Use drones to monitor and control the dunes and coastline, any burnt areas and piles of waste, the course of rivers and the state of quarries for restoration actions. It is essential that the operating procedures are the same in all regions and the data collected is comparable.
The second joint exercise conducted by 70 drone experts from the National Environmental Protection System. After the first meeting in Emilia Romagna last November, the areas involved on this occasion are the coastal environments in the municipality of San Rossore (PI), the Pisani Mountains (municipality of Calci) and some abandoned quarries in the Monsumanno area (PT).
Alongside the operational phase, there is classroom activity at the general management of Arpa Toscana, in which the Tuscany region making “3D data” available to Tuscan authorities, a free platform that collects and uses the data collected by drones in the monitoring and control of the territory.
In Ispra and in the environmental agencies of the Regions, some units are operational that use remotely piloted aircraft systems (UAS – Unmanned Aircraft Systems) with the aim of making the monitoring of various components of the environment more effective. UAS are used in the environmental field for the mapping of land and habitat transformations, in the monitoring of surface waters and air quality, as a support for plant inspections or for the identification of environmental crimes such as dumping and abandonment of waste.
The progressive diffusion of the use of drones and, more generally, of Earth observation techniques in the activities of environmental agencies and Ispra, represents a significant improvement in environmental monitoring, control and research capabilities. The high detail of the information detected, the versatility – which allows acquisition at the most suitable moments for the description of the phenomena of interest – and the repeatability at low costs constitute strong points of these techniques, to which is added greater safety and productivity for operators, especially in environmental contexts that are difficult to access. Among the objectives of the comparison, the possibility of integrating the monitoring carried out using UAS technologies with satellite Earth observation data and products, such as those made available by the European Copernicus program, as part of the FPCUP Copernicus4SNPA project.
The choice to organize moments of discussion on this methodology is part of the effort made by SNPA towards a growing homogenization of operational procedures, with the aim of defining a common and shared standard at national level for the use of these technologies in the field of monitoring and environmental controls. An activity that is part of a path curated by the table “Strengthening the supporting infrastructures of the System” (Tic III-03), to promote the spread of the use of drones. The three-day training course is organized by Ispra, Arpa Toscana with the support of the Tuscany Region, Arpa Valle d’Aosta, Arpa Lombardia.
