Presented by Frank Martin Seifert of the European Space Agency at the Bonn Climate Change Conference on 11 May 2017, at a side event titled 'Re-discovering the magnificent carbon storage potential of wetlands and peatlands'.

1. ESA UNCLASSIFIED - For Official Use
How Earth observation can support
monitoring wetlands and peatlands
Frank Martin Seifert
Earth Observation Directorate
ESA-ESRIN, Frascati

2. ESA UNCLASSIFIED - For Official Use
A New Generation of Data Sources
Sent-1A/B Sent-2A/B Sent-3A/B Sent-5/5P Sent-6/Jason-CSSent-4A/B
 Copernicus is a European space flagship programme led by the
European Union;
 Copernicus provides the necessary data for operational monitoring of
the environment and for civil security;
 Copernicus consists of an in-situ, a space and a services component,
where ESA coordinates the space component;
 Data policy: free and open access;
 https://scihub.copernicus.eu/

3. ESA UNCLASSIFIED - For Official Use
… for today and for the future
S1: Radar Mission
S2: High Resolution Optical Mission
S3: Medium Resolution Imaging and Altimetry Mission
S4: Geostationary Atmospheric Chemistry Mission
S5P: Low Earth Orbit Atmospheric Chemistry Precursor Mission
S5: Low Earth Orbit Atmospheric Chemistry Mission
S6 (Jason-CS): Altimetry Mission

4. ESA UNCLASSIFIED - For Official Use FM Seifert | 09/04/2017 | Slide 4
Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2
Sentinel-2A / -2B
• multispectral (13 bands)
• 290 km swath width
• 10 days repeat cycle
 http://sentinel.esa.int/
Sentinel-1A / -1B
• night and day radar
imaging
• C-band SAR
• 12 days repeat cycle

5. ESA UNCLASSIFIED - For Official Use FM Seifert | 09/04/2017 | Slide 5
Mapping Peatlands in Sweden:
Store Mosse-Kävsjön
Tree cover
Shrubs cover areas
Grassland
Cropland (rainfed, irrigated)
Vegetation aquatic or reg. flooded
Lichens and mosses
Bare areas
Built up areas
Snow and/or Ice
Open water
Sentinel-2
2015-08-19
Sentinel-1 (VV)
2014-2016

6. ESA UNCLASSIFIED - For Official Use FM Seifert | 09/04/2017 | Slide 6
Wetlands Inventory and
Habitat Mapping in Africa
Tree cover
Shrubs cover areas
Grassland
Cropland (rainfed, irrigated)
Vegetation aquatic or reg. flooded
Lichens and mosses
Bare areas
Built up areas
Snow and/or Ice
Open water
• Identification and delineation of
wetlands areas as a support to wetland
inventories.
• Detect changes of wetland habitats,
derive trends of wetland status, assess
threats and estimate impacts
• Standardized Land Cover / Habitat
Classification scheme incorporating the
Ramsar wetlands typologies.
 www.globwetland-africa.org
Wetland Inventory, Lake Tonga, Algeria

7. ESA UNCLASSIFIED - For Official Use FM Seifert | 09/04/2017 | Slide 7
Wildfires in Indonesia 2015 detected by
Sentinel-1
First burned area map of Sumatra, Kalimantan, West-Papua (1,500,000 km²), 10 m spatial resolution
S1 False color
composite
Red: Burned area
S1 False color
composite
Red: Burned area
S1 False color
composite
Red: Burned area
fire
cci
fire
cci

8. ESA UNCLASSIFIED - For Official Use FM Seifert | 09/04/2017 | Slide 8
› Burned area for Indonesia’s fire catastrophe
2015: 46,046 km²
› Emissions include aboveground vegetation
and peat emission estimates
(Konecny et al. 2015 Global Change Biology)
Wetlands International
peat layer
Ministry of Forestry
Land Cover
Burned area
890.4 Mt CO2-eq
501.8 Mt CO2-eq
388.6 Mt CO2-eq
Total:
Vegetation:
Peat:
Burned area and fire emissions
derived from Sentinel-1
peat
emissions
vegetation
emissions
fire
cci

9. ESA UNCLASSIFIED - For Official Use FM Seifert | 09/04/2017 | Slide 9
GlobPeatland – ESA’s contribution
to the Global Peatland Initiative
• Improved mapping and monitoring of
degraded and cultivated peatlands;
• Addressing peatlands in the boreal zone and the
tropics including the three GPI pilot countries;
• Derive standardize methods and best practices
used for the assessment of peatlands;
• Users: UNEP, UNFCCC, FAO, Wetlands International,
RAMSAR convention, …
 Mitigation potential by implementing
responsible and sustainable management;
 Preventing further peatland degradation;
 Supporting conservation and restoration;

10. ESA UNCLASSIFIED - For Official Use
Summary
• The European Copernicus Programme will secure continuity of
observations and data availability for the next 20+ years with free and
open access for everybody  https://scihub.copernicus.eu/
• The Sentinels will be major workhorses for wetland and peatland
mapping and monitoring;
• Development of Open Source Toolboxes e.g. GlobWetland Africa TB
• ESA will support the Global Peatland Initiative with a dedicated project
developing and demonstrating methodologies for peatland mapping and
monitoring defined in dialogue with users world-wide.
ESA UNCLASSIFIED - For Official Use