Dr.
John Townsend, Chairman
of the scientific board
The
Global Observation of Forest and Land Cover Dynamics (GOFC-GOLD)
is a coordinated international effort to develop and implement
a suite of earth observation programmes using both spaceborne
and in situ data. GOFC-GOLD is designed to help provide
information needed to study global change, associated for
example with the carbon cycle, as well as information for
improved natural resource management.
Originally established as a pilot project by CEOS (Committee
of Earth Observing Satellites), GOFC-GOLD is now a GTOS
Panel. Over the course of the last two years considerable
progress has been in addressing three core themes:
1.
land cover characteristics and changes;
2.
fire monitoring and mapping;
3.
biophysical processes.
GOFC-GOLD
is coordinated by a Scientific and Technical Board made
up of leading experts of forest monitoring and other land
cover types. The board is chaired by Dr John Townshend and
is vice-chaired by DR Alan Belward. The Project Office is
presently based at the Canada Center for Remote Sensing
in Ottawa, Canada.
Implementation
teams
During
2001 the two priority Themes were selected, Forest/Land
Cover and Fire. Implementation Teams (IT) were selected
for each project. During this period the Fire IT has made
considerable progress including:
1.
the publication of the "Global and Regional Vegetation
Fire Monitoring from Space: Planning a Coordinated International
Effort" book;
2.
the organization of south east Asia Regional Forest Fire
Monitoring and Mapping Workshop (February 2001) and a Fire
Workshop on Satellite Product Validation (July 2001).
Progress
in Land Cover was mainly carried out through regional activities
especially in south east Asia and Russia.
Regional
network activities
Most
of GOFC-GOLD's work is carried out through a system of regional
networks. Workshops have been held in the last biennia on
regional planning and implementation, current forest cover
and land use, remote sensing of forest cover, and validation
workshops. These workshops were organized for south east
Asia, central and southern Africa, Russia and other regional
projects. Several of the regional networks have developed
web sites, validation methodologies and links to the CEOs
Calibration and Validation working group.
A CEOs Land Products Validation (LPV) subgroup has also
been established which brings together scientists who are
working to produce and validate land surface parameter products
derived from spaceborne sensors. A Leaf Area Index (LAI)
products meeting was held in May 2000 to discuss validation
methods, protocols and opportunities for international collaboration.
The GOFC-GOLD-Fire meeting on Satellite Product Validation
(Lisbon, July 2001) set up a working group on calibration
and validation for active fire and burn scar validation.
Interoperability
developments
In association
with the Working Group on Information Systems and Services
(WGISS),
GOFC-GOLD has developed inter-operability solutions for
its networks. In 2000, a test facility was established which
incorporates a data portal and demonstration scenarios.
At the CEOs plenary in Kyoto in November 2001 a presentation
was made on the use of interoperability tools to assist
studies of fire and land cover in south east Asia.
Changing
scope and name
The
scope of GOFC is being broadened to include all land cover
types as gradations between forest and other land cover
types are becoming increasingly important to foresters and
data users (e.g. those concerned with the global carbon
cycle and ecosystems) and often require complete global
measurements. The change will also be reflected in the new
name for the Panel which will be called Global Observations
of Landcover Dynamics (GOFC-GOLD). Even though the name
has changed, a strong interest and representation from the
forestry and natural resources management community will
remain .
An implementation
team meeting was held in Tolouse, France (11-13 February
2002) to discuss the new scope of GOFC-GOLD. The report
of the meeting will soon be available.
For more information see the GOFC-GOLD
web site.
