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Methodology · v1.1

Data boundaries and evidence standard

What EcoSpace currently collects, what it does not establish, and the minimum evidence required before a comparison can be published.

Live source

NASA POWER daily meteorology

EcoSpace requests daily data for the selected stored coordinate from NASA POWER. These readings provide location-level meteorological context; they are not a company measurement.

Variables retained with a context record

  • T2M
    2 m air temperature, °C
  • PRECTOTCORR
    Corrected precipitation, mm/day
  • WS2M
    2 m wind speed, m/s
  • RH2M
    Relative humidity, %
NASA POWER methodology

How the record is labelled

Each new record is marked as meteorological_context and stores the product name, source query URL, method version, and limitation note.

The coordinate may represent a registered headquarters or another stored company coordinate. It is not assumed to be an operating asset or representative of a company’s full footprint.

Regulator-published record

EU ETS verified installation emissions

EcoSpace’s Norwegian pilot pack can retain annual EU ETS installation emissions published by the Norwegian Environment Agency. These are useful public facility records, presented alongside their named installation, reporting period, direct workbook link, and boundary note.

What the register contains

For reviewed pilot locations, EcoSpace stores the regulator-published 2025 installation figure exactly as cited in the Anlegg i EU ETS worksheet. The source describes annual verified emissions for the named installation; the record retains its worksheet and registry identifier.

This adds a real, source-linked emissions record to the desk without turning a company-wide disclosure, a site point, and a satellite layer into one number.

Open the Norwegian Environment Agency workbook

Boundary and comparison use

An EU ETS installation figure is not a group Scope 1 total, a complete company footprint, or a satellite-derived result. It can be a strong cited facility input, but it still needs a compatible observed measure, matching period and spatial boundary, a documented method, quality information, and review before EcoSpace can publish a satellite comparison.

The Environment Agency requires an annual verified greenhouse-gas report for quota-regulated facilities. EcoSpace shows the regulator record as evidence of that named reporting boundary—not as a performance rating or compliance conclusion.

Read the regulator’s EU ETS guidance

Live, free visualization

Sentinel-5P regional NO₂ context

Global View can display the daily Sentinel-5P TROPOMI tropospheric nitrogen-dioxide visualization made available through NASA GIBS. It is a regional atmospheric screening layer kept separate from company-reported values and reviewed comparisons.

What the coloured layer represents

The layer shows a tropospheric NO₂ column derived from Sentinel-5P TROPOMI. NASA GIBS serves the visualization as public map tiles and retains the relevant product metadata. It can help a researcher see broad combustion-related air-pollution context around a mapped location.

The underlying map colour is the satellite product’s own colour scale. EcoSpace does not translate it into a company score, a facility emission rate, a surface concentration, or a CO₂e value.

NASA GIBS layer metadata

What earns a discrepancy circle

Red and orange map zones are not inferred from the atmospheric layer. They require a reviewed, site-linked comparison with one shared unit, overlapping reporting and observation periods, an explicitly matched boundary, direct source URLs, a method/version, quality flags, and documented uncertainty.

A published zone is a review-priority screening signal, not proof of an error, a compliance conclusion, or a rating of a company’s environmental performance.

Live, free source

ESA / Copernicus catalogue context

Copernicus is a complement to—not a substitute for—clear company reporting boundaries and human review. EcoSpace queries the public Copernicus Data Space catalogue without paid imagery or a paid fallback.

Sentinel-2 and land monitoring

EcoSpace queries Sentinel-2 Level-2A catalogue metadata for an approximately 1 km coordinate search area: scene count, product acquisition date, product ID, and tile-level cloud-cover metadata. The source query and calculation version are retained with the context result.

This is a free availability layer. It does not download pixels or calculate an NDVI, land-cover, emissions, waste, water-pollution, or company-performance value.

Pixel-level analysis will be added only for a documented onshore site boundary, quality-filtered scenes, and a reproducible processing method using free CDSE access. EcoSpace will not use a paid automatic fallback.

Copernicus Data Space Ecosystem

Interpretation boundary

Satellite outputs are described as observations or screening signals—not as “ESA verified” findings. A future vegetation-index or land-cover change can flag a review; it cannot establish deforestation, fault, ownership, compliance, or a company’s emissions.

Copernicus is the European Union Earth-observation programme, with ESA managing the Space Component. Neither ESA nor the European Union reviews or endorses EcoSpace findings.

Use boundaries

What the current data can and cannot support

Appropriate use

  • Describe recent location-level meteorological context.
  • Show free Sentinel-2 scene availability and product-level cloud metadata for a coordinate.
  • Display Sentinel-5P regional tropospheric NO₂ context as a distinct satellite visualization.
  • Retain cited company or regulator-reported values with their stated period, unit, and boundary.
  • Help a researcher decide whether a disclosure or a source needs further review.
  • Keep a source query and limitation note with a climate-context record.

Not supported today

  • Satellite-derived company or facility emissions measurement or verification from the current NASA / Copernicus layers.
  • Atmospheric CO₂, NDVI, deforestation, water-pollution, or asset-condition analysis from the current catalogue layer.
  • Automatic gap scores, greenwashing claims, compliance decisions, risk ratings, or audit conclusions.

Publication threshold

Evidence standard for reviewed comparisons

A comparison must be traceable and reviewed before it can be presented as a conclusion.
  1. 01

    Comparable measures

    Reported and observed values must use the same unit, boundary, and time window.

  2. 02

    Traceable source

    Retain a direct report, dataset, or query URL; product/version; processing method; and quality flags.

  3. 03

    Scope

    Identify the asset, organisational boundary, spatial coverage, and limitations.

  4. 04

    Human review

    A reviewer must record notes and mark the evidence as reviewed before it appears as a comparison.

Independence and attribution

Screening information, not NASA verification

EcoSpace uses publicly available NASA POWER data. NASA has not reviewed or endorsed EcoSpace or its findings. Results are screening information, not verification, assurance, compliance advice, or a measurement of company emissions. When reusing NASA data, follow the applicable NASA data-use policy.

Use the workspace to retain source context and reviewer judgement—not to replace either.

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