1998 is the design year for GOFC, and we are currently in the midst of the design phase. We began 1998 with a meeting in Washington, D.C. to plan the design phase. At that meeting we created five design teams, each with specific tasks to accom-plish. Each design team is co-chaired by two or more persons who have been very active in continental to global scale projects dealing with forests. Most of the co-chairs have also been active in the development of GOFC to date. The design teams, their co-chairs, and tasks are shown in following Table.
Since the December meeting the design teams have been formed and most
have met to address their tasks. In September the Design Team co-chairs
will meet for an End-to-End Design Review to integrate their plans. The
objective will be to draft a GOFC Design document, which can be refined
for wide circulation, which clearly states GOFC objectives (with emphasis
on deliverable products), and identifies priority activity areas to achieve
these objectives.
Forest fires have been a serious problem in many parts of the world
from late 1997 until now (August, 1998). Earth-observation data have played
an essential role in monitoring these fires and the resulting smoke plumes.
The public has been provided unprecedented access to E-O data on many websites
dealing with various aspects of the forest fire problem. Several organizations
have proposed projects to improve the information content and timely availability
of E-O data of forest fires. In cooperation with the IGOS Disaster Management
Project, GOFC will address the problems of the production and distribution
of polar-orbiting meteoro-logical satellite data for forest fire detection
and monitoring.GOFC expects to identify the mapping of burned areas as
a high priority area where additional international cooperation can make
a major contribution toward providing essential information in a timely,
consistent manner around the globe.
During 1998, we have made contact with organizations which need various
kinds of information about forests, to let them know about GOFC, establish
linkages, and obtain a better understanding of their information requirements.
Among these are the Biological Diversity Convention Secretariat, the Canadian
Interagency Forest Fire Commission, the International Institute for Sustainable
Development, the World Resources Institute, and the North American Forest
Commission. Invited presentations about GOFC and its relationship to IGOS
and CEOS have been made at the First International Conference on Geospatial
Information in Agriculture and Forestry in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, and
the 27th International Symposium on Remote Sensing of Environment in Tromso,
Norway. (See
article on page 2.)
