Response to needs of the ocean community for improved, more integrated data access for societal benefit in support also of SDG-14 relating to marine biodiversity and ecosystem-based resource management
COVERAGE aims to develop a data rich technology platform for more seamless delivery of analysis ready ocean data in order to demonstrate the value added of multivariate ocean data integration in support of science, applications, and public engagement - “Fusion environment” leveraging emerging Cloud infrastructure & open source software - Curated aggregation of high quality, interagency multi-parameter observations - Near real-time and longer-term series, collocated to a common grid, thematically organized - Access via value-added data services (data discovery, visualization, subsetting) - Illustrated in the context of demonstration applications
Development concept: 4 Phases aligning with inputs to CEOS work plan
A. Scoping (9mo)
C. Full Implementation (1yr)
B. Prototype Development (1yr)
D. Evaluation (6mo)

8. Coastal and Ocean Observations & Applications
How should CEOS engage and coordinate?
How should CEOS engage internally in terms of identifying and implementing priority coastal activities and initiatives?
How should CEOS engage externally in terms of supporting international community activities relative to coastal and ocean observations and applications, including:
GEO Initiatives: Blue Planet, AquaWatch, Wetlands, etc
Sustainable Development Goals: SDG 6, SDG 14 etc.
OceanObs’19 Follow-up: IOC/GOOS et al.
United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development ( )

9. 2019 SIT Technical Workshop Oceans and Coastal Outcomes
Suggestion to form a Study Team to initiate the discussion on Coastal observations
Need to define a specific objective or regional scope
Key topic: moving from multi-sensor observations through the value chain to extract information which users can exploit
Engaging end users to articulate a need that EO could address is key, even if initially just a couple of aspects of the problem
Current interface with Oceans end users is complicated
OVCs have a mixed record in understanding and satisfying end user needs
Atmosphere could also be a key area of focus for the coastal zones, since air quality is often at its worst in coastal cities
CARD4Coast may be an interesting concept to consider

10. 2019 SIT Technical Workshop Oceans and Coastal Outcomes
Proposed next steps:
Recommend SIT establish Coastal Study Team (COAST)
Request SIT Action for agencies to express their interest in participating on COAST
Define objective/scope, priorities, value chain approach, potential pilots, & engagement strategy with stakeholders
Evaluate potential role of GEO Blue Planet to facilitate and coordinate CEOS ocean & coastal stakeholder engagement (NB discussion with Doug Cripe)

11. Questions and Discussion

12. Review of April 2019 SIT Meeting Coastal Discussion
1) Consider establishing CEOS Coastal AHT/WG
2) Consider coastal scoping workshop bringing together CEOS agencies as data providers with information providers and end users (partner with GEO Blue Planet)
3) Consider targeted demonstration project/s focusing on flooding, water quality, eutrophication, HABs, and/or other ecosystem impacts, addressing coastal urban regions, deltaic/estuarine, and heavily impacted (natural/anthropogenic) regions in both developed and developing areas (e.g., Puerto Rico, Vietnam, Great Barrier Reef, Chesapeake Bay)
a. Development of synergistic higher resolution datasets, combining radar (e.g., S1, RCM) & visible imagery (e.g., S2, L8) along with other multi-sensor physical/biological products
b. Focus on event-driven as well as climatological anomalies in both retrospective and NRT modes, including new and improved validation approaches (e.g., drones, saildrones)
c. Initiate prototype coastal knowledge hub in support of emerging GEO vision, including cloud-based, server-side and integrated community best practices and demonstration efforts (e.g., Horizon 2020 Coastal Waters Research Synergy Framework (
d. multi-sensor coastal bathymetry project, particularly for poorly characterized regions