Remote Sensing

19 pages, 13493 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Improving the Computational Performance of Ontology-Based Classification Using Graph Databases

by Thomas J. Lampoltshammer^1,2,* and Stefanie Wiegand³

¹ School of Information Technology and Systems Management, Salzburg University of Applied Sciences, Urstein Süd 1, Puch, Salzburg 5412, Austria

² Department of Geoinformatics (Z_GIS), University of Salzburg, Schillerstrasse 30, Salzburg 5020, Austria

³ IT Innovation Centre, University of Southampton, Gamma House, Enterprise Road, Southampton SO16 7NS, UK

Remote Sens. 2015, 7(7), 9473-9491; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs70709473 - 22 Jul 2015

Cited by 14 | Viewed by 8378

Abstract

The increasing availability of very high-resolution remote sensing imagery (i.e., from satellites, airborne laser scanning, or aerial photography) represents both a blessing and a curse for researchers. The manual classification of these images, or other similar geo-sensor data, is time-consuming and [...] Read more.

The increasing availability of very high-resolution remote sensing imagery (i.e., from satellites, airborne laser scanning, or aerial photography) represents both a blessing and a curse for researchers. The manual classification of these images, or other similar geo-sensor data, is time-consuming and leads to subjective and non-deterministic results. Due to this fact, (semi-) automated classification approaches are in high demand in affected research areas. Ontologies provide a proper way of automated classification for various kinds of sensor data, including remotely sensed data. However, the processing of data entities—so-called individuals—is one of the most cost-intensive computational operations within ontology reasoning. Therefore, an approach based on graph databases is proposed to overcome the issue of a high time consumption regarding the classification task. The introduced approach shifts the classification task from the classical Protégé environment and its common reasoners to the proposed graph-based approaches. For the validation, the authors tested the approach on a simulation scenario based on a real-world example. The results demonstrate a quite promising improvement of classification speed—up to 80,000 times faster than the Protégé-based approach. Full article

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Graphical abstract

23 pages, 2506 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Theoretical Modeling and Analysis of L- and P-band Radar Backscatter Sensitivity to Soil Active Layer Dielectric Variations

by Jinyang Du^1,*, John S. Kimball¹ and Mahta Moghaddam²

¹ Numerical Terradynamic Simulation Group, College of Forestry and Conservation, The University of Montana, Missoula, MT 59812, USA

² The Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA

Remote Sens. 2015, 7(7), 9450-9472; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs70709450 - 22 Jul 2015

Cited by 21 | Viewed by 6601

Abstract

Freeze-thaw (FT) and moisture dynamics within the soil active layer are critical elements of boreal, arctic and alpine ecosystems, and environmental change assessments. We evaluated the potential for detecting dielectric changes within different soil layers using combined L- and P-band radar remote sensing [...] Read more.

Freeze-thaw (FT) and moisture dynamics within the soil active layer are critical elements of boreal, arctic and alpine ecosystems, and environmental change assessments. We evaluated the potential for detecting dielectric changes within different soil layers using combined L- and P-band radar remote sensing as a prerequisite for detecting FT and moisture profile changes within the soil active layer. A two-layer scattering model was developed and validated for simulating radar responses from vertically inhomogeneous soil. The model simulations indicated that inhomogeneity in the soil dielectric profile contributes to both L- and P-band backscatter, but with greater P-band sensitivity at depth. The difference in L- and P-band responses to soil dielectric profile inhomogeneity appears suitable for detecting associated changes in soil active layer conditions. Additional evaluation using collocated airborne radar (AIRSAR) observations and in situ soil moisture measurements over alpine tundra indicates that combined L- and P-band SAR observations are sensitive to soil dielectric profile heterogeneity associated with variations in soil moisture and FT conditions. Full article

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Graphical abstract

19 pages, 2443 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Sentinel-1A Product Geolocation Accuracy: Commissioning Phase Results

by Adrian Schubert^1,*

, David Small¹

, Nuno Miranda², Dirk Geudtner³ and Erich Meier¹

¹ Remote Sensing Laboratories, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland

² ESA-ESRIN, Via Galileo Galilei, 00044 Frascati, Italy

³ ESA-ESTEC, Keplerlaan 1, 2200 AG Noordwijk, The Netherlands

Remote Sens. 2015, 7(7), 9431-9449; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs70709431 - 22 Jul 2015

Cited by 100 | Viewed by 12009

Abstract

Sentinel-1A (S1A) is an Earth observation satellite carrying a state-of-the-art Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imaging instrument. It was launched by the European Space Agency (ESA) on 3 April 2014. With the end of the in-orbit commissioning phase having been completed at the end [...] Read more.

Sentinel-1A (S1A) is an Earth observation satellite carrying a state-of-the-art Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imaging instrument. It was launched by the European Space Agency (ESA) on 3 April 2014. With the end of the in-orbit commissioning phase having been completed at the end of September 2014, S1A data products are already consistently providing highly accurate geolocation. StripMap (SM) mode products were acquired regularly and tested for geolocation accuracy and consistency during dedicated corner reflector (CR) campaigns. At the completion of this phase, small geometric inconsistencies had been understood and mitigated, with the high quality of the final product geolocation estimates reflecting the mission’s success thus far. This paper describes the measurement campaign, the methods used during geolocation estimation, and presents best estimates of the product Absolute Location Error (ALE) available at the beginning of S1A’s operational phase. Full article

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21 pages, 4267 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Potential of C and X Band SAR for Shrub Growth Monitoring in Sub-Arctic Environments

by Yannick Duguay^1,2,*, Monique Bernier^1,2, Esther Lévesque^2,3 and Benoit Tremblay^2,4

¹ Centre Eau Terre Environnement, Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique (INRS), 490 de la Couronne, Quebec City, QC G1K 9A9, Canada

² Centre d’études Nordiques, Laval University, Pavillon Abitibi-Price 2405, rue de la Terrasse Local 1202, Quebec City, QC G1V 0A6, Canada

³ DÃl’partement des sciences de l’environnement, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, 3351, boul. des Forges, Trois-Rivières, QC G9A 5H7, Canada

⁴ Ministère du Développpement Durable, de l’Environnement et Lutte Contre les Changements Climatiques, Édifice Marie-Guyart, 4e étage 675, Boulevard René-Lévesque Est, Quebec City, QC G1R 5V7, Canada

Remote Sens. 2015, 7(7), 9410-9430; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs70709410 - 22 Jul 2015

Cited by 40 | Viewed by 8090

Abstract

The Arctic and sub-Arctic environments have seen a rapid growth of shrub vegetation at the expense of the Arctic tundra in recent decades. In order to develop better tools to assess and understand this phenomenon, the sensitivity of multi-polarized SAR backscattering at C [...] Read more.

The Arctic and sub-Arctic environments have seen a rapid growth of shrub vegetation at the expense of the Arctic tundra in recent decades. In order to develop better tools to assess and understand this phenomenon, the sensitivity of multi-polarized SAR backscattering at C and X band to shrub density and height is studied under various conditions. RADARSAT-2 and TerraSAR-X images were acquired from November 2011 to March 2012 over the Umiujaq community in northern Quebec (56.55°N, 76.55°W) and compared to in situ measurements of shrub vegetation density and height collected during the summer of 2009. The results show that σ0 is sensitive to changes in shrub coverage up to 20% and is sensitive to changes in shrub height up to around 1 m. The cross-polarized backscattering (σ⁰ HV ) displays the best sensitivity to both shrub height and density, and RADARSAT-2 is more sensitive to shrub height, as TerraSAR-X tends to saturate more rapidly with increasing volume scattering from the shrub branches. These results demonstrate that SAR data could provide essential information, not only on the spatial expansion of shrub vegetation, but also on its vertical growth, especially at early stages of colonization. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing of Changing Northern High Latitude Ecosystems)

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20 pages, 21581 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Characterising the Land Surface Phenology of Europe Using Decadal MERIS Data

by Victor F. Rodriguez-Galiano^1,2,*, Jadunandan Dash² and Peter M. Atkinson^2,3,4,5

¹ Physical Geography and Regional Geographic Analysis, University of Seville, Seville 41004, Spain

² Global Environmental Change and Earth Observation Research Group, Geography and Environment, University of Southampton, Southampton SO17 1BJ, UK

³ Faculty of Science and Technology, Engineering Building, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4YR, UK

⁴ Faculty of Geosciences, University of Utrecht, Heidelberglaan 2, Utrecht 3584 CS, The Netherlands

⁵ School of Geography, Archaeology and Palaeoecology, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast BT7 1NN, Northern Ireland, UK

Remote Sens. 2015, 7(7), 9390-9409; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs70709390 - 22 Jul 2015

Cited by 41 | Viewed by 8399

Abstract

Land surface phenology (LSP), the study of the timing of recurring cycles of changes in the land surface using time-series of satellite sensor-derived vegetation indices, is a valuable tool for monitoring vegetation at global and continental scales. Characterisation of LSP and its spatial [...] Read more.

