Polar View is an international organisation specialising in satellite-based monitoring of the polar regions and global marine environments. With extensive expertise in delivering operational services, Polar View supports users in addressing environmental and climate-related challenges through Earth observation.

The challenge

Polar regions face extreme environmental conditions—sub-zero temperatures, winter darkness, and dangerous sea ice and icebergs—that make navigation perilous. The scarcity of in-situ sensors across vast and remote polar areas leads to critical data gaps, increasing the risks of maritime incidents. Regulatory frameworks such as the IMO Polar Code demand improved ice information, but data fragmentation and jurisdictional boundaries limit coordination and access to reliable forecasts.

The satellite solution

The DESIDE project, funded by the European Space Agency (ESA) and led by Polar View and the Danish Meteorological Institute (DMI) uses DESP/DestinE system capabilities to generate enhanced polar data services. By integrating RCM ARD data (Analysis Ready Data from the RADARSAT Constellation Mission), Sentinel satellites, and other polar datasets, the project provides comprehensive, multi-jurisdictional sea ice products. Key tools include a Sea Ice Chart Data Cube for planning and AI training, a method to track ice movement between satellite images, and tailored delivery via platforms such as IcySea, Polar Dashboard, and Polar TEP. These solutions support ship operators, analysts, and researchers alike.

The results

• Improved sea ice tracking and forecasting to support safety, planning, and emergency response.
• Greater operational safety for vessels navigating polar waters through more reliable and accessible ice data.
• Reduced emissions via optimized ship routing and voyage planning.
• Protection of environmentally sensitive areas through more accurate forecasts and policy support.
• Enhanced access to polar data for scientific research and AI-based analysis.

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Polar View is an international organisation specialising in satellite-based monitoring of the polar regions and global marine environments. With extensive expertise in delivering operational services, Polar View supports users in addressing environmental and climate-related challenges through Earth observation.

The challenge

Climate change calls for a fundamental transformation of our economies and societies. The global push toward a low-carbon, circular, and nature-positive economy—known as the Green Transition—must be supported by reliable data and decision-support tools, especially in vulnerable regions such as the Arctic and North Atlantic. The challenge lies in helping public and private actors plan and operate in ways that are both economically viable and environmentally sustainable, across sectors including maritime transport, renewable energy, and aquaculture.

The satellite solution

The Cerulean Information Factory (CIF), led by Polar View and funded by ESA, co-develops user-driven services that draw on satellite data, particularly from the Copernicus Marine Service, to support decision-making in three key sectors:

• Shipping: A route optimisation tool combining ocean and ice data with IMO CII metrics to improve safety and reduce emissions.
• Offshore renewables: A toolkit using historical and seasonal ocean data to assess site suitability and operational risk for wind, wave, and tidal energy.
• Aquaculture: A service integrating Copernicus and meteorological data to support site selection and risk monitoring, including water quality indicators.

The results

CIF delivers operational geospatial services that make satellite data accessible and actionable for end users. Key outcomes include:

• Minimizing carbon emissions from ships while maintaining safe and economical operations in and around sea ice.
• Assessing the suitability of sites for offshore renewable energy installations to balance the potential for energy production with the risks associated with hazards such as structural icing and extreme weather conditions.
• Assessment of the suitability of sites for aquaculture facilities to balance the potential for bio-productivity with the risks associated with sea ice and harmful algal blooms.

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Copenhagen Solutions Lab

Copenhagen Solutions Lab is an internal consultancy of the Technical and Environmental Department of the Municipality of Copenhagen, in Denmark. With a staff of eight people, Copenhagen Solutions Lab works on issues of transversal interest among the City’s departments by using innovative technologies to promote green urban strategies and policies.

The challenge

Air quality is an issue that concerns several municipal departments, including those responsible for adaptation to climate change, environmental protection, transport, biodiversity, water, economic development, and, — especially — health.

Indeed, even in a clean city like Copenhagen, air pollution is identified as one of the main causes of premature deaths and it is suspected of exacerbating illnesses such as cancers, cardiovascular, respiratory and lung diseases, and even neuro-logical disorders like autism, dementia, Parkinson’s, depressions, and more

Traditionally, air quality is monitored through sensors at static stations located around the city. These provide a generic representation of air quality, and in particular its annual average, which reveals long-term trends. Nevertheless, traditional measurements are not able to deliver precise information on where and when pollutants are most present during the day and people are exposed to it.

Copenhagen Solutions Lab was looking for ways to localise air pollution at the street level and to understand when specific city spots are particularly vulnerable to this phenomenon.

The satellite solution

In 2017, Google offered to support the efforts of Copenhagen Solutions Lab by using the methodology developed within their Air View Project, with the help of the University of Utrecht and the University of Aarhus.

Google equipped its Street View cars with air quality sensors and collected data on air quality in every street of Copenhagen. The measurements targeted the pollutants that are emitted in the city, especially nitrogen dioxide, ultrafine particulate matter and black carbon.

