The LOTUS project will support the European Space Policy focusing on applications such as Copernicus, to complete the space observation infrastructures that are designed for land, ocean, as well as emergency response and security, in order to deliver on the "climate change" service of Copernicus.
The LOTUS project will contribute to the development of support to the (pre-)operational validation of Copernicus services and products based on the integration and harmonisation of related observation data (both satellite-based and in-situ, including ground-based, ship-borne and airborne), starting with the funded Copernicus Services by preparing the take-up of Copernicus Sentinel-3 data by Copernicus services mainly for land and ocean services.
The LOTUS project will support the European Space Policy focusing on applications such as Copernicus, to complete the space observation infrastructures that are designed for land, ocean, as well as emergency response and security, in order to deliver on the "climate change" service of Copernicus.
The LOTUS project will contribute to the development of support to the (pre-)operational validation of Copernicus services and products based on the integration and harmonisation of related observation data (both satellite-based and in-situ, including ground-based, ship-borne and airborne), starting with the funded Copernicus Services by preparing the take-up of Copernicus Sentinel-3 data by Copernicus services mainly for land and ocean services.
Sentinel-3 to be launched in 2014 will carry a new instrumentation for acquiring information about the dynamics of the oceans. Data streams from the new instruments require the build-up of enhanced service infrastructure to ingest and process such quantities of data to a higher level, and user-friendly data-mining and searching techniques for accessing the data. The objective of the LOTUS project is to develop processing scheme for extracting high-resolution sea surface heights, wave heights and wind speeds from the new SAR mode data. Furthermore, LOTUS will develop processing scheme for extracting high-resolution river and lake heights, soil moisture, and snow water equivalents for land services.
Beyond this, the LOTUS project will develop new and improved coastal oceanographic services by utilizing the data features emerging with Sentinel-3. The services will primarily utilize the increased resolution of the SRAL SAR and place emphasis on value adding integration with complementary data such as ocean modelling, in-situ data and multiple sensors. The services are developed to have a global applicability. Furthermore, LOTUS will develop new and improved land services. Those services will be developed to have a global applicability and it will be demonstrated in selected case study regions.
To support the involvement of industry, the LOTUS project team include innovative companies and SMEs to carry out the required RTD activities. In addition, LOTUS will disseminate the results obtained in the project on the use of Sentinel-3 SRAL SAR mode data as well as derived new products to European SMEs to facilitate the exploitation of the new products in value adding applications for both ocean and land. Finally, the LOTUS project support the building up of operational services for emergency response and security services for, e.g., storm surges and flooding. Also, the new land products will provide valuable information about the hydrological cycle and support services on monitoring hydrological parameters for climate change and for climate change monitoring.