“The spatialized information of satellites, with the support of algorithms and Artificial Intelligence, can give us enormous support in risk prevention and management in the event of extreme weather events or natural disasters. However, this mass of data must be integrated with many other information: data taken on Earth, direct knowledge of the territory, as well as correct Civil Protection procedures. This is because the satellite does not give us a constant measure, since it does not pass every minute, but every certain number of days. I wouldn’t want the somewhat distorted message to pass that it is enough to have a digital twin – a digital representation – to know how the planet behaves and what to do”.
Andrea Taramelli, professor of Space Missions for Earth Observation at the IUSS of Pavia and national coordinator of the Copernicus User Forum, the satellite Earth observation system managed by the European Commission, knows the extraordinary potential of data that comes from space, but also the limits of a technology that needs to be further developed to make the modeling meshes ever finer and the accuracy of the forecasts more refined.
At the New Space Economy European Expoforum, the event organized by the E. Amaldi Foundation and Fiera di Roma scheduled from 1 to 3 December, Taramelli coordinates a panel (Friday 2, 3.30 pm) on the monitoring and prevention of disasters from space , which is attended, among others, by experts from ESA (European Space Agency), INGV (National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology) and companies in the sector.
According to Taramelli, the human factor is essential to integrate the data useful for risk management and launch appropriate early warning signals, which were discussed a lot during COP 27: “The machines we build are wonderful: they know how to do statistical analyzes very complicated and process enormous amounts of data, but they must be helped to interpret what happens on Earth. We have systems like “Ground Motion” that send us signals when it detects movements on the Earth. In essence, it tells us: be careful, something has changed. However, if it is a real movement or if, on the other hand, the tall grass of a field has been cut or the roof of a building has been replaced, the machine is not able to understand this by itself”.
Within the Copernicus system, the Emergency Management Service is invaluable in issuing reports in the event of floods, fires or natural disasters and in supporting the Civil Protection and humanitarian intervention services with geospatial information useful for instantly mapping areas at risk , to identify suitable areas to prepare logistics and organize emergency interventions. Considering that a satellite error margin of one or 2 centimeters corresponds to several kilometers on Earth, “these are data that must be carefully integrated, otherwise they are very dangerous”, warns Taramelli.
To improve very short-term weather forecasts, the so-called “nowcasting”, the Copernicus satellites will be integrated with smaller, more numerous satellites in lower orbits, which guarantee higher spatial and spectral resolution. The investments envisaged in the PNRR (equal to 4.5 billion) go in this direction, aimed at creating a new national constellation of satellites and the new Earth observation service system called Iride. A system originally designed with a ten-year plan, to which the PNRR has given a boost: the tenders will be closed by March 2023, the satellites built and launched by 2026.
“It is an enormous challenge for the public sector as well as for the private sector and I truly believe it is an opportunity to train a new generation of highly qualified professional figures – comments Taramelli -. Not only will the space engineer manage everything, but there will be an increasing need for experts who know how to use Earth observation data in the most varied fields: from meteorology to sectors where they are not yet used, such as agriculture ”.
The challenge has also hit the university ministry, which has set up for the first time three transdisciplinary national doctorates with 5,000 scholarships, an impetus for dozens of universities to really team up.
