IRIDE goals and purpose
The IRIDE project encompasses the development and realisation of a system, from the satellites in orbit, to processing the data as well as the applications that provide services.
It will improve the space-based observation over the Italian national territory, with high revisit times and high resolution – thus greatly enhancing the capabilities of existing systems – with a focus on providing geospatial services to national authorities and administrations.
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The services that are being developed are focused on the needs expressed by Italian national authorities. Core services include:
- Coastal-marine monitoring: Supporting the mapping and monitoring of Italian costal-marine zones, marine habitats, ports and offshore platforms, to support the blue economy as well as protect the environmental and cultural heritage of the Italian coastlines.
- Land motion: Interferometric techniques are used to map and monitor land and infrastructure movements, which can result from phenomena such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, landslides and subsidence, also generating a national high-resolution digital surface/terrain model.
- Air quality: Providing three-dimensional pollutant mapping from predictive models and air quality forecasting via federated models and satellite data, as well as geospatial products to support efforts to monitor air pollution.
- Emergency: Rapid mapping upon request during emergency situations such as floods, fires, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis and other crises, to identify affected areas and contribute to the initial damage assessment.
- Water resource management: Integrating satellite and in-situ data to provide insights into water resources, including mapping the distribution of water bodies, sediment deposits, and vegetation coverage. It will also provide data on river ecosystems and potential pollution sources in and near them, as well as areas affected by floods, soil moisture, snow cover and drought indicators.
- Hydro-meteorological climate: Monitoring hydro‑meteorological events, which can include a range of extreme weather conditions linked to the atmosphere, the ocean and water, including severe thunderstorms, coastal surges, hail, blizzards, flash flooding, as well as droughts and heatwaves. IRIDE data will also be used to monitor greenhouse gases and lightning, and to support weather forecasting.
- Land cover: Providing mapping and monitoring of land use and land cover for the environment, forest management and agriculture. It will provide information about status and changes in land coverage, usage and consumption, including characterisation of urban green areas, assessing health status of national forests, fire damage and estimating carbon stock, as well as monitoring the impact of agricultural practices on the environment and on natural resources.
- Security applications: Geospatial products for monitoring national territory as well as the European Union’s land and maritime borders. It also provides information to support monitoring of critical infrastructures and to combat illegal activities (e.g., illegal dumping and oil spills).
IRIDE also aims to help local and regional administrations in Italy to integrate satellite data into their routine workflows, so they can manage transformations in their territory more effectively. To achieve this, local administrations are arranging training activities and demonstration services, such as monitoring of vegetation or heat islands in urban areas.
