Steffen Kuntz

University of Freiburg | Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg · Institute of Forest Economy

It was demonstrated in the past that radar data is useful to estimate aboveground biomass due to their interferometric capability. Therefore, the potential of a globally available TanDEM-X digital elevation model (DEM) was investigated for aboveground biomass estimation via canopy height models (CHMs) in a tropical peat swamp forest. However, CHMs...

In this study, the Land Use/Cover Area frame statistical Survey (LUCAS) of 2009 was used as a reference dataset for validating a Land Cover Map of Greece for 2007, produced with remote sensing by the Greek Office of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF Hellas). First, all class definitions were decomposed in terms of four vegetation parameters (type, heigh...

The current global economic crisis forces nations to pinch and scrape on all their expenses. At the same time the demand for more and better information on the state of environment is increasing, together with more obligations to report on development and to estimate the impacts of environmental and spatial planning policies. Both needs may motivat...

Astrium GEO-Information Services partnered with the Forestry Commission of Ghana and the Centre for Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Services, University of Ghana (CERSGIS) to establish a forest monitoring capacity in Ghana. The project was funded jointly by GIZ and Astrium based on a public-private partnership agreement. The objectives of...

Monitoring of tropical forests and peat swamp forests becomes increasingly important in order to reduce carbon emissions from deforestation and forest degradation. SAR systems are suitable for that purpose due to their weather independence and sensitivity for changes in time series. The TanDEM-X mission delivers global datasets of a single-pass SAR...

The FCT Task focuses on demonstrating through coordinated Earth Observations data acquisitions and the development of standardised processing and analytical techniques by researchers in different countries under what are called 'National Demonstrator' programs that remotely sensed products can provide the information needed for national forest inve...

Since the launch of new very high resolution SAR systems in 2007, i.e. the German TerraSAR-X and the Italian Constellation of Small Satellites for Mediterranean Basin Observation - COSMO SkyMed the international science community and commercial service providers investigated extensively the potential of spaceborne X-Band SAR imagery for various app...

With the ongoing climate change, the pressure on nature, biodiversity and our own living conditions increases steadily. To mitigate these threats by effective adaptation strategies and counter measures a frequent and area-wide monitoring of the environment is crucial to provide decision makers with accurate, up-to-date and reliable information on t...

Detailed Application and System Requirement Analysis for a Ka-band interferometric SAR mission.

The European Environment Agency (EEA) requested from the FP7 geoland2 project a year 2009 update of the European high resolution layer of built-up areas and soil sealing, which was derived from the IMAGE2006 satellite coverage. Methodological development of the auto-mated change detection approach is covered by the Core Mapping Service (CMS) EUROLA...

Since the launch of the ERS-1 and -2 satellites on July 17, 1991 and April 21,1995, respectively, and RADARSAT on November 4, 1995, microwave imagery has proven to bea powerful tool for ARD (afforestation, reforestation, deforestation) monitoring from space. The cloud penetrating capability of the spaceborne SAR (synthetic aperture radar) facilitat...

The objective of this study is to analyze the potential of TERRA SAR-X dual images, on the StripMap mode, for classification of forest cover and of land use classes resulting from human activities. The area under study is located in the portions of SW Brazilian Amazon region, Acre State. The StripMap images of TerraSAR-X, dual polarization, were pr...

GMES - Global Monitoring for Environment and Security - is a joint initiative of the European Commission (EC) and the European Space Agency (ESA). GMES is a stakeholder effort - bringing public user organisations, researchers, and service providers together, in order to establish operational geo-information services supporting the implementation of...

In case of emergencies over large areas satellite remote sensing data can become a crucial source of information for disaster management and response allowing the recognition and assessment of damages to populated areas and traffic infrastructure, the identification of focus areas, and an efficient coordination of rescue actions. On 12 May 2008, an...

Policy makers are increasingly in need of accurate and timely information in order to meet reporting requirements linked to environmental legislation. This paper explores the extent to which Earth Observation (EO) based services addressed by the joint initiative "Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES)" of ESA and the EC can contribut...

