MaREI researchers of the Earth Observation group attended this years Irish Earth Observation Symposium (IEOS) 2017: “Discover the Future of Earth Observation”, November 2^nd and 3^rd, Maynooth University, Ireland

The theme of this year’s IEOS meeting was strengthening the linkages between researchers, technologists, service-providers and end-users to enable more effective exploitation of Copernicus Earth Observation (EO) data & information services across Ireland. The event consisted of presentations from leading Ireland-based EO experts and promoted awareness of the many uses of Copernicus data and information. http://www.ieos2017.com/

Several UCC/MaREI EO researchers attended the event to network with colleagues and gain insight to the latest developments in EO research as well as to present recent developments in EO projects and PhD research currently being undertaken in MaREI. The presentations covered a variety of environmental research issues at regional, European and global scales.

Mr Rory Scarrott (UCC MaREI, PhD student) presented progress in developing hyper-temporal EO data analysis methods in North Atlantic and recommendations for their deployment to harness ocean data opportunities. Rory’s research is being supported by the H2020 Co-ReSyF project (http://co-resyf.eu/).

Dr Walther Cámaro García (UCC MaREI, Postdoctoral Researcher) presented outputs of the validation of the ESA CCI Soil Moisture v03.2 product using fine spatial resolution satellite data (Sentinel-1 and ENVISAT ASAR) and in-situ measurements in various European sites. Walther’s research is funded by the ESA CCI Soil Moisture project (http://www.esa-soilmoisture-cci.org/).

Miss Tiny Remmers (UCC, MSc graduate) presented a poster on her MSc thesis research showcasing the potential of ASCAT 12.5 km wind product for offshore wind farm site selection in Ireland. Tiny recently completed the MSc Applied Coastal and Marine Management in UCC (https://www.ucc.ie/en/cke39/).

The 2-day event increased awareness of Copernicus data availability and usage across a number of thematic research and development areas. Both days also offered attendees a great opportunity to network with EO experts and students involved in a wide range of cutting-edge EO and geospatial research.

The MaREI EO and GIS Applications Group would like to thank Conor Cahalane (NUIM) and the IEOS committee for organising this inspiring and successful event.