Land surface phenology (LSP), the study of the timing of recurring cycles of changes in the land surface using time-series of satellite sensor-derived vegetation indices, is a valuable tool for monitoring vegetation at global and continental scales. Characterisation of LSP and its spatial variation is required to reveal and predict ongoing changes in Earth system dynamics. This study presents and analyses the LSP of the pan-European continent for the last decade, considering three phenological metrics: onset of greenness (OG), end of senescence (EOS), and length of season (LS). The whole time-series of Multi-temporal Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS) Terrestrial Chlorophyll Index (MTCI) data at 1 km spatial resolution was used to estimate the phenological metrics. Results show a progressive pattern in phenophases from low to high latitudes. OG dates are distributed widely from the end of December to the end of May. EOS dates range from the end of May to the end of January and the spatial distribution is generally the inverse of that of the OG. Shorter growing seasons (approximately three months) are associated with rainfed croplands in Western Europe, and forests in boreal and mountainous areas. Maximum LS values appear in the Atlantic basin associated with grasslands. The LSP maps presented in this study are supported by the findings of a previous study where OG and EOS estimates were compared to those of the pan-European phenological network at certain locations corresponding to numerous observations of deciduous tree plant species. Moreover, the spatio-temporal pattern of the OG and EOS produced close agreement with the dates of deciduous tree leaf unfolding and autumnal colouring, respectively (pseudo R-squared equal to 0.70 and 0.71 and root mean square error of six days (over 365 days)). Full article

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Graphical abstract

19 pages, 9315 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Sentinel-1 Mission: New Opportunities for Ice Sheet Observations

by Thomas Nagler^1,*

, Helmut Rott^1,2, Markus Hetzenecker¹, Jan Wuite¹

and Pierre Potin³

¹ ENVEO IT GmbH, Technikerstrasse 21a, A-6020 Innsbruck, Austria

² Institute for Meteorology and Geophysics, University of Innsbruck, A-6020 Innsbruck, Austria

³ European Space Agency/ESRIN, via Galileo Galilei, I-00044 Frascati, Italy

Remote Sens. 2015, 7(7), 9371-9389; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs70709371 - 22 Jul 2015

Cited by 181 | Viewed by 20093

Abstract

The Sentinel satellite constellation series, developed by the European Space Agency, represents the dedicated space component of the European Copernicus program, committed to long-term operational services in a wide range of application domains. Here, we address the potential of the Sentinel-1 mission for [...] Read more.

The Sentinel satellite constellation series, developed by the European Space Agency, represents the dedicated space component of the European Copernicus program, committed to long-term operational services in a wide range of application domains. Here, we address the potential of the Sentinel-1 mission for mapping and monitoring the surface velocity of glaciers and ice sheets. We present an ice velocity map of Greenland, derived from synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data acquired in winter 2015 by Sentinel-1A, the first satellite of the Copernicus program in orbit. The map is assembled from about 900 SAR scenes acquired in Interferometric Wide swath (IW) mode, applying the offset tracking technique. We discuss special features of IW mode data, describe the procedures for producing ice velocity maps, and assess the uncertainty of the ice motion product. We compare the Sentinel-1 ice motion product with velocity maps derived from high resolution SAR data of the TerraSAR-X mission and from PALSAR data. Beyond supporting operational services, the Sentinel-1 mission offers enhanced capabilities for comprehensive and long-term observation of key climate variables, such as the motion of ice masses. Full article

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24 pages, 2365 KiB

Open AccessArticle

An Emulator Toolbox to Approximate Radiative Transfer Models with Statistical Learning

by Juan Pablo Rivera¹

, Jochem Verrelst^1,*

, Jose Gómez-Dans²

, Jordi Muñoz-Marí¹, José Moreno¹ and Gustau Camps-Valls¹

¹ Image Processing Laboratory (IPL), Parc Científic, Universitat de València, 46980 Paterna, València, Spain

² Department of Geography, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, UK

Remote Sens. 2015, 7(7), 9347-9370; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs70709347 - 22 Jul 2015

Cited by 64 | Viewed by 10159

Abstract

Physically-based radiative transfer models (RTMs) help in understanding the processes occurring on the Earth’s surface and their interactions with vegetation and atmosphere. When it comes to studying vegetation properties, RTMs allows us to study light interception by plant canopies and are used in [...] Read more.

Physically-based radiative transfer models (RTMs) help in understanding the processes occurring on the Earth’s surface and their interactions with vegetation and atmosphere. When it comes to studying vegetation properties, RTMs allows us to study light interception by plant canopies and are used in the retrieval of biophysical variables through model inversion. However, advanced RTMs can take a long computational time, which makes them unfeasible in many real applications. To overcome this problem, it has been proposed to substitute RTMs through so-called emulators. Emulators are statistical models that approximate the functioning of RTMs. Emulators are advantageous in real practice because of the computational efficiency and excellent accuracy and flexibility for extrapolation. We hereby present an “Emulator toolbox” that enables analysing multi-output machine learning regression algorithms (MO-MLRAs) on their ability to approximate an RTM. The toolbox is included in the free-access ARTMO’s MATLAB suite for parameter retrieval and model inversion and currently contains both linear and non-linear MO-MLRAs, namely partial least squares regression (PLSR), kernel ridge regression (KRR) and neural networks (NN). These MO-MLRAs have been evaluated on their precision and speed to approximate the soil vegetation atmosphere transfer model SCOPE (Soil Canopy Observation, Photochemistry and Energy balance). SCOPE generates, amongst others, sun-induced chlorophyll fluorescence as the output signal. KRR and NN were evaluated as capable of reconstructing fluorescence spectra with great precision. Relative errors fell below 0.5% when trained with 500 or more samples using cross-validation and principal component analysis to alleviate the underdetermination problem. Moreover, NN reconstructed fluorescence spectra about 50-times faster and KRR about 800-times faster than SCOPE. The Emulator toolbox is foreseen to open new opportunities in the use of advanced RTMs, in which both consistent physical assumptions and data-driven machine learning algorithms live together. Full article

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22 pages, 8100 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Reliable Crop Identification with Satellite Imagery in the Context of Common Agriculture Policy Subsidy Control

by Jonas Schmedtmann^1,* and Manuel L. Campagnolo^1,2

¹ Forest Research Centre, School of Agriculture, University of Lisbon, Tapada da Ajuda, Lisboa 1349-017, Portugal

² Department of Biosystems, Sciences and Engineering, School of Agriculture, University of Lisbon, Tapada da Ajuda, Lisboa 1349-017, Portugal

Remote Sens. 2015, 7(7), 9325-9346; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs70709325 - 22 Jul 2015

Cited by 71 | Viewed by 11343

Abstract

Agricultural subsidies in the context of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) represent over 40% of the EU’s yearly budget. To ensure that funds are properly spent, farmers are controlled by National Control and Paying Agencies (NCPA) using tools, such as computer-assisted photo interpretation [...] Read more.

Agricultural subsidies in the context of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) represent over 40% of the EU’s yearly budget. To ensure that funds are properly spent, farmers are controlled by National Control and Paying Agencies (NCPA) using tools, such as computer-assisted photo interpretation (CAPI), which aims at identifying crops via remotely-sensed imagery. CAPI is time consuming and requires a large team of skilled photo interpreters. The objective of this study was to develop a reliable control system to partially replace CAPI for crop identification, with the overreaching goal of reducing control costs and completion time. Validated control data provided by the Portuguese Control and Paying Agency and an atmospherically-corrected Landsat ETM+ time series were used to perform parcel-based crop classification, leading to an accuracy of only 68% due to high similarity between crops’ spectral signatures. To address this problem, we propose an automatic control system (ACS) that couples crop classification to a reliability requirement. This allows the decision-maker to set a reliability level, which restricts automatic crop identification to parcels that are classified with high certainty. While higher reliability levels reduce the risk of misclassifications, lower levels increase the proportion of automatic control decisions (ACP). With a reliability level of 80%, more than half of the parcels in our study area are automatically identified with an overall accuracy of 84%. In particular, this allows automatically controlling over 85% of all parcels classified as maize, rice, wheat or vineyard. Full article

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14 pages, 615 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Retrieval of Aerosol Properties for Fine/Coarse Mode Aerosol Mixtures over Beijing from PARASOL Measurements

by Shupeng Wang¹, Li Fang^2,*, Xingying Zhang¹ and Weihe Wang¹

¹ National Satellite Meteorological Center, Beijing 100081, China

² Institute of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China

Remote Sens. 2015, 7(7), 9311-9324; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs70709311 - 21 Jul 2015

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 5579

Abstract

Beijing is one of the largest metropolitan areas in the world with relatively high aerosol loading. The population of Beijing is approximately 21.5 million based on statistics from 2014. In order to improve the air quality of Beijing by monitoring and better understanding [...] Read more.

