Priorities of satellite monitoring of boreal ecosystems

The processes of global changes of climate and biosphere interplay and manifest themselves at the most in the boreal zone of the planet, in particular in Eurasia. Satellite methods of remote observation of the Earth permit a regular monitoring of key characteristics of the state and the time course of changes of terrestrial geosystems necessary to estimate, to understand the mechanism of, and to forecast future climatic and biospheric changes. In the paper, the priority trends of satellite monitoring of terrestrial ecosystems are analyzed and its potential is estimated, with the available satellite instruments and methods of data analysis taken into account. The system developed in Russia for monitoring the state and the time course of changes of terrestrial ecosystems makes it possible to obtain estimates of many important characteristics that reflect the structure of the vegetable cover, scales of damage of vegetation by fires and forest felling, and regimes of use of agricultural lands in North Eurasia or the boreal zone of the planet.