Explore Your Atmosphere With Copernicus Atmoshack 2018

Urban air pollution poses a significant threat to human health and the quality of life of millions of people worldwide and it is estimated that nine out of ten people breathe air containing high levels of pollutants, causing around seven million deaths every year.

Focusing on Europe, a recent air quality report from the EEA stated that most people living in European cities are exposed to levels of air pollution deemed harmful by the World Health Organization. According to the report, air pollution also has significant economic impacts, increasing medical costs, reducing employees' productivity, and damaging crops, forests, lakes and rivers.

Road transport, agriculture, power plants, industry and households are the biggest emitters of air pollutants in Europe.

The Copernicus AtmosHack Challenge?

Your challenge at AtmosHack is to work with freely available atmospheric monitoring data to create solutions that help people reduce their exposure to air pollutants and UV radiation.

To solve this challenge, you are encouraged to use data collected by the EU’s Copernicus Programme , which includes observations from Copernicus and EUMETSAT satellites and the ACSAF , ground-based air quality data, and air quality analysis and forecasts produced by the ECMWF-run Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service .

Various approaches are welcome: create new solutions or add atmosphere-smart features to existing solutions. Propose innovative data visualisations for academic purposes or to raise awareness of the atmospheric environment. Develop mobile, web apps, platforms or hardware - it’s your call how to improve the quality of life for many!

Ideas include:

• 

  Air-quality apps
• Traffic and navigation
• Geological: volcanic eruptions, dust and smoke in the atmosphere
• Academic purpose solutions: data visualisations, new data analysis models
• Healthcare
• Education
• Internet of Things (IOT) and combinations of ground sensors to networks
• Cleantech for industries, factories and agriculture
• Smart city solutions

Prizes

The winning team will get automatic access to the Copernicus Accelerator business development programme starting in December 2018, there will also free tickets to win for Slush 2018 , cash prizes, and many other goodies.

AtmosHack is funded by the EU’s Copernicus Programme and has been organised through a partnership of EUMETSAT, the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS), the Finnish Meteorological Service (FMI), and the University of Helsinki. It is being run by Ultrahack.

REGISTER for the hackathon here

Background

What is the Copernicus programme?

Copernicus is the European Commission’s flagship Earth observation programme. It delivers freely accessible operational data and information services, which provide users with reliable and up-to-date information related to environmental issues. http://www.copernicus.eu/

What is CAMS?

The Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) is one of the six currently provided services under the Copernicus programme. CAMS is implemented by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather forecasts (ECMWF) on behalf of the European Commission. ECMWF also operates the Copernicus Climate Change Monitoring Service (C3S). ECMWF is an independent intergovernmental organisation, producing and disseminating numerical weather predictions to its 34 Member and Co-operating States. https://atmosphere.copernicus.eu/

What does EUMETSAT do?

The European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) operates Europe’s weather and climate monitoring satellites, delivering data to its 30 Member States and beyond. In addition to operating the geostationary Meteosat and polar-orbiting Metop weather satellites, from its headquarters in Darmstadt, Germany, EUMETSAT also operates the Copernicus Sentinel-3 satellites and will operate the Sentinel-4 and 5 atmospheric monitoring missions and the Sentinel-6 satellites.

EUMETSAT’s Satellite Application Facility on Atmospheric Composition Monitoring (ACSAF) is lead by FMI, processes data on ozone, other trace gases, aerosols and ultraviolet data, obtained from satellite instrumentation. https://acsaf.org/

About FMI

The Finnish Meteorological Institute is a research and service agency under the Ministry of Transport and Communications. Its mission is to produce high-quality observation and research data on the atmosphere and seas. The Institute combines this expertise into the weather, climate and oceanographic services it provides to promote public safety as well as increase well-being in the society and the environment, taking into account the needs to maintain preparedness. https://en.ilmatieteenlaitos.fi/

About University of Helsinki

University of Helsinki, Institute for Atmospheric and Earth System Research (INAR), is doing multi- and interdisciplinary research and education on atmospheric and Earth system sciences. Its multiscale research from molecular to global scale focuses on climate change, air quality, biogeochemical cycles and ecosystem processes. www.inar.helsinki.fi