Marine User Handbook for Sentinel-3 users available online

Hailu Wudineh

27 February 2018

A user guide that summarises key information required to enable both general users and technical users to get information about marine altimetry products, from Sentinel-3 is made available online.
The Marine User Handbook is produced by the EUMETSAT. The handbook describes available information on components of the altimetry system. It also discusses measurement techniques.

The user Handbook is designed for current and potential users of Copernicus Marine Data Stream that are interested in the Sentinel-3 altimetry products for use in open ocean, coastal domain, marine cryosphere and selected inland waters that includes the Great lakes, Lake Victoria and the Caspian Sea.

One of the thematic priorities of the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security and Africa (GMES & Africa) Support Programme is providing marine and coastal resource management services in Africa. These services include monitoring and forecasting of Oceanography variables, coastal area monitoring, ship Traffic Monitoring,Pollution Monitoring, and Marine Weather Forecast. The GMES and Africa Support Programme through its recently awarded consortia of institutions based in different regions of Africa’s maritime zones, will provide these services using data from the Copernicus Programme.

Mauritius Oceanographic Institute (MOI) based in Mauritius; the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) based in South Africa, University of Ghana based in Ghana and the National Authority for Remote Sensing and Space Sciences (NARSS) based in Egypt are consortia of institutions that will provide coastal area monitoring, coastal ecosystem mapping, monitoring and assessment, monitoring Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing, monitoring marine pollution in Africa.

Download full document of the Marine User Hand book courtesy of EUMETSAT

About the GMES and Africa Support Programme

GMES and Africa Support Programme is a 30 million Euro joint programme co-financed by the European Commission and the African Union Commission. The Programme will use and adapt the Copernicus Programme data and services to the African context. It is designed to specifically respond to African needs with respect to services related to water, natural resources, marine and coastal areas and to address the global needs to manage the environment, and ensure civil security. It is to enable the implementation of the African Space Policy and Strategy, formulated to harness the continent’s capabilities in utilizing space science and technology for economic growth and sustainable development. In the implementation agreement, the African Union Commission is the ‘delegated authority’ responsible for the management of the programme.

GMES and Africa Support Programme aims to improve African policy-makers’, planners’, scientists’, business and private sector and citizens’ capacities to design, implement, and monitor national, regional and continental policies and to promote sustainable management of natural resources through the use of Earth Observation data and derived information.

Unlike prior Earth Observation Progrmammes, the GMES and Africa introduces four key innovations: The inclusion of the North African countries; the programme is managed entirely by the African Union Commission; the engagement of African private sector and academia; it uses data from Copernicus Programme.

HW