Remote Sensing in BOREAS: Lessons learned

The Boreal Ecosystem Atmosphere Study (BOREAS) was a large, multiyear internationally supported study designed to improve our understanding of the boreal forest biome and its interactions with the atmosphere, biosphere, and the carbon cycle in the face of global climate change. In the initial phase of this study (early 1990s), remote sensing played a key role by providing products needed for planning and modeling. During and after the main BOREAS field campaigns (1994 and 1996), innovative remote sensing approaches and analyses expanded our understanding of the boreal forest in four key areas: (1) definition of vegetation structure, (2) land-cover classification, (3) assessment of the carbon balance, and (4) links between surface properties, weather, and climate. In addition to six BOREAS special issues and over 500 journal papers, a principal legacy of BOREAS is its well-documented and publicly available database, which provides a lasting scientific resource and opportunity to further advance our understanding of this critical northern biome.
Funding sources for BOREAS included NASA, the US National Science Foundation, the US Geological Survey, the US Forest Service, the US Environmental Protection Agency, the Canada Centre for Remote Sensing, Natural Resources Canada, Environment Canada, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, National Research Council of Canada, Parks Canada, Canadian Forest Service, Institute for Space and Terrestrial Science (now CRESTech), Canadian Space Agency, and the Royal Society of Canada.