Remote sensing of Mediterranean desertification and environmental changes
The results of the RESMEDES project, carried out within the framework of the EU's Environment and Climate research programme, have recently been published. The aim of the project was to further develop space borne tools for the study of processes on land surfaces which may lead to desertification in the Mediterranean area. The study built on previous research projects, EFEDA and RESRAPS, which had the same objectives but concentrated on regional and relatively short time investigations and validated satellite measurements against observations on the ground. The specific goal of RESMEDES was therefore to expand the area of investigation to larger regions and eventually to the whole Mediterranean basin. The project also aimed to generate longer validated time series of satellite data and to resolve remaining interpretation problems by further comparisons with collateral data. The report is divided into a series of sections which deal with the following: - Introduction to the main aims of the project and the international context of the research; - The objective and context of the project in relation to previous research; - The work performed and the results obtained; - Data policy covering satellite and collateral data archives and a proposed CD-ROM project; - Conclusions, perspectives and recommendations for further research.