As we head into summer,
it is clear that many parts of Europe have had an unusually warm, dry spring.
The lack of rain in certain regions is even visible from space.
One of the satellites collecting data on this phenomenon
is ESA’s Earth Explorer mission
SMOS.
For over a decade now
SMOS has been advancing our understanding of the Earth’s water cycle
and with its ability to measure surface soil moisture,
SMOS acts a rain gauge with global reach.
In the past SMOS data were primarily used for scientific purposes,
but this has changed.
Since more than 10 years now
SMOS provides us systematically with maps of global soil moisture and ocean salinity.
It is the longest data record coming from a sensor specifically built for this purpose.
This data is used in research,
for example,
to understand feedback mechanisms between the land and the atmosphere.
Today we also see an increasing uptake of SMOS products by operational services.
And more recently,
even commercial operators.
One of these commercial operators is the Dutch company VanderSat.
They focus on commercial Earth observation services
and use data provided by SMOS and other Earth-observing satellites
to create and develop data products.
This includes maps that show the effects of drought throughout Europe,
and thanks to the data being delivered in near-realtime,
they can be used almost immediately for practical applications.
We see those droughts back in the maps we produce on a daily basis near real time.
And we do that for several customers.
So the water authorities are using these drought situation maps
basically
to adjust their policy locally.
The fire brigade and other safety services are using those maps
to make a better estimate on the risk for a certain wildfire.
And when there is a certain wildfire,
those maps are used actually to calculate what the prediction will be,
in which direction we'll be the spread.
Another opportunity that's now opening up is actually drought insurance.
So with one of our key partners,
Swiss Re,
a reinsurer from Zurich, Switzerland,
we are now investigating to roll out drought insurance for farmers here in the Netherlands.
Which means
if their crops or their yield is lower than expected due to the drought,
they will receive a payouts.
And his index, this drought index that defines this payouts,
that is fully satellite based and provided by us.
Severe droughts are considered the number one threat to farmers,
endangering crop yield and business.
While 2020 is well on its way to being the hottest year on record,
we can see how climate change is exacerbating drought across the globe.
In parts of western Europe such as Belgium and the Netherlands,
which are usually considered to be rather wet,
droughts are expected for the third year in a row.
Conditions such as this could prove destructive for nature and agriculture in Europe
and in other parts of the world.
Here satellite-based insurance will be key in helping farmers and governments
manage the financial implications of droughts.
So if you look back the number of farmers that insures for drought is increasing,
but still it's not more.
Globally it's definitely less than 10 percent,
in the European Union maybe 20, 25 percent of farmers have insurance for drought.
With increasing droughts to be expected in the coming decades.
It would be really good to insure much more farmers
and to really bring that number up to 40, 50 or even 70 percent of farmers in the world
that have such insurance.
And then at least we at Swiss Re
we see no other way than to work with satellite products.
As the risk of droughts is expected to increase over the coming years,
this type of satellite-based drought insurance
can help farmers mitigate associated financial losses.
In these times of recurring drought,
Earth observation satellites can benefit us in two ways:
firstly,
they provide insight into the underlying processes of drought,
which can help us to take steps to become more resilient in the future.
Secondly,
as satellites tell us precisely when and where droughts happen
and who they affect,
governments and aid organisations can use this information
to help those who are most affected.
From space, satellites like SMOS and Europe’s Copernicus Sentinels
can help us to better manage drought conditions
and to better understand our planet’s changing climate.