About TERRA

Water is central to the global economy, with 90% of economic activities and 75% of jobs worldwide relying on it, according to Water Europe. Yet, water-related risks—such as pollution, flooding, and sea level rise—rank among the top five global risks. These challenges underscore the importance of advanced modeling techniques for water pollution management, coastline monitoring, flood prediction, and sea level rise assessment.

The Copernicus Programme already provides tools to forecast, assess, and analyze these domains while supporting emergency management. The Joint Research Centre (JRC) highlights the growing adoption of the Copernicus Emergency Management Service (CEMS) by policymakers, scientists, and public authorities for tackling climate-related crises such as floods and droughts. However, the full potential of Copernicus data and services remains underutilized, particularly for industrial and policy-making stakeholders in climate and emergency applications.

TERRA aims to bridge this gap by leveraging Copernicus services and data to foster innovation, accelerate research and innovation (R&I) advancements, and position the EU as a leader in cutting-edge technologies.

The TERRA Concept

TERRA aims to bridge this gap by leveraging Copernicus services and data to foster innovation, accelerate research and innovation (R&I) advancements, and position the EU as a leader in cutting-edge technologies. The project focuses on the second R&I area of the “HORIZON-CL4-2024-SPACE-01-35” topic: developing an integrated, harmonized, and coherent system for global-scale hydrological monitoring and forecasting. 

TERRA envisions delivering advanced services and product chains by integrating Copernicus services with state-of-the-art technologies. These solutions include:

  • Coastline detection
  • Coastline erosion prediction
  • Flood risk assessment and mitigation
  • Water pollution assessment
  • Coastline modeling

Aligned with the SWOT mission and Group on Earth Observation (GEO) objectives, TERRA also seeks to disseminate its outcomes through the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) framework.

Objectives

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Innovations

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Stakeholders

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From Copernicus to product chains solutions

Photo: ESA/Mlabspace