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Framework Partnership Agreement on Copernicus User Uptake (FPCUP)Framework Partnership Agreement on Copernicus User Uptake (FPCUP)

Fostering the use of Sentinel images in operational oceanography

Implementing Partner: INTA
Implementing Country: Spain Primary Topic: Marine Primary Target Users: Public Sector Primary Target Region: Europe Europe: Spain Type of Action: Developing and piloting downstream applications and services
Action No.: 2018-1-93
Duration: Last Update:



This action is aimed to support institutional users working in operational oceanography to use Sentinel images in their national-scale services. The selected user is the Spanish government agency Puertos del Estado (PdE), part of the Ministry of Public Works responsible for monitoring and broadcasting the physical conditions of the ocean along the Spanish coast.

Although Puertos del Estado is aware of the value of Sentinel images, their use is currently limited by the lack of expertise and resources to adapt their systems to this fairly new resource; this action is intended to overcome that limitation.

This action is aimed to support the production and procurement of space applications by public authorities, and it is a good example of Piloting downstream applications and services for public institutions.

It is important to note that the results of this action could easily be extrapolated to other maritime institutions in Europe or abroad.

A system to incorporate Copernicus Sentinel-3 SST products in the current PdE database will be designed and implemented. This database includes a large amount of in situ geolocated data, such as data from buoys or meteo stations. The Copernicus SST at these locations will be automatically retrieved from the SLSTR Level-2 images and linked to the buoy's measurements. This added information will remain available for further analysis by operational or research users or even for general public in Europe and abroad, as the web page is fully open.

Daily Sentinel-3 SST products will also be incorporated as background layer in the web page in PdE (portus.puertos.es): this will help the users to visualize sea conditions in near real time and, at the same time, will be a showcase for Copernicus maritime products.

The action is planned for two phases:

  • phase 1: defining user and system requirements and operations concept,
  • phase 2: implementation and validation.

At the end of phase 2, it is intended to assess the value and benefits of the new service/application, and also to assess continued financing and implementation within PdE.

Outputs and Results

The action will produce a user-friendly tool to introduce images in regional-scale maritime services maintained by Public Institutions. At the same time, this will be an excellent showcase for Copernicus products, as the PdE webpage receives more than 7000 visits per day.

A side output will be a summary of requirements by this type of users, to be considered in future Copernicus products.