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5. MATERIALS AND DATA PROCESSING 
The project will make use of EO data (optical and microwave) 
budgeted for each national RET according to the specific tasks to be 
carried out in collaboration with its respective end user. Addionally 
GIS data layers (soils, climate, land use, etc.) and hydro- 
meteorological time series obtained from the end user will be used 
for validating the parameterizations derived from the EO data. 
Data processing and data management will be carried out by the 
different RET according to their tasks layed down in the six WPs. It 
will include atmospheric correction, georeferencing, supervised 
classifications and GIS analyses to name some of them. As all RETs 
of the EREC are interactively contributing to the IEC, the exchange 
of methodologies and data will become a standard procedure within 
ARSGISIP. 
6. METHODS 
The approach selected was structured by means of the insight gained 
from discussions with all European partners and their respective end 
users. As a result, all end user’s environmental problems related to 
floods, water pollution and land degradation were found to be closely 
related to factors such as catchment management and the 
hydrological dynamics of river catchments. 
  
Flood plains 
     
      
  
Climatic region: 
- cold boreal 
- humid temperate 
- mediterranean 
B|IC]|E ||F 
  
  
  
  
  
Agric./Nutrients 
  
Climatic region: 
- cold boreal 
- humid temperate 
- mediterranean 
A][B](c](p]fe][c] 
  
  
  
  
Reservoirs/lakes 
  
  
Climatic region: 
- cold boreal 
- humid temperate 
- mediterranean 
A pli jis] 
  
  
  
  
WP 100 
Database 
WP 200 
Identification 
Systems analysis / 
    
      
WP 300 
Classification 
Spatial Distribut. 
WP 400 
Delineation 
HRUs ; ERUs 
  
    
  
    
WP 500 
Quantification 
      
   
  
WP 600 
Validation 
Modelling 
The latter is controlled by spatially distributed physiographic 
catchment properties and agricultural and forestry management. 
Streamflow and solute transport can be prognostively simulated by 
means of process oriented simulation models applied by the end 
users. Such models are simulating flood generation and function as 
the driving medium for erosion dynamics and non-point source solute 
transport. 
Improving the management of European land and water resources 
requires an integrated approach towards the catchment's hydrological 
dynamics using scientific and professional expertise in the fields of 
remote sensing, systems analyses, GIS, hydrology, hydrochemistry, 
geomorphology and process modelling available throughout Europe. 
By integrating existing remote sensing techniques with Earth science 
and hydrological expertise into the project's specific objectives, a 
new holistic and synergetic approach towards the parameterization of 
hydrological, erosion and solute transport models is followed. 
The appropriate way to put this synergetic approach into practice is to 
constitute an European Research End User Consortium (EREC) 
which is structured according to Figure 2. Each Research End User 
Team (RET) is contributing project results and expertise to the 
different system components. Close collaboration between RETs and 
EREC is a prerequisite to enable the interstructural exchange of 
expertise, which is realized by e-mail, specific Web pages and coor- 
  
Forest canopy 
  
   
Climatic region: 
| - cold boreal 
- humid temperate 
Al[B][e][F]ic] 
  
  
  
   
  
  
Erosion hazard 
  
Climatic region: 
- cold boreal 
- humid temperate 
- mediterranean 
A|[B][p][c] 
  
  
  
  
Snow + freezing 
  
  
Climatic region: 
- cold boreal 
- humid temperate 
All ll lir fe] 
   
  
  
  
  
Figure 4: IEC components from the EREC's climatic regions and interrelationships between cooperating RETS 
Intemational Archives of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing. Vol. XXXII, Part 7, Budapest, 1998 119