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Cyprus can be found in a critical location, a geostrategic location among Asia, North Africa, and Europe. This is particularly important, thus, can affect the marine environment with the vessels that pass through the sea. A severe form of pollution can be an oil spill. An oil spill is a liquid, usually petroleum hydrocarbon, released to the sea and can affect the marine ecosystem and humans. Oil spills can be recorded as marine incidents or accidents. In August 2021, one of the essential accidental oil spills came from the northeast coast of Syria. In the present study, we will try to implement a spatial analysis of oil spill detection by combing remote sensing techniques and monitoring, using the Sentinel Application Platform (SNAP) and the consequences that follow this procedure. The implementation was made using two different polarization; vertical polarization (VV) and horizontal comparison (VH). The preliminary results show that the Sentinel-1 SAR data would give effective results and spatial information on oil spill detection to decision-makers.

Seagrasses are one of the most valuable ecosystems in the sea. Seagrasses provide shelter and protection to newborn fish, and food, it is an indicator of the health of coastal ecosystems and plays a key role in the protection of erosion. Seagrasses provide many ecosystem services. In order to act helpfully for the health of this kind of valuable ecosystem, it is very important to map the seagrass beds. Seagrass mapping allows us to detect, monitor, and finally protect them from different sources of pressure. Seagrasses are very sensitive to changes, and this can affect the health of this type of ecosystem. For the first step, we have to detect what exists in Cyprus's area of interest. There are many ways we can implement the detection and mapping of seagrass. We will provide an estimation with pixel-based image analysis. The purpose of the paper proceedings is to detect seagrass with pixel-based image analysis, in Cyprus's area of interest, and especially the broader area of Paphos district. The authors acknowledge the ‘EXCELSIOR’: ERATOSTHENES: Excellence Research Centre for Earth Surveillance and Space-Based Monitoring of the Environment H2020 Widespread Teaming project (www.excelsior2020.eu). The ‘EXCELSIOR’ project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under Grant Agreement No 857510, from the Government of the Republic of Cyprus through the Directorate General for the European Programmes, Coordination and Development and the Cyprus University of Technology.”

In the last five years, the urban development of the city of Limassol has rapidly increased in the sectors of industry, trade, real estate, and many others. This exponentially increased urban development arises several concerns about the aggravation of potential land subsidence in the Limassol coastal front. Forty six Copernicus Sentinel-1 acquisitions from 2017 to 2021 have been processed and analyzed using the Sentinel Application Platform (SNAP) and the Stanford Method for Persistent Scatterers (StaMPS). A case study for the identification and analysis of the persistent scatterers (PS) in pixels in a series of interferograms and the quantity of the land displacements in the line of sight of the Limassol coastal front is presented in this research, with subsidence rates up to about (−5 to 4 mm/year). For the validation of the detected deformation, accurate ground-based geodetic measurements along the coastal area were used. Concordantly, considering that there is a significant number of skyscrapers planned or currently under construction, this study attempts a preliminary assessment of the impact these structures will pose on the coastal front of the area of Limassol.

Satellite remote sensing is considered as an increasingly important technology for detecting underground structures. It can be applied to a wide range of applications, as shown by various researchers. However, there is a great need to integrate information from a variety of sources, sent at different times and of different qualities using remote sensing tools. A SVC-HR1024 field spectroradiometer could be used, and in-band reflectance’s are determined for medium- and high-resolution satellite sensors, including Landsat. Areas covered by natural soil where underground structures are present or absent can easily be detected, as a result of the change in the spectral signature of the vegetation throughout the phenological stages; in this respect, vegetation indices (VIs) such as the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), simple ratio (SR), and enhanced vegetation index (EVI) may be used for this purpose. Notably, the SR vegetation index is useful for determining areas where military underground structures are present.

