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Forest Monitoring

Forest Monitoring overview

The world's forests play an important role in the climate, and so monitoring them is a useful indication of how the climate may be changing. It is also useful for tracking both deforestation and forestation.

Sentinel-1's SAR mission supports forest monitoring.

Thematic Results

The Forestry Thematic Exploitation Platform (F-TEP) has now entered the pre-operations phase, providing initial services for Forest Change, Land Cover, Biomass and Vegetation Indices as well as interactive toolboxes. Data is available from Sentinel-1, Sentinel-2 and Landsat.

With the new Earth observation satellites carrying a range of technologies such as radar and multispectral imaging instruments for land, ocean and atmospheric monitoring, data are available for the next 20-30 years. However, this means little unless there are capable people handling them.

From agricultural monitoring to charting changing lands, early images from Europe's new Sentinel-2A satellite show how the 'colour vision' mission's critical observations can be used to keep us and our planet safe.

Developers of apps that use satellite data to assist the agricultural industry took home the top two prizes at this year's ESA App Camp in Barcelona.

A wing for Sentinel-2A

01 September 2014

Image for A wing for Sentinel-2A

Imaging Earth's land with unprecedented speed and resolution has come another step closer as the next Sentinel satellite has been given its solar wing and started a strenuous six-month test campaign to make sure that it is fit for launch next April.

From climate change monitoring to supporting humanitarian aid and crisis situations, early data applications from the month-old Sentinel-1A satellite show how the radar mission's critical observations can be used to keep us and our planet safe.

Within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiations, great attention is given to the future mechanism REDD + (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation).

Satellites can bring new transparency to how forests are being managed. With the increasing production of pulp, paper and timber products, there is concern over the effect that expanding plantations and logging in natural forests have on biodiversity and climate change.

Indonesia contains some of the most diverse and largest contiguous forests remaining in Southeast Asia. These forests represent important ecological systems, provide natural habitats for a diverse range of species, and contain the headwaters of important several rivers.

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