Funded by

EU

Period of grant

October 2008 to September 2012

Award personnel

Prof. Heiko Balzter, Dr. Kevin Tansey, Dr. Andrew Bradley

Summary

GEOLAND2 is a large European integrated project funded under the GMES initiative (Global Monitoring for Environment and Security). It will implement the GMES Land Monitoring Core Service, which comprises three components: Local, continental and global monitoring. The goal of GEOLAND2 is

1. To prepare, validate and demonstrate pre-operational service chains and products that will underpin the Land Monitoring Core Service,
2. To develop and demonstrate a functional organisation of the Land Monitoring Core Service.

GEOLAND2 will establish a European capacity to monitor natural land resources from satellite, including land cover and land use change, forest cover and disturbances, water resources, protected conservation areas and land degradation to deliver environmental indicators of the sensitivity to climate variability and change. GEOLAND2 brings together more than 50 leading European institutions with strengths in satellite remote sensing research with international and government organisations and the commercial sector. It is led by Infoterra GmbH, Germany. The University of Leicester contributes to two work packages: biophysical parameter retrieval from remote sensing to quantify burned areas (BIOPAR) and monitoring natural resource status in Africa (NARMA).

Biogeophysical Parameters (BIOPAR) work package

We will develop a global inter-comparison tool for the validation and evaluation of satellite derived products of fire activity (active fire and burn scar data). Furthermore we will adapt and evaluate existing burned area detection algorithms to atmospherically corrected AATSR-type instrumentation, producing near real time and off-line biogeophysical parameters describing the continental vegetation state.

Natural Resource Monitoring in ACP countries (NARMA) work package

We will develop environmental assessment tools using satellite remote sensing and ancillary data for natural resource monitoring in Africa. The goal of NARMA is to set up the environmental change monitoring component of the ACP observatory in response to information requirements by the several Directorate Generals of the European Commission and ACP countries themselves. NARMA will focus its activities on identifying appropriate environmental indicators, identifying, testing and implementing analysis process and tools, and providing in a demonstration to the information users.

Depending on user priorities, availability of input data provided by the GEOLAND2 core service and funding mechanisms, the following areas of research have been identified and will be confirmed as the product portfolio through discussions with users:

Rangeland management

• Pastureland and non agricultural domain in arid to sub-humid regions (complete coverage, and focus areas)
• Environmental monitoring of protected areas and neighbouring territories

Land surface monitoring for water management

• Land degradation in large watersheds (Senegal, Niger)
• Environmental monitoring & water resources in the Congo basin
• Small water body monitoring in arid to sub-humid regions

Land cover change monitoring

• Forest
• Agricultural domain

Environmental indicators

• Land surface indicators of sensitivity to climate variability and scenarios for climate change
• Performance indicators in the field of development cooperation (human dimension)