INVENTORY OF ALPINE-RELEVANT PARAMETERS FOR AN ALPINE MONITORING SYSTEM USING REMOTE SENSING DATA

摘要

The Alpine environment, one of the most sensitive of Europe's terrestrial ecosystems, is exposed to immediate and considerable environmental threat. The International Convention on the Protection of the Alps demands comprehensive counter-measures and recommends that an Alpine information system should be implemented. The goal of the project was to compile a basic landscape register for an Alpine Monitoring System (ALPMON) by means of combined analysis of high resolution satellite sensors of Alpine landscapes selected for their typical characteristics. The feasibility of the Alpine Monitoring System was tested for Alpine specific applications in close co-operation with the responsible experts so that the procedures developed can be put into practice. The Swiss National Park was supported by establishing a spatially comprehensive inventory of grass areas, forest stand characteristics and non-vegetated areas in order to set up a better basis for national park management and research. The Avalanches and Hydrogeological Defence Experimental Centre of Arabba (Italy) was interested in the improvement of its operational capability to periodically assess the erosion risk over wide alpine areas, requiring information on the actual land cover. Despite some constraints, satellite remote sensing proved to be the only suitable tool for repeatedly deriving information on the alpine vegetation taking into account the extraordinary high cost and time effort of conventional methods.