Revealing the role of GEOSS as the default digital portal for building Climate Change adaptation & mitigation applications (EIFFEL)

Climate change adaptation and Earth observation (EO) are closely linked, as proper adaptation requires effective data-driven decision-making, which EO provides. Addressing the challenge of climate change adaptation requires effective tools that can utilize the vast amounts of Earth observation data available to facilitate decision-making.

The EIFFEL project enhances the GEOSS Portal (which connects millions of data sources with potential users) through AI-based cognitive search tools, metadata augmentation, novel methods of super-resolution, and data fusion to enhance the spatiotemporal resolution of EO data, as well as the application of best practices in quality metrics standardization.

The project transforms this knowledge into climate action through five pilot projects across Europe, each addressing a specific sector affected by climate change: water and land use management, sustainable agriculture, transport management, sustainable urban development, and disaster resilience.

It directly involves local communities and stakeholders, aiming to ensure that decision-makers receive actionable insights. This involvement has facilitated the co-design of tools that align with climate change adaptation policies and mitigation strategies. GEOSS data, along with AI-based algorithms, were used to tailor nature-based solutions for climate adaptation, such as afforestation, resulting in improved resource management, reduced vulnerability to climate-related disasters, and increased community resilience.

EIFFEL's approach goes beyond and serves as a model for countries and regions worldwide seeking to address climate change challenges using Earth observation data. The project demonstrates the value of GEOSS data for creating climate change applications while promoting data sharing, reusability, and scalability, contributing to building a better climate change-adapted future.