In the framework of the participation of the FSU’s Department of Earth observation in the Kyoto & Carbon initiative – an international science collaboration led by JAXA – the ZAPÁS project was introduced to the community at the 17th K&C science meeting on March 27-29, 2012 in Tokyo. The ALOS Kyoto & Carbon Initiative is an international collaborative project forming the continuation and extension of the JERS-1 SAR GRFM/GBFM project into the era of ALOS and ALOS-2. The ZAPÁS activities will foster the development of methodology guidelines for forest and biomass mapping by SAR. More »
A public project inauguration event was held in Moscow on 22 March 2012. The meeting was hosted at the Research Center for Earth Operative Monitoring of the Joint Stock Company “Russian Space Systems” (NTsOMZ). The meeting aimed at informing the Russian user community about the ZAPÁS forest monitoring activities in Central Siberia. Following the ESA-ROSKOSMOS Data Exchange Agreement the main objectives for this public event was to demonstrate recent synergies of exchanging EU-Russian know-how on advanced earth observation for forestry applications. More »
Forest monitoring in the framework of the EU – Russia Space Dialogue
ZAPÁS project inauguration event at the Joint Stock Company “Russian Space Systems” of the Russian Federation (NTsOMZ) at March 22, 2012.
Russia, the European Union’s largest neighbour, is considered by the European Parliament as a key player in its efforts to protect the global climate and environment. To strengthen genuine strategic partnerships, founded on common interests and shared values, is strongly supported. The ZAPÁS project represents such a strategic partnership between well acknowledged Russian and European scientists in the field of Earth Observation with the support, direct involvement and contribution of the Russian and European Space Agencies. The bilateral basis for EU relations with Russia is the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) signed in December 1997. The provisions of the current Partnership and Cooperation Agreement cover a wide range of policy areas including science and technology, education and training, and environment. A new basis for EU-Russian environmental co-operation was the signing of a major agreement in Helsinki (2006) in order to intensify the collaboration on environmental protection and nature conservation. The three main themes considered were climate change, preservation of biodiversity, and the links between economic development and the environment. More »
The Russia.Geo-Wiki is a branch of the global Geo-Wiki Project. It provides a platform to visualize and validate land cover maps for Russia. Land cover is a crucial dataset for many ecological tasks. Since large differences occur between existing land cover maps, current ecosystem and land-use science lacks crucial accurate data. Volunteers are asked to review hotspot maps and determine, based on what they actually see in Google Earth and their local knowledge, if the land cover maps are correct or incorrect. Their input is recorded in a database, along with uploaded photos, to be used in the future for the creation of a new and improved land cover map.
In addition, Russia.Geo-Wiki presents regional carbon pool datasets, and makes them freely available for visualization, all overlaid on the Google Earth platform.
The Biomass.Geo-Wiki presents a collection of global, regional and in-situ biomass datasets produced by a number of institutions, overlaid on the Google Earth platform. The goal is to perform gap analysis, cross-product validation, possible harmonization and hybrid product development.
The first issue of quarterly updated newsletters is released. The current issue addresses the ZAPÁS concept and objectives description and issues the goal of supporting a worldwide Forest Observation System. Some impressions from the Kick-off meeting in Krasnoyarsk (Russia) and the presence at the recent AGU and GEO Meetings are provided.
Get the ZAPAS Newsletter No.1.