Operational application of envisat ASAR in tropical production forest

A joint research between European Space Agency (ESA) and Bogor Agricultural University (IPB), Indonesia, has been approved under Envisat AO (AO-ID 869). The research is intended to study the operational application of Advanced Synthetic-Aperture Radar (ASAR) for production forest management in Indonesia. Two test sites in forest plantation area of PT Riau Andalan Pulp and Paper (Riaupulp) in Riau Province, Central Sumatera, Indonesia, have been selected recently for the implementation of this joint research. This paper briefs the recent progress of this two-year research (2002-2004) activity. The main objective is to explore the potential of ASAR image analysis application, including POLINSAR, for better and more efficient operational management of tropical plantation forest and its environment. Several interesting operational applications have been identified for the test sites. First application is vegetative cover classification of Acacias, mixed hardwoods, shrubs, oil palms and bare lands. The second is biomass-related application, which study Envisat data on biomass monitoring related to forest plantation. The third is environmental study particularly for site degradation, including issues on monitoring of water bodies and burn site.