In November 2001 the ESA (European Space Agency) Council approved a new 5-years ESA programme dedicated to GMES (Global Monitoring for Environment and Security), called GSE (GMES Service Element) for short.
GSE will deliver policy-relevant services to end-users, primarily (but not exclusively) from Earth Observation sources. GSE is a key element of GMES, because it will enable end-users to become key players in the move from present generation Earth Observation satellites to future European systems that will deliver vital information on global environment and security.
GMES is a system supporting decisions, public services, politicians and authorities. Its activities include acquisition, processing and delivery (realized by the national geological surveys) of information about environmental conditions and major natural or human-caused hazards. At a regional level of EU countries, GMES, through the offices of national geological surveys, is to make available information on the regional development, transport, agriculture, and natural resources and their rational use. GMES could also assist local authorities in solving geoenvironmental problems.
The Terrafirma program led and coordinated by the Nigel Press Associates (NPA Group, UK), is one of the ten services being supported by the ESA-GMES Service Element Programme. It aims to provide a Pan-European ground motion hazard information service, to be distributed throughout Europe via the national geological surveys. Terrafirma phase 1 (2003-2005) will reinforce his activities, actions and developments during a second phase (2006-2008).
On the 13th May 2004, the Geological Survey of Belgium signed a partnership agreement with Terrafirma. In 2004 (Terrafirma, phase I), the Geological Survey of Belgium has received the first area of radar interferometry investigations. The area included Brussels and its suburbs. The radar images (descending orbit) processing has been conducted by Tele-Rilevemento-Europa (TRE - a spin-off of the "Politecnico di Milano"). In 2006 (during the fist year of the Terrafirma phase II), the radar images (descending orbit) of the second area (the cities of Liège-Visé-Maastricht-Hasselt) have been processed by NPA.
Radar images from the european satellites (ERS1, ERS2 and ENVISAT), used in Terrafirma, come from thousands of images stored in the archives of the European Space Agency since 1992.
Acquisition of satellite data allows to identify ground movements at the scale of one millimetre of the earth surface. The radar interferometry (PSInSAR technique) is used by the GSB. This technique will enhance the monitoring of the ground motions in urban and mining areas in Belgium.