Key biophysical variables for forest monitoring in Catalonia (Kaori Otsu and Imma Serra)

The Open-Earth Monitor Global Workshop 2026 "Next-Generation EO & GeoAI Built on Openness and Distributed Data" 7-9 October 2026, Barcelona, Spain https://earthmonitor.org/global-workshop-2026/ In alignment with the European Green Deal’s strategies, forest monitoring is crucial to fill the existing information gaps and create a comprehensive forest knowledge base. Based on the 4th Spanish National Forest Inventory collections updated in 2017, we assessed remote sensing data derived from various sources as complementary information to support forest ecosystem monitoring in Catalonia over the last decade. Our study areas focused on regional natural parks designated by Natura 2000 where deciduous tree species (Fagus sylvatica, Castanea sativa) are well represented to analyse key biophysical variables known as Essential Biodiversity Variables (EBVs) such as LAI and FAPAR. The data products compared in this study include high-resolution vegetation maps with new algorithms provided through cloud-based platforms such as Copernicus Data Space Ecosystem and Google Earth Engine. Specifically, we referenced Sentinel-2 based EBVs from BioPAR by VITO and World Reforestation Monitor by ETH Zurich. In discussion our challenges and opportunities associated with data interoperability and quality are addressed.