HELM initiates a move that will make European land monitoring more productive by increasing the alignment of national and sub-national land monitoring endeavours and by enabling their integration to a coherent European data system. HELM receives funding through the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Commission.

Available languages: German English

First, this research focuses on the development of new methods for semi-automated extraction of forest parameters such as tree area and species based on airborne remote sensing data and logistic regression models. Second, new image-matching algorithms for the generation of high-resolution digital surface models for the extraction of forest parameters are tested: canopy height models, forest stand structure, degree of composition, forest border, timber volume estimation, tree growth, tree species etc. Third, new methods are developed to detect and simulate changes (forest growth, shrub encroachment) in forested mire vegetation using remotely sensed variables. The project reveals that is possible to estimate and quantify vegetation growth from the past to the future in mire environments.

Available languages: English

Tree cover is one of the important forest parameters for sustainable forest management. Therefore, automatic tree cover detection is of practical interest for the objective research of National Forest Inventory (NFI). Instead of manual interpretation which may be labor intensive, this project focuses on computer-based image processing methods designed to analyze high resolution remote sensing data. Developed methods must be applicable for all landscape types and recognize appropriate uncertainties reliably.

Available languages: English

Since the mid 80-ies digital satellite images are uniformly mapped and interpreted within the European CORINE program (mapping landcover/landuse). Becoming a member of the European Environment Agency (EEA) this dataset is also done for Switzerland. The derivation of the CLC maps 2000 /2006 was supported and evaluated as well as preparing the new update map for 2012.

Available languages: German English

This project funding is done by FOEN in order to observe actively the ongoing developments within GMES Land Services like GSE-Land, Geoland, Urban Atlas. This encompasses the collaboration in working groups like EAGLE, technical/scientific assistance in EIONET meetings or expertise in GMES validation teams. GMES, which stands for Global Monitoring for Environment and Security, is a joint initiative of the European Commission (EC) and the European Space Agency (ESA) aiming to operationally provide sound, reliable and affordable geo-information products throughout Europe and over the globe.

Available languages: German English

In diesem Projekt werden verschiedene MODIS-Datensätze auf ihre Brauchbarkeit getestet. Wissenschafter vergleichen angebotene Fertigprodukte mit bestehenden Waldinventurdaten und CORINE-Daten. Für Snowcover-Untersuchungen verwenden sie Original-Spektraldaten. MODIS steht für "Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer".

In the Alps, the multipurpose utilisation of agricultural and forest resources has a long tradition. But domestic animals grazing in forests are considered hindering tree regeneration, reducing timber quality and impairing the protective function of mountain forests. What is the effective impact of forest grazing?

Available languages: German English

Spatial interpolation of biological and biophysical variables is of central interest to many landscape ecologists. In this study, scientists evaluated the utility, accuracy, and effectiveness of ordinary kriging, inverse-distance weighting, and thin-plate smoothing splines with tensions using soil samples from the Omo Basin, Ethiopia.

Available languages: English

High resolution climate maps were generated for NW-Wyoming (USA) in order to measure tree species realized niches. The goal of this study was to define species parameters for a spatially-explicit, dynamic forest simulation model.

The potential of plants to migrate to habitats which are more favourable under changed conditions plays a key role in assessing the impacts of climate change on terrestrial ecosystems. A new, spatially explicit, physiologically mechanistic, and efficient forest succession model was developed in order to study the potential of trees to invade, migrate and get extinct under current and possibly changed future climate.