Remote sensing for forest monitoring in Europe
The European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) has published an invitation to tender for the completion of a research and development study within the framework of the FMERS (Forest monitoring in Europe using remote sensing) project, an application project implemented by the JRC's Centre for Earth Observation (CEO) programme. FMERS (Forest monitoring in Europe using remote sensing) was launched as a CEO application project within the framework of the Forest Information from Remote Sensing (FIRS) project. The goal of these projects is to satisfy the information requirements within the European Commission by using earth observation data to complement the information already being collected using more traditional methods. The outputs from this study will serve to support EC services in DG VI. The first part of the FMERS project (FMERS-I) started in September 1997. This invitation to tender represents the second part of the FMERS project (FMERS-II). The main aim of the study to be carried out is to investigate the extent to which it is possible to use existing and new remote sensing data to infer above-ground woody biomass (and volume for boreal forests) of European forests and other wooded land (OWL). The study will be undertaken for two test sites, one forest and other wooded land located in the Mediterranean region of Europe and the other one in the boreal region. An analysis will be done on the performance of the model(s) when applied outside the sites for which detailed ground data are available and for which accurate relationships can be computed. Methodologies will be developed for applying optical data and, if judged relevant by the bidder, microwave data, at the following three spatial resolutions: - 1. Very high (less than 10 m pixel resolution); - 2. High (less than 100 m pixel resolution); - 3. Medium (between 100 m and 300 m resolution). The contractor is asked to provide above-ground woody biomass (and volume) estimates and a digital database illustrating the spatial or geographical distribution of the estimates for each resolution and for each test site. The results obtained from each sensor type will be quantitatively compared and validated using detailed ground data, in such a way as to illustrate the limitations and the benefits of using the different data types for assessing above-ground green biomass and volume. The relevant tender documentation may be requested from: European Commission Joint Research Centre Mr. P. Churchill TP 441 I-21020 Ispra Tel. +39-332-785425; Fax +39-332-785461 E-mail: ceo.helpdesk@jrc.it