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The current head of Cooperation, Ewout Sandker, visited the Casa de Bello together with the interim head of mission, Quentin Weiler, prior to the end of their terms in our country. “The University of Chile has been a key ally in carrying out this work,” they said. The new representatives of the European delegation are expected to arrive in September.
After almost five years of work in Chilean territory, the current European Union delegation in our country will be renewed. Before their departure, the head of the Cooperation Section, Ewout Sandker, and the interim head of mission, Quentin Weiler, visited the University of Chile to review the progress of the work carried out in the framework of the iconic and important project that unites both institutions: the Copernicus Regional Center for Latin America and the Caribbean (CopernicusLAC Chile), the Latin American branch of the European Union’s Earth Observation Program, which is housed at the Center for Mathematical Modeling (CMM) of the Faculty of Physical and Mathematical Sciences (FCFM).
The European representatives arrived at Casa Central, where they were received by the Rector of the University of Chile, Rosa Devés, who was accompanied by the Dean of the Faculty of Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Francisco Martínez; the director of the Center for Mathematical Modeling (CMM), Héctor Ramírez; the director of CopernicusLAC Chile, Florencio Utreras; and the scientific director of the Center, Jaime Ortega.
“It has been part of CMM’s work to identify and create these structures that are critical for research and for Chile’s economy. It is in our DNA to promote scientific adventures, which are full of successes and challenges. In this meeting with the Rector, new ideas and potential projects and collaborations with the national and international environment emerged, so we have taken note to advance in their concretions. In particular, we are convinced that the new services provided by CopernicusLAC have a gigantic potential”, remarked the director of the Center for Mathematical Modeling, Héctor Ramírez.
At the global level, Copernicus aims to provide the information collected by more than 30 satellites in an accurate, up-to-date and easily accessible way to improve environmental management, understand and mitigate the effects of climate change and ensure public safety. This initiative is led by the European Union, in collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA), and its landing in Latin America occurred in 2018 hand in hand with the U. of Chile and the Undersecretariat of Telecommunications.
“This project is of utmost importance for the European Union,” said Ewout Sandker. “Copernicus is a unique Earth observation system, which can be used for many issues, such as monitoring biodiversity, climate change, pollution and for agriculture. With this project, we will have all the Copernicus data available here in Latin America with the possibility of processing it, which allows users at home to process data with complicated algorithms and also have land cover services, monitoring of metropolitan centers and ocean, which are generic services that can be used directly and serve many purposes,” he added.
For his part, Quentin Weiler emphasized that “this is an extremely important project for the use of the Copernicus satellite in Chile, but also in the entire Latin American region, which shows the added value of the collaboration between Chile, the region and the European Union”. “It fills us with pride that this project can go ahead. The U. of Chile has been a key ally to carry out this work and we have to continue socializing how Copernicus can be used, because its use of data is public and any person, public entity or company can take advantage of these opportunities”, he said.
From CopernicusLAC Chile, Florencio Utreras emphasized that “this project has a regional vocation, focused on Latin America and the Caribbean, because it is beneficial for the entire region”. He also pointed out that the center is working towards the objective of being able not only to disseminate results, but also images to be used independently by Latin American countries. “We are building a very solid team precisely to make our services permanent in the region. The alliance between Latin America and the EU is fundamental, because the vocation of Copernicus is global and what we are doing today with this work is to localize it in the region,” he added.
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The work in Chile
It was on March 11, 2023 when the Executive Vice President of the European Commission, Margrethe Vestager, and Rector Devés formally presented the Copernicus Regional Center for Latin America and the Caribbean (CopernicusLAC Chile), which has a funding of 4 million euros from the European Union and 1 million euros contributed by the University of Chile.
Specifically, the center located at the CMM is dedicated to the storage, processing and open access distribution of regional data and products obtained through the Sentinel satellite constellation, which orbits periodically collecting data for earth, oceanic and atmospheric observation.
The first two CopernicusLAC Chile services were presented in July 2024 and are the “Land Use and Land Cover Map” and the “Urban Atlas”. The first one allows the monitoring of changes in the territory, helping to mitigate deforestation, protect biodiversity, ensure food security and promote efficient public policies; while the second one allows the collection of geospatial data on land use in urban areas, supporting the creation of sustainable cities.
Additionally, work is being done on a tool for monitoring oceans and coasts, which will transform global data into regional services, covering aspects such as temperature, water salinity and the height of the sea surface, among others.
© Press Office of the Rector’s Office U. de Chile
Center for Mathematical Modeling
The CMM is today the most active scientific research institution in mathematical modeling in Latin America. It is a center of excellence of the National Agency for Research and Development (ANID) of Chile, integrated by eight partner universities and located at the Faculty of Physical and Mathematical Sciences of the University of Chile. It is also the International Research Laboratory (IRL) #2807 of the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS).
Its mission is to create mathematics in response to problems in other sciences, industry and public policy. It seeks to develop science with the highest standards, excellence and rigor in areas such as data science, climate and biodiversity, education, resource management, mining and digital health.
Posted on Aug 19, 2024 in News
