READING, England, May 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --
The potential of big data about the Earth's
atmosphere to improve resilience and jump-start
sustainable economic growth will be the focus of a crucial summit
in Athens on 14
- 16 June. The first annual Copernicus Atmosphere
Monitoring Service (CAMS) General Assembly will bring together
politicians, the scientific and business communities and the
European Commission.
Daily forecasts of air quality and greenhouse gases produced by
CAMS not only have the potential to help Governments meet pollution
targets, driving health benefits and savings, but to support
planning and investment in key industries such as solar energy.
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An economic reality
Climate change, pollution and severe weather events are
challenging the assumptions that underpin Europe's economic and social policy. They take
no account of borders and have regional and global economic
impacts. Faced with this knowledge, it is incumbent on
policymakers, industry and the scientific community not just to
work to reduce damaging emissions, but also to equip society to
adapt to changes that are already inevitable.
According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
(IPCC), the Mediterranean could be one of the regions most affected
by an increase in year-to-year variability in summer air
temperature. A longer tourist season could bolster local revenue
and flatten peaks in energy and water demand, however a higher
incidence of heat waves and droughts may put pressure on water
resources during the summer months.[1]
[2]
Regulating air quality is also a particular challenge for
policymakers due to economic and political pressures.[3]
[4] Moreover, the health impacts of air pollution are
much larger than was thought before.[5] The
World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that in 2012 around 7
million premature deaths resulted from air pollution, more than
double previous estimates. The new estimate is based on increasing
knowledge of air pollution-related diseases and use of improved air
quality measurements and technology. According to WHO, outdoor air
pollution caused 3.7 million premature deaths in
2012.[6] Poor air quality and UV solar
radiation exposure are expected to worsen because of anthropogenic
climate change in central and southern Europe. That is where Copernicus comes in to
monitor the composition of the atmosphere and analyse essential
climate variables to build a global picture of our climate.
A global perspective to driving regional
solutions
The European Union's Copernicus Earth Observation programme uses
and contributes to a worldwide network of thousands of sensors on
land, in our oceans, and in the air, as well as a network of over
100 satellites. Together they make millions of environmental
readings every day. Built on cooperation between agencies across
the globe, Copernicus provides free and open access to this data
via six services - land, marine, emergency, security, atmosphere
and climate.
For policymakers and investors looking for insight into their
priorities and climate future it is a game-changing new
perspective.
Companies working with ECMWF - which operates the Copernicus
Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) and Climate Change Service
(C3S) on behalf of the European Commission - are already developing
products with applications across the health, energy, water,
agriculture, financial and urban planning sectors; turning data
into insight. The Athens summit is
the next stage on that journey, seeking to refine solutions to
complex problems.
The size of the opportunity is vast: tourism, sea transport and
enterprises are of vital importance to the Greek economy, whilst
the proposed Project Helios could set a global benchmark for the
potential of large scale solar power. Tackling problems like
pollution would not only improve life expectancy and save billions
of euros, but also serve to address the root cause of the climate
challenge by reducing carbon emissions.
The European Commission expects its Open Data Strategy to
deliver a €40 billion annual boost to the EU's economy. For
Greece the incentives to build on
its natural resources and protect public health are both of
economic and moral importance.
Notes for editors
The first Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service
(CAMS) General Assembly, 14 - 16 June 2016, Athens,
Greece is co-ordinated with support from the Research
Center for Climatology of the Academy of Athens, the National
Hellenic Meteorological Service and the Mariolopoulos-Kanaginis
Foundation for the Environmental Sciences.
We invite journalists to attend the evening reception with the
opportunity for interviews.
Registration:
http://atmosphere.copernicus.eu/cams-general-assembly-press-information
1. ECMWF has published a COP21
briefing document on "How can big data help us live in a changing
environment?" explaining the significance and potential of the
Copernicus programme. Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service and
Copernicus Climate Change Service have both a website with further
information. The COP21 briefing
document can be found on both websites:
•
http://atmosphere.copernicus.eu/news/publicity-and-promotional-material
•
http://climate.copernicus.eu/news/publicity-and-promotional-material
2. Copernicus is the European Commission's flagship Earth
Observation programme that delivers freely accessible operational
data and information services. ECMWF has been entrusted to operate
two key parts of the Copernicus programme and is assisting with a
third to bring a consistent standard to the measurement,
forecasting and predicting of atmospheric conditions and climate
change:
- The Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service provides daily
forecasts detailing the makeup composition of the atmosphere from
the ground up to the stratosphere.
- The Copernicus Climate Change Service (in development) will
routinely monitor and analyse around 20 essential climate variables
to build a global picture of our climate, from the past to the
future, as well as developing customisable climate indicators in
relevant economic sectors.
- The Copernicus Emergency Management Service supports
improvements to flood forecasting and understanding of the
frequency, variability and consequences of extreme weather.
3. The European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts
(ECMWF) is an international organisation which specialises in
numerical weather prediction and is supported by many European
states.
4. The National Meteorological Services in Europe play an integral role in making
Copernicus a success.
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1. IPCC (2014)
http://www.climatechange2013.org/images/report/WG1AR5_ALL_FINAL.pdf
2. IPCC (2012) http://ipcc-wg2.gov/SREX/
3. IBT (2013)
http://www.ibtimes.com/greeces-economic-crisis-leads-air-pollution-study-finds-1517266
4. IPCC (2014) http://ipcc-wg2.gov/AR5/report/full-report/
5. Wolf et al., (2015)
http://www.mdpi.com/2225-1154/3/4/901?trendmd-shared=1
6. UNEP (2014)
http://www.unep.org/yearbook/2014/PDF/chapt7.pdf
SOURCE Copernicus