Conference Paper

The Black Sea is one of the world’s basins with the most severe environmental degradation. The environmental problems of the Black Sea are intimately related to the unique characteristics of the marine environment. Efficient analysis and interpretation of EO data (especially satellite imagery) can contribute to a better understanding of these environmental challenges. In spite of the large number of data sources and information services, these are not always accessible to ordinary users.
In order to meet the users demands of simple interfaces to inspect, download, process and analyze the data, ASRC developed ESPOSS - a web based EO data access and processing application for the Black Sea. The application incorporates geospatial data from various sources (satellite images, in-situ data, model outputs) and serves as a working tool for the scientific community and the relevant decision makers.
It offers services based on Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) standards for data retrieval (WMS, WCS, WFS) and server-side processing (WPS). The services were built upon open source solutions such as GeoServer, OpenLayers, GeoExt, PostgreSQL, GDAL. The application is composed of several software modules/services. The modules are split into two categories: server-side modules/services (e.g. data processing, transformation, discovery services) and client side modules - responsible for interaction with the user (Graphical User Interface).
Through ESPOSS, the users have access, among other geospatial data, to a wealth of satellite data coming from various sources and sensors (e.g. MERIS, SMOS, MODIS, AVHRR, SeaWiFS),all related to Black Sea environmental parameters (e.g. Sea Surface Temperature, Chlorophyll concentrations, Sediment related data).