Leaf area index (LAI) is a key biophysical variable for environmental process modelling. Remotely sensed data have become the\r\nprimary source for estimation of LAI at the scales from local to global. A summary of existing LAI data sets and a discussion\r\nof their appropriateness for the formerly Soviet Central Asia, especially Kazakhstan, which is known for its huge grassland area\r\n(about 2 million km2), are valuable for environmental modelling in this region. The paper gives a brief review of existing global\r\nLAI products, such as AVHRR LAI, MODIS LAI, and SPOT-VEGETATION LAI, and shows that validation of these products in\r\nKazakhstan as well as in other countries of the formerly Soviet Central Asia has not been carried out yet. Apart from the global\r\nLAI products, there are just a few data sets retrieved by remote sensing methods at subregional and regional scales in Kazakhstan.\r\nMore research activities are needed to focus on the validation of the available global LAI products over the formerly Soviet Central\r\nAsia and developing new LAI data sets suitable for application in environmental modelling at different scales in this region.
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