About the session
Copernicus is Europe’s flagship Earth Observation Programme, which is coordinated and managed by the European Commission (EC). It is implemented in partnership with the Member States, the European Space Agency, EUMETSAT, ECMWF, EU Agencies and Mercator Océan. The programme is designed to provide a set of European information services based on satellite Earth Observation and in-situ (non-space) data. The Copernicus Security service is one of its six thematic services, the other services covering the areas of land, marine monitoring, emergency management, atmosphere monitoring and climate change. The Service for Security applications aims to support related European Union policies, by delivering information in response to the security challenges Europe is facing, namely improving crisis prevention, preparedness and response capacities in the following key areas: Border surveillance Maritime surveillance Support to EU External Actions Border Surveillance The objective of this Service is to support the European Union’s external border surveillance system, EUROSUR, an initiative based on an EU-level approach to reinforcing Member States’ control over the Schengen border. The objective is to help reducing the number of incidents related to illegal immigration (e.g. death at sea) by improving the intelligence available to coast and border guards as well as port authorities and law enforcement agencies, also with the use of satellite imagery. Copernicus is working with Frontex and other relevant actors (such as the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA), for Maritime Surveillance and the European Union Satellite Centre (EUSC), for land borders monitoring). A joint Concept of Operations (CONOPS) reinforces cooperation between key players, such as Frontex, Member States’ National Coordination Centres, EMS , EUSC, and the European Commission, but also with the Industry, on the provision of satellite observations and its integration into operational systems run by FRONTEX and National authorities. Border Surveillance services entered a pre-operational phase in early 2013 with the launch of two FP7 projects: SAGRES, which focuses on validating the highly time-critical EUROSUR components (vessel tracking) and LOBOS, which addresses the validation of less time-critical services (monitoring of ports, coasts and pre-frontier land areas). The provision of operational services is expected to commence, under the aegis of Frontex, as from March 2015. For more Information on current activities: http://www.copernicus-sagres.eu/ ;http://www.copernicus-lobos.eu/ Maritime Surveillance The extension of the EU maritime domain and the number of Member States with coastal or maritime jurisdiction (23 out of 28) presents a challenge to surveillance operations. The challenge is significantly increased when considering also EU economic activities across global oceans, such as transport and fisheries. Maritime Surveillance services are designed to support efforts to tackle piracy, drug trafficking, illegal fishing activities or dumping or toxic waste, and to contribute to safer maritime transport also in remote areas. Improved maritime surveillance through complementary observations from space can act as a deterrent for illegal actions and contribute to reduce the economic toll of illegal activities and related accidents at sea, while improving the planning of conventional patrolling operations. Several R&D and demonstration paved the way for the definition of Copernicus services in Maritime Surveillance. These include FP7 funded activities such as the DOLPHIN, NEREIDS, and SIMTISYS projects, or the MARISS project funded by ESA, which have contributed to engage the maritime community in the usage of space-borne data and related services. The European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) currently provides operational maritime safety services and Copernicus related services will be operated by the Agency as a natural extension of their current capacities as from March 2015
