SIOS’s Earth Observation (EO), Remote Sensing (RS), and Operational Activities in Response to COVID-19

• Published in: Remote Sensing
• Main Authors: Shridhar D. Jawak, Bo N. Andersen, Veijo A. Pohjola, Øystein Godøy, Christiane Hübner, Inger Jennings, Dariusz Ignatiuk, Kim Holmén, Agnar Sivertsen, Richard Hann, Hans Tømmervik, Andreas Kääb, Małgorzata Błaszczyk, Roberto Salzano, Bartłomiej Luks, Kjell Arild Høgda, Rune Storvold, Lennart Nilsen, Rosamaria Salvatori, Kottekkatu Padinchati Krishnan, Sourav Chatterjee, Dag A. Lorentzen, Rasmus Erlandsson, Tom Rune Lauknes, Eirik Malnes, Stein Rune Karlsen, Hiroyuki Enomoto, Ann Mari Fjæraa, Jie Zhang, Sabine Marty, Knut Ove Nygård, Heikki Lihavainen
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021
• Subjects: earth observation; remote sensing; COVID-19; Svalbard; earth system science; SIOS; Science; Q; Arctic; Norway
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13040712; https://doaj.org/article/24f3d822057c49a299f745aaa5a024ab

Svalbard Integrated Arctic Earth Observing System (SIOS) is an international partnership of research institutions studying the environment and climate in and around Svalbard. SIOS is developing an efficient observing system, where researchers share technology, experience, and data, work together to close knowledge gaps, and decrease the environmental footprint of science. SIOS maintains and facilitates various scientific activities such as the State of the Environmental Science in Svalbard (SESS) report, international access to research infrastructure in Svalbard, Earth observation and remote sensing services, training courses for the Arctic science community, and open access to data. This perspective paper highlights the activities of SIOS Knowledge Centre, the central hub of SIOS, and the SIOS Remote Sensing Working Group (RSWG) in response to the unprecedented situation imposed by the global pandemic coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) disease 2019 (COVID-19). The pandemic has affected Svalbard research in several ways. When Norway declared a nationwide lockdown to decrease the rate of spread of the COVID-19 in the community, even more strict measures were taken to protect the Svalbard community from the potential spread of the disease. Due to the lockdown, travel restrictions, and quarantine regulations declared by many nations, most physical meetings, training courses, conferences, and workshops worldwide were cancelled by the first week of March 2020. The resumption of physical scientific meetings is still uncertain in the foreseeable future. Additionally, field campaigns to polar regions, including Svalbard, were and remain severely affected. In response to this changing situation, SIOS initiated several operational activities suitable to mitigate the new challenges resulting from the pandemic. This article provides an extensive overview of SIOS’s Earth observation (EO), remote sensing (RS) and other operational activities strengthened and developed in response to COVID-19 to support the Svalbard scientific ...