1 POSTEL, AN INITIATIVE TO DEVELOP BIOGEOPHYSICAL GEOCODED PRODUCTS Leroy, M., Bicheron, P., Lacaze, R., Niño, F., Bégni, G. - Médias-France

2 A BASIC QUESTION A BASIC QUESTION Why should researchers and scientists lose their time and money to pre-process raw data (definitely not their job) while they need tailored, ready-to-use information as a basis to lead their work? Why should researchers and scientists lose their time and money to pre-process raw data (definitely not their job) while they need tailored, ready-to-use information as a basis to lead their work? POSTEL is a tentative answer in the domain of biogeophysical geocoded information at global and regional scales. POSTEL is a tentative answer in the domain of biogeophysical geocoded information at global and regional scales.

3 POSTEL HISTORY & FRAMEWORK 1998: Working Group between the French Space Agency and Scientific Research Centre. 1998: Working Group between the French Space Agency and Scientific Research Centre.  Objective : To define a medium term leading framework to manage data & information for geosciences.  Report released end of 1999 Key recommendations Key recommendations  Data collected from space: A strong cooperation must link the Space Agency and the scientific organizations ‘thematic excellence poles’  It is mandatory to set up ‘thematic excellence poles’ to serve the national & international scientific community.

4 WHERE ARE WE NOW? Such ‘poles’ have to bring together on the long run capacities about: Such ‘poles’ have to bring together on the long run capacities about:  Data management and processing  Scientific expertise about data => ‘close loop’ between labs and management structures. Four key ‘thematic excellence poles’ are under development: Four key ‘thematic excellence poles’ are under development:  ETHER:  ETHER: Atmospheric chemistry  ICARE:  ICARE: Aerosols  SALTO & CORIOLIS:  SALTO & CORIOLIS: Dynamic oceanography  POSTEL:  POSTEL: Continental surfaces

5 WHAT MISSION FOR SUCH ‘POLES’ ?  Data management and processing (portal)  Data collection and reception  Processing (and re-processing) of raw data  Archiving data & products  Distributing data,products & software  Software evolution and maintenance  Scientific expertise  Products definition  Algorithms definition  Processing chains validation  calibration  Scienitific expolitation (modelling & assimilation)

6 WHAT OBJECTIVES FOR POSTEL?  POSTEL is a thematic excellence pole :  Addressing continental surfaces issues,  Fulfilling a national servicing mission in a first step,  Tailored as one of the European GMES services,  Servicing the whole relevant international community.  What are the POSTEL objectives ? biogeophysical Operational service.  Developing,validating, producing and distributing biogeophysical products about land surfaces derived from Space observations - Operational service.  Adressed scales:  Space  Space : from regional to global  Time  Time: long term period (depending on data availability)

7 IS POSTEL INDEED A CASE ? (1) IS POSTEL INDEED A CASE ? (1)  Earth Observation from space is heavily dependent from observation conditions : atmospheric effects, viewing angles, local time, bandwidth, etc.  Earth observation signals are also heavily dependent from ground conditions. Interactions between heterogeneous ground and electromagnetic wavelength are indeed a complex issue. Inverse problems areill-conditioned  Contribution of biophysical parameters of interest to the observed signal is often poorly understood & modelled. Too many parameters interfere. Inverse problems are ill-conditioned

8 IS POSTEL INDEED A CASE ? (2) IS POSTEL INDEED A CASE ? (2)  So, retrieving biophysical parameters of interest is a science and a technique in itself. Poor and scientific unlabelled retrieval techniques can only lead to poor scientific results. POSTEL  This shows that POSTEL is indeed a scientific challenge in itself. The more sources it will use, the more peer independent expertise it will solicit, the more reliable it will be for ‘downstream’ users.

9 WHO ARE THE POSTEL USERS?  Worldwide scientists involved in:  Multidisciplinary studies of continental surfaces, and  The role of these surfaces in carbon, water and energy cycles.  Specific GMES operational services:  Carbon cycle and climate (including KP)  Food security management,  Land use change monitoring.

10 POSTEL WITHIN THE EC GMES Co-ordination Management Operational Scenario Nature Spatial Planning Water & Soil Carbon Flux Food Security & Crop Monitoring Global Land Cover & Forest Change Regional MonitoringGlobal Monitoring Generic Land Cover Bio-geophysical Parameters Directives Implementation Policy Support Core Services Observatories EndUsers Coordination POSTEL

11 STRUCTURING THE POSTEL POLE « CONTINENTAL SURFACES » THEMATIC POLE : POSTEL Expertise Centres Network Developing Exploiting USERS Research Service Centre Biogeophysical Parameters

12 PRE-OPERATIONAL APPLICATION TO GMES GEOLAND Biogeophysical Parameter Core Service (CSP) CSP Service Providers IM Portugal, VITO, MEDIAS, EARS, GPCC Météo-France, U. Wien, TU. Wien, Noveltis, U. Bonn, U. Karlsruhe Research Coordi- nation MEDIAS -France GMES Services Carbone Land Cover Food Safety International Science Community

13 WHICH POSTEL PROJECT PORTFOLIO ? (1/3)  CYCLOPES ( FP5 & French sources, ):  Products:  Products: LAI, fCover, fAPAR, albedo, global,  Developing multi-sensor chains (VEGETATION, POLDER,MERIS, AVHRR)  GEOLAND (FP6, ): backboneGMES  The backbone of the GMES related operational services - Developed under leadership of INFOTERRA Germany  Sensors:  Sensors: VEGETATION, POLDER, AVHRR, METEOSAT, ERS/Scatt, AMSR.  Products:  Products: LAI, fAPAR, fCover, albedo, incoming radiance, temperature, moisture, burnt areas, rainfall.

14 WHICH POSTEL PROJECT PORTFOLIO ? (2/3)  AMMA ( FP6 & national API, ):  Stands for “African Monsoon Multidisciplinary analysis’ low resolution surface products:  Provides this project with low resolution surface products:  Runs the CYCLOPES chain beyond  Supplies AMMA with EUMETSAT /SAF Land products.  POLDER (Cnes, ): POLDER PARASOL  Operational production from data delivered by the multi- angle, multi-polarization POLDER sensor, formerly on- board ADEOS, now on the PARASOL mini-satellite.  Products:  Products: LAI, fCover, BRDF, albedo.

15 WHICH POSTEL PROJECT PORTFOLIO ? (3/3)  GLOBCOVER (DUE/ESA): /MERIS  Processing of ENVISAT/MERIS data (2005)  Products:  Products: a global land cover map, 300m resolution.  VGT4AFRICA (EC/FP6, ): VEGETATION EUMETSAT PUMA  Operational distribution of products derived from the VEGETATION sensor in Africa through the EUMETSAT PUMA network (EUMETCAST).  VALERI ( ) in-situ  Provides POSTEL with in-situ validation data for LAI and fCover products.

16 POSTEL RADIANCE PRODUCTS

17 POSTEL VEGETATION PRODUCTS

18 POSTEL WATER PRODUCTS

19 CONCLUSIONS Considering the dimensions of Northern Eurasia, the issues to be addressed from scientific and monitoring/management point of views (including the NEIRS/SIRS initiative):  Remote sensing is an unique tool to have a timely access to information,  Data have to be processed in a scientific assessed way to deliver useful information at proper scales,  POSTEL bring most of the relevant answers, So ……

20     Why not using the POSTEL products for sound scientific studies in Northern Eurasia - especially in the framework of NEIRS/SIRS ? Welcome to the POSTEL club ! The Postel Team An Invitation