VALSAR

The main objective of the project was to demonstrate the applicability for ERS data in conjunction with optical multisensor data and ancillary information for carrying out operational mapping and monitoring tasks of users – mainly regional governmental authorities, but also companies – within the Alpine area.

The Alps are a very sensitive environment, while also being one of the economically most important regions in Europe. The morphological and climatic characteristics of the Alps pose special and additional requirements on the evaluation of the satellite data.

The evaluation of the user requirements was done via questionnaires and individual interviews, resulting in the identification of 4 main areas of a potential application of satellite data:

• Farm registry with GIS/RS extension, i.e. establishment of a regularly updatable data base for financial subsidies by the EU for mountain farms in dependence of the land-use, accessibility and topographic inclination/position;
• Monitoring of unstable slopes;
• Catchment analysis for hydrologic-hydraulic purposes: evaluation of hydrological key parameters for the determination of discharge coefficients from catchment characteristics and the modelling of bedload transport / erosion and sedimentation;
• Forest management.