VEGETATION - 2000

Lake Maggiore - Italy, 3-6 April 2000

The Suitability of VEGETATION for Mediterranean Land Degradation and Desertification Monitoring

W. Mehl, P. Strobl, S. Sommer, H. Bohbot
(JRC Ispra),
R. Escadafal (IRD), J. Hill (Univ. Trier)

No paper available

After launch of the VEGETATION instrument the operational parameters of the instrument and their applicability and validity for the purpose of operational monitoring of short term events as well as of pluriennal trends and indicators for land degradation are assessed. Investigated topics include:

Assessment of the product chain:

• accuracy of spatial positioning
• a strategy for identification of radiometrically stable areas, and their use for verifying the reliability of calibration and operational atmospheric correction

Assessment of alternative preprocessing steps (follow-up on prelaunch topics):

• comparison of strategies for 10 days composites
• impact of DEM-derived illumination correction on interpretability

Applications linked to high time resolution

• observation of aftereffects of rainfall on soil and vegetation in arid ecosystems
• mapping of aeolian sand transport events

Extraction of indicators relevant for long term environmental monitoring:

• seasonal evolution of sparse vegetation cover - comparison between NDVI and spectral mixture analysis methods
• in particular, assessment of state of vegetation degradation in semiarid areas based on the relationship between annual herbaceous species and perennial shrubs.

• differentiation between movable and fixed surface materials (continuation of prelaunch assessment based on simulated data).