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CONTENTSREPORT ON THE 11TH CEOS PLENARY
News From the Working Group on Information Systems and Services
CEOS Working Group on Calibration and Validation
IGOS Strategic Implementation Team - Progress Report
The Global Ocean Data Assimilation Experiment
The Upper Air Measurements
Long-Term Continuity of Ozone Measurements
Ocean Biology
Global Observation of Forest Cover ---This page
Disaster Management Support
The Global Terrestrial Observing System
ISRO takes over CEOS Chair for 1998
Global Observation of Forest Cover
Frank J. Ahern (Canada)Introduction
In 1997, a number of technology developments have converged with worldwide concern about the future of the earth's forests and climate to stimulate international cooperation in a new project called Global Observations of Forest Cover.
Environmental concerns
Deforestation and global warming have become important environmental concerns. These are immense problems, global in scope. The nations of the earth, led by the United Nations, have laid the groundwork to deal with them. Several initiatives have resulted in numerous institutional developments and scientific studies attempting to better understand and deal with global processes, particularly those driven by increasing population and development pressures.
Technology developments
Since 1972, the earth has been under observation from space with satellites designed to provide more detailed information about earth resources, such as forests. The data from these satellites has been widely used to map and monitor forest resources. However, these mapping and monitoring projects have generally been made within individual juristictions, such as states, provinces, or forest management units. Until recently, there has been little effort to use earth observation data, particularly from the higher resolution natural resource satellites, to create a consistent global picture of the earth's forests, or to monitor changes in the forests worldwide. In response to concerns about the global impact of human activities on the earth's forests, researchers have begun to assemble national, continental, and global data sets from earth-observation satellites in an attempt to provide badly-needed information about the state of the earth's forests, and how they are changing. .
These efforts have demonstrated that it is technically possible to bring together data from the earth-observation satellites from several countries, and to analyze the data to provide better information than previously available about the extent of the earth's forests, how forest ecosystems are functioning, and how they are changing as a result of human activities and climate change. A number of scientific collaborations have been created to combine such massive amounts of data with other information about forests and the human and natural processes which affect them, to provide a better understanding of forest changes in the context of the current economic and social situation. As part of its mandate to provide reliable information about the state of Earth's forests, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization has also used data from earth observation satellites to help provide a more complete picture.
CEOS Response
Recognizing the accomplishments to date, but also the shortcomings
(earth observation data could be much more widely used than they are at
present to assist in sustainable management of earth's forests), the space
agencies of the world, through the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites,
have indicated their interest in a program of Global Observations of Forest
Cover. The objectives are to increase international cooperation in the
integration and use of data from several earth observation satellites for
mapping and monitoring the earth's forests, and to provide feedback to
the space agencies to enable them to better coordinate future space missions.
A team of experts met in Ottawa, Canada, in July, 1997 to draft a plan
for a co-ordinated program of Global Observations of Forest Cover. This
plan resulted in an ambitious list of nine types of products (such as land
cover, landcover change, fire scars, and several indicators of the biophysical
functioning of forests) which could be produced for all of Earth's forests
through suitable use of data from existing optical and microwave satellites.
They also proposed a plan to achieve ongoing operational production of
these products within a five-year timeframe. Subsequently, this plan has
been endorsed by CEOS members. As a result, there will be a one-year design
phase in 1998 to produce a detailed design of for a network of agencies
to work together to develop the systems and know-how to produce the proposed
products. Following this will come a two-year prototype phase where the
products are produced regionally to test the system and iron out problems,
and then a two-year execution phase to demonstrate the process on a world-wide
basis.
(continued from Page 8) Ocean Biology
ly self-supporting. The IOCCG uses the magazine backscatter as a publication outlet. A server is maintained on the World-Wide Web(www.ioccg.org) to provide a one-stop information dispensary on ocean colour. Effective liaison has been established between users and providers of ocean-colour data (the committee consists of elements from both camps). A technical workshop convened by the IOCCG in October 1997 will provide the space agencies with important advice on how to ensure the compatibility of future ocean-colour missions. A two-week training course on remote sensing, held in Chile in November 1997, co-sponsored by the IOCCG, helped to broaden the base of expertise world-wide in the applications of ocean-colour data, and in particular was instrumental in stimulating applications of ocean colour in the Latin American Region.
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