In recent years the concept of “Smart Statistics” has received heightened focus. Traditional data sources (survey and administrative data) are complemented by information from sensors (such as satellite imaging and a host of environmental sensors), smartphones (including GPS), behavioral data (e.g. data from online searches, online activity, financial or otherwise) or even social applications data (comments on social media, etc.). These data, cumulative acknowledged as Big Data, can provide entirely new insights and create new data workflows for supporting Official Statistics.
Earth Observation (EO), being a subset of Big Data, can constitute an important component of Smart Statistics. Organisations such as the United Nations Statistical office (UNSTAT), the European Statistical Office (Eurostat) as well as many national statistical institutes/offices (NSIs/NSOs) and supporting organisations are currently seeking to incorporate satellite imagery and other EO data sources (such as models and in situ platforms) into their operational workflows.
On October 2021, answering the European Space Agency’s ITT on “EO for Smart Statistics”, the GAUSS project (Generating Advanced Usage of Earth Observation for Smart Statistics) kicked-off. In 18 months, 4 Use Cases were implemented in the domains of Air Quality, Snow, Drought and Green Indicators for Natural Capital. The project is led by the National Observatory of Athens (NOA) working together with FMI (Finnish Meteorological Institute), IGiK (Institute of Geodesy and Cartography of Poland) and Evenflow (a Brussels SME).
More info can be found here: https://eo4smartstats.com/
In collaboration with the Greek National Statistical Organisation (ELSTAT), it was decided to experimentally address statistical product no 114 from the Hellenic Statistical Programme 2020-2022 which refers to the Implementing Provisions on Reporting (IPR) framework (2011/850/EU, IPR Air Quality reports). Currently, the reports are handled by the Ministry of Environment and Energy, Division of Climate Change and Air Quality of the Directorate of Environmental Policy. The Ministry is an official member of the European Statistical System.
The experimental approach only targets a subset of the pollutants: NO2, PM2.5, PM10, O3. The goal is to integrate the currently used, reference, regulatory network with a variety of other Earth Observation platforms. The main objective is to produce an equivalent to the current IPR reporting at an increased spatial resolution, compared to the current geographical levels, offering improved characterization of under-monitored areas and possible identification of Air Quality hot-spots, hopefully showcasing the added value Earth Observation brings in current workflows. By utilizing Open Data, the approach can potentially be scaled-up across Europe.
The Earth Observation platforms exploited are: a) The Regional Ensemble Model Reanalysis from the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service, b) the in-situ low cost PM2.5 sensors from the PANACEA-Research Infrastructure , c) the reference instruments from the National Network of Air Quality Monitoring (used in the current modus operandi). Secondary geospatial data required in the methodology are:Corine LULC 2018 from Copernicus Land Monitoring Service and road network information from OpenStreetMap.
For an analytical description of the methodology the user is referred to the project’s deliverables or is urged to contact NOA directly (please see contact details below). The basic premise is to nudge the Regional Ensemble Model Reanalysis through in situ data following IPR reporting rules and particular assumptions (especially regarding the nudging per grid cell type). Once nudging is concluded (at 1km spatial resolution), aggregation is possible at the current geographical levels but also at the Local Administrative Unit level of Municipality.
The main steps of the workflow are as follows:
This platform presents the final outputs of the Air Quality Use Case of GAUSS for the demonstration year, 2020, with values broken down per month.
The user may peruse between 3 drop-down menus: The pollutants (only NO2, PM2.5, PM10, O3), the geographical level of aggregation (gridded refers to the calculation grid of 1km, IPR reporting refers to currently produced levels for the Air Quality Directive, i.e. two bulk zones for the north and south of Greece and the two urban agglomerations, and the Local Administrative Level of Municipality where GAUSS presents its main added value).
Regarding the Regional Ensemble Model Reanalysis, the user may choose between the original values as provided by the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service and the new values created by the GAUSS methodology described above (only available at Municipality and IPR reporting level).
Once the choice of aggregation is made, the user may click on any area of interest and receive some visual information in a new window which shows the monthly variation of the pollutant at hand against potential limit values but also an estimation of the exceedances/averages for the whole year (following IPR nomenclature).
The GAUSS Air Quality Use Case presents an experimental methodology, as also declared by the Greek National Statistical Organisation (ELSTAT) that could potentially complement the current official methodology for producing the statistical product no 114 of the Hellenic Statistical Programme 2020-2022. The reference instruments are the ones utilised by the by the Ministry of Environment and Energy, Division of Climate Change and Air Quality of the Directorate of Environmental Policy in full accordance with the Air Quality Directive and relevant reporting. GAUSS only aims to explore the potential added value of incorporating other Earth Observation platforms in the current workflow.
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