The Global Change Unit (GCU) has its origin in Remote Sensing Unit at the University of Valencia (RSU), one of the pioneer groups in our country in using Satellite Remote Sensing. The first studies of the RSU were made in 1978 in the framework of the NASA's HCMM project. Since this moment, the RSU has been participating in numerous national and international projects supported by the EU (EFEDA, HAPEX-SAHEL, MEDALUS, RESEDA, RESMEDES, etc.), the CICyT and the ESA. It is managed by Dr. José A. Sobrino, member of the RSU for ten years. Our studies are aimed at analysing the Earth's environmental changes by using remote sensing techniques. The GCU has a wide experience in participating in investigation projects financed by the European Commission, the CICyT, the AECI (Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional), ESA (DAISEX'98 and 99, AATSR/ENVISAT). The Global Change Unit have proposed and co-ordinated one previous European Commission shared cost projects, in the framework of the specific research and technological development programme “Confirming the International Role of Community Research” WATERMED (WATer use Efficiency in natural vegetation and agricultural areas by Remote sensing in the MEDiterranean basin) project aimed to develop a comprehensive method for the study of the water use and the resistance to the drought of the natural and irrigated vegetation by means of a combined historical and current space-based remote sensing database, vegetation models and field measurements. This project includes three European partners (Spain, France and Denmark) with two Northern African countries (Morocco and Egypt). The GCU is equipped with suitable instruments to carry out its tasks: image processing systems, and field thermal infrared radiometers. The research work accomplished may be summarised in 7 Doctoral Theses, 50 papers in international journals and 60 presentations in different scientific meeting. It is also necessary to highlight their educational activity, imparting courses in Remote Sensing. Besides, we have published one of the first book in Remote Sensing in Spanish in the year 2000, organised the first International Symposium on Recent Advances in Quantitative Remote Sensing and edited the book “Recent Advances in Quantitative Remote Sensing”. The GCU maintain collaborations with the University of Maryland-Goddard Space Fligh Center (GSFC-NASA), The International Space University (ISU), the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL-NASA), The Instituto de Geofisica e Astronomia at the University of Sao Paulo (Brazil), the CRTS in Rabat (Morocco), the GRTR at Strasbourg (France), etc. It is equipped with suitable instruments to carry out its tasks: image processing systems, and field thermal infrared radiometers. The research work accomplished may be summarised in 7 Doctoral Theses, 40 papers in international journals and 60 presentations in different scientific meeting.
ALTERRA Green World Research is created by merging two former DLO- Institutes: 1 the Winand Staring Centre (SC-DLO) and 2) the Institute for Forestry and Nature Research (IBN-DLO) as of 1 January 2000. ALTERRA is the leading institute in the field of natural resources management and agro-ecology, nature management, land use, and land use planning and is the biggest one in its kind in Europe. Besides research, ALTERRA provides services such as software engineering, production and distribution of maps and databases on request, on paper or in digital format, and management of databases. ALTERRA is owner of a number of national Dutch databases on soil, groundwater, forest and land use. ALTERRA is also the homebase of the Centre for Geo-information (CGI) of Wageningen University and Research Centre. This centre collaborates with related institutes and uses its network of expert advisers to provide university-level education and research in geo-information science, with a view to supporting policy development and the design and management of rural areas. The activities are tailored to professional practice, and by initiating innovative research and operationalizing state-of-the-art methods and techniques, to play a significant role at national as well as international levels. CGI hosts the geo-information infrastructure of the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Nature Management, and Fisheries which provides nation-wide information for policy making and management of agriculture, nature and fisheries. The International Soil Reference and Information Centre (ISRIC), which archives the detailed soil profiles world-wide and related soil physical and biogeochemical information, is hosted in CGI.
