High resolution CSK data for emergency response

On January 13, 2012, the Italian vessel Costa Concordia wrecked offshore the Giglio Island, along the coast of Tuscany (Italy). The ship partially sunk, lying on the starboard side on a steep rocky seabed, creating also pernicious conditions for divers involved in the search and rescue operations. Starting from January 19, the Italian COSMO-SkyMed (CSK) constellation of was tasked to acquire high resolution images of the wreck. Thanks to CSK's short response and revisiting time and its capability to acquire high resolution images in spotlight mode, satellite data were integrated within the real time, ground-based monitoring system already installed, in order to provide the Civil Protection authorities with a regular update on the ship stability.