![]() ![]() The Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR) instrument will be used to differentiate between similar land cover classes, such as wetlands and humid tropical rainforests. Other Envisat sensors will work in synergy with MERIS. Multiple acquisitions are planned for some regions to account for seasonal variations in land cover. ![]() The image acquisition strategy is based around regional climate patterns to minimise cloud or snow cover. The estimate is that up to 20 terabytes of imagery will be needed to mosaic together the final worldwide GLOBCOVER map – an amount of data equivalent to the contents of 20 million books. The completed GLOBCOVER map will have numerous uses, including plotting worldwide land use trends, studying natural and managed ecosystems and modelling climate change extent and impacts.Įnvisat's Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) instrument is being systematically used in Full Resolution Mode for the project, acquiring images with a spatial resolution of 300 metres, with an average 150 minutes of acquisitions occurring daily. It will be a unique depiction of the face of our planet in 2005, broken down into more than 20 separate land cover classes. The colour composite has been obtained by merging MERIS spectral bands 2, 3, 5, 7. For this mosaic a total of 1561 orbits taking place over the period May, July, October and November 2004 have been used to screen the clouds. The same sensor is to be used as the basis of ESA's GLOBCOVER project to creating the most detailed land cover map ever. ![]() Image: A mosaic of global land cover from Envisat's MERIS instrument. ![]()
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