News 2012
Remote Sensing Application Center - ReSAC Organizes Training for GIS Technology Application in Flood Risk Management
10.2012
Within the project “Stakeholder oriented flood risk assessment for the Danube floodplains” SEE A/077/2.1/X (DANUBE_FLOODRISK), ReSAC conducted training for stakeholders and experts in disaster and crisis management for GIS technology application in flood risk management. The trainings were hold on 24.10.2012 in the Regional Directorate of Ministry of Interior – Ruse and on 31.10.2012 in Belene municipality. Representatives from the municipal administrations, DG “Civil protection”, DG “Fire Safety and Civil Protection”, Ministry of Defence and other related organizations from Ruse, Belene, Nikopol, Lom and Vidin attended the training.
The first part of the training included presentations on “Theoretical basis on GIS technologies, focusing on natural disaster risk management” and “GIS and satellite methods in flood risk management: Examples from ReSAC work”. Short demonstration of installation of the GIS software Quantum GIS was made. The second part of the training was related to work with data in Quantum GIS environment, including visualization, editing, loading other available GIS data, map making. At the end of the training, additional time for questions and discussion was given.
Danube flood risk data and maps for Ruse, Belene, Nikopol and Lom, developed by ReSAC within the project, were used in the training. Both GIS reference data, submitted to all stakeholders and the training will support experts and decision makers in the operational work on flood risk management.
ReSAC Participation in the EUFODOS Project, 7 FP Research Programme, EU
10.2012
In 2010 Remote Sensing Application Center - ReSAC was invited to take part in international consortium on the project EUFODOS, which was funded by Seventh Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development of European Commission. The main goal of the project is to develop specific downstream forest services related to forest damage assessment and mapping forest structural parameters. This is a collaborative project, started in 01.2011, coordinated by the JOANEUM RESEARCH INSTITUTE – Austria. ReSAC develop services that will provide to Executive Forest Agency of Ministry of Agriculture and Food. The services are related to preparation and updating of GIS databases for the forest cover and forest cover changes, forest infrastructure and rapid mapping for disaster management. The project consortium includes several European organizations including research centers, institutes and private companies active in R&D and Earth observation: VTT (Finland), GAF (Germany), University of Freeburg (Germany), EURAC (Italy), RapidEye (Germany), ReSAC (Bulgaria), EAA (Austria). The project duration is three years.
On 11th and 12th October 2012 a working meeting was held on the project EUFODOS (European Forest Downstream Services) in the office of the company RapidEye (Brandenburg, Germany). Representatives of all participants in the project took part in the meeting (Joanneum Research, VTT, GAF, ALU-FR, EURAC, RapidEye, ReSAC, EAA). Questions about the needs of the services and applications of end users were discussed. Questions were raised about the financial vision of the project and the future business plans of the consortium. Questions about harmonisation and standardisation of services were also discussed:
- Why do we need to harmonize?
- What do we understand by Harmonization?
- Type of Service A2?
- Type of Service A2.1. RUSH MODE
- Type of service A2.2 NON-RUSH-MODE
- Steps in a Processing Chain
- Processing chain A2.1. RUSH-MODE
- Hot topics for A2.1. RUSH-MODE
- Hot topics for A2.2. NON-RUSH-MODE
The next EUFODOS meeting will be held on 21st and 22nd March 2013, Sofia in the office of the Remote Sensing Application Center - ReSAC which is the main organizer of the event. In collaboration with Executive Forest Agency (EFA), a practical field work in Natural Park “Vitosha” will be organized.
ReSAC Participated in GEOSS Summer School, Organized by the Romanian Space Agency in Neptun, Romania 09. 2012
09.2012
On 23 – 30 August, 2012 in Neptun, Romania, the Romanian Space Agency (ROSA) organized the 4th edition of the GEOSS Summer School, on the topic of “Remote Sensing of Black Sea marine environment”. GEOSS Summer School is a part of the activities supporting GEO capacity building in Earth Observation.
Remote Sensing Application Center - ReSAC as ROSA’s longtime partner was invited to attend two young experts on the summer school. There was one more participant from National Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology, Bulgaria.
The goal of this year's summer school was to acquire knowledge on current use of remote sensing, EO data and the future remote sensing sensors, contributing to monitor the marine environment evolution and satellite oceanography.
For reaching this goal, the main topics were: SAR data principles for marine environment, ocean salinity mapping and ocean optics, sea wind and waves, ocean circulation, sea surface temperature, radar altimetry, maritime safety and security, study of different characteristics of the marine environment.
The teaching was held by young and very skilled teachers. There were lectors from many organizations and institutions like ROSA, Newcastle University UK, University in Bucharest, National Meteorological Administration, DLR, ESA/ESRIN, German Remote Sensing Data Center, National institute for Marine Research and Development “Grigore Antipa”, EUSC, GEOINT (Center from the Military Technical Academy), SMOS Barcelona Expert Centre (BEC). The lectures was very well structured and complemented by hands on exercise and in-situ measurements.
The acquired knowledge from GEOSS Summer School will be embedded in many upcoming projects related to application of SAR data.
Remote Sensing Application Center - ReSAC and RapidEye AG Has Contracted Distribution of Satellite Imageries and Related Products from RapidEye Satellite Constellation
07.2012
In June Remote Sensing Application Center - ReSAC and RapidEye AG has signed reseller agreement for satellite imageries and related products from RapidEye satellite constellation.
