510
HISUI is a Japanese spaceborne hyperspectral instrument being developed by
the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. HISUI was launched in December,
2019 onboard ISS. HISUI has 185 spectral bands from 0.4 to 2.5 μm with
20 m × 30 m spatial resolution with swath of 20 km (note the contrast in mission
characteristics—SBG will have a swath of 150,200 km). This narrow swath is limiting; observations have to be requested for specific targets during the planned HISUI
mission lifetime of 3 years, with data availability starting in 2021.
EnMAP will orbit in a sun-synchronous orbit 653 km above the Earth. The satellite will be a high-resolution hyperspectral imager capable of resolving 230 spectral
bands from 420 to 2450 nm with a ground resolution of 30 m × 30 m. The swath
width will be 30 km at a maximum swath length of up to 5000 km/day due to data
storage and downlink limits. The off-nadir (+/− 30°) pointing feature enables fast
target revisits of 4 days and so can be used to study phenology.
Other instruments that may be of interest include DESIS, launched in 2018 to the
ISS for the German aerospace agency (with 235 bands between 400 and 1000 nm
and 30 m ground resolution), and SHALOM, planned by Italy and Israel. Together,
all of these instruments will begin a revolution in observation of vegetation for
research and applications in agriculture and natural resources.
19.4 Pitfalls and Opportunities in Remote Sensing of Global
Plant Diversity
Every methodology for studying biodiversity has advantages and limitations.
Identifying organisms and their locations provides foundational information but
only captures biological function inferentially, for example, through correlation of
ranges with climate. Genomic information is extremely informative, but it can only
provide inferential insight into ecological function. Functional and/or physiognomic
type (e.g., graminoid, tree, evergreen, deciduous, needleleaf, broadleaf) provide
broad insights into ecological niches but obscure variation of other properties within
groups. Each type of observation contributes some aspect or dimension of biological diversity in ancestry, form, function, distribution, and abundance, and remote
observation is no exception. Spectroscopic measurement has its own unique characteristics, which depend partly on spectral region and resolution but also on the scale
and frequency of the observation. Below, we discuss three aspects of measurement
and how they affect the interpretation and use of IS data.
19.5 Vegetation Structure
The quantitative mapping of biodiversity in ecosystems may differ by physiognomic or functional type due to (i) differences in plant size within the field of view
(e.g., trees vs. grasses; see below), (ii) phenology (e.g., grasslands in which dominant species and number of species presenting to a sensor may vary across the
D. Schimel et al.
HISUI is a Japanese spaceborne hyperspectral instrument being developed by
the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. HISUI was launched in December,
2019 onboard ISS. HISUI has 185 spectral bands from 0.4 to 2.5 μm with
20 m × 30 m spatial resolution with swath of 20 km (note the contrast in mission
characteristics—SBG will have a swath of 150,200 km). This narrow swath is limiting; observations have to be requested for specific targets during the planned HISUI
mission lifetime of 3 years, with data availability starting in 2021.
EnMAP will orbit in a sun-synchronous orbit 653 km above the Earth. The satellite will be a high-resolution hyperspectral imager capable of resolving 230 spectral
bands from 420 to 2450 nm with a ground resolution of 30 m × 30 m. The swath
width will be 30 km at a maximum swath length of up to 5000 km/day due to data
storage and downlink limits. The off-nadir (+/− 30°) pointing feature enables fast
target revisits of 4 days and so can be used to study phenology.
Other instruments that may be of interest include DESIS, launched in 2018 to the
ISS for the German aerospace agency (with 235 bands between 400 and 1000 nm
and 30 m ground resolution), and SHALOM, planned by Italy and Israel. Together,
all of these instruments will begin a revolution in observation of vegetation for
research and applications in agriculture and natural resources.
19.4 Pitfalls and Opportunities in Remote Sensing of Global
Plant Diversity
Every methodology for studying biodiversity has advantages and limitations.
Identifying organisms and their locations provides foundational information but
only captures biological function inferentially, for example, through correlation of
ranges with climate. Genomic information is extremely informative, but it can only
provide inferential insight into ecological function. Functional and/or physiognomic
type (e.g., graminoid, tree, evergreen, deciduous, needleleaf, broadleaf) provide
broad insights into ecological niches but obscure variation of other properties within
groups. Each type of observation contributes some aspect or dimension of biological diversity in ancestry, form, function, distribution, and abundance, and remote
observation is no exception. Spectroscopic measurement has its own unique characteristics, which depend partly on spectral region and resolution but also on the scale
and frequency of the observation. Below, we discuss three aspects of measurement
and how they affect the interpretation and use of IS data.
19.5 Vegetation Structure
The quantitative mapping of biodiversity in ecosystems may differ by physiognomic or functional type due to (i) differences in plant size within the field of view
(e.g., trees vs. grasses; see below), (ii) phenology (e.g., grasslands in which dominant species and number of species presenting to a sensor may vary across the
D. Schimel et al.