The cars logged one measurement per second, collecting very granular spatial data on air quality, which could be geolocated thanks to the Satellite Navigation systems embedded in the cars. These passed on every street at least six times during one and a half year, in order to get the seasonal distribution of air pollution. This was done until March 2020, when the city lockdown caused by the COVID-19 crisis was declared in Copenhagen.

The spatial accuracy of the information collected in such a way allows for the identification of correlations between human activities, infrastructure and air pollution, according to the time of the day and the season.

The results

In October 2019, a preliminary map of air quality in Copenhagen was published and presented by the City’s Deputy Mayor at the meeting of the mayors of the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, that was taking place in Copenhagen.

In the same year, the project caught the attention of other local and international partners. Gehl Architects, a Copenhagen-based urban design agency, got interested in the map and decided to use it to understand how they could reduce the effects of air pollution on children by redesigning public spaces. This initiative, The Thrive Zone project, funded by the Bernard van Leer Foundation and the ICLEI Action Fund, aims at designing urban solutions to increase air quality and reduce exposure to pollution, and at involving citizens in data collection, design and in behavioural changes.

In particular, Gehl mapped childcare institutions and interviewed care workers and care givers on children’ movements in two neighbourhoods, and crossed such data with the information they had on air quality to understand how air pollution impacts on them. Afterwards, Gehl produced a “Cleaner Air Network” map, indicating the areas where air quality is better and where children could spend more time, suggesting urban design interventions.

The final map of Copenhagen’s air quality was released openly in the Spring 2021, accessible to anyone. The map allows for the identification of the most polluted areas (major inroads, airport and the city centre) for the different pollutants, i.e. nitrogen dioxide, ultrafine particulates and black carbon. The map aims at serving all departments of the City’s administration, by putting air quality at the core of city policies.

Copenhagen AirView NO2

The dataset and the model to use it are made available to support urban policies aimed at reducing the exposure to pollution, especially for the most vulnerable groups. Meanwhile, the Thrive Zone project continues to test how implementation can happen in existing urban areas and document effects in real life settings, e.g. by using bushes and trees to contrast fine particles, or by building spaces for children and the elderly where air quality is higher) and to make residents less exposed to pollution by changing their behaviour (i.e. by spending less time in polluted areas).

“By making scientific data available to citizens, we have the potential to make global challenges relevant at the local scale”, Rasmus Reeh, Copenhagen Solutions Lab

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The Municipality of Lemvig, on the west coast of the Jutland peninsula in Denmark, has a population of 21 500. The Municipality covers an area of more than 500 km2, including the towns of Lemvig and Thyborøn-Harboøre. Lemvig is surrounded by water, with three fjords on its southern borders and a string of islands on its western perimeter.

Lemvig Vand og Spildevand (Lemvig Water and Wastewater) is the private supply company (100% owned by the Municipality of Lemvig) in charge of managing 575 km of waste-water pipeline and 580 km of drinking-water pipelines in the area.

The challenge

Lemvig Vand og Spildevand noticed that, while pipelines in the area had an average life of 75 years, pipes in Thyborøn would only last 30 years. Afterwards, the pipes had to be changed, which implied an effort both in terms of money and human resources. Moreover, substituting the pipes also causes inconveniences to residents during the necessary works.

Trying to understand what caused pipes in Thyborøn to degradate faster than in the rest of the Municipality, the company noticed that soil in Thyborøn would subside more than in other areas. Hence, they started looking for a tool that would allow them to monitor soil subsidence, better place the assets and intervene promptly on damaged pipes. The company had a long-term experience with precision levelling, but wanted a system to automatically monitor soil deformation throughout time while minimising the need for site inspections.

The satellite solution

In the late Nineties, Lemvig Vand og Spildevand decided to start using InSAR data to monitor soil subsidence in the area. The experience proved successful. Between 2014 and 2016, the European Union and the European Space Agency launched Sentinel 1, a constellation of two satellites with a high spatio-temporal resolution and coverage whose data is freely available. Thanks to a collaboration with the Lemvig municipality, the Danish Costal Authority and the Danish Agency for Data Supply and Efficiency, Sentinel data were used to assess land movements in Lemvig, documenting a subsidence up to 1 cm per year in Thyborøn.

The results

By using the soil deformation maps generated with Sentinel data, Lemvig Vand og Spildevand is able to precisely monitor soil subsidence in the area, in order to identify the pipes that need to be restored before they break up and with no need for regular site inspections. The company is now able to better manage its assets, and to position the pipes where they are expected to last longer.

They are so satisfied of the results obtained so far, that they are now working to launch a modelling pipe programme that would use Sentinel data to visualise the position of the pipes dynamically. This system would increase pipes’ lifetime of at least 10% and is expected to generate €500 000 of revenues per year.

The Danish Agency for Data Supply and Efficiency (SDFE) is currently working to identify other sectors of use of Sentinel data, both in the public and the private sectors.

Today, the utility sector believes that the underground is stationary – but actually it is moving. Satellite data allow us to monitor such movements, better place the pipes and extend their duration”, Lars Nørgård Holmegaard, CEO at Lemvig Vand og Spildevand.

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