Eurocourses: Remote Sensing – serie

Based on the Lectures given during the Eurocourse on 'Imaging Spectroscopy: Fundamentals and Prospective Applications', held at the Joint Research Centre, Ispra, Italy, October 23-27, 1989

The technique of imaging spectrometry has now passed its infancy and entered into a new phase of application oriented research. Advanced sensor systems (such as Nasa/JPL's AVIRIS) have become available for international research programmes (MAC Europe 1991), new imaging spectrometers are under development in several European countries