In 1997 and 1998 uncontrolled fires devastated huge tracts of tropical rainforests in Kalimantan on the island of Borneo in Indonesia. Here we report on results of a comparative study of ERS-2 ATSR hotspot and NOAA-AVHRR hotspot data used to analyse the extent of this disaster. A burned scar map derived from a Landsat TM image acquired after the fi...

The Sebuku-Sembakung area of north-eastern Kalimantan, Indonesia (Borneo) has been proposed by the WWF as a national park because of its large biodiversity with habitats including various types of tropical forests and swamps. Currently, only low resolution DEM data exists for the area. This has motivated an effort to produce a topographic map of th...

The ESA ERS1-pilot project PP2-D11 was aimed at investigating the capabilities of the ERS-1/2 satellites for continuos land use and deforestation monitoring over a period of 5 years (1993-1997) in a tropical rain forest environment. Deploying texture analysis techniques several land use classes and different forest types could be identified in sing...

Presents results gathered from the project “Tropical Rainforest and Use of Land Investigation” project-TRULI, which was sponsored by the German Space Agency (DARA), ESA/ESRIN and ADRO deploying data from the European ERS-1R, the Canadian RADARSAT and JERS between 1993 and 1998. The focus is on the possibilities of monitoring deforestation in the we...

Remote sensing by radar satellites is a very promising tool for monitoring areas frequently clouded such as, for example, tropical rainforests. Continuous, large-scale monitoring and the quantification of the rapidly progressing deforestation are of highest priority for sustainable development of this invaluable natural resource. Since radar beams...

The CEO Programme is an initiative of the European Commission (EC) and its mission is to develop and promote the use of Earth observation (EO) data from space. To this end, the CEO Programme seeks to increase the number of customers of EO-derived information (in research, governmental and commercial fields), to encourage and stimulate the EO-relate...

The potential value of ERS-1 (European Remote Sensing Satellite) SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) data — as a tool for monitoring rainforest conversion and land use planning was investigated. Furthermore the ESA (European Space Agency) pilot project TRULI (Tropical Rainforest and Use of Land Investigation) was designed to develop an unsophisticated e...

The ESA pilot project "Tropical Rainforest and Use of Land Investigation" (TRULI, PP2-D11; funded by DARA) was aimed to investigate the capabilities of the ERS-1 satellite in a tropical rainforest environment. Using texture analysis and multitemporal approaches several land use classes and different forest types could be identified in a single ERS-...

The aim of this project was to investigate the potential value of ERS-1 SAR data as a tool for monitoring tropical rainforest conversion and land use planning. Furthermore an easy to use data analysis procedure was developed which is operational under conditions found in many countries of the tropical belt. KFA 1000 photographs from the Russian MIR...

In a test site in Northern Greece, Halkidik, multitemporal Landsat TM data were used for vegetation mapping to provide basic input data for a regional Fire Management System (FIS). Mapping was carried out using a combination of digital and visual classification. For accuracy assessment of the resulting thematic classes a systematical sampling appro...

Texture is an important property of the images. Its inclusion in digital classification is known to improve the classification accuracy. In the present study, the texture features angular second moment, entropy and inverse difference moment were used to differentiate and classify forests affected by jhum (shifting cultivation) in north-eastern Indi...

The potential value of ERS-1 SAR data as a tool for monitoring tropical rainforest conversion and land-use planning was investigated. Furthermore, an easy to use data analysis procedure was developed which is operational under conditions found in many countries of the tropical belt. Russian Mir KFA 1000 images and data acquired during an extensive...

Die Abteilung für Luftbildmessung und Fernerkundung der Forstwis­senschaftlichen Fakultät, Universität Freiburg, beschäftigt sich seit Mitte der sechziger Jahre mit der Problematik großflächiger Waldschadensinventuren mit Methoden der Fernerkundung. Der Einsatz von Farbinfrarotluftbildern konnte in dieser Zeit zu einem opera- tionellen Hilfsmittel...

In order to monitor and improve environmental conditions, the cardinal needs of planners and decision makers on available, reliable and affordable information delivered in time on environmental pressure and stress need to be served. The ESA GMES Service Element "SAGE" lead by Infoterra GmbH addresses European environmental policies such as the Euro...