Overview
Implementation
Strategy GOFC-GOLD
is being implemented through a suite of well-considered
contributory projects. Each project must provide useful
information to identified user communities with clearly
stated requirements, and must be achievable using proven
technology, even though a fully integrated system may
not yet exist. Through these projects, data providers
and users benefit from increased communication, and the
expansion of technological capabilities. GOFC-GOLD has
involved the users in the design of these activities in
order to ensure adoption by the operational agencies at
the completion of the pilot phase Through
this "learning and developing by doing" approach, GOFC-GOLD
is working to:
- creating
and strengthening partnerships between space agencies
and user agencies;
-
identify gaps and overlaps in space agency programs
and make recommendations how these
might be resolved;
-
increase operational use of earth-observation data for
policy decision making at national, regional, and global
levels;
-
ensure the provision of validated products which can
be used to derive credible information concerning the
forest/land cover component of the carbon budget for
research and policy use;
- promote
common data processing standards and interpretation
methods, which are necessary for inter-comparison of
regional studies;
-
stimulate advances in the state of the art in the management
and dissemination of large volume datasets and information
from multiple sensors;
-
use data from multiple sensors, in combination with
in-situ data, to produce validated prototype information
products, which satisfy clearly identified requirements
of user agencies;
-
enhance the use of earth-observation information products
for forest land use and that other and cover types and
enhance scientific research concerning forest biophysical
processes; and
-
strengthen capacity building, at both science and at
user level in the application and use (policy and management
level) of remote sensing, in-situ and GIS products.
While
much progress in these areas would no doubt take place
independently, GOFC-GOLD is contributing to a more integrated
global approach by:
-
providing opportunities to compare results from different
sensors and different algorithms;
-
providing linkages to organizations such as GTOS that
facilitate the sharing of in-situ observations;
-
promoting ground observation networks and campaigns
to validate information products.
The
Primary Themes
The essence of the GOFC-GOLD implementation strategy is
to develop and demonstrate operational forest monitoring
at regional and global scales by conducting contributory
projects and developing prototype products within two
primary themes:
- Land
Cover Characteristics and Changes
- Forest
Fire Monitoring and Mapping
The
natural interconnections between these themes (see Figure
1) make the implementation of these two components significantly
stronger than simply the sum of the individual parts.
GOFC-GOLD
has assembled implementation teams for each theme to design
and execute projects, and to develop consensus algorithms
and methodologies for product generation and validation.
These teams also develop and demonstrate procedures for
improved data access by the user community. |
