As greater volumes of data become available and models of environmental change become more complex, understanding the properties of data sets is becoming increasingly difficult in multi- and inter-disciplinary environmental change research. Much of the information on the Earth's land surfaces and the changes taking place thereon is provided by sensors carried on board orbiting satellites.

Considerable effort is now being directed towards the development of electronic networks to provide data and metadata.

This volume provides an overview of future sensor systems, ground processing facilities, and data and metadata networks from a European perspective, together with examples of applications.

Compiled from edited papers presented at the TERRA 2 conference, an up-to-date survey of developments in these fields from a remote sensing perspective is given, providing information on a variety of European sensor systems carried by the ERS-2, including SPOT and Envisat platforms, new developments in AVHRR processing and global biosphere models, and the CEO, CIESIN, ESA GDS, GENIE and WETNET data and metadata initiatives.

As a result, this book will prove to be a valuable source of reference to all researchers engaged in studies of land surface change and environmental change modelling.