In the last five years, the urban development of Limassol City has rapidly increased in the sectors of industry, trade, real estate, and many others. This exponentially increased urban development introduces several concerns about the aggravation of the land subsidence in the Limassol coastal front. Fifty Copernicus Sentinel-1 data from 2017-2021 have been processed and analyzed using the Sentinel Application Platform (SNAP) and the Stanford Method for Persistent Scatters (StaMPS). A case study for the identification and analysis of the elements (PS) in pixels in a series of interferograms, and then, the quantity of the land displacements in the Line of Sight, in the Limassol coastal front, is presented in this research, with the subsidence rates up to about (-5 to 4 mm / year). For the validation of the detected deformation, accurate ground-based geodetic measurements along the coastal area were used. Concordantly, taking into account that there are a significant number of skyscrapers planned to be built, this study attempts a preliminary assessment of the impact these structures will pose on the coastal front of the area of Limassol.

Geophysical Research Abstracts, 2018, Volume 20, EGU2018-7390 The aim of this paper is to present our vision to upgrade the existing ERATOSTHENES Research Centre (ERC) established within the Cyprus University of Technology (CUT) into a sustainable, viable and autonomous Centre of Excellence (CoE) for Earth Surveillance and Space-Based Monitoring of the Environment, which will provide the highest quality of related services on the National, European and International levels. EXCELSIOR is a Horizon 2020 Teaming project which addresses a specific challenge defined by the work program, namely, the reduction of substantial disparities in the European Union by supporting research and innovation activities and systems in low performing countries. It also aims at establishing long-term and strategic partnerships between the Teaming partners, thus reducing internal research and innovation disparities within European Research and Innovation landscape. The proposed CoE envisions the upgrading of the existing ERC into an inspiring environment for conducting basic and applied research and innovation in the areas of the integrated use of remote sensing and space-based techniques for monitoring the environment. Environment has been recognized by the Smart Specialization Strategy of Cyprus as the first horizontal priority for future growth of the island. The foreseen upgrade will regard the expansion of this vision to systematic monitoring of the environment using Earth Observation, space and ground based integrated technologies. Such an approach will lead to the systematic monitoring of the the Environment. Five partners have united to upgrade the existing ERC into a CoE, with the common vision to become a world-class innovation, research and education centre, actively contributing to the European Research Area (ERA). More specifically, the Teaming project is a team effort between the Cyprus University of Technology (CUT, acting as the coordinator), the German Aerospace Centre (DLR), the National Observatory of Athens (NOA), the German Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research (TROPOS) and the Cyprus Department of Electronic Communications of the Ministry of Transport, Communications and Works (DEC-MTCW).

The aim of this paper is to present our strategy and vision to upgrade the existing ERATOSTHENES Research Centre (ERC), established within Cyprus University of Technology (CUT), into a sustainable, viable and autonomous Centre of Excellence (CoE) for Earth Surveillance and Space-Based Monitoring of the Environment (EXCELSIOR), which will provide the highest quality of related services both on the National, European and International levels. The ‘EXCELSIOR’ project is a Horizon 2020 Teaming project, addressing the reduction of substantial disparities in the European Union by supporting research and innovation activities and systems in low performing countries. It also aims at establishing long-term and strategic partnerships between the Teaming partners, thus reducing internal research and innovation disparities within European Research and Innovation landscape. The ERCis already an established player in the local community and has excellent active collaboration with actors from various sectors in (a) the government, (b) industry, (c) local organisations, and (d) society. In order to further engage users and citizens and to become more attractive to international research and education community, the Centre aims to be fully involved in strategic positioning on the national level, but also in Europe, the Middle East region and internationally. Some examples of how space technologies are integrated with other tools or techniques such as UAV, field spectroscopy, micro-sensors, EO space/in-situ sensors etc. for the systematic monitoring of the environment is shown. Indeed such examples fulfills the objectives of the COPERNICUS academy network (in which ERC is a member) for empowering the next generation of researchers, scientists, and entrepreneurs with suitable skill sets to use Copernicus data and information services to their full potential. Finally, opportunities for future collaboration and investments with the ERC in the Eastern Mediterranean Region are stated. Five partners have united to upgrade the existing ERC into a CoE, with the common vision to become a world-class innovation, research and education centre, actively contributing to the European Research Area (ERA). More specifically, the Teaming project is a team effort between the Cyprus University of Technology (CUT, acting as the coordinator), the German Aerospace Centre (DLR), the Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics Space Applications and Remote Sensing of the National Observatory of Athens (NOA), the German Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research (TROPOS) and the Cyprus’ Department of Electronic Communications of the Ministry of Transport, Communications and Works (DEC-MTCW).