Beijing is one of the largest metropolitan areas in the world with relatively high aerosol loading. The population of Beijing is approximately 21.5 million based on statistics from 2014. In order to improve the air quality of Beijing by monitoring and better understanding of high aerosol loading at fine spatial resolution, an extended version of the Look Up Table (LUT) aerosol retrieval algorithm from PARASOL (Polarization and Anisotropy of Reﬂectances for Atmospheric Science coupled with Observations from a Lidar) measurements of total intensity and polarization was tested over this region. Instead of using the surface reflectance model introduced in the GRASP (Generalized Retrieval of Aerosol and Surface Properties) algorithm, the assumption of spectral reflectance shape invariance principle is used to separate the total radiance contribution of surface and aerosols. Case studies were conducted in Beijing and evaluated preliminarily using the coincident AERONET measurements. The results indicate a significant agreement with a slope of 1.083 and a correlation coefficient of 0.913. A high Gfrac (fraction of accurate retrievals) of 78% is also observed. Analysis on the retrieval accuracy illustrates that the algorithm capability depends significantly on the data quality index, as the AOD (Aerosol Optical Depth) retrieval accuracy is relatively lower for the data with quality index less than 0.75. Full article

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19 pages, 1599 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Joint Quality Measure for Evaluation of Pansharpening Accuracy

by Gintautas Palubinskas

Remote Sensing Technology Institute, German Aerospace Center (DLR), Oberpfaffenhofen, 82234 Wessling, Germany

Remote Sens. 2015, 7(7), 9292-9310; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs70709292 - 21 Jul 2015

Cited by 28 | Viewed by 8610

Abstract

A new Joint Quality Measure (JQM), which is a sole measure, is proposed for quality ranking of pansharpening methods. It is based on a newly proposed Composite similarity measure, which consists of Means, Standard deviations and Correlation coefficient (CMSC), and is translation invariant [...] Read more.

A new Joint Quality Measure (JQM), which is a sole measure, is proposed for quality ranking of pansharpening methods. It is based on a newly proposed Composite similarity measure, which consists of Means, Standard deviations and Correlation coefficient (CMSC), and is translation invariant with respect to means and standard deviations. The JQM itself consists of a weighted sum of two terms. The first term is measured between a low pass filtered pansharpened image and original multispectral image at a reduced/low resolution scale. The second term is measured between the intensity calculated from spectrally weighted pansharpened multispectral image and original panchromatic image in a high resolution scale. Experimental results show advantages of a new measure, JQM, for quality assessment of pansharpening methods on the one hand, and drawbacks or unexpected properties of the already known measure, Quality with No Reference (QNR), on the other hand. Full article

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Graphical abstract

23 pages, 749 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Validation of the Surface Downwelling Solar Irradiance Estimates of the HelioClim-3 Database in Egypt

by Yehia Eissa^1,2,*, Mohamed Korany³, Youva Aoun², Mohamed Boraiy⁴, Magdy M. Abdel Wahab⁵, Stephane C. Alfaro⁶, Philippe Blanc², Mossad El-Metwally⁷, Hosni Ghedira¹, Katja Hungershoefer⁸ and Lucien Wald²

¹ Masdar Institute, Research Center for Renewable Energy Mapping and Assessment, P.O. Box 54224 Abu Dhabi, UAE

² MINES ParisTech, PSL Research University, O.I.E. – Centre Observation, Impacts, Energy, CS 10207 – 06904 Sophia Antipolis cedex, France

³ Egyptian Meteorological Authority, Cairo 11599, Egypt

⁴ Physics and Mathematical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Port Said University, Port Said 42526, Egypt

⁵ Astronomy and Meteorology Department, Faculty of Science, Cairo University, Giza 12613, Egypt

⁶ Laboratoire Inter-universitaire des Systèmes Atmosphériques, Universités de Paris-Est Créteil et Paris-Diderot, Paris 94010, France

⁷ Physics Department, Faculty of Science, Port Said University, Port Said 42526, Egypt

⁸ Deutscher Wetterdienst, Offenbach 63067, Germany

Remote Sens. 2015, 7(7), 9269-9291; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs70709269 - 21 Jul 2015

Cited by 41 | Viewed by 9061

Abstract

HelioClim-3 (HC3) is a database providing time series of the surface downwelling solar irradiance that are computed from images of the Meteosat satellites. This paper presents the validation results of the hourly global horizontal irradiance (GHI) and direct normal irradiance (DNI), i.e., [...] Read more.

HelioClim-3 (HC3) is a database providing time series of the surface downwelling solar irradiance that are computed from images of the Meteosat satellites. This paper presents the validation results of the hourly global horizontal irradiance (GHI) and direct normal irradiance (DNI), i.e., beam irradiance at normal incidence, of versions four and five of HC3 at seven Egyptian sites. The validation is performed for all-sky conditions, as well as cloud-free conditions. Both versions of HC3 provide similar performances whatever the conditions. Another comparison is made with the estimates provided by the McClear database that is restricted to cloud-free conditions. All databases capture well the temporal variability of the GHI in all conditions, McClear being superior for cloud-free cases. In cloud-free conditions for the GHI, the relative root mean square error (RMSE) are fairly similar, ranging from 6% to 15%; both HC3 databases exhibit a smaller bias than McClear. McClear offers an overall better performance for the cloud-free DNI estimates. For all-sky conditions, the relative RMSE for GHI ranges from 10% to 22%, except one station, while, for the DNI, the results are not so good for the two stations with DNI measurements. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing of Solar Surface Radiation)

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16 pages, 788 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Classification of Multi-Frequency Polarimetric SAR Images Based on Multi-Linear Subspace Learning of Tensor Objects

by Chun Liu^*

, Junjun Yin, Jian Yang and Wei Gao

Department of Electronic Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China

Remote Sens. 2015, 7(7), 9253-9268; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs70709253 - 20 Jul 2015

Cited by 17 | Viewed by 6718

Abstract

One key problem for the classification of multi-frequency polarimetric SAR images is to extract target features simultaneously in the aspects of frequency, polarization and spatial texture. This paper proposes a new classification method for multi-frequency polarimetric SAR data based on tensor representation and [...] Read more.

One key problem for the classification of multi-frequency polarimetric SAR images is to extract target features simultaneously in the aspects of frequency, polarization and spatial texture. This paper proposes a new classification method for multi-frequency polarimetric SAR data based on tensor representation and multi-linear subspace learning (MLS). Firstly, each cell of the SAR images is represented by a third-order tensor in the frequency, polarization and spatial domains, with each order of tensor corresponding to one domain. Then, two main MLS methods, i.e., multi-linear principal component analysis (MPCA) and multi-linear extension of linear discriminant analysis (MLDA), are used to learn the third-order tensors. MPCA is used to analyze the principal component of the tensors. MLDA is applied to improve the discrimination between different land covers. Finally, the lower dimension subtensor features extracted by the MPCA and MLDA algorithms are classified with a neural network (NN) classifier. The classification scheme is accessed using multi-band polarimetric SAR images (C-, L- and P-band) acquired by the Airborne Synthetic Aperture Radar (AIRSAR) sensor of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) over the Flevoland area. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method has good classification performance in comparison with the classic multi-band Wishart classifier. The overall classification accuracy is close to 99%, even when the number of training samples is small. Full article

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23 pages, 1965 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Development and Evaluation of a River-Basin-Scale High Spatio-Temporal Precipitation Data Set Using the WRF Model: A Case Study of the Heihe River Basin

by Xiaoduo Pan¹, Xin Li^1,*, Guodong Cheng¹, Hongyi Li^1,2 and Xiaobo He¹

¹ Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing of Gansu Province, Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China

² Heihe Remote Sensing Experimental Research Station, Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China

Remote Sens. 2015, 7(7), 9230-9252; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs70709230 - 20 Jul 2015

Cited by 27 | Viewed by 6864

Abstract

To obtain long term accurate high resolution precipitation for the Heihe River Basin (HRB), Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model simulations were performed using two different initial boundary conditions, with nine microphysical processes for different analysis parameterization schemes. High spatial-temporal precipitation was simulated [...] Read more.

