Earth Observation Systems

The Ecosystems Services and Management (ESM) Program’s Earth Observation Systems (EOS) group has extended its work in harnessing the power of citizen science, modeling the effects of climate change on urban areas, and assessing forest carbon budgets.

© Andreykuzmin | Dreamstime

© Andreykuzmin | Dreamstime

In 2015 the EOS group founded LandSense, a new citizen observatory for land use and land cover monitoring designed to encourage and improve citizen science and its use. In the same theme, the group also developed a new Geo-Wiki game, Picture Pile, which allows citizen scientists to map deforestation.

Another initiative that the group is involved in, World Urban Database and Access Portal Tools (WUDAPT), is making progress in engaging the research community in the field of urban climate modeling. Finally, the group has also advanced their work on boreal forests, substantially improving the methodology of the Terrestrial Ecosystem Full Verified Carbon Budget.

LandSense citizen observatory

The Ecosystems Services and Management (ESM) Program has won funding for LandSense, a new citizen observatory and innovation marketplace for land use and land cover monitoring. Providing critical monitoring of change on the ground, the project will also include campaigns involving multiple stakeholders to ensure that citizen observations contribute to EU-wide environmental governance and decision making. More

Monitoring deforestation with Picture Pile

Ecosystems Services and Management (ESM) Program researchers are building a deforestation map with the help of players in their new Geo-Wiki game, Picture Pile. An innovative method to allow players to learn about the accuracy of their choices will also improve the quality of the data. More

New tools for modeling urban climate

The World Urban Database and Access Portal Tools (WUDAPT) initiative, for which Ecosystems Services and Management (ESM) Program researchers play a crucial role, has started to gain momentum in the urban climate modeling community. WUDAPT is an attempt to classify all cities in the world using a standardized classification scheme based on local climate zones [1]. More

Understanding ecosystem services of boreal forests

The Ecosystems Services and Management (ESM) Program’s Earth Observation Systems (EOS) group has continued their work on boreal forests. In 2015, improvements were made to the Terrestrial Ecosystem Full Verified Carbon Budget (FCA), including updating its ecological and economic aspects, and applying it to the ecosystems of Northern Eurasia. More



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Last edited: 10 March 2016

CONTACT DETAILS

Steffen Fritz

Program Director and Principal Research Scholar Strategic Initiatives Program

Principal Research Scholar Novel Data Ecosystems for Sustainability Research Group - Advancing Systems Analysis Program

Linda See

Principal Research Scholar Novel Data Ecosystems for Sustainability Research Group - Advancing Systems Analysis Program

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