As interest in monitoring and measuring the effects of climate change continue to increase, the demand for spatial datasets that span decades will also increase. The American Thematic Mapper (TM), Enhanced Thematic Mapper (ETM), Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) are the oldest and longest running satellite based sensors in use. These sensors can provide continental scale coverage from the mid 1980s to now at resolutions from 25m to 1.1km. Added to these in the late 1990s were the American Moderate Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), and the French SPOT VEGETATION sensor with resolutions ranging from 250m to 1.1km. Joining these in a short time will be the Chinese Feng Yung (MODIS-like) and the sensors on the American National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System. The challenge facing the Australian community is taking both the historical and new data from an increasing number of satellite-based sensors and developing processes and products that address the questions surrounding monitoring and predicting the effects of climate change in a scientifically rigorous way.

Landgate's Satellite Remote Sensing Services has been engaged in the process of developing and making operational monitoring programs in conjunction with multiple state agencies for more than 15 years. Programs such as Vegewatch, Firewatch and Landmonitor are key outputs from this collaboration and are used on a daily basis by several government departments, as well as environmental scientists and consultants, for monitoring regional environments.

My talk will describe the capabilities of current sensors for cost, repeatability, and spatial continuity for monitoring and evaluation natural resources, as well as institutional sharing arrangements that have allowed some of these projects to develop and continue to be supported.