干旱区生态环境知识资源中心

The Kyoto & Carbon Initiative is an international collaboration initialised by NASDA in 2000 [1], set out to support data- and information needs raised by certain multinational environmental conventions and by global carbon cycle science, through provision of data products and high level information derived from ALOS, JERS-1 and ADEOS-II data. The conventions primarily in focus are the UNFCCC Kyoto Protocol and the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, to which fine-resolution, multi-scale information about the status and changes in forests and wetlands will be derived. There is apparent synergy with terrestrial carbon cycle science information needs, where improved spatial information about carbon pools, sources and sinks at local, regional to global scales are of high priority. Support to the UN Millennium Development goal on water access, as well as to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification, are also foreseen.

Recognising the limited usefulness of the fragmented and local-focus data observation schemes characteristic for most fine resolution Earth Observation missions to date, dedicated Data Acquisition Strategies are being implemented for ALOS (launch 2004) and ADEOS-II (launched Dec. 2002), with particular emphasis on ALOS' polarimetric L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (PALSAR) and the 250 metre resolution Global Imager (GLI) sensor on ADEOS-II.