Infodoc : Sciences, Techniques et Culture

Tropical forest monitoring has acquired an important environmental significance in the last decade. This particular biome has indeed been subjected to intense manipulations and rapid transformation. Tropical forest monitoring at global scales can be carried out using AVHRR data. The paper describes a major effort undertaken by the Joint Research Centre at Ispra in the collection and analysis of a multiannual set of AVHRR data acquired over the whole tropical belt. Such data, collected from a series of local stations, have been assmebled, screened and analysed with the purpose of deriving a tropical forest base map and for identifying areas of active deforestation. Methods have been adjusted to particular forest types and forest‐non forest interface typologies. Validation techniques us[...]

Tropical forest monitoring has acquired an important environmental significance in the last decade. This particular biome has indeed been subjected to intense manipulations and rapid transformation. Tropical forest monitoring at global scales can be carried out using AVHRR data. The paper describes a major effort undertaken by the Joint Research Centre at Ispra in the collection and analysis of a multiannual set of AVHRR data acquired over the whole tropical belt. Such data, collected from a series of local stations, have been assmebled, screened and analysed with the purpose of deriving a tropical forest base map and for identifying areas of active deforestation. Methods have been adjusted to particular forest types and forest‐non forest interface typologies. Validation techniques using high resolution data sets (TM and SPOT) and field work have been refined and systematically applied. The vast amount of information collected from satellite and other data sources as well as the information generated by the project have been assembled in a comprehensive Tropical Forest Information System.