Copernicus Emergency Management Service (EMS) Programme:
As part of a multi-agency effort to locate a helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi that crashed in East Azerbaijan province recently, the European Union activated its Copernicus EMS rapid response mapping service at Iran’s request.
- Copernicus Emergency Management Service (EMS) Programme named after the renowned 15th-century scientist Nicolaus Copernicus, the programme is the earth observation component of the European Union’s (EU) space initiative.
- Copernicus was launched in 1998 and was earlier known as the Global Monitoring for Environment and Security Programme (GMES).
- The programme uses global data from satellites, and ground-based, airborne, and sea-borne measurement systems to provide environment-related information to researchers, policymakers, public authorities, international organisations and commercial and private users to address issues related to climate change, disaster management and agriculture, among other uses.
- The space segment uses a group of satellites, called the Sentinels and the Contributing Missions.
- It is complemented by a ground segment which includes in-situ sensors that provide access to the Sentinels and Contributing Missions data.
- Presently, the programme is implemented by EU member states with the support of the European Space Agency (ESA) for the space component and the European Environment Agency (EEA) for the in-situ component.
- Notably, data from the Copernicus programme is freely available and accessible to all.
- Active since 2012, the Copernicus EMS works on two models—on-demand mapping and early warning and monitoring—to issue warnings, risk assessments, and information on the impact of disasters worldwide, before, during, or after a crisis.
- While on-demand mapping offers detailed information for specific emergencies, early warning provides critical geospatial data through monitoring and forecasts for floods, droughts and forest fires.
