Siberia II - Project Background

Project Information / Summary

Socio-Economic problems to be solved:

SIBERIA-II aims at understanding the greenhouse gas budget and its interactions with climate change in the Eurosiberian region. As such it contributes to the objective of improving the quality of life through increased ability to judge potential impacts of greenhouse gas related policies on the global climate. The goal of economic growth, high employment rates, and sustainable development create the need for monitoring and forecasting techniques of the environmental state. SIBERIA-II addresses global environmental information needs, as requested by international environmental conventions, such as: UN Framework Convention on Climate Change UNFCCC, UN Convention on Biological Diversity, International Forest Forum. In particular the project will impact the carbon sequestration and the ARD (Aforestation, Reforestation, Deforestation) issues of the UNFCCC. As such it can be considered in fieri a component of the GMES (Global Monitoring for Environmental Security) programmatic line in FP6. It will contribute to the GMES objective of providing strategic information on the global environment. SIBERIA-II aims through its project concept and technical-methodological approach to reduce uncertainties with respect to the Kyoto Protocol, as required as part ot the of the European Climate Change Programme (ECCP).
Scientific objectives and approach:

The scientific objective of this project is to integrate Earth observation and climate models such that a full greenhouse gas accounting within a significant part of the biosphere may be quantified to a much greater degree of certainty than ever before. This objective will be within reach as a result of three key factors which are only available through the proposed project structure. These are the multi-sensor approach encompassing almost all available satellite observations, the seamless integration of primary and secondary EO products into climate model development and the knowledge of the Northern Eurasian regional land cover (already in digital form) through appropriate collaboration with local agencies and previous remote sensing data integration in SIBERIA-I. SIBERIA-II develops a combined monitoring system to yield estimates of carbon sources, sinks and pools at multiple spatial and temporal scales from regional to those relevant to land use policy and resource management. This requires the mapping of heterogeneous properties of the surface features from satellite data, their validation and extension to appropriate spatial and temporal scales and a close integration with biospheric models to ensure that all parts of the carbon system are accounted for. The technical objectives will also place great emphasis on addressing the accuracy both required by the overall system and delivered by the various sub-products of the EO approach. Two existing, internationally recognised global biosphere models will be driven and tested using the EO data derived.
Expected impacts:

The project's socio-economic impacts:
1) quality of life and preserving the environment by enabling policy makers to make well informed decisions on environmental policies, particularly GHG emissions;
2) employment by creating new areas of applications of earth observation with large market potential for satellite derived products;
3) employment in European less favored regions.

The project's scientific impacts:
1) improvement of the usefulness of Earth observation since the methodological development extends the understanding of the scientific content of the signal beyond mere empirical relationships (Level I and II products, generated based on fusion of EO with ancillary data sets (GIS, ground data);
2) innovative algorithms will design the interface between EO-data, GIS, and (ecological) biosphere models;
3) the EO data will -for the first time!- drive biosphere models and
4) in this way help to reach verifiable assessment procedures.