Harmonisation Initiatives of Copernicus Data Quality Control

The Copernicus Space Component Data Access system (CSCDA) incorporates data contributions from a wide range of satellite missions. Through EO data handling and distribution, CSCDA serves a set of Copernicus Services related to Land, Marine and Atmosphere Monitoring, Emergency Management and Security and Climate Change. The quality of the delivered EO products is the responsibility of each contributing mission, and the Copernicus data Quality Control (CQC) service supports and complements such data quality control activities. The mission of the CQC is to provide a service of quality assessment on the provided imagery, to support the investigation related to product quality anomalies, and to guarantee harmonisation and traceability of the quality information. In terms of product quality control, the CQC carries out analysis of representative sample products for each contributing mission as well as coordinating data quality investigation related to issues found or raised by Copernicus users. Results from the product analysis are systematically collected and the derived quality reports stored in a searchable database. The CQC service can be seen as a privileged focal point with unique comparison capacities over the data providers. The comparison among products from different missions suggests the need for a strong, common effort of harmonisation. Technical terms, definitions, metadata, file formats, processing levels, algorithms, cal/val procedures etc. are far from being homogeneous, and this may generate inconsistencies and confusion among users of EO data. The CSCDA CQC team plays a significant role in promoting harmonisation initiatives across the numerous contributing missions, so that a common effort can achieve optimal complementarity and compatibility among the EO data from multiple data providers. This effort is done in coordination with important initiatives already working towards these goals (e.g. INSPIRE directive, CEOS initiatives, OGC standards, QA4EO etc.). This paper describes the main actions being undertaken by CQC to encourage harmonisation among space-based EO systems currently in service

Harmonisation Initiatives of Copernicus Data Quality Control

The Copernicus Space Component Data Access system (CSCDA) incorporates data contributions from a wide range of satellite missions. Through EO data handling and distribution, CSCDA serves a set of Copernicus Services related to Land, Marine and Atmosphere Monitoring, Emergency Management and Security and Climate Change. The quality of the delivered EO products is the responsibility of each contributing mission, and the Copernicus data Quality Control (CQC) service supports and complements such data quality control activities. The mission of the CQC is to provide a service of quality assessment on the provided imagery, to support the investigation related to product quality anomalies, and to guarantee harmonisation and traceability of the quality information. In terms of product quality control, the CQC carries out analysis of representative sample products for each contributing mission as well as coordinating data quality investigation related to issues found or raised by Copernicus users. Results from the product analysis are systematically collected and the derived quality reports stored in a searchable database. The CQC service can be seen as a privileged focal point with unique comparison capacities over the data providers. The comparison among products from different missions suggests the need for a strong, common effort of harmonisation. Technical terms, definitions, metadata, file formats, processing levels, algorithms, cal/val procedures etc. are far from being homogeneous, and this may generate inconsistencies and confusion among users of EO data. The CSCDA CQC team plays a significant role in promoting harmonisation initiatives across the numerous contributing missions, so that a common effort can achieve optimal complementarity and compatibility among the EO data from multiple data providers. This effort is done in coordination with important initiatives already working towards these goals (e.g. INSPIRE directive, CEOS initiatives, OGC standards, QA4EO etc.). This paper describes the main actions being undertaken by CQC to encourage harmonisation among space-based EO systems currently in service

Cytogenetic analyses of Azadirachtin reveal absence of genotoxicity but marked antiproliferative effects in human lymphocytes and CHO cells in vitro

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Characterizing movement patterns of nomadic pastoralists and their exposure to rift valley fever in Kenya

The role of animal movement in spreading infectious diseases is highly recognized by various legislations and institutions such as the World Organisation for Animal Health and the International Animal Health Code. The increased interactions at the nexus of human-animal-ecosystem interface have seen an unprecedented introduction and reintroduction of new zoonotic diseases with high socio-economic impacts such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Rift Valley fever (RVF) is a zoonotic disease that affects both humans and animals and is transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes or through contact with the body fluids of infected animals. This study seeks to characterize movement patterns of pastoralist and how this movement behaviour increases their susceptibility to RVF virus exposure. We levarage on a rapidly growing field of movement ecology to monitor five herds collared from 2013 - 2015 in an RVF endemic semi-arid region in Kenya. The herds were also sampled for RVF antibodies to assess their exposure to RVF virus during the rainy seasons. adehabitatLT package in R was used to analyze the trajectory data whereas the first passage time (FPT) analysis was used to measure the area utilized in grazing. Sedentary herds grazed within 15km radius while migrating herds presented restricted space use patterns during the dry seasons and transient movement during the start and end of the rainy season. Furthermore, RVF virus antibodies were generally low for sedentary herds whereas the migrating herds recorded high levels during their transition periods. This study can be used to identify RVF risk zones for timely and targeted management strategies

The Trans-Hellas crossing - An exercise in Martian expedition planning

The Hellas Basis is an impact-formed deep basin in the Southern Hemisphere of Mars. We undertook a limited planning exercise for a human Trans-Hellas expedition that would traverse the basin from West to East. The authors of this paper divided into three teams. The Science Group was set the task of defining science goals for a Trans-Hellas Crossing. The Logistics Group was set the task of considering what transport and accommodation the team would use during the expedition and the Resource Group was set the task of defining resource use and allocation during the traverse. We present the main conclusions of this short study and show that the Hellas Basin should be considered a high priority science target for future human expeditions. We demonstrate the effectiveness of Martian expedition planning using a small team with diverse expertise

The Trans-Hellas expedition - An exercise in Martian expedition planning

The Hellas Basis is an impact-formed deep basin in the Southern Hemisphere of Mars. We undertook a planning exercise for a human Trans-Hellas expedition that would traverse the basin from West to East. The authors of this paper divided into three teams. The Science Group was set the task of defining science goals for a Trans-Hellas Crossing. The Logistics Group was set the task of considering what transport and accommodation the team would use during the expedition and the Resources Group was set the task of defining resource use and allocation during the traverse. We present the main conclusions of this short study and show that the Hellas Basin should be considered a high priority science target for future human expeditions. We demonstrate the effectiveness of Martian expedition planning using a small team with diverse expertise