To obtain long term accurate high resolution precipitation for the Heihe River Basin (HRB), Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model simulations were performed using two different initial boundary conditions, with nine microphysical processes for different analysis parameterization schemes. High spatial-temporal precipitation was simulated from 2000 to 2013 and a suitable set of initial, boundary, and micro parameters for the HRB was evaluated from the Heihe Watershed Allied Telemetry Experimental Research project and Chinese Meteorological Administration data at hourly, daily, monthly, and annual time scales using various statistical indicators. It was found that annual precipitation has gradually increased over the HRB since 2000. Precipitation mostly occurs in summer and is higher in monsoon-influenced areas. High elevations experience winter snowfall. Precipitation is higher in the eastern upstream area than in the western upstream, area; however, the converse occurs in winter. Precipitation gradually increases with elevation from 1000 m to 4000 m, and the maximum precipitation occurs at the height of 3500–4000 m, then the precipitation slowly decreases with elevation from 4000 m to the top over the Qilian Mountains. Precipitation is scare and has a high temporal variation in the downstream area. Results are systematically validated using the in situ observations in this region and it was found that precipitation simulated by the WRF model using suitable physical configuration agrees well with the observation over the HRB at hourly, daily, monthly and yearly scales, as well as at spatial pattern. We also conclude that the dynamic downscaling using the WRF model is capable of producing high-resolution and reliable precipitation over complex mountainous areas and extremely arid environments. The downscaled data can meet the requirement of river basin scale hydrological modeling and water balance analysis. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Development and Validation of Remote Sensing Products for Terrestrial, Hydrological, and Ecological Applications at the Regional Scale)

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25 pages, 19023 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Incorporating Endmember Variability into Linear Unmixing of Coarse Resolution Imagery: Mapping Large-Scale Impervious Surface Abundance Using a Hierarchically Object-Based Spectral Mixture Analysis

by Chengbin Deng

Department of Geography, State University of New York at Binghamton, P.O. Box 6000, Binghamton, NY 13902, USA

Remote Sens. 2015, 7(7), 9205-9229; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs70709205 - 17 Jul 2015

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 6756

Abstract

As an important indicator of anthropogenic impacts on the Earth’s surface, it is of great necessity to accurately map large-scale urbanized areas for various science and policy applications. Although spectral mixture analysis (SMA) can provide spatial distribution and quantitative fractions for better representations [...] Read more.

As an important indicator of anthropogenic impacts on the Earth’s surface, it is of great necessity to accurately map large-scale urbanized areas for various science and policy applications. Although spectral mixture analysis (SMA) can provide spatial distribution and quantitative fractions for better representations of urban areas, this technique is rarely explored with 1-km resolution imagery. This is due mainly to the absence of image endmembers associated with the mixed pixel problem. Consequently, as the most profound source of error in SMA, endmember variability has rarely been considered with coarse resolution imagery. These issues can be acute for fractional land cover mapping due to the significant spectral variations of numerous land covers across a large study area. To solve these two problems, a hierarchically object-based SMA (HOBSMA) was developed (1) to extrapolate local endmembers for regional spectral library construction; and (2) to incorporate endmember variability into linear spectral unmixing of MODIS 1-km imagery for large-scale impervious surface abundance mapping. Results show that by integrating spatial constraints from object-based image segments and endmember extrapolation techniques into multiple endmember SMA (MESMA) of coarse resolution imagery, HOBSMA improves the discriminations between urban impervious surfaces and other land covers with well-known spectral confusions (e.g., bare soil and water), and particularly provides satisfactory representations of urban fringe areas and small settlements. HOBSMA yields promising abundance results at the km-level scale with relatively high precision and small bias, which considerably outperforms the traditional simple mixing model and the aggregated MODIS land cover classification product. Full article

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21 pages, 3858 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Detection of Convective Initiation Using Meteorological Imager Onboard Communication, Ocean, and Meteorological Satellite Based on Machine Learning Approaches

by Hyangsun Han^1,†, Sanggyun Lee^1,†, Jungho Im^1,*

, Miae Kim¹, Myong-In Lee¹

, Myoung Hwan Ahn² and Sung-Rae Chung³

¹ School of Urban and Environmental Engineering, Ulsan National Institute of Science andTechnology, Ulsan 689-798, South Korea

² Department of Atmospheric Science & Engineering, Ewha Womans University, Seoul 120-750, South Korea

³ National Meteorological Satellite Center, Korea Meteorological Administration, Jincheon 365-831, South Korea

^† Those authors contributed equally to this paper.

Remote Sens. 2015, 7(7), 9184-9204; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs70709184 - 17 Jul 2015

Cited by 53 | Viewed by 9208

Abstract

As convective clouds in Northeast Asia are accompanied by various hazards related with heavy rainfall and thunderstorms, it is very important to detect convective initiation (CI) in the region in order to mitigate damage by such hazards. In this study, a novel approach [...] Read more.

As convective clouds in Northeast Asia are accompanied by various hazards related with heavy rainfall and thunderstorms, it is very important to detect convective initiation (CI) in the region in order to mitigate damage by such hazards. In this study, a novel approach for CI detection using images from Meteorological Imager (MI), a payload of the Communication, Ocean, and Meteorological Satellite (COMS), was developed by improving the criteria of the interest fields of Rapidly Developing Cumulus Areas (RDCA) derivation algorithm, an official CI detection algorithm for Multi-functional Transport SATellite-2 (MTSAT-2), based on three machine learning approaches—decision trees (DT), random forest (RF), and support vector machines (SVM). CI was defined as clouds within a 16 × 16 km window with the first detection of lightning occurrence at the center. A total of nine interest fields derived from visible, water vapor, and two thermal infrared images of MI obtained 15–75 min before the lightning occurrence were used as input variables for CI detection. RF produced slightly higher performance (probability of detection (POD) of 75.5% and false alarm rate (FAR) of 46.2%) than DT (POD of 70.7% and FAR of 46.6%) for detection of CI caused by migrating frontal cyclones and unstable atmosphere. SVM resulted in relatively poor performance with very high FAR ~83.3%. The averaged lead times of CI detection based on the DT and RF models were 36.8 and 37.7 min, respectively. This implies that CI over Northeast Asia can be forecasted ~30–45 min in advance using COMS MI data. Full article

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18 pages, 6323 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Monitoring Mining Subsidence Using A Combination of Phase-Stacking and Offset-Tracking Methods

by Hongdong Fan^1,*, Xiaoxiong Gao², Junkai Yang², Kazhong Deng³

and Yang Yu²

¹ School of Environment Science and Spatial Informatics, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou 221116, China

² Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Resources and Environmental Information Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou 221116, China

³ NASG Key Laboratory of Land and Environment and Disaster Monitoring, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou 221116, China

Remote Sens. 2015, 7(7), 9166-9183; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs70709166 - 17 Jul 2015

Cited by 116 | Viewed by 10082

Abstract

An approach to study the mechanism of mining-induced subsidence, using a combination of phase-stacking and sub-pixel offset-tracking methods, is reported. In this method, land subsidence with a small deformation gradient was calculated using time-series differential interferometric synthetic aperture radar (D-InSAR) data, whereas areas [...] Read more.

An approach to study the mechanism of mining-induced subsidence, using a combination of phase-stacking and sub-pixel offset-tracking methods, is reported. In this method, land subsidence with a small deformation gradient was calculated using time-series differential interferometric synthetic aperture radar (D-InSAR) data, whereas areas with greater subsidence were calculated by a sub-pixel offset-tracking method. With this approach, time-series data for mining subsidence were derived in Yulin area using 11 TerraSAR-X (TSX) scenes from 13 December 2012 to 2 April 2013. The maximum mining subsidence and velocity values were 4.478 m and 40 mm/day, respectively, which were beyond the monitoring capabilities of D-InSAR and advanced InSAR. The results were compared with the GPS field survey data, and the root mean square errors (RMSE) of the results in the strike and dip directions were 0.16 m and 0.11 m, respectively. Four important results were obtained from the time-series subsidence in this mining area: (1) the mining-induced subsidence entered the residual deformation stage within about 44 days; (2) the advance angle of influence changed from 75.6° to 80.7°; (3) the prediction parameters of mining subsidence; (4) three-dimensional deformation. This method could be used to predict the occurrence of mining accidents and to help in the restoration of the ecological environment after mining activities have ended. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing in Geology)

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17 pages, 3905 KiB

Open AccessReview

A Remote-Sensing-Driven System for Mining Marine Spatiotemporal Association Patterns

by Cunjin Xue^1,2,*

, Qing Dong^1,*, Xiaohong Li¹, Xing Fan¹, Yilong Li¹ and Shuchao Wu¹

¹ Key Laboratory of Digital Earth Science, Institute of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100094, China

² Key Laboratory of the Earth Observation, Sanya 572029, China

Remote Sens. 2015, 7(7), 9149-9165; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs70709149 - 17 Jul 2015

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 5528

Abstract

Remote sensing is widely used to analyze marine environments. While many effective and advanced methods have been developed, they are generally used independently of each other, despite the potential advantages of combining different modules into an integrated system. We develop here an image-driven [...] Read more.

