Understanding of the land system and monitoring its transformation implies identification of spatial patterns and evolution over time. The large volumes of free data acquired systematically by the Copernicus satellites (with continuity of observations ensured for the next decades) offer an invaluable source of information, however technical and knowledge barriers seem to prevent their exploitation. The Research and User Support (RUS) for Sentinel Core Products (funded by EC and run by ESA) aims to foster user's uptake of such data, by offering free Virtual Machines and processing power with pre-installed open source SW, and by training prospective users (researchers, scientists, public authorities, SMEs, trainers…) to derive information from the data.

We plan to explain how to get this free service and to demonstrate one application relevant for the Land community. Complexity would depend on the background of the majority of the participants.

Two options may be offered: 1. Simple demo during which we explain step by step how to process the EO data to derive the final product (exploiting Open source toolboxes available in RUS). In this case we have no specific technical requirements (apart for one lan cable+ Internet connection for the trainer and a projector + screen),

2. Real training session during which participants access with their laptop the Virtual Machines pre-configured by the RUS service, following the step by step exercise demonstrated by our trainers. In this case we have strict requirements in terms of Internet connection (we need a Lan cable for each participant and a connection per participant of 2.5 Mb/s: this normally limits the number of participants to 20-22 and may require selection of the candidates; furthermore a duration of 2 hours would perhaps be more appropriate for this format).

Training Organisers: Francesco Palazzo, Chloe Gilles, Miguel Castro Gomez, and Tereza Smejkalova