Essential Variables for Environmental Monitoring: What Are the Possible Contributions of Earth Observation Data Cubes?

Gregory Giuliani, Elvire Egger, Julie Italiano, Charlotte Poussin, Jean-Philippe Richard and Bruno Chatenoux
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Gregory Giuliani: Institute for Environmental Sciences, University of Geneva, enviroSPACE, Bd Carl-Vogt 66, CH-1205 Geneva, Switzerland
Elvire Egger: Institute for Environmental Sciences, University of Geneva, GRID-Geneva, Bd Carl-Vogt 66, CH-1211 Geneva, Switzerland
Julie Italiano: Institute for Environmental Sciences, University of Geneva, GRID-Geneva, Bd Carl-Vogt 66, CH-1211 Geneva, Switzerland
Charlotte Poussin: Institute for Environmental Sciences, University of Geneva, GRID-Geneva, Bd Carl-Vogt 66, CH-1211 Geneva, Switzerland
Jean-Philippe Richard: Institute for Environmental Sciences, University of Geneva, GRID-Geneva, Bd Carl-Vogt 66, CH-1211 Geneva, Switzerland
Bruno Chatenoux: Institute for Environmental Sciences, University of Geneva, GRID-Geneva, Bd Carl-Vogt 66, CH-1211 Geneva, Switzerland

Data, 2020, vol. 5, issue 4, 1-25

Abstract: Environmental sustainability is nowadays a major global issue that requires efficient and effective responses from governments. Essential variables (EV) have emerged in different scientific communities as a means to characterize and follow environmental changes through a set of measurements required to support policy evidence. To help track these changes, our planet has been under continuous observation from satellites since 1972. Currently, petabytes of satellite Earth observation (EO) data are freely available. However, the full information potential of EO data has not been yet realized because many big data challenges and complexity barriers hinder their effective use. Consequently, facilitating the production of EVs using the wealth of satellite EO data can be beneficial for environmental monitoring systems. In response to this issue, a comprehensive list of EVs that can take advantage of consistent time-series satellite data has been derived. In addition, a set of use-cases, using an Earth Observation Data Cube (EODC) to process large volumes of satellite data, have been implemented to demonstrate the practical applicability of EODC to produce EVs. The proposed approach has been successfully tested showing that EODC can facilitate the production of EVs at different scales and benefiting from the spatial and temporal dimension of satellite EO data for enhanced environmental monitoring.

Keywords: essential variables; climate; biodiversity; water; earth observations; data cube (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C8 C80 C81 C82 C83 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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