Remote sensing is widely used to analyze marine environments. While many effective and advanced methods have been developed, they are generally used independently of each other, despite the potential advantages of combining different modules into an integrated system. We develop here an image-driven remote-sensing mining system, RSMapMining (Remote Sensing driven Marine spatiotemporal Association Pattern Mining system), which consists of three modules. The image preprocessing module integrates image processing techniques and marine extraction methods to build a mining database. The pattern mining module integrates popular algorithms to implement the mining process according to the mining strategies. The third module, knowledge visualization, designs a series of interactive interfaces to visualize the marine data at a variety of scales, from global to grid pixel. The effectiveness of the integrated system is tested in a case study of the northwestern Pacific Ocean. The main contribution of this study is the development of a mining system to deal with marine remote sensing images by integrating popular techniques and methods ranging from information extraction, through visualization, to knowledge discovery. Full article

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27 pages, 1565 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Fodder Biomass Monitoring in Sahelian Rangelands Using Phenological Metrics from FAPAR Time Series

by Abdoul Aziz Diouf^1,2,*

, Martin Brandt³

, Aleixandre Verger⁴, Moussa El Jarroudi², Bakary Djaby⁵, Rasmus Fensholt³

, Jacques André Ndione¹ and Bernard Tychon²

¹ Centre de Suivi Ecologique, Rue Aimé Césaire x Leon Gontran Damas, BP 15532 Fann-Dakar, Senegal

² Water, Environment and Development Unit, University of Liege, Avenue de Longwy B6700, Arlon, Belgium

³ Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, University of Copenhagen, 1350 Copenhagen, Denmark

⁴ CREAF, Cerdanyola del Vallès 08193, Catalonia, Spain

⁵ Centre Regional AGRHYMET, BP 11011 Niamey, Niger

Remote Sens. 2015, 7(7), 9122-9148; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs70709122 - 17 Jul 2015

Cited by 53 | Viewed by 10424

Abstract

Timely monitoring of plant biomass is critical for the management of forage resources in Sahelian rangelands. The estimation of annual biomass production in the Sahel is based on a simple relationship between satellite annual Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and in situ biomass [...] Read more.

Timely monitoring of plant biomass is critical for the management of forage resources in Sahelian rangelands. The estimation of annual biomass production in the Sahel is based on a simple relationship between satellite annual Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and in situ biomass data. This study proposes a new methodology using multi-linear models between phenological metrics from the SPOT-VEGETATION time series of Fraction of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (FAPAR) and in situ biomass. A model with three variables—large seasonal integral (LINTG), length of growing season, and end of season decreasing rate—performed best (MAE = 605 kg·DM/ha; R² = 0.68) across Sahelian ecosystems in Senegal (data for the period 1999–2013). A model with annual maximum (PEAK) and start date of season showed similar performances (MAE = 625 kg·DM/ha; R² = 0.64), allowing a timely estimation of forage availability. The subdivision of the study area in ecoregions increased overall accuracy (MAE = 489.21 kg·DM/ha; R² = 0.77), indicating that a relation between metrics and ecosystem properties exists. LINTG was the main explanatory variable for woody rangelands with high leaf biomass, whereas for areas dominated by herbaceous vegetation, it was the PEAK metric. The proposed approach outperformed the established biomass NDVI-based product (MAE = 818 kg·DM/ha and R² = 0.51) and should improve the operational monitoring of forage resources in Sahelian rangelands. Full article

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31 pages, 12786 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Optimized 3D Street Scene Reconstruction from Driving Recorder Images

by Yongjun Zhang^1,†, Qian Li^1,*,†, Hongshu Lu^2,†, Xinyi Liu¹, Xu Huang¹, Chao Song¹, Shan Huang¹ and Jingyi Huang¹

¹ School of Remote Sensing and Information Engineering, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430079, China

² Electronic Science and Engineering, National University of Defence Technology, Changsha 410000, China

^† These authors contributed equally to this work.

Remote Sens. 2015, 7(7), 9091-9121; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs70709091 - 17 Jul 2015

Cited by 16 | Viewed by 8894

Abstract

The paper presents an automatic region detection based method to reconstruct street scenes from driving recorder images. The driving recorder in this paper is a dashboard camera that collects images while the motor vehicle is moving. An enormous number of moving vehicles are [...] Read more.

The paper presents an automatic region detection based method to reconstruct street scenes from driving recorder images. The driving recorder in this paper is a dashboard camera that collects images while the motor vehicle is moving. An enormous number of moving vehicles are included in the collected data because the typical recorders are often mounted in the front of moving vehicles and face the forward direction, which can make matching points on vehicles and guardrails unreliable. Believing that utilizing these image data can reduce street scene reconstruction and updating costs because of their low price, wide use, and extensive shooting coverage, we therefore proposed a new method, which is called the Mask automatic detecting method, to improve the structure results from the motion reconstruction. Note that we define vehicle and guardrail regions as “mask” in this paper since the features on them should be masked out to avoid poor matches. After removing the feature points in our new method, the camera poses and sparse 3D points that are reconstructed with the remaining matches. Our contrast experiments with the typical pipeline of structure from motion (SfM) reconstruction methods, such as Photosynth and VisualSFM, demonstrated that the Mask decreased the root-mean-square error (RMSE) of the pairwise matching results, which led to more accurate recovering results from the camera-relative poses. Removing features from the Mask also increased the accuracy of point clouds by nearly 30%–40% and corrected the problems of the typical methods on repeatedly reconstructing several buildings when there was only one target building. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensed Data and Processing Methodologies for 3D Virtual Reconstruction and Visualization of Complex Architectures)

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21 pages, 3338 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Short-Term Forecasting of Surface Solar Irradiance Based on Meteosat-SEVIRI Data Using a Nighttime Cloud Index

by Annette Hammer^*, Jan Kühnert, Kailash Weinreich and Elke Lorenz

Department of Physics, University of Oldenburg, Carl-von-Ossietzky-Str. 9-11, 26129 Oldenburg, Germany

Remote Sens. 2015, 7(7), 9070-9090; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs70709070 - 17 Jul 2015

Cited by 22 | Viewed by 8787 | Correction

Abstract

The cloud index is a key parameter of the Heliosat method. This method is widely used to calculate solar irradiance on the Earth’s surface from Meteosat visible channel images. Moreover, cloud index images are the basis of short-term forecasting of solar irradiance and [...] Read more.

The cloud index is a key parameter of the Heliosat method. This method is widely used to calculate solar irradiance on the Earth’s surface from Meteosat visible channel images. Moreover, cloud index images are the basis of short-term forecasting of solar irradiance and photovoltaic power production. For this purpose, cloud motion vectors are derived from consecutive images, and the motion of clouds is extrapolated to obtain forecasted cloud index images. The cloud index calculation is restricted to the daylight hours, as long as SEVIRI HR-VIS images are used. Hence, this forecast method cannot be used before sunrise. In this paper, a method is introduced that can be utilized a few hours before sunrise. The cloud information is gained from the brightness temperature difference (BTD) of the 10.8 µm and 3.9 µm SEVIRI infrared channels. A statistical relation is developed to assign a cloud index value to either the BTD or the brightness temperature T10:8, depending on the cloud class to which the pixel belongs (fog and low stratus, clouds with temperatures less than 232 K, other clouds). Images are composed of regular HR-VIS cloud index values that are used to the east of the terminator and of nighttime BTD-derived cloud index values used to the west of the terminator, where the Sun has not yet risen. The motion vector algorithm is applied to the images and delivers a forecast of irradiance at sunrise and in the morning. The forecasted irradiance is validated with ground measurements of global horizontal irradiance, and the advantage of the new approach is shown. The RMSE of forecasted irradiance based on the presented nighttime cloud index for the morning hours is between 3 and 70 W/m2, depending on the time of day. This is an improvement against the previous precision range of the forecast based on the daytime cloud index between 70 and 85 W/m2. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remote Sensing of Solar Surface Radiation)

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25 pages, 541 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Prediction of Macronutrients at the Canopy Level Using Spaceborne Imaging Spectroscopy and LiDAR Data in a Mixedwood Boreal Forest

by Kemal Gökkaya^1,*,†, Valerie Thomas¹

, Thomas L. Noland², Harry McCaughey³, Ian Morrison⁴ and Paul Treitz³

¹ Department of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24060, USA

² Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry, Ontario Forest Research Institute, Sault Ste. Marie, ON P6A 2E5, Canada

³ Department of Geography, Queen's University, Kingston, ON K7L 3N6, Canada

⁴ Canadian Forest Service, Natural Resources Canada, Sault Ste. Marie, ON P6A 2E5, Canada

^† Current address: Environmental Change Initiative, University of Notre Dame, 1400 East Angela Blvd. Unit 117, South Bend, IN 46617, USA.

