Combining earth observation data and forest statistics : research report 14

This report (and map) presents the results of the project "Combining geographically referenced and earth observation data and forest statistics for deriving a forest map of Europe". The practical part of the project was carried out from September 1999 to April 2000. The objective of the project was to combine information from both remote sensing and forest inventory statistics, and produce a NOAA-AVHRR-based forest map that corresponds to the official statistics reported at the regional or province level for the 15 EU countries. The statistical data were based on the European forest statistics compiled by the Statistical Office of the European Communities, EUROSTAT. A reflectance image mosaic of 49 NOAA-AVHRR images was used as the satellite data. The CORINE Land Cover database represented ground data. A method 'pixel-by-pixel ratio scaling' was developed to carry out the calibration. The applicability and limitations of the methods are discussed. A forest map of the European Union is available with the report.