Earth Sessions: Using WEkEO data and tools for monitoring natural disasters

On 24 and 26 February 2026, WEkEO held a two-half-day training session on the critical topic of Natural Disasters: Earth Observation for Extreme Events.

Credit: European Union, WEkEO, Information (2026), ©Mercator Ocean.

Part of our online Earth Sessions series aimed at allowing users to unlock the full potential of WEkEO, this training session was designed to help participants access, use and apply WEkEO data and services for monitoring natural disasters, including volcanic eruptions, flooding and fires.  

Over 900 participants from 104 countries took part in this innovative training session, with the highest numbers coming from Italy, Spain and Germany, and 51% of attendees joining a Copernicus Marine event for the first time. 

Credit: European Union, WEkEO, Information (2026), ©Mercator Ocean.

WEkEO tools, disaster scenarios, and real-world cases 

During the first half-day of training, participants learned about fire hotspots and smoke monitoring with Sentinel-3, were introduced to the DASK Gateway available through WEkEO cloud, and heard presentations from guest speakers on the role of anthropogenic climate change in the record-breaking 2020 Lake Victoria flood and on visualising tropical cyclones impacts using altimetry.  

The second half-day was dedicated to tutorial demonstrations based on real-world extreme event scenarios, including the 2025 eruption of Mount Etna and a tornado outbreak in the United States.  

The training aims to equip participants to use WEkEO tools and data independently across a wide range of disaster-related applications and the recordings and tutorials are now available.   

Credit: European Union, WEkEO, Information (2026), ©Mercator Ocean.

Positive feedback and testimonials 

Thanks to the excellent guest speakers and hands-on tutorials, the feedback from participants was overwhelmingly positive. Responses to our participant survey revealed that 93% found the training useful, awarding it a score of at least 4 out of 5.  

Participants shared that the session was “very informative and well-structured” and particularly appreciated the “focus on real-world disaster scenarios”, “practical demonstrations of how WEkEO can be used”, and that the “speakers clearly knew their stuff!” 

Additional Resources 

• Access the Natural Disasters Training Session event page  
• Catch up with the session Replays, Presentations and Tutorials