he European Space Agency (ESA) has begun an ambitious project to create a continuously updated map of global land surfaces using observations from space. It is called Global Observation for Forest and Land Cover Dynamics (GOFC/GOLD). It is an international effort to provide ongoing observations of land cover types. “Its aim is to support sustainable development of terrestrial resources as well as improve scientific understanding of how carbon is stored on land surfaces and in particular within forests….” )
To do this, scientists must first develop standardized methods, tools and products for land cover measurements, using space-based plus in-situ observations. Martin Herold, graduate student in Geography and a native of Germany, is on the committee that will accomplish this. (Martin is on the right in the photo of the team at right.) The project team office is located at the Geoinformatics Department of Friedrich Schiller University in Jena, Germany. ESA is funding this office and implementation team for three years.
(All images are from the EOS website.)
