EMSA’s Maritime Support Services (MSS)
EMSA’s Maritime Support Services (MSS)
Telephone
+351 211 209 415
Fax
+351 211 209 480
Email
MaritimeSupportServices@emsa.europa.eu
6.03 Copernicus Maritime Surveillance Service products
Agency responsible
Data group
06. Earth Observation Products
Coast Guard Functions with access
Maritime Safety Including Vessel Traffic Management
Maritime Ship and Port Security
Maritime Customs Activities
Prevention and Suppression of Trafficking and Smuggling and Connected Maritime Law Enforcement
Maritime Monitoring and Surveillance
Maritime Environmental Protection & Response
Maritime Search and Rescue
Ship Casualty & Maritime Assistance Service
Maritime Accident and Disaster Response
Fisheries Inspection & Control
Status of implementation
Available
Dissemination channels
Agency web interface
Point(s) of contact
Copernicus Maritime Surveillance (CMS) Service
Copernicus Maritime Surveillance (CMS) Service
Email
copernicus@emsa.europa.eu
Last reviewed on
Last saved on
Description
Copernicus is a European Union Programme aimed at developing European information services based on satellite Earth Observation (EO) and in-situ (non-space) data. The CMS service supports monitoring of human activity at sea for a range of functions, including amongst others fisheries control, maritime safety and security, marine environment pollution monitoring, customs, and law enforcement. The CMS service can be accessed by European Union (EU) and European Free Trade Association (EFTA) national administrations with responsibilities at sea, as well as relevant EU bodies and institutions.
Data elements
The following products are available in CMS:
- Basic products include SAR and optical images from all EMSA available satellites (list defined in data sources section).
- Value added products
Value added products Description Oil spill detection The oil spill detection product refers to the identification of potential oil spills in satellite images (both SAR and optical). The nominal delivery times for this product are 20 minutes for SAR based images and 40 minutes for optical.
The relevant attributes of the oil spill product are:
- Centre - latitude/longitude coordinates
- Geometry - polygon describing oil spill and associated slicks boundaries
- Area - expressed in m2
- Time stamp - date/time of the observation
- Classification level - the probability/ confidence that the detection is oil
- Possible pollution source type/detection/vessel identification/track
Vessel detection The vessel detection product refers to the extraction of vessel positions based on echoes or detectable objects in the satellite image that may be vessels. This product has nominal delivery times of 20 minutes for SAR-based and 40 minutes for optical-based products and it includes the following attributes:
- Position - latitude/longitude coordinates
- Time Stamp - date/time of acquisition
- Confidence level of vessel detection. - quantitative measurement of the uncertainty associated with the detection of a vessel, on a scale 1 to 100%
- Length and width - expressed in meters (when possible)
- Heading - route direction (when possible)
- Speed - expressed in m/s (when possible)
- Vessel classification - category of the vessel e.g. fishing vessel, sailing vessel, merchant vessel (when possible)
- Associated error elements for all parameters
Wake Detection The Wake Detection product aims to identify potential vessel wakes and, when possible, to detect the vessel associated with the wake. The WDS product has nominal delivery times of 30 minutes for SAR-based and 50 minutes for optical-based products and it includes the following attributes:
- Position - latitude/longitude coordinates
- Time Stamp - date/time of acquisition
- Wake geometry - polygon contouring the wake geometry
- Length and width - expressed in meters (when possible)
- Heading - route direction (when possible)
- Confidence level of wake detection - quantitative measurement of the uncertainty associated with the detection of a vessel wake, on a scale 1 to 100%
Feature Detection This product entails detection features of interest at sea, in the shoreline and in harbour areas which are not covered by other EO products, such as, oil spill detection, vessel detection or activity detection.
The feature detection product has nominal delivery times of 30 minutes for SAR-based and 50 minutes for optical-based products and it includes the following attributes:
- Feature description - high level description of the detected feature
- Position - latitude/longitude coordinates
- Time Stamp - date/time of acquisition
- Confidence level of feature detection- quantitative measurement of the uncertainty associated with the detection of a feature, on a scale 1 to 100%
- Length and width - expressed in meters (when possible)
- Heading - route direction (when possible)
- Vessel classification - category of the vessel e.g. fishing vessel, sailing vessel, merchant vessel (when possible)
Types of feature at this include:
Fish cages and fish traps
- Fish farms
- Oil and gas installations
- Detection of lost containers
- Detection of aircraft debris Iceberg detection
- Skiffs on beach
Additional features are added regularly or upon request of users.
Activity Detection This product aims at identifying activities of interest detected in the satellite images, over a defined area at a given time.
The product has a nominal delivery times of 30 minutes for SAR-based and 50 minutes for optical-based products and the following attributes are included:
- Activity description - type of activity detected on an EO scene
- Area - latitude/longitude coordinates
Met-Ocean products (SAR derived wind and wave) This product entails the delivery of a package containing ocean surface wind and wave (swell) derived from SAR imagery. The attributes of these products are:
- Wind speed - expressed in m/s
- Wind direction - wind from direction
- Wave height - sea surface swell wave significant height, expressed in m
- Wave direction - sea surface swell wave direction
- Fusion products
| Fusion Products | Description |
|---|---|
| Vessel detection correlation |
Vessel detections derived from SAR and optical images are correlated against vessel data, such as:
This product provides an overview of which vessels are reporting and which are not reporting in a given area and contains two layers:
|
| Oil spill alert reports |
This product is based on the Quasi Real Time (QRT)/Near Neal Time (NRT) analysis of satellite images in order to detect possible oil spills on the sea surface. When a possible spill is detected within the alert area of a coastal state, an oil spill notification is sent to the relevant authorities. This report includes:
|
Full documentation characterizing the individual data elements for basic, value added and fusion products are available in the Earth Observation Data Centre (EODC) External Interface Control Document (EICD) version 2.0.0
Legal basis
Copernicus is a European Union Programme aimed at developing European information services based on satellite Earth Observation and in-situ (non-space) data. The program was established by Regulation (EU) No 377/2014 and is coordinated and managed by the European Commission. Copernicus provides vast amounts of global data from satellites and from ground-based, airborne and seaborne measurement systems are being used to provide information to help service providers, public authorities and other international organisations improve the quality of life for the citizens of Europe. The information services provided are freely and openly accessible to its users, with the exception of the Copernicus Security services.
Scope and source of data
The CM service offers users an extended geographical scope and enhanced range of high quality maritime information. Coverage can be provided in areas of European interest across the globe, with a variety of different resolutions and sensor types.
The following sources of data are used in CMS products:
- Earth Observation
| Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) | Optical |
|---|---|
| Sentinel-1A/B L1B | Worldview-1/2/3 |
| Radarsat-2 | GeoEye |
| TerraSAR-X/Tandem-X | Pleiades 1A/1B |
| PAZ | SPOT-5/6/7 |
| Deimos-2 | |
| EROS-B |
- In-situ data used in the production, quality control and validation of basic and added value products
- Vessel reporting information
Technical implementation
Scope of the sources of data is global. The provision of CMS relies on several different technical components:
- Satellite assets used to acquire images
- Ground stations used in the downlink and processing of the satellite data received
- High speed networks used in the delivery of information from ground station to EMSA.
- EMSA’s Earth Observation Data Centre, where the products are received, ingested, further processed and enriched, and made available to users and other EMSA systems.
Conditions of access
The CMS service provides support to interested Member State administrations and European bodies exercising functions in the maritime domain. On request, CMS can also provide support to relevant international organisations in consultation with and based on the approval of DG DEFIS and the European External Action Service (EEAS).