EnMAP Core Science Team - Monitoring Ecosystem Transitions

EnMAP (Environmental Mapping and Analysis Program) is a German hyperspectral satellite mission which will provide high quality hyperspectral image data on a timely and frequent basis. The mission aims to support the retrieval of a variety of terrestrial and aquatic parameters essential for the quantification and modelling of ecosystem processes. EnMAP will both contribute to a better understanding of the of complex Earth systems and to the sustainable management of natural resources. As part of the scientific preparation of the EnMAP mission, the Earth Observation Lab of the Humboldt-Universit?t zu Berlin focuses on the development of algorithms and the assessment of EnMAP’s potential to analyze the spatial-temporal dynamics of (semi-)natural ecosystems and their services. Data synergies with other sensors and data types are also a focus of the project's research.
This first phase of the EnMAP project focusses on the analysis of gradual transitions and dynamics of (semi-) natural ecosystems and der services. Regional and thematic foci are set both on shrubland ecosystems and shrub encroachment processes on former agricultural regions in southern Portugal and on the urban to rural gradient of Berlin. Analyses integrated simulated EnMAP data, Landsat time-series and spatially and temporally transferable classification and regression models from the field of machine learning. This project was followed by ECST phases II on “Natural Ecosystems and Ecosystem Transitions” in the Brazilian Cerrado.