Date
22 February 2023
Category
Blog, Communications, Data, Earth Observation, Media Updates, Space
No commentsSatellite technology is being used before and after humanitarian disasters, helping agencies plan for imminent crises, and supporting response teams as they help those affected on the ground. This is becoming more urgent as climate change increasingly leads to more frequent and extreme weather events around the globe, but is also important for natural disasters such as earthquakes.
Find out about current related satellite services and future developments in this exclusive extract from OpenSpace 31.
Between 2000 and 2019, there were 7,348 natural disasters globally, according to the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters’ Emergency Events Database. These included flooding, storms, earthquakes, heat waves, wildfires, droughts, landslides and volcanic activities, and represented a 74% increase on the previous 20-year period (1980-1999). Over 1.2 million people were killed and just over 4 billion affected by the consequences, such as homelessness and displacement.
Today, the main satellite types – communications, Earth observation (EO) and positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) – play crucial roles in helping us to anticipate humanitarian disasters and respond to them in the immediate aftermath with the provision of essential aid.
At a global level, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the Emergency Telecommunications Cluster (ETC; led by the World Food Programme), are committed to improving the existing satellite-based response and ability to act in times of disaster and humanitarian crisis.
This commitment underpins OCHA’s first objective to “alert and inform” in its role as the “nerve centre of humanitarian aid”, providing the big picture view of a crisis and mobilizing assistance to the affected countries through a network of aid workers. Similarly, the ETC uses its global network of organizations to provide shared communications services in humanitarian emergencies.
Rapid and effective response
When earthquakes, flooding, hurricanes or tsunamis occur, critical infrastructure gets seriously damaged or broken. This is where satellite communications are vital, since they enable secure communication in remote places without land-based communications channels.
Meanwhile, EO satellites provide imagery and allow remote monitoring of people, objects and environments. EO data underpins rapid mapping services such as Copernicus Emergency Management Services On-Demand Mapping, which provides on-demand detailed information and imagery for selected emergency situations arising from natural or man-made disasters anywhere in the world.
New satellite maps of the area of interest can be produced within hours or days of a disaster, which is critical for the logistics of responding to a humanitarian crisis.
Using pre- and post-disaster data, teams can compare the versions and identify significant changes to the ground or infrastructure in the impacted zone. By identifying a collapsed bridge or flooding, rescue teams then know how to move around the area, taking into consideration all the impacted elements. Through imagery, data and maps, disaster response is therefore now much more efficient.
Data localization
Underpinning a range of humanitarian aid and rescue services that serve public sector and private organizations is PNT satellite technology, thanks to its ability to track and trace people, vehicles and resources.
One of the foremost examples of PNT satellite technology is Galileo – the European Union’s (EU’s) global navigation satellite system. The Galileo constellation has transformed many aspects of our lives, including responding to search and rescue (SAR) operations. Thanks to the SAR/Galileo service, radio beacon distress signals are relayed to SAR crews by means of dedicated payloads on board Galileo satellites.
This facility was extended further in January 2020, when the SAR/Galileo Return Link Service (RLS) became operational, making two-way communication possible, with Galileo locating the people in distress and the RLS automatically notifying the user that their help request has been received.
Galileo performance is further improved by the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS), which acts as Europe’s regional satellite-based augmentation system (SBAS) to improve the performance of global navigation satellite systems. The service has steadily increased its scope, including being deployed to provide safety of life (SIL) navigation services to aviation, maritime and land-based users over most of Europe.
Looking ahead, the EU and European Space Agency (ESA) plan is for Galileo to deliver even more accurate, robust and available PNT services, by supplementing the satellites orbiting in medium Earth orbit with additional constellations in low Earth orbit. In addition, as part of EUSPA’s HARMLESS project – which aims to promote the use of European GNSS in the areas of emergency management, humanitarian aid and law enforcement – EGNOS and Galileo will be enablers of new applications at country and pan-European level.
