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An interview with Marie Lins, who works as a specialist in the field of nature conservation monitoring at the State Business Corporation for Environment and Agriculture (BfUL) in Germany is presented. She discusses her educational background, her role in monitoring and conserving natural areas, the methods used in this field, and her involvement in a project related to remote sensing and environmental monitoring. She also touches on her use of mathematics and programming in her work.

The life cycle of the provision of geo-resources from the legal permission for exploration, through the process of extraction, to the decommissioning of sites is a long process in time and has a local, regional as well as supra-regional impact. The results of several projects show the necessity of integrating the methods of environmental and geomonitoring for spatiotemporal monitoring. Here, the fusion and upscaling of multiple geospatial data layers plays an important role. The project examples show the multisensor fusion of satellite remote sensing with copter flights and in-situ sensors. Only by considering the entire provisioning process of georesources, the necessary knowledge from the final phase can be used for future provisioning processes. In addition, the project results show the importance of considering the effects of changes in local climatological conditions (including precipitation). The projects illustrate that in addition to documenting the actual spatiotemporal changes, geospatial and environmental monitoring offers the possibility of project controls. This necessitates an expansion of the definition of geo- and environmental monitoring, but also the implementation of measures. In summary, however, it is also apparent that only through the fusion of several approaches the development of a geoscientific understanding of processes is achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the H2020 project FATIMA (FArming Tools for external nutrient Inputs and water MAnagement) an integrated approach for the optimisation of nitrogen management in agriculture was applied. In addition to the technical component, which included the processing of Sentinel-2 satellite data, the socio-economic and agronomic aspects of improved nutrient management were investigated. The results show that farmers are mainly interested in timely application maps for variable-rate nitrogen application. In the course of the project not only a field trial for the validation of satellite data as a basis for an economic analysis was established, but also an online application for site-specific fertilisation based on current and historical satellite images was developed and tested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the new plant health Regulation (EU) 2016/2031 coming into force on 14th December 2019, the requirements for surveys of regulated pests for the Member States of the European Union increased significantly. The survey activities in the Member States are supported by the European Commission by the co-financing system implemented in 2015. By this a financial contribution up to 50% of the accumulated costs of the surveys of selected pests can be requested of the European Commission. For executing the entire obligatory future surveys, especially new methods and technologies will be necessary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An essential aspect of understanding past human activity is knowledge about the natural environment. Like almost no other landscape in Asia Minor, the Cilician Plain is defined by strong topographic contrasts: a large fertile plain surrounded by the sea and steep mountain ranges. The Cilician Plain is separated by a natural border into a western (Çukurova) and an eastern (Yukarıova) settlement cluster. All central places in the Çukurova have been located over the millennia at the foothills of the mountains. By contrast, the central places in the Yukarıova were less constant. The avulsion of the rivers can be seen as a reason for this development. However, there also exists for the construction of main Late Bronze and Iron Age monuments in the Cilician Plain a correlation with rivers and channels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the initiation in 1960 of the era of satellite remote sensing to detect the different characteristics of the earth, a powerful tool was created to aid researchers. Many land-use studies were undertaken using Landsat MSS, Landsat TM and ETM, as well as SPOT satellite data. The application of these data to the mapping of land use and land cover at smaller scales was constrained by the limited spectral and/or spatial resolution of the data provided by these satellite sensors. In view of the relatively high cost of SPOT data, and uncertainty regarding the future continuation of the Landsat series, alternative data sources need to be investigated. In the absence of published previous research on this issue in South Africa, the purpose of this article is to investigate the value of visual interpretation of ASTER satellite images for the identification and mapping of land-use in an area in South Africa. The study area is situated in Mpumalanga, in the area of Witbank, around the Witbank and Doorndraai dams. This area is characterised by a variety of urban, rural and industrial land uses. Digital image processing of one Landsat 5 TM, one Landsat 7 ETM and one ASTER satellite image was undertaken, including atmospheric correction and georeferencing, natural colour composites, photo infrared colour composites (or false colour satellite images), band ratios, Normalised Difference Indices, as well as the Brightness, Greenness and Wetness Indices. The efficacy with which land use could be identified through the visual interpretation of the processed Landsat 5 TM, Landsat 7 TM and ASTER satellite images was compared. The published 1:50 000 topographical maps of the area were used for the purpose of initial verification. Findings of the visual interpretation process were verified by field visits to the study area. The study found that the ASTER satellite data produced clearer results and therefore have a higher mapping ability and capacity than the Landsat satellite data. Hence, it is anticipated that the use of the full range of the spectral resolution of the ASTER satellite data -- which were not available for this study -- in statistical pattern recognition and classification methods will enhance the value of the process. Statistical methods are often used to produce visual information which could be applied to prepare land-use change inventories. This should be addressed in future research projects. Should the Landsat programme be terminated, ASTER satellite data might provide the best alternative for a variety of research projects, but if the Landsat project is continued, the ASTER satellite data could be used very effectively in conjunction with the Landsat satellite data. Since it is foreseen that the ASTER satellite data will be available for at least the next 12 to 15 years, it will continue to provide exciting possibilities for the development of programmes to monitor land-use and land-use change. This could then be used by all three levels of government to reach their goals in terms of agricultural planning, town and regional planning and environmental management. These requirements are described in the Integrated Development Programmes (IDP) of the different local governments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]