The Full Picture

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SERVIR: putting Earth observation

science and technology into practice

Carrie Stokes, US Agency for International Development

nlike their neighbours in North and South America, the

countries of Central America do not have their own

satellites or space agencies. They have traditionally had

to make important decisions affecting their populations and

diverse natural resources in absence of the significant infor-

mation that Earth observation can provide. Recently, however,

the countries of the region have been able to leverage the satel-

lite resources of other countries, such as the United States, to

implement a unique system which makes available Earth

observation data, monitoring tools and the capability to visu-

alize Earth information in three dimensions. Known as SERVIR

(the Spanish acronym for Regional Visualization and

Monitoring System), the system is based in and serves all seven

Central American countries and southern Mexico. It is the first

regional system of its kind in the world and is a testament to

leveraging North-South and South-South collaboration for

putting Earth observations toward the benefit of society.

How it works

Each participating country contributes to the implementation of

SERVIR by submitting its own geospatial data to a central hub in

Panama, located at the Water Center for the Humid Tropics of

Latin America and the Caribbean (CATHALAC). The

SERVIR team integrates this data and links it to

various types of satellite imagery collected regularly

over the region. Once integrated, the data is dissemi-

nated to decision-makers, researchers, educators,

students and the public via a web portal

(www.servir.net

) in both Spanish and English. The

portal allows for online map-viewing and makes avail-

able for cost-free download intuitive tools that help

the user understand the data. Additionally, the centre

in Panama that houses the SERVIR computers provides

training to environment ministries and meteorologi-

cal services of the region to build their capacity to use

SERVIR tools in their everyday work. With informa-

tion and tools concerning biodiversity, climate change,

disaster management, ecosystems, health, water and

weather, SERVIR provides previously inaccessible

information that can be applied to directly benefit

society. Importantly, it also encourages the standard-

ization of disparate data sets from multiple sources

and the sharing of data across international bound-

aries.

What it does

With so many different kinds of data accessible via a

single web portal, SERVIR can be used to address

many different problems faced by society and its

leaders. In the two years since SERVIR has been oper-

ating, it has been used in numerous ways, and the

demand for what it can do is growing. The most

common application of the system is to analyse the

weather, arguably the single most important factor

influencing economic development in Central

America.

Weather forecasting

– The SERVIR system provides

cost-free products for both monitoring and forecast-

ing weather conditions on an hourly basis. The

system’s servers ingest data provided by the region’s

meteorological services to produce 48-hour forecasts

of a host of variables, including temperature and

precipitation. In a region possessing very few weather

radar stations, the system also makes available cutting-

edge research products, such as a satellite-based

‘virtual radar’ system which can forecast thunderstorm

development an hour in advance, with important

The SERVIR team at CATHALAC

Photo: Science@NASA

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