GMES and Africa and Copernicus Marine Earth Observation Training Classroom

This Classroom phase was co-organised in Zanzibar from 12 to 20 Nov. 2019 by the MarCoSouth GMES and Africa consortia and EUMETSAT in collaboration with other GMES and Africa partners and guest lecturers.

The MarCOSouth project aims to maintain, further develop and provide a sustainable platform for local, institutional, human and technical capabilities in the African countries  through the development of services focused on sustainable socio-economic development, empowering a wide range of users in the public and private sectors through the application of regionally-optimized satellite observations and model-based forecasts in African marine and coastal domains.

Through Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) and Africa, the Africa Marine and Coastal Operations projects will contribute to the implementation of the African Space Policy and Strategy (ASPS) through the application of world-leading satellite sensors, e.g. the European Sentinel series, with innovative and regionally optimized products. Examples of ASPS objectives addressed are: developing indigenous infrastructure and capabilities that service an African market; provisioning regionally appropriate services and products; ensuring all levels of government are able to access data through a centralized portal.

The classroom phase is was preceded by an online phase. The goals are to strengthen capacities to develop Earth Observation products, services and tools that promote sustainable management of marine resources, improve marine governance, and stimulate the growth of the blue economy in Africa. 

The online phase was meant to introduce participants to the Copernicus Marine Data Stream (CMDS), and provide the background knowledge of the Copernicus program, satellites, and instrumentation, data access, and formats, tools and software, necessary to begin working with this data for marine applications. The aims are to help:

• Understand the concepts around Earth Observation across the value chain;
• Learn the underlying principles of marine remote sensing, how to access/download data and products, and how to work with various open-source tools;
• Develop and deliver a 'mini-project' so you are able to gain all the skills that are directly applicable to your expectations, research/work needs.

Resources

• This course is available on the EUMETSAT Training platform here. You'll need to create an account.
• Report on the training