Utilities (water, electricity, waste): Power station operators, Water plants operators, Survey companies, Hydroelectric suppliers, Regulatory Bodies, Distribution companies, Landfill and waste, Regional planners / policy makers.
The benefit from EO information that monitor pollution in rivers and lakes, assess changes in the carbon balance, assess environmental impact of human activities, monitor land pollution, assess changes to urban and rural areas, assess and monitor water quality, assess ground water and run-off.
Climate change observations show the warming of the climate system. The changes since the 1950s are unprecedented over decades to millennia.The atmosphere and ocean have warmed, the amounts of snow and ice have diminished, and sea level has risen. The anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases are the highest in history. Recent climate changes have had widespread impacts on human and natural systems. There is an urgant need for climate action through mitigation and adaptation. Mitigation actions prevent or reduce the emission of greenhuse gases into the atmoshpere with the objective to make the impacts of climate change less severe. Adapting to climate change increases our resilience to impacts like extreme weather events (e.g. hazards like floods and droughts) that get more frequent and intense in many regions. Current climate change will get worse in the future even if the reduction of emissions is effective with negative effects on ecosystems, economy, human health and well-being. There is extensive need for actions to adapt to the impacts of climate change.
Water is an essential resource for food production. Growing crops requires significant quantities of water. Without sufficient, good quality and easily accessible water, agri-food production is under threat.
EO provides the opportunity to monitor bodies of water, i.e. inland waters, and to assess ground water and run-off. For lakes, this includes products about water quality, pollution, turbidity, suspended sediment concentrations (quantitative, qualitative), waterbody (temperature, extent, volume, quantity), algal blooms, alkaline water, evaporation, surface temperature. For ground water and run-off, the products focus on water run-off (water quantity), hydrological network and catchment areas (water catchment), run-off season, groundwater. Various scales are addressed, from local catchments to the global water cycle. For inland water quality, sensors are optical medium resolution (300 meters) for achieving a (strongly cloud-cover dependent) update frequency of 10-20 times per year and high resolution (5 meters) for update frequency of 3-5 times per year.
EO is capable of monitoring ocean quality and productivity by focusing on ocean colour (that show among other thins chlorophyll and algal bloom), parameters of sea surface salinity (SSS) and sea surface temperature (SST). In addition, EO can monitor pollution at sea that that explains coastal water quality, which is relevant for aquafarms and for tourism (bathing area water quality). Further, EO satellites can detect oil slicks and spills and threats from such events. Many of these parameters and detected features are relevant for monitoring marine habitats, targeting in particular generic algal blooms, marine mammals, sea surface temperature, sediments, plumes, nutrients, dredging operation, coral reef health assessment (bleaching).