LSIIT (Laboratoire des Sciences de l'Image, de l'Informatique et de la Télédétection) is research unit UMR 7005 of the University Louis Pasteur - Strasbourg I, associated with Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) since 1986. The back-bone of the research activity of LSIIT is "Image Sciences", which constitutes the link between the three main teams composing the unit: two of them have research activities dealing with Computer Sciences for Imagery on the one hand, Image Processing and Robotic Applications on the other hand. The third one has its research activity in the domain of Remote Sensing for Earth's Observation. The Remote Sensing, Radiometry and Optical Imagery Research Group (TRIO) of LSIIT has activity and experience in remote sensing for Earth's observation since the early 80's. Research activities have been mostly in the thermal infrared domain in relation to land surface temperature as a key variable in energy fluxes analysis and determination. Research work has been conducted in direct and inverse problems for surface flux modeling, methodology for radiometric analysis of satellite data in the visible to thermal infrared domains and associated field radiometry for validation of retrieved parameters from low spatial resolution space-borne and high resolution air-borne systems. The group has developed original methods for spectral analysis of remotely sensed data in the thermal infrared domain, and for retrieving both the channel emissivities and the surface temperature, based on the measurement of the reflected solar radiation in the mid infrared band 3-4 µm, and the combination of day/night images. Development and realisation of NOAA/AVHRR-HRPT and METEOSAT-PDUS local receiving stations, fully operational since 1995, has allowed applying these methods to large-scale problems and extended areas, to study spatial and temporal variability of surface radiative parameters, and angular variability of surface properties of continental surfaces. More recent activities have been focused on theoretical problems raised by change of scales and heterogeneity, on modelling interaction of electromagnetic radiation with the surface in relation to active methods, laser remote sensing and polarimetry. The Group has been involved in many collaborations and programs or campaigns at national and international level (among them, HAPEX-Mobilhy 86, HAPEX-Sahel 91, EFEDA 91-and follow-on EC programs, MODIS/NASA and LSPIM/ESA) and has been responsible or partner in many contracts from public institutions as well as industries: CNRS, CNES, UE, ESA-ERS1 (ATSR data), Canada Center for Remote Sensing, MATRA-Cap-Systems, The expertise of the TRIO/LSIIT group is well recognised by the international remote sensing scientific communities through its strong publications in the international refereed journals as well as the role it plays in the international remote sensing scientific communities.
The National Aerospace Laboratory (NLR) is the central institute for aerospace research in the Netherlands. Its principal mission is to render scientific support and technical assistance on a non-profit basis to Dutch and foreign aerospace industries and organisations, civil and military aircraft operators, and governmental agencies concerned with aviation and spaceflight. NLR is a customer oriented research and development organisation, deriving its income for 70 percent from research contracts and for 30 percent from subsidies from the Dutch Government for its basic research program. Two divisions employ remote sensing activities. The activities concerning application of remote sensing techniques for operational use and user support in data handling are concentrated at the Remote Sensing Department of the Space Division of NLR. The staff at the Remote Sensing Department consists of 12 members, whereas the total staff of the Space Division consists of 45 members. The Informatics Division and Space Division are responsible for the informatics aspects of remote sensing, including developments of remote sensing information systems. In addition, execution of remote sensing projects by these divisions is often supported by the Flight division of NLR by making available aircraft, instrumentation and data processing facilities, and the Electronics & Instrumentation division developing sensors and data-handling instrumentation. The expertise and facilities available at NLR allow the laboratory to play a key role in many areas of remote sensing research in The Netherlands and in other European and non-European countries.
The international institute for Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC), established in 1950 under the name International Training Centre for Aerial Survey (hence ITC), is an autonomous organisation operating under the aegis of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science and the Minister for Development Cooperation of the Netherlands and closely linked to Twente University. It is the oldest and largest international higher education institute in the Netherlands, and seeks to promote the sound application of geo-information technology through programmes of research, education and project services. The knowledge field of ITC is geo-information science and earth observation, which consists of a combination of tools and methods for the collection - through aerospace survey techniques -, storage and processing of geo-spatial data, for the dissemination and use of these data and of services based on these data. ITC's approach is application-oriented, directed at finding solutions for and strengthening civil society in addressing issues of local, national and global dimensions such as the multifunctional use of scarce resources, including space, the effects of climate change and environmental security.