S. Ichtiaque Rasool – författare

The book describes the steps which lead from the raw signals measured in space to firstly calibrated an comparable long term data sets and in a second step to information for user communities. From the primarily spectral radiances information is inferred which is needed in the context of modeling climate variability such as the variable surface albedo and temperatures, soil moisture, and energy and water vapour fluxes between the surface and the atmosphere. This includes the assessment of medium scale land-surface changes like desertification and biomass productivity. Examples of applications and data validations result from different investigations in the Mediteranean area. An appendix summarizes useful formulas of the evaluation of satellite data. Beside the presentation of research results the book will therefore also be of interest for newcomers in the field and satellite data users who like to understand in greater detail the generation and information content of remote sensing data.

1. 1 Space View and Ground Observations 1 1. 2 Mediterranean Climatic Environment 2 1. 3 Processes at Surfaces 10 1. 3. 1 Deforestation and Land-use Changes 10 1. 3. 2 Water Related Problems 16 1. 3. 3 Fire, Grazing, and Land Degradation 19 1. 3. 4 Drought, Floods, Frost, and Desertification 21 1. 3. 5 Coupling Between Surface and Atmosphere: The Role of the Atmospheric Boundary Layer 25 1. 4 Role and Capabilities of Measurements Made From Space 30 1. 4. 1 Research Programmes 30 1. 4. 2 Expected Information 32 1. 4. 3 Research Strategy 33 1. 4. 4 Observation of Changes in Heterogeneous Landscapes: Spatial and Temporal Scales 35 1. 4. 5 Land-surface Change Indicators Observable from Space 36 Spectral Characteristics of Vegetation and Soils (36); Responses of Remote Sensing Signals to Changes of Land-surface Properties (40) 1. 5 About this Book 48 Chapter 2 Processing and Archiving of Satellite and Ancillary Data 51 2. 1 Introduction 51 2. 2 The Remote Sensing Data Base 55 2. 2. 1 Satellite Instruments 55 The NOAA Observing System (55); Meteosat (57); Nimbus-7 (59); Landsat (59); SPOT (61); DMSP (62); ERS-1 and ERS-2 (62); TRMM (63); Terra (64); Envisat (65); Aqua (66) 2. 2. 2 Aircraft Instruments 66 The Use of Aircraft for Land-surface Process Studies (66); AVIRIS (67); TMS (68); AIRSAR (68); DIAL (69) 2. 3 Reception, Acquisition and Availability of Satellite Data 70 2. 3.