Brussels, 16/12/2004 (Agence Europe) - Scientists at the European Commission's Joint Research Centre have perfected a new method for interpreting the data transmitted by satellites observing the Earth and changes to its vegetation. The method, which is based on practical algorithms to interpret the tele-detection data gathered by the satellites' sensors, creates a new monitoring capacity which will increase opportunities to assess the impact of major climatic phenomena such as droughts and heat-waves. The practical use of this innovative approach was amply demonstrated by the analysis of the data for the period of drought and heat-wave in summer 2003, the hottest for 500 years, and the periods immediately before and after, which indicated signs from March 2003 announcing the likely arrival of the phenomena in some agricultural areas of northern France, the Benelux countries and Germany in particular.
A prototype of the method was developed first and tested, with international partners, before the method was transferred to be implemented by the European Space Agency (ESA), which will use it to propose new indicators of environmental pressure to be monitored.