Rapid Response Desk – Near-real time access to multi-mission satellite data for emergency response

Implemented by the European Space Agency (ESA) on behalf of the European Commission, the Rapid Response Desk (RRD) service provides a harmonized, reliable, and efficient 24/7 access to a variety of commercial satellite data at unprecedented speed, serving the demanding information and timing requirements of the Copernicus Services and other authorized EU entities and research projects. This presentation will showcase the RRD system which seamlessly connects to latest API-based ordering interfaces of 10 Copernicus Contributing Mission Entities (CCMEs), providing access to 19 active satellite missions and constellations, with further on-boardings planned as new missions become available. Among the main users, the Copernicus Emergency Management Service (CEMS) Rapid Mapping utilize the RRD infrastructure and services to obtain up-to date satellite data acquisitions for their worldwide disaster response activities over areas affected by natural and man-made hazards, such as floods, wildfires, earthquakes, etc. The RRD enables users to quickly access the extensive archives of already acquired very-high resolution optical, radar, and atmospheric-composition data, as well as to request tailored new acquisitions anywhere in the world at very high spatial, spectral, and temporal resolution, in cooperation with key European, US and Canada-based, commercial satellite data providers. This way the RRD provides access to an essential complement to the Copernicus high-resolution Sentinel missions systematic data offer. Making use of these satellite images, CEMS performs near-real time events monitoring and disaster impact assessments, generating accurate time-critical maps and value-added products that are critical to emergency response coordination on the ground. The RRD offers various flexible sensing scenarios for new imagery acquisitions: from real-time tasking of instant single image capturing, to multiple contiguous acquisitions covering large areas, and systematic area monitoring over long time periods. Likewise, RRD users can quickly access the full range of satellite data stored in the CCMEs’ archives, offering valuable references for pre-event situation validation and post-event damage detection and impact assessment. All ordered satellite images are delivered in a standardized data package format together with harmonized metadata, thus substantially facilitating the integrated use of multi-sensor, multi-platform data. The users can retrieve the data from a single RRD access point, overcoming the diversity of the various individual CCMEs’ ordering systems and allowing them to save time for any time-critical disaster analyses. In addition, an archive of all non-sensitive satellite imageries ordered by RRD users is maintained, allowing cost-efficient data re-use by eligible Copernicus users. In summary, the RRD constitutes a big leap forward in near-real time access to satellite remote sensing data for worldwide large-scale disaster monitoring and response operations.