At the start of July, there was a WP6 meeting in Lisbon, Portugal, hosted by IST, which surrounded the topics of data assimilation, utilization of remote sensing in models, as well as operationalization and cloud deployment of models. Each of the participants presented his/her model and a round-table discussion was then held in order to determine the feasibility of integrating the various remote sensing products developed through ECOPOTENTIAL as well as those which are already available via various web services. Additionally, Ghada El Serafy provided an introductory lecture on data assimilation for both state updating and automated parameter estimation. As uncertainty quantification is one of the key elements require of both models and remote sensing products in order to utilize data assimilation, a further discussion on methodologies of uncertainty quantification was held. In the end, various paths forward describing experiments that could be executed across all statistical and process-based models in order to derive a synthesis on European protected areas as a whole concluded the wrap-up of the session. Each of the partners present will spend time over the summer post-processing and attempting first trials of data assimilation as well as generating model-specific experiments in line with the overarching goals derived at the meetings conclusion in order to prepare for a post-summer discussion and generation of a focused work-package wide work plan.