Remote Sens. 2015, 7(7), 9045-9069; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs70709045 - 17 Jul 2015

Cited by 24 | Viewed by 7170

Abstract

Information on foliar macronutrients is required in order to understand plant physiological and ecosystem processes such as photosynthesis, nutrient cycling, respiration and cell wall formation. The ability to measure, model and map foliar macronutrients (nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), calcium (Ca) and [...] Read more.

Information on foliar macronutrients is required in order to understand plant physiological and ecosystem processes such as photosynthesis, nutrient cycling, respiration and cell wall formation. The ability to measure, model and map foliar macronutrients (nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), calcium (Ca) and magnesium (Mg)) at the forest canopy level provides information on the spatial patterns of ecosystem processes (e.g., carbon exchange) and provides insight on forest condition and stress. Imaging spectroscopy (IS) has been used particularly for modeling N, using airborne and satellite imagery mostly in temperate and tropical forests. However, there has been very little research conducted at these scales to model P, K, Ca, and Mg and few studies have focused on boreal forests. We report results of a study of macronutrient modeling using spaceborne IS and airborne light detection and ranging (LiDAR) data for a mixedwood boreal forest canopy in northern Ontario, Canada. Models incorporating Hyperion data explained approximately 90% of the variation in canopy concentrations of N, P, and Mg; whereas the inclusion of LiDAR data significantly improved the prediction of canopy concentration of Ca (R² = 0.80). The combined used of IS and LiDAR data significantly improved the prediction accuracy of canopy Ca and K concentration but decreased the prediction accuracy of canopy P concentration. The results indicate that the variability of macronutrient concentration due to interspecific and functional type differences at the site provides the basis for the relationship observed between the remote sensing measurements (i.e., IS and LiDAR) and macronutrient concentration. Crown closure and canopy height are the structural metrics that establish the connection between macronutrient concentration and IS and LiDAR data, respectively. The spatial distribution of macronutrient concentration at the canopy scale mimics functional type distribution at the site. The ability to predict canopy N, P, K, Ca and Mg in this study using only IS, only LiDAR or their combination demonstrates the excellent potential for mapping these macronutrients at canopy scales across larger geographic areas into the next decade with the launch of new IS satellite missions and by using spaceborne LiDAR data. Full article

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25 pages, 3483 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Mapping Robinia Pseudoacacia Forest Health Conditions by Using Combined Spectral, Spatial, and Textural Information Extracted from IKONOS Imagery and Random Forest Classifier

by Hong Wang^1,*, Yu Zhao¹, Ruiliang Pu² and Zhenzhen Zhang¹

¹ School of Earth Sciences and Engineering, Hohai University, No. 1 Xikang Road, Nanjing 210098, China

² School of Geosciences, University of South Florida, 4202 E. Fowler Avenue, NES 107, Tampa, FL 33620, USA

Remote Sens. 2015, 7(7), 9020-9044; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs70709020 - 16 Jul 2015

Cited by 73 | Viewed by 8967

Abstract

The textural and spatial information extracted from very high resolution (VHR) remote sensing imagery provides complementary information for applications in which the spectral information is not sufficient for identification of spectrally similar landscape features. In this study grey-level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM) textures and [...] Read more.

The textural and spatial information extracted from very high resolution (VHR) remote sensing imagery provides complementary information for applications in which the spectral information is not sufficient for identification of spectrally similar landscape features. In this study grey-level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM) textures and a local statistical analysis Getis statistic (Gi), computed from IKONOS multispectral (MS) imagery acquired from the Yellow River Delta in China, along with a random forest (RF) classifier, were used to discriminate Robina pseudoacacia tree health levels. Specifically, eight GLCM texture features (mean, variance, homogeneity, dissimilarity, contrast, entropy, angular second moment, and correlation) were first calculated from IKONOS NIR band (Band 4) to determine an optimal window size (13 × 13) and an optimal direction (45°). Then, the optimal window size and direction were applied to the three other IKONOS MS bands (blue, green, and red) for calculating the eight GLCM textures. Next, an optimal distance value (5) and an optimal neighborhood rule (Queen’s case) were determined for calculating the four Gi features from the four IKONOS MS bands. Finally, different RF classification results of the three forest health conditions were created: (1) an overall accuracy (OA) of 79.5% produced using the four MS band reflectances only; (2) an OA of 97.1% created with the eight GLCM features calculated from IKONOS Band 4 with the optimal window size of 13 × 13 and direction 45°; (3) an OA of 93.3% created with the all 32 GLCM features calculated from the four IKONOS MS bands with a window size of 13 × 13 and direction of 45°; (4) an OA of 94.0% created using the four Gi features calculated from the four IKONOS MS bands with the optimal distance value of 5 and Queen’s neighborhood rule; and (5) an OA of 96.9% created with the combined 16 spectral (four), spatial (four), and textural (eight) features. The most important feature ranked by RF classifier was GLCM texture mean calculated from Band 4, followed by Gi feature calculated from Band 4. The experimental results demonstrate that (a) both textural and spatial information was more useful than spectral information in determining the Robina pseudoacacia forest health conditions; and (b) the IKONOS NIR band was more powerful than visible bands in quantifying varying degrees of forest crown dieback. Full article

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25 pages, 3527 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Downscaling Snow Cover Fraction Data in Mountainous Regions Based on Simulated Inhomogeneous Snow Ablation

by Hong Yi Li^1,2,*

, Yong Qi He³, Xiao Hua Hao^1,2, Tao Che^1,2,4, Jian Wang¹ and Xiao Dong Huang³

¹ Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing of Gansu Province, Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China

² Heihe Remote Sensing Experimental Research Station, Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China

³ Key Laboratory of Grassland Agro-ecology System, Ministry of Agriculture, College of Pastoral Agriculture Science and Technology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730020, China

⁴ CAS Center for Excellence in Tibetan Plateau Earth Sciences, Beijing 100101, China

Remote Sens. 2015, 7(7), 8995-9019; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs70708995 - 16 Jul 2015

Cited by 16 | Viewed by 6705

Abstract

High-resolution snow distributions are essential for studying cold regions. However, the temporal and spatial resolutions of current remote sensing snow maps remain limited. Remotely sensed snow cover fraction (SCF) data only provide quantitative descriptions of snow area proportions and do not provide information [...] Read more.

High-resolution snow distributions are essential for studying cold regions. However, the temporal and spatial resolutions of current remote sensing snow maps remain limited. Remotely sensed snow cover fraction (SCF) data only provide quantitative descriptions of snow area proportions and do not provide information on subgrid-scale snow locations. We present a downscaling method based on simulated inhomogeneous snow ablation capacities that are driven by air temperature and solar radiation data. This method employs a single parameter to adjust potential snow ablation capacities. Using this method, SCF data with a resolution of 500 m are downscaled to a resolution of 30 m. Then, 18 remotely sensed TM, CHRIS and EO-1 snow maps are used to verify the downscaled results. The mean overall accuracy is 0.69, the average root-mean-square error (RMSE) of snow-covered slopes between the downscaled snow map and the real snow map is 3.9°, and the average RMSE of the sine of the snow covered aspects between the downscaled snow map and the real snow map is 0.34, which is equivalent to 19.9°. This method can be applied to high-resolution snow mapping in similar mountainous regions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Development and Validation of Remote Sensing Products for Terrestrial, Hydrological, and Ecological Applications at the Regional Scale)

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22 pages, 16650 KiB

Open AccessArticle

ALOS/PALSAR InSAR Time-Series Analysis for Detecting Very Slow-Moving Landslides in Southern Kyrgyzstan

by Kanayim Teshebaeva^1,2,*, Sigrid Roessner¹, Helmut Echtler^1,2, Mahdi Motagh¹, Hans-Ulrich Wetzel¹ and Bolot Molodbekov³

¹ GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Telegrafenberg, 14473 Potsdam, Germany

² Institute of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Universität Potsdam, 14476 Potsdam, Germany

³ CAIAG Central Asian Institute for Applied Geosciences, Timur-Frunze str.73/2, Bishkek 720027, Kyrgyzstan

Remote Sens. 2015, 7(7), 8973-8994; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs70708973 - 16 Jul 2015

Cited by 28 | Viewed by 8524

Abstract

This study focuses on evaluating the potential of ALOS/PALSAR time-series data to analyze the activation of deep-seated landslides in the foothill zone of the high mountain Alai range in the southern Tien Shan (Kyrgyzstan). Most previous field-based landslide investigations have revealed that many [...] Read more.

