BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

• HIRLOMAP is a project in the Sentinel Users Preparation (SUP) ESA EOP Initiative.

• It started at the end of 2024 and has a duration of 2 years.

• The SUP initiative prepares for the use of Copernicus Expansion and NG missions’ data.

• The focus of HIRLOMAP is on preparing the use of ROSE-L, LSTM, S1 NG, and S2 NG data for

• operational sea ice mapping and iceberg detection

• support of maritime traffic and operations

• local and regional monitoring of the polar regions with main focus on the Arctic

• support of science-motivated measurements at permanent stations and on expeditions

• provision of data for development, running, and validation of models for simulation and forecasts of sea ice dynamics

• Objectives of HIRLOMAP are

• development of local information products on scales of 10‘s km at 5 m to a few 10‘s m resolution

• achievement of higher accuracies in detection, classification, and parameter retrievals for information product generation.

PRACTICAL IMPLEMENTATION

• As defined in the objectives of the SUP initiative, the work of the HIRLOMAP consortium concentrates on:

• consolidation and delivery of representative data sets for different test sites

• development of novel EO applications and information products

• contact and interaction with stakeholders and end-users

• For reaching the objectives of preparing the use of ROSE-L, LSTM, S1 NG, and S2 NG data, the HIRLOMAP teams work with images acquired by recent and former satellite missions:

• SAR: S1, RCM, ALOS-2 PALSAR-2, RADARSAT-2, ENVISAT (2002-2012)

• Optical: S2

• Thermal: Landsat 8 + 9, SDGSAT

• If available, complementary data are applied from ships, ground parties, and stations