Multi-scale survey by sample-based field methods and remote sensing: A comparison of UK experience with European environmental assessments

Effective implementation of national and European policy on the environment requires the design and utilisation of multi-scale environmental monitoring and information distribution systems. To be cost effective, consistent and well supported, any environmental monitoring scheme will need to serve multiple end users. The Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH), in the UK and the EU, is addressing the issues of environmental data collection at a range of different scales, creating a structure to integrate detailed field-based measurements with information from remote sensing. CEH undertakes ‘Countryside Surveys’ that comprise sample-based field surveys and land cover maps from satellite images. Integration and inter-calibration of the data for the field surveys and remotely sensed maps is creating a unified product that exploits the strengths of each. In Europe, land cover maps produced as part of the CORINE programme have a coarser spatial resolution, thus the UK contributions to CORINE are generalisations of the national products. The UK can be seen to have an integrated environmental assessment from field to European scales. The European Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) programme aims to improve ecological assessment through the development of standard products and operational delivery services at continental scales. GMES must build on programmes such as Countryside Survey and CORINE to deliver data and information for truly multi-scale, multi-use landscape level environmental applications across Europe. This paper therefore aims to describe emerging systems in the UK and the European Union to assist the collection and analysis of environmental data at a range of different scales through the integration of detailed field-based measurements with information from remote sensing.