This study focuses on evaluating the potential of ALOS/PALSAR time-series data to analyze the activation of deep-seated landslides in the foothill zone of the high mountain Alai range in the southern Tien Shan (Kyrgyzstan). Most previous field-based landslide investigations have revealed that many landslides have indicators for ongoing slow movements in the form of migrating and newly developing cracks. L-band ALOS/PALSAR data for the period between 2007 and 2010 are available for the 484 km² area in this study. We analyzed these data using the Small Baseline Subset (SBAS) time-series technique to assess the surface deformation related to the activation of landslides. We observed up to ±17 mm/year of LOS velocity deformation rates, which were projected along the local steepest slope and resulted in velocity rates of up to −63 mm/year. The obtained rates indicate very slow movement of the deep-seated landslides during the observation time. We also compared these movements with precipitation and earthquake records. The results suggest that the deformation peaks correlate with rainfall in the 3 preceding months and with an earthquake event. Overall, the results of this study indicated the great potential of L-band InSAR time series analysis for efficient spatiotemporal identification and monitoring of slope activations in this region of high landslide activity in Southern Kyrgyzstan. Full article

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23 pages, 26469 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Moving Voxel Method for Estimating Canopy Base Height from Airborne Laser Scanner Data

by Almasi S. Maguya^1,2,*, Katri Tegel³, Virpi Junttila¹, Tuomo Kauranne^1,3, Markus Korhonen³, Janice Burns³, Vesa Leppanen³ and Blanca Sanz³

¹ Lappeenranta University of Technology, P. O. Box 20, Lappeenranta 53851, Finland

² Faculty of Science and Technology, Mzumbe University, P. O. Box 1, Mzumbe, Tanzania

³ Arbonaut Ltd., Kaislakatu 2, Joensuu 80130, Finland

Remote Sens. 2015, 7(7), 8950-8972; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs70708950 - 15 Jul 2015

Cited by 20 | Viewed by 6622

Abstract

Canopy base height (CBH) is a key parameter used in forest-fire modeling, particularly crown fires. However, estimating CBH is a challenging task, because normally, it is difficult to measure it in the field. This has led to the use of simple estimators (e.g., [...] Read more.

Canopy base height (CBH) is a key parameter used in forest-fire modeling, particularly crown fires. However, estimating CBH is a challenging task, because normally, it is difficult to measure it in the field. This has led to the use of simple estimators (e.g., the average of individual trees in a plot) for modeling CBH. In this paper, we propose a method for estimating CBH from airborne light detection and ranging (LiDAR) data. We also compare the performance of several estimators (Lorey’s mean, the arithmetic mean and the 40th and 50th percentiles) used to estimate CBH at the plot level. The method we propose uses a moving voxel to estimate the height of the gaps (in the LiDAR point cloud) below tree crowns and uses this information for modeling CBH. The advantage of this approach is that it is more tolerant to variations in LiDAR data (e.g., due to season) and tree species, because it works directly with the height information in the data. Our approach gave better results when compared to standard percentile-based LiDAR metrics commonly used in modeling CBH. Using Lorey’s mean, the arithmetic mean and the 40th and 50th percentiles as CBH estimators at the plot level, the highest and lowest values for root mean square error (RMSE) and root mean square error for cross-validation (RMSEcv) and R2 for our method were 1.74/2.40, 2.69/3.90 and 0.46/0.71, respectively, while with traditional LiDAR-based metrics, the results were 1.92/2.48, 3.34/5.51 and 0.44/0.65. Moreover, the use of Lorey’s mean as a CBH estimator at the plot level resulted in models with better predictive value based on the leave-one-out cross-validation (LOOCV) results used to compute the RMSEcv values. Full article

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25 pages, 14989 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Large-Area Landslides Monitoring Using Advanced Multi-Temporal InSAR Technique over the Giant Panda Habitat, Sichuan, China

by Panpan Tang^1,2, Fulong Chen^1,2,*

, Huadong Guo^1,2, Bangsen Tian¹, Xinyuan Wang^1,2 and Natarajan Ishwaran²

¹ Key Laboratory of Digital Earth Science, Institute of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 9 Dengzhuang South Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100094, China

² International Centre on Space Technologies for Natural and Cultural Heritage under the Auspices of UNESCO, No. 9 Dengzhuang South Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100094, China

Remote Sens. 2015, 7(7), 8925-8949; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs70708925 - 15 Jul 2015

Cited by 34 | Viewed by 7723

Abstract

The region near Dujiangyan City and Wenchuan County, Sichuan China, including significant giant panda habitats, was severely impacted by the Wenchuan earthquake. Large-area landslides occurred and seriously threatened the lives of people and giant pandas. In this paper, we report the development of [...] Read more.

The region near Dujiangyan City and Wenchuan County, Sichuan China, including significant giant panda habitats, was severely impacted by the Wenchuan earthquake. Large-area landslides occurred and seriously threatened the lives of people and giant pandas. In this paper, we report the development of an enhanced multi-temporal interferometric synthetic aperture radar (MTInSAR) methodology to monitor potential post-seismic landslides by analyzing coherent scatterers (CS) and distributed scatterers (DS) points extracted from multi-temporal l-band ALOS/PALSAR data in an integrated manner. Through the integration of phase optimization and mitigation of the orbit and topography-related phase errors, surface deformations in the study area were derived: the rates in the line of sight (LOS) direction ranged from −7 to 1.5 cm/a. Dozens of potential landslides, distributed mainly along the Minjiang River, Longmenshan Fault, and in other the high-altitude areas were detected. These findings matched the distribution of previous landslides. InSAR-derived results demonstrated that some previous landslides were still active; many unstable slopes have developed, and there are significant probabilities of future massive failures. The impact of landslides on the giant panda habitat, however ranged from low to moderate, would continue to be a concern for conservationists for some time in the future. Full article

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19 pages, 2175 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Temporal-Spatial Iteration Method to Reconstruct NDVI Time Series Datasets

by Lili Xu^1,2, Baolin Li^1,3,*, Yecheng Yuan¹, Xizhang Gao¹ and Tao Zhang^1,2

¹ State Key Lab of Resources and Environmental Information System, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, CAS, Beijing 100101, China

² University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, CAS, Beijing 100049, China

³ Jiangsu Center for Collaborative Innovation in Geographical Information Resource development and Application, Nanjing 210023, China

Remote Sens. 2015, 7(7), 8906-8924; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs70708906 - 15 Jul 2015

Cited by 35 | Viewed by 6897

Abstract

Reconstructing normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) time series datasets is essential for monitoring long-term changes in terrestrial vegetation. Here, a temporal–spatial iteration (TSI) method was developed to estimate the NDVIs of contaminated pixels, based on reliable data. The NDVIs of contaminated pixels were [...] Read more.

Reconstructing normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) time series datasets is essential for monitoring long-term changes in terrestrial vegetation. Here, a temporal–spatial iteration (TSI) method was developed to estimate the NDVIs of contaminated pixels, based on reliable data. The NDVIs of contaminated pixels were first computed through linear interpolation of adjacent high-quality pixels in the time series. Then, the NDVIs of remaining contaminated pixels were determined based on the NDVI of a high-quality pixel located in the same ecological zone, showing the most similar NDVI change trajectories. These two steps were repeated iteratively, using the estimated NDVIs as high-quality pixels to predict undetermined NDVIs of contaminated pixels until the NDVIs of all contaminated pixels were estimated. A case study was conducted in Inner Mongolia, China. The accuracies of estimated NDVIs using TSI were higher than the asymmetric Gaussian, Savitzky–Golay, and window-regression methods. Root mean square error (RMSE) and mean absolute percent error (MAPE) decreased by 16.7%–86.6% and 18.3%–33.0%, respectively. The TSI method performed better over a range of environmental conditions, the variation of performance by the compared methods was 1.4–5 times that of the TSI method. The TSI method will be most applicable when large numbers of contaminated pixels exist. Full article

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23 pages, 17110 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Monitoring Spatio-Temporal Distribution of Rice Planting Area in the Yangtze River Delta Region Using MODIS Images

by Jingjing Shi^1,2,* and Jingfeng Huang^1,*

¹ Institute of Agricultural Remote Sensing & Information Application, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China

² School of Electronic and Information Engineering, Ningbo University of Technology, Ningbo 315016, China

Remote Sens. 2015, 7(7), 8883-8905; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs70708883 - 14 Jul 2015

Cited by 22 | Viewed by 7477

Abstract

A large-area map of the spatial distribution of rice is important for grain yield estimations, water management and an understanding of the biogeochemical cycling of carbon and nitrogen. In this paper, we developed the Normalized Weighted Difference Water Index (NWDWI) for identifying the [...] Read more.