The agreement covers distribution of imageries for the territory of Bulgaria, Albania and Kosovo. The future clients could benefit from ReSAC specialists for support them in choosing the format and type of requested satellite imagery as the overall order documentation as well. In addition ReSAC could offer professional processing of the ordered satellite imageries, such as follows: orthorectification, thematic classification and etc.
The offered products along with their relevant licenses are Basic product (Level 1B) and Ortho Product (Level 3A).
Remote Sensing Application Center - ReSAC Participation in BALWOIS 2012
06.2012
Remote Sensing Application Center - ReSAC participated in the 5th Conference on Water, Climate and Environment – BALWOIS 2012, which was held in Ohrid (Republic of Macedonia) in the period 28th May – 2nd June 2012.
www.balwois.com
The main significance of BALWOIS is synthesis, introduction and exchange of scientific information, methods, analyzes and results, achieved by various scientific institutions, organizations and researchers in the field of climate monitoring and analysis, the impact of climate changes on individual elements of the environment, research on water resources and application of different ecohydrological approaches to water management systems at local and transnational level. Special attention is paid to the monitoring of water resources in the Balkan countries and the creation of a united community in the Balkans by shareholders in the field of water conservation and management - scientists, experts, NGOs, society.
BALWOIS 2012 was organized by IB2E, METEO MAK, Hydrobiological Institute of Ohrid, Faculty of Civil Engineering at "Sts. Cyril and Methodius" University in Skopje, the Macedonian Hydrometeorological Service, as well as supported by the Ministry of Environment and Physical Planning, Republic of Macedonia, the French Embassy in Skopje, International Association of Hydrological Sciences (IAHS) and other private organizations.
ReSAC experts participated in a plenary scientific session in one of the conference topics: “Integrated Water Resources Management” with a report, entitled “Mapping, passportization and creation of national database of standing water bodies and wetlands within the territory of Republic of Bulgaria. DB Multipurpose Use: Case study EUFODOS Project - FP7 for scientific research of the European Commission.
ReSAC Participated on Several Scientific Activities
04-05.2012
ReSAC participated in „Professional realization and perspectives of the young surveyors in Bulgaria“
On 03 of May 2012, a youth seminar entitled „Professional realization and perspectives of the young surveyors in Bulgaria“ was held at the House of Science and Technique, Sofia. It was organised by Federation of the Scientific Engineering Unions (FSEU) and the Union of Surveyors and Land Managers in Bulgaria (USLMB). The seminar aimed to inform and inspire young scientists and students about their professional practice in geodesy and related fields. ReSAC participated with the presentation about “Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) program – Bulgarian operational Earth observation capacity”.
ReSAC participated on „Doors Open Day“, the Department of Physics at Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridsky" as a sponsor of the event
The Department of Physics at Sofia University opened their doors to the public on 21 of April 2012. „Doors open Day“event included public lectures, demonstrations and an exhibition of educational posters. The presentation from ReSAC was entitled „Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) program – Bulgarian operational Earth observation capacity“, whose purpose is to promote the current projects, related to the program GMES and Bulgarian Information Office for GMES. Remote Sensing Application Center - ReSAC sponsoring an event through the medium of Foundation Prof. Ivan-Assen Nikolov Petkov.
ReSAC took part in the „International Science Conference (ISC) - 2012“
The representative of ReSAC took part in the International Science Conference (ISC) in commemoration of 100 years Bulgarian aviation. The conference on April 11-12, 2012 at Central Military Club in Sofia was under the patronage of the President and Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Bulgaria Rosen Plevneliev. The main topic was „Aviation in current geopolitics and strategy of EU, NATO, coalitions, and states“. ReSAC experts participated in a plenary session with a report, entitled “EU policy – GMES program for security enhancement through environmental monitoring and Bulgarian participation”.
Bulgaria at Flood Risk. Necessity of Reservoirs Register in the State
02.2012
Remote Sensing Application Center - ReSAC has a keen interest on prevention of natural disasters, including floods – an actual topic in the last week. The natural continuation of the work in this field is the participation of ReSAC in a joint project with the Basin Directorate Danube region, which supports the Directorate in preparation of "Preliminary flood risk assessment". The aim of the project is to analyze the flood risk in the settlements, located on major rivers and to make a potential flood risk assessment. The project is in implementation of the requirements in the Water Act and Directive 2007/60/EC about the flood risk assessment and management. The project is successfully finalized in December 2011, detailed information can be found on the website of Basin Directorate Danube Region – Pleven.
The flood topic and the necessity of preventive activity are very topical in the last few weeks because of the floods, which caused serious damages and human victims in different parts of the country. The tragedy in Biser village, municipality Charmanli occurred after the dam failure of Ivanovo reservoir, as a result a high water wave raised, which affected the settlement in the morning hours of 06.02.2012.
Based on the available information, ReSAC immediately prepared a flood simulation model in the village. Heavy rainfalls caused significant damages to other settlements – Charmanli, Svilengrad, in which some neighborhoods were under water. More information is available on the website of the Agency for Sustainable Development and Eurointegration – Ecoregions (ASDE).
The broken dam of Ivanovo reservoir and the overflowing reservoirs in different parts of the country set the agenda and some other important questions, related to the management of reservoirs in Bulgaria and establishing of register. Recognizing the importance of this information, ReSAC has set itself the ambitious task to map all standing water bodies within the territory of Bulgaria, including reservoirs, based on satellite imagery and aerophotos with very high spatial resolution and applying information about them. At present, ReSAC has a detailed register of all standing water bodies in the country, which can be seen here.
| Map of flooded territories in flood simulation with a 4 m wave height on the Biserska river in Biser village, municipality Charmanli |  |