[Back]


Talks and Poster Presentations (without Proceedings-Entry):

A. Bartsch:
"Improved monitoring of land surface hydrology in northern Eurasia - contributions of the European Space Agency projects DUE Permafrost and STSE ALANIS-Methane";
Talk: 5th International Workshop on C/H2O/Energy bal-ance and climate over boreal and arctic regions with spe-cial emphasis on eastern Eurasia, Wageningen, the Netherlands; 2010-11-11 - 2010-11-13.



English abstract:
The Data User Element (DUE) Permafrost and the Support to Science Element (STSE) ALANIS Methane project are funded by the European Space Agency and focus on the utilization of remotely sensed data at high latitudes. Special emphasis is on the improvement of land surface models which consider permafrost conditions and wetland dynamics. The Permafrost project addresses the entire Arctic, the ALANIS project Northern Eurasia.
STSE ALANIS-Methane
ALANIS Methane is a research project to produce and use a suite of relevant earth observation (EO) derived information to validate and improve one of the next generation land-surface models and thus reduce current uncertainties in wetland-related CH4 emissions. It is part of ESA´s Support to Science Element Program and focuses on Northern Eurasia. The project is related to iLEAPS (Integrated Land Ecosystem-Atmosphere Processes Study) activities coordinated by CEH, UK and supported by Vienna University of Technology (Austria), Estellus (France) and University of Bremen (Germany).
The focus on the remote sensing side of the project is the development of new and/or improved wetland maps, and snowmelt and frozen ground information.
The EO products will be used to improve and evaluate the Joint UK Land Environment Simulator (JULES, development led by the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology), a state-of-the-art land surface-atmosphere model capable of characterizing methane emissions from boreal lakes and wetlands. The JULES model, coupled with the HadGEM3 Earth-system model (i.e. Hadley Centre Global Environmental Model, developed by UK Met Office) and constrained by the retrievals of atmospheric methane concentrations, will then be used to provide estimates and associated uncertainties of CH4 emissions from boreal lakes and wetlands.
A secondary objective of the ALANIS Methane project is to demonstrate and foster the use of ESA data within the iLEAPS community. Delivering new or improved EO derived products and improving the JULES model will support iLEAPS efforts to improve the observation, understanding and prediction of land-atmosphere processes in boreal ecosystems.
Further information: www.alanis-methane.info

DUE Permafrost
A number of remotely sensed products have been developed in the past which provide information relevant to permafrost distribution on circumpolar scale. They comprise parameters such as land surface temperature, land cover, soil moisture, disturbances, snow, terrain and methane. A monitoring system of high latitude permafrost requires regular and multi-scale observation of all these parameters. Further on, the datasets need to meet requirements of permafrost models as well as support related research in geomorphology, botany and hydrology.
Such a comprehensive database is setup within the framework of the European Space Agency´s (ESA) Data User Element (DUE) program. The ESA DUE Permafrost project establishes a monitoring system on local to pan-boreal/arctic scale based on satellite data. Within this project permafrost relevant remotely sensed products are assessed and eventually provided to users. The complexity of the phenomenon permafrost requires the close cooperation with the scientific community working in this field.
The consortium is led by I.P.F, Vienna University of Technology and supported by four partners: Gamma Remote Sensing (Switzerland), University of Waterloo (Canada), Friedrich Schiller University Jena and the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research (Germany).
Permafrost is a subsurface phenomenon and cannot be directly observed with satellite data. Yet, monitoring can be done based on indicators and via permafrost models. Indicators are especially thermokarst lake dynamics and surface elevation changes. Those phenomena need to be observed on a local scale. Regional to circumpolar monitoring requires the use of permafrost models for which the following dataset will be provided:
. Land surface temperature is available from passive sensors such as MODIS, AATSR, and AMSR-E. It can be used as a forcing parameter for all permafrost models.
. The amount of snow determines insulation properties. An operational monitoring service for snow extent and SWE is currently being set up within the ESA DUE project GlobSnow.
. Vegetation layer also insulates the ground. A number of global and regional land cover maps are available (e.g. from GlobCover). They need to be merged and assessed for the purpose of modelling of permafrost and fluxes.
. Thermal conductivity is influenced by soil moisture. A near real-time (NRT) product based on METOP ASCAT is available from EUMETSAT. This service will be improved within the project under the viewpoint of frozen ground conditions.
The circumpolar datasets will be provided weekly to monthly with a spatial resolution of 25 km x 25 km. Selected areas will also be monitored at 1 km x 1 km for snow extent (SE), LST, soil moisture, and vegetation. High resolution satellite data are used at selected local sites. All satellite data products will eventually be made freely available via a WebGIS.

Created from the Publication Database of the Vienna University of Technology.