Hydrology (peat condition, flooding and drought) assessment and monitoring

Tropical peatland ecosystems play a very important in the supply of freshwater, conservation of unique biodiversity (e.g. orang utans), and as globally significant stores of carbon. Nevertheless, reliable maps of tropical peat lands are lacking and the permanent monitoring of their condition is not well established yet.
This is however crucial, as large scale peatland degradation through peat swamp forest (illegal) logging, clearing and drainage by means of canals has enormous implications for the global climate. Recurrent fires in peatlands release extraordinary amounts of carbon into the atmosphere, at the same time causing health and safety problems due to the thick smoke produced.

SarVision has started a unique collaboration with the Japanese Space Agency JAXA. An exclusive agreement has been signed for all data collected by the JERS-1 (radar 20m, 1993-1998), ADEOS-II GLI (optical 250m, 2003) and ALOS (radar 10-20, 100m, 2005-2009) satellites over insular SE Asia, under the condition that all data will be processed and results made publicly available. The JERS and ALOS Palsar L-band radar data are of unsurpassed utility for the mapping and monitoring of the hydrology of peatlands, other wetlands and mangrove ecosystems.

Historical time sequences of JERS-1 SAR showing wetland details in Kalimantan. Mangrove systems: 50x40 km2 at 250m resolution (left). Domes in peat swamp forest: 50x40 km2 at 250m resolution (middle). Canals in peat swamp forest: 25x20 km2 at 100m resolution (right). Note that these examples are details from images covering the whole insular SE Asian region, and will become available for several times a year! (Image courtesy: JAXA, processed by SarVision)

The construction of canals in peat swamp forest areas results in local drainage effects and severe degradation of large areas of forest on peatlands through drying out, making them susceptible to fire. Improved accessibility also resulted in an increase of illegal logging. Time-series of radar satellite observations such as JERS in the example above clearly portray such processes and related vegetation changes in near real-time.