A large-area map of the spatial distribution of rice is important for grain yield estimations, water management and an understanding of the biogeochemical cycling of carbon and nitrogen. In this paper, we developed the Normalized Weighted Difference Water Index (NWDWI) for identifying the unique characteristics of rice during the flooding and transplanting period. With the aid of the ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model and the phenological data observed at agrometeorological stations, the spatial distributions of single cropping rice and double cropping early and late rice in the Yangtze River Delta region were generated using the NWDWI and time-series Enhanced Vegetation Index data derived from MODIS/Terra data during the 2000–2010 period. The accuracy of the MODIS-derived rice planting area was validated against agricultural census data at the county level. The spatial accuracy was also tested based on a land use map and Landsat ETM+ data. The decision coefficients for county-level early and late rice were 0.560 and 0.619, respectively. The MODIS-derived area of late rice exhibited higher consistency with the census data during the 2000–2010 period. The algorithm could detect and monitor rice fields with different cropping patterns at the same site and is useful for generating spatial datasets of rice on a regional scale. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Remote Sensing for Crop Growth Monitoring)

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25 pages, 3910 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Mapping Flooded Rice Paddies Using Time Series of MODIS Imagery in the Krishna River Basin, India

by Pardhasaradhi Teluguntla^1,*

, Dongryeol Ryu^1,*

, Biju George^1,2, Jeffrey P. Walker³

and Hector M. Malano¹

¹ Department of Infrastructure Engineering, The University of Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia

² Integrated Water & Land Management Program, ICARDA, Cairo P.O. Box 2416, Egypt

³ Department of Civil Engineering, Monash University, Victoria 3800, Australia

Remote Sens. 2015, 7(7), 8858-8882; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs70708858 - 13 Jul 2015

Cited by 36 | Viewed by 12605

Abstract

Rice is one of the major crops cultivated predominantly in flooded paddies, thus a large amount of water is consumed during its growing season. Accurate paddy rice maps are therefore important inputs for improved estimates of actual evapotranspiration in the agricultural landscape. The [...] Read more.

Rice is one of the major crops cultivated predominantly in flooded paddies, thus a large amount of water is consumed during its growing season. Accurate paddy rice maps are therefore important inputs for improved estimates of actual evapotranspiration in the agricultural landscape. The main objective of this study was to obtain flooded paddy rice maps using multi-temporal images of Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) in the Krishna River Basin, India. First, ground-based spectral samples collected by a field spectroradiometer, CROPSCAN, were used to demonstrate unique contrasts between the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and the Land Surface Water Index (LSWI) observed during the transplanting season of rice. The contrast between Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) and Land Surface Water Index (LSWI) from MODIS time series data was then used to generate classification decision rules to map flooded rice paddies, for the transplanting seasons of Kharif and Rabi rice crops in the Krishna River Basin. Consistent with ground spectral observations, the relationship of the MODIS EVI vs. LSWI of paddy rice fields showed distinct features from other crops during the transplanting seasons. The MODIS-derived maps were validated against extensive reference data collected from multiple land use field surveys. The accuracy of the paddy rice maps, when determined using field plot data, was approximately 78%. The MODIS-derived rice crop areas were also compared with the areas reported by Department of Agriculture (DOA), Government of India (Government Statistics). The estimated root mean square difference (RMSD) of rice area estimated using MODIS and those reported by the Department of Agriculture over 10 districts varied between 3.4% and 6.6% during 10 years of our study period. Some of the major factors responsible for this difference include high noise of the MODIS images during the prolonged monsoon seasons (typically June–October) and the coarse spatial resolution (500 m) of the MODIS images compared to the small crop fields in the basin. However, this study demonstrates, based on multi-year analysis, that MODIS images can still provide robust and consistent flooded paddy rice extent and areas over a highly heterogeneous large river basin. Full article

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28 pages, 6042 KiB

Open AccessReview

The EnMAP Spaceborne Imaging Spectroscopy Mission for Earth Observation

by Luis Guanter^1,*, Hermann Kaufmann¹, Karl Segl¹, Saskia Foerster¹

, Christian Rogass¹, Sabine Chabrillat¹

, Theres Kuester¹

, André Hollstein¹, Godela Rossner², Christian Chlebek², Christoph Straif², Sebastian Fischer², Stefanie Schrader², Tobias Storch³, Uta Heiden³, Andreas Mueller³, Martin Bachmann³, Helmut Mühle³, Rupert Müller³, Martin Habermeyer³, Andreas Ohndorf⁴, Joachim Hill⁵, Henning Buddenbaum⁵

, Patrick Hostert⁶, Sebastian Van der Linden⁶

, Pedro J. Leitão⁶, Andreas Rabe⁶, Roland Doerffer⁷, Hajo Krasemann⁷

, Hongyan Xi⁷, Wolfram Mauser⁸, Tobias Hank⁸, Matthias Locherer⁸, Michael Rast⁹, Karl Staenz¹⁰ and Bernhard Sang¹¹ Show full author list Hide full author list

¹ Helmholtz Center Potsdam, GFZ German Research Center for Geosciences, Remote Sensing Section, Telegrafenberg A17, 14473 Potsdam, Germany

² Space Administration, German Aerospace Center (DLR), Königswinterer Str. 522-524, 53227 Bonn, Germany

³ Earth Observation Center (EOC), German Aerospace Center (DLR), Münchener Str. 20,82234 Weßling, Germany

⁴ German Space Operations Center (GSOC), German Aerospace Center (DLR), Münchener Str. 20,82234 Weßling, Germany

⁵ University of Trier, Environmental Remote Sensing and Geoinformatics, Behringstr. 21, 54286 Trier, Germany

⁶ Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Geography Department, Unter den Linden 6, 10099 Berlin, Germany

⁷ Helmholtz-Centre Geesthacht, Institute of Coastal Research, Max Planck-Str. 1, 21502 Geesthacht, Germany

⁸ Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Department of Geography, Luisenstr. 37, 80333 Munich, Germany

⁹ ESA-ESRIN, Via Galileo Galilei, 64, 00044 Frascati Rome, Italy

¹⁰ Department of Geography, University of Lethbridge, 4401 University Drive Lethbridge, Lethbridge, AB T1K 3M4, Canada

¹¹ OHB System AG, Perchtinger Str. 5, 81379 Munich, Germany

Show full affiliation list Hide full affiliation list

Remote Sens. 2015, 7(7), 8830-8857; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs70708830 - 13 Jul 2015

Cited by 658 | Viewed by 29492

Abstract

Imaging spectroscopy, also known as hyperspectral remote sensing, is based on the characterization of Earth surface materials and processes through spectrally-resolved measurements of the light interacting with matter. The potential of imaging spectroscopy for Earth remote sensing has been demonstrated since the 1980s. [...] Read more.

Imaging spectroscopy, also known as hyperspectral remote sensing, is based on the characterization of Earth surface materials and processes through spectrally-resolved measurements of the light interacting with matter. The potential of imaging spectroscopy for Earth remote sensing has been demonstrated since the 1980s. However, most of the developments and applications in imaging spectroscopy have largely relied on airborne spectrometers, as the amount and quality of space-based imaging spectroscopy data remain relatively low to date. The upcoming Environmental Mapping and Analysis Program (EnMAP) German imaging spectroscopy mission is intended to fill this gap. An overview of the main characteristics and current status of the mission is provided in this contribution. The core payload of EnMAP consists of a dual-spectrometer instrument measuring in the optical spectral range between 420 and 2450 nm with a spectral sampling distance varying between 5 and 12 nm and a reference signal-to-noise ratio of 400:1 in the visible and near-infrared and 180:1 in the shortwave-infrared parts of the spectrum. EnMAP images will cover a 30 km-wide area in the across-track direction with a ground sampling distance of 30 m. An across-track tilted observation capability will enable a target revisit time of up to four days at the Equator and better at high latitudes. EnMAP will contribute to the development and exploitation of spaceborne imaging spectroscopy applications by making high-quality data freely available to scientific users worldwide. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Environmental Mapping and Analysis Program (EnMAP) Mission: Preparing for Its Scientific Exploitation)

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Remote Sens., Volume 7, Issue 7 (July 2015) – 55 articles , Pages 8250-9491

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