ESA Plan for European Cooperating States

ESA PECS WATER PROJECT

Application of remotely sensed data for transboundary water resource management

The aim of the proposed project is to support the management of water bodies by integrating Earth Observation derived land cover / land use information into specialized water quality and agri-economical models. The water quality models aim at delivering spatially explicit (geo-located) information on the potential matter input into the water cycle, the predicted environmental concentration of these matters in the water bodies. Additionally scenarios can be calculated which depict the potential influence of changing agricultural / environmental conditions resulting from dedicated management measures. The next step is to estimate the economic viability of these management measures to ensure acceptable and sustainable programme of measures, as it is required by the Water Framework Directive (WFD).

The system proposed within the submitted project will include thematic layers, delivering information on character of land use and biomass of vegetation within agricultural areas and grasslands. Data acquired by Earth resources satellites equipped with scanners characterized by different resolutions (SPOT HRV, ENVISAT MERIS, Terra MODIS, Terra SAR-X) will be the basic source of information for creating above mentioned thematic layers. These data will be processed using technologies of land use classification and determination of vegetation indices, prepared at the Institute of Geodesy and Cartography in the course of on-going research projects (e.g. European Geoland project, conducted within 6th Framework Programme). Information derived from satellite images will be calibrated with the use of ground-truth measurements (soil moisture, Leaf Area Index- LAI, biomass). Construction of the system for monitoring quality of surface waters, which will use spatial information derived from remotely sensed data for modeling character and amount of water pollution, will be the final goal of the submitted project.

The project will contribute to implementation of the directives of European Commission and UN recommendations, concerning water management (Water Framework Directive - WFD, Nitrates Directive - 91/676/EEC, UN/ECE Task Force on Water Quality Monitoring and Assessment of Transboundary Rivers). Simultaneously it is related to the on-going and previous projects conducted within European programmes (Geoland, GSE Land, SAGE).

ESA PECS CARBON PROJECT

Study and implement remote sensing techniques for the assessment of carbon balances for different biomasses and soil moistures within various ecosystems

The objective of the Project is to assess level of carbon balance with regard to land use, the amount of biomass, the soil moisture and meteorological conditions. The project will also assess the influence of the land use cover on carbon release and sequestration. Data gathered by various satellites will be used in this project. The thematic scope of the project makes an explicit reference to the current policy of the Ministry of Environment in Poland, expressed by biodiversity activities regarded to carbon balance and Climate Change. The following tasks to be carried out in the course of the project:

• Mapping of the land use with special attention to forest area changes, bio-energy plants and wetland areas,
• Measurements of the soil moisture in different vegetation areas by applying the L- band radiometer and TDR measurements in order to validate ASAR and PALSAR data,
• Measurements of variations of carbon fluxes for areas covered by various vegetation types.

Spatial emphasis will also be put on the wetland areas in terms of changes of soil moisture (source of methane) The satellite data will be used for the model of assessing the carbon balance. The data indispensable to run this model such as soil moisture will be calculated from ASAR measurements. Biomass and height of vegetation will be obtained from long microwave data as ALOS PALSAR and in the nearest future from dedicated BIOMASS MISSION P-SAR band, which will be essential and very important for estimation of forest biomass. Also biomass will be estimated for low vegetation using Terra-SAR-X data and optical data acquired by following satellite sensors: VEGETATION, MERIS, AATSR installed on SPOT and ENVISAT satellites. Also the information on CO2 and CH4 content derived from data collected by Envisat-Sciamachy sensor will be very important source of information both to estimate the carbon balance as well as to verify information obtained from satellites by means of data measured at the ground.

The remote sensing information will come from various satellite sensors: ENVISAT Sciamachy - C02; CH4; ENVISAT ASAR; ALOS - PALSAR; Terra SAR-X BIOMASS Mission Sensors. Also optical data acquired by VEGETATION instruments on SPOT-4 and SPOT-5, the Along Track Scanning Radiometer-2 (ATSR-2) on ERS-2, plus the Advanced Along Track Radiometer (AATSR) and Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) on ENVISAT will be applied in the project. The Project will improve the availability of data and information needed to implement the EU Directives - it is related to activities conducted within the Air Pollution Directive - 96/61/EC The Project is consistent with the following ESA Projects:

• GMES Service Element Land - Core Information Services
• GLOBECARBON and GLOBWETLAND
• BIOMASS Mission
• PROtocol Monitoring for the GMES Service Element; EOEP-2; PROMOTE GMES

as well as with ESA AO and CAT-1 Projects carried out in the Institute of Geodesy and Cartography: AO PI 3742 - ALOS ADEN; 3677 ALOS ADEN; CAT-1 1427; CoI AO 122 and INTAS 06-1000028-9182.