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SUP projects brief description here.

CHILL-Y (CHIME + LSTM + ROSE-L): Assessment of Yield Quantity and Quality

Within CHILL-Y, representative datasets from three upcoming Sentinel Expansion missions (LSTM, CHIME, and ROSE-L) will be generated and used to demonstrate a novel service for improved assessment of yield quantity and quality. To achieve this, agricultural parameters will be derived from these thermal, hyperspectral, and L-band radar datasets and assimilated into a physical crop growth model, which will then be combined with an AI model.
The novel datasets and methods will be tested and evaluated for wheat and sugar beet in several AOIs across Europe in cooperation with stakeholders and so-called Champion Users, providing validation data. This ensures knowledge transfer and future benefits from the developed solution for the users by incorporating their needs in the co-development process.

Multisensor Water Discharges

Monitoring liquid discharges is vital for protecting coastal and freshwater ecosystems and safeguarding public health. Optical sensors work well in coastal zones, while applications in lakes and rivers remain limited. Thermal and hyperspectral sensors offer the strongest capability for detecting discharges, yet current non-commercial EO systems face spatial, temporal, and spectral constraints. Data from upcoming Copernicus CHIME and LSTM missions, combined with existing satellites, can improve detection. Led by Planetek Italia and the National Technical University of Athens, with the involvement of some end-users, the project aims to support early warning, continuous monitoring, and retrospective analysis in inland and coastal environments.

MULTIWATER (MULTI-sensor WATer resource management and Sentinel Expansion missions End-user Readiness)

MULTIWATER aims to advance EO-based approaches for water resource management by addressing critical gaps in monitoring agricultural and forest water use. The project focuses on developing and validating a prototype information system capable of delivering high-resolution, scalable water-use indicators to support sustainable management and food security. By integrating multi-sensor EO capabilities, MULTIWATER seeks to enable operational monitoring frameworks that improve decision-making under climate variability and resource constraints. The Mediterranean region, chosen for its vulnerability to climate change and water scarcity, serves as the testbed for demonstrating these methods. Engaging Champion Users ensures that the developed solutions are scientifically robust, practically relevant, and ready for future implementation.

Advancing Soil Health Monitoring through Sentinel Expansion Missions EO Data and Stakeholder-Driven Application Development | NextSoils+

The NextSoils+ project, funded under ESA’s Sentinel User Preparation (SUP) programme, addresses one of today’s most urgent environmental challenges: the monitoring and sustainable management of soil health. Soils are a non-renewable resource that underpin food security, biodiversity, and climate resilience. Yet, across Europe, they are increasingly degraded by unsustainable land use, climate change, and pollution, threatening their ability to provide essential ecosystem services such as carbon storage, water filtration, and crop production.

Teresa (Drought Sensing for Water and Food Security by Integrating Earth Observation and Agro-Hydrological Model)

Drought poses a critical threat to global water and food security. Thus, there is an urgent need to develop advanced methodologies for accurately assessing water security. This requires integrating cross-sectoral approaches that address both large-scale drivers of water availability and their local impacts on systems such as irrigation districts and river basins. Coupling water availability assessments with information on food production is critical to gaining a comprehensive understanding of food security challenges. The availability of high-quality, representative datasets on water and food security is essential for supporting global water management strategies. Under the TERESA project we aim to harness Earth Observation data and agro-hydrological models to pioneer new methods for drought sensing, water balance monitoring, crop yield estimation, and the development of water-food security metrics. These efforts are expected to enhance management strategies for sustainable food systems and agriculture.

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