Global Land Vegetation Monitoring

Access to VREs

VREs are accessible through the D4Science portal.

Purpose and description

The Global Land Vegetation Monitoring (GVM) Virtual Research Environment (VRE), implemented during the D4Science project, integrates heterogeneous satellite images of vegetative land cover with a pool of different sources of information related to Earth Science data and products. The scientific user community can access through a dedicated Virtual Research Environment to many different data sources, including: ESA special issues Living planet Programme and Earth Observation Handbooks, European Environmental Agency (EEA) technical reports, European Space Agency (ESA) Earth Images, Environmental Satellite (Envisat) Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) and Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR) data, along with Envisat MERIS Global Vegetation Index (MGVI) and Land satellite (Landsat 7) products and maps.

Vegetative land cover is an important variable in many Earth system processes. General circulation and carbon exchange models require vegetative cover data. Vegetation also represents an important natural resource for humans and other species. Quantifying the types and extent of vegetation is important for resource management and for challenging issues regarding land cover change and global climate change.

Satellite images are used to measure and to map the density of green vegetation across the Earth's landscapes. One of the key vital signs of earth's vegetation is the total green leaf area for a given ground area. Knowing the total leaf area in a plant helps scientists determine how much water will be stored and released by an ecosystem, how much leaf litter it will generate, and how much photosynthesis is going on. It also helps scientists understand the flow of energy among the various layers of vegetation, the atmosphere, and the ground, which in turn affects climate. Forests ecosystem monitoring includes burnt areas detection, forests extension, tree coverage mapping and biomass monitoring.

The GVM VRE, developed in the framework of the D4Science project to serve the Environmental Monitoring scientific community, will be maintained operational in the D4Science infrastructure during the D4Science-II project.

Image gallery

Fires

::: View detailed information [ Photos: ©ESA ]

Vegetation

::: View detailed information [ Photos: ©ESA ]