Progress with global rain forest mapping
Significant progress has been made with the international cooperative project for Global Rain Forest Mapping (GRFM) which was launched in 1995 by the Space Applications Institute of the European Commission's Joint Research Centre, the National Space Development Agency of Japan, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in the USA. The aim of the GRFM project is to map the entire tropical rain forest at high resolution and to account for the dynamics of important natural phenomena, such as flooding, twice a year. The sheer size and complexity of the project demanded the setting up of international cooperation for the management and data processing aspects. The establishment of a science programme open to all major remote-sensing laboratories around the world was also necessary. The GFRM project has reached maturity in several respects and the scientists involved in the project will meet from 16 to 20 November 1998 to discuss progress. An interactive video session to be held during the conference will allow scientists to "walk through" and make observations in equatorial Africa, South America and Asia using the "microwave" eyes and looking down from space. This will be the first time that such a snapshot of planet earth has been put together in terms of resolution and coverage. The analysis of the imagery conducted in the JRC's laboratories so far, clearly indicates that the amount of information collected in this manner about these precious earth's resources, is unprecedented.