CiROCCO’s vision is to establish an end-to-end sensing system, composed of a distributed network of cost-effective sensing nodes coupled with state-of-the-art data fusion remote sensing and assimilation modelling techniques. A combination of wireless communications, including satellite and local Wireless Sensor Networks is used to collect data. The defined network of sensors will enhance the current lack of ground observation in desert areas covering Egypt, Serbia and Spain and offering an operational and in parallel easy to maintain and expand solution. During CiROCCO implementation four services are developed i) Renewable energy systems planning ii) Air quality early warning system for human health iii) Land use and ecosystem management iv) Modelling of GHGs and particle emissions. CiROCCO performance and capabilities will be tested and validated in real-life settings in four large Pilot areas in Cyprus, Egypt, Serbia and Spain. Commercialisation services ensure the sustainability of the installation and in parallel FAIR management of data support Cross-COPERNICUS ecosystem integration and assimilation services.
CiROCCO objectives include:
•Business Objective #1: Installation and operation of in-situ, low-cost, stand-alone, electronic sensing nodes in close collaboration with post-Project operating entities, having a real interest from local communities, including the commercial sector.
•Technical Objective #1: Establishment of a low-cost and sustainable network of electronic sensing nodes in under-sampled desert areas and ecosystems in Egypt, Serbia and Spain.
•Technical Objective #2: Development of data processing services based upon ICT infrastructure that allows access to data from hard-to-reach, under-sampled areas, and improvement in their quality by data fusion services.
•Scientific and Innovation Objective #1: Provision of data for the research community, aiming to enhance climate change models and support the EU Green Deal challenges.
•Scientific and Innovation Objective #2: Cross-COPERNICUS ecosystem integration and assimilation.
•Impact Maximisation Objective #1: Acceleration of the adoption of the CiROCCO tools and services by the wider community to ensure impact maximisation.
CiROCCO mid-term impacts include: a) Lower cost of in-situ observation, b) Improved geographical coverage and long-time series of in-situ environmental observations , c) Tested and validated new in-situ measurement technologies in hard-to-reach under-sampled areas, d) Dedicated technical protocols ensuring validation, interoperability, and synchronisation between in-situ and remote sensing systems in compliance with the GEOSS and Copernicus requirements, e) Established collaboration with environmental observation data providers, f) Coherent business models ensuring the systems sustainability, g) Contribution to reinforcing the in-situ component of the GEO initiative, the Copernicus programme, and the EC-ESA initiative on Earth system science. CiROCCO also contributes to wider societal, environmental, economic and scientific impacts.
