ESA's Earth-observing satellites are helping to understand the intricate role that Eurasia's boreal forest – the planet's largest land ecosystem – plays in the chemical make-up of the atmosphere and the global climate system.

By fostering new use of Earth observation data through the Atmosphere-Land Interaction Study (ALANIS), insight is being gained into how boreal forests contribute to greenhouse gas and aerosol concentration, and into the processes governing the interplay between Earth’s surface and atmosphere. Eurasian boreal forest covers a vast area stretching from Norway to the most easterly part of Russia, and from Siberia to northern Mongolia.

Responding to the need to quantify, model and understand the processes occurring in this huge remote region, ALANIS was set up within ESA's Support to Science Element in partnership with the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme's International Land Ecosystem-Atmosphere Processes Study (iLEAPS).

Executive Director of the iLEAPS International Project Office, Anni Reissell, said, "This collaboration draws together Earth system and Earth observation communities and is vital for planning future remote-sensing products to increase our understanding of land–atmosphere interactions." Read More