During times of crisis like the world is enduring now
we are forced to think differently.
And with a crisis of the scale of the COVID-19 pandemic
we are challenged with the very human question:
What can we do to help?
It is from times like these that great things can be accomplished.
NASA, ESA, and JAXA collectively represent
a unique and valuable human asset: Earth-observing instruments in space
that we use every day to benefit society and advance
scientific knowledge about our home planet.
As this pandemic spread across the globe,
scientists began to see from space how patterns of human activity
were changing and how those changes affected the environment.
The pandemic was not only leaving a staggering toll of human suffering,
it was having a global impact that we could document from space.
Our three space agencies realized that if we could combine forces
we could bring a more powerful set of analytical tools
to bear on this fast-moving crisis.
We have a long and very strong relationship
of cooperation and collaboration.
We know how to work together.
And we realized that we needed to act quickly
if we were to capture critical global observations of these changes
as the world reacted to the spread of the virus.
So NASA, ESA, and JAXA began building on an accelerated schedule a
public web portal to synthesize our most relevant data and analytical tools.
What we are releasing today – the COVID-19 Earth Observation Dashboard
is the result of that intensive effort.
Today we present Version 1.0 of the dashboard,
which includes key indicators of air and water quality,
climate change, and economic activity.
We will be adding more information in the weeks and months ahead,
including a look at agricultural production around the world.
We hope to learn a great deal from the
data collected here as the world
recovers from this pandemic.
This collaborative effort has given us a deep appreciation
of how much we can accomplish when we work together.
COVID-19 is a global crisis.
It’s a health crisis, it is an economic crisis
and is a crisis for humanity.
So therefore, as the European Space Agency, we have looked at our assets
that means our satellites,
and see how we can help providing information
based on our satellites for the benefit of decision makers,
but also the people.
We have monitored economic indicators
we have monitored health indicators like
air pollution, water pollution
but also economic indicators like
number of cars parked in parking lots
number of planes in different airports
but also different productions of different factories
and see how we can monitor during the lockdown
what happens in the economy and with the people.
These assets that we provide from space
With free information derived from Copernicus data
which is the European program, led by European commission
we are very happy to share with everyone in a free and open format.
What we have done is we have created a dashboard
and this dashboard allows to have time series
of critical information over different areas
and therefore compare information.
But I am particular glad to say that this is not
only a European effort. We have joined forces
with the global space powers, in particular with NASA
but also with JAXA, the Japanese Space Agency
And really combined the assets which we have in the U.S.
in Japan, in Europe in order to derive this information
And provide information related to COVID
to the citizens worldwide in the global dashboard
which we jointly offer to you today.
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought difficulties
to daily lives and caused various changes
in socio-economic activities and environments.
In order to tackle this issue we have considered
and came to the conclusion that
it is our responsibility to monitor
the changes of the earth from space,
share the observation results with the public,
and record it for the future generations.
To fulfill this responsibility, JAXA has developed the
Earth Observing Dashboard together with NASA and ESA.
Satellite-based earth observation allows us to
monitor the earth's surface globally and periodically
with various physical parameters.
In this cooperation we have utilized Japanese satellites,
namely GOSAT, ALOS-2 and GCOM-C.
This trilateral collaboration among the space agencies
gave us a great opportunity to maximize the value of our earth observation data.
but extending the data and knowledge.
The Dashboard is just the start.
I strongly anticipate that by using the Dashboard,
experts in various different fields would further contribute
to society and create new values.
I am very proud of this collaboration with NASA and ESA
and look forward to the delivery of a unique view
from space to the changing society.