27. ESA’S PLANS AND STRATEGY FOR OPTICAL REMOTE
SENSING OF TERRESTRIAL SURFACES IN THE NEXT DECADE
273
Observation program component most focussed upon optical terrestrial
observations.
4.
THE LAND SURFACE PROCESSES AND
INTERACTIONS MISSION
This proposed mission is dedicated to advancing the understanding of our
ecosystem processes and its interactions with the atmosphere (including
scaling issues). A hyper-spectral imager, covering the VNIR/SWIR spectral
range in narrow bands, complemented by a thermal IR imaging radiometer is
proposed as the payload. The required accessibility, different viewing
geometries (BRDF capability) and revisit will be achieved by along-track
and cross-track sensor steering capabilities.
The international scientific community has devoted considerable effort
over the past decade to addressing questions related to land surface processes
and their role in climate change. Thus, the World Climate Research Program
(WCRP) and the International Geosphere Biosphere Program (IGBP) have
provided the first insights into the relevant processes, on local, regional and
global scales. However, even if the processes occurring at the interfaces of
the biosphere/geosphere system with the atmosphere and the ocean are well
understood and parameterized on the very local scale, extending that
knowledge to regional and global scales is still difficult. The strong coupling
between these processes and the extreme heterogeneity of the
geosphere/biosphere system render spatial aggregation very complicated.
The primary focus of a high spatial and spectral resolution space-borne
mission is the land surface processes and their interactions with the
atmosphere, concentrating on the measurement of surface characteristics
such as albedo, hyper-spectral reflectance, BRDF (bi-directional reflectance
distribution function) and surface temperature which are linked to
geophysical variables involved in biogenic processes such as productivity,
evapotranspiration and nutrient cycles. The space segment of the mission
would proceed in parallel with a measurement program involving a set of
carefully instrumented ground sites. The most important processes to
investigate and understand more quantitatively (on different spatial and
temporal scales) have been identified as a result of experience gained over
the last few decades in modeling the evolution of the geosphere/biosphere
system and its links to the climate. These processes involve:
the energy and water cycles
SENSING OF TERRESTRIAL SURFACES IN THE NEXT DECADE
273
Observation program component most focussed upon optical terrestrial
observations.
4.
THE LAND SURFACE PROCESSES AND
INTERACTIONS MISSION
This proposed mission is dedicated to advancing the understanding of our
ecosystem processes and its interactions with the atmosphere (including
scaling issues). A hyper-spectral imager, covering the VNIR/SWIR spectral
range in narrow bands, complemented by a thermal IR imaging radiometer is
proposed as the payload. The required accessibility, different viewing
geometries (BRDF capability) and revisit will be achieved by along-track
and cross-track sensor steering capabilities.
The international scientific community has devoted considerable effort
over the past decade to addressing questions related to land surface processes
and their role in climate change. Thus, the World Climate Research Program
(WCRP) and the International Geosphere Biosphere Program (IGBP) have
provided the first insights into the relevant processes, on local, regional and
global scales. However, even if the processes occurring at the interfaces of
the biosphere/geosphere system with the atmosphere and the ocean are well
understood and parameterized on the very local scale, extending that
knowledge to regional and global scales is still difficult. The strong coupling
between these processes and the extreme heterogeneity of the
geosphere/biosphere system render spatial aggregation very complicated.
The primary focus of a high spatial and spectral resolution space-borne
mission is the land surface processes and their interactions with the
atmosphere, concentrating on the measurement of surface characteristics
such as albedo, hyper-spectral reflectance, BRDF (bi-directional reflectance
distribution function) and surface temperature which are linked to
geophysical variables involved in biogenic processes such as productivity,
evapotranspiration and nutrient cycles. The space segment of the mission
would proceed in parallel with a measurement program involving a set of
carefully instrumented ground sites. The most important processes to
investigate and understand more quantitatively (on different spatial and
temporal scales) have been identified as a result of experience gained over
the last few decades in modeling the evolution of the geosphere/biosphere
system and its links to the climate. These processes involve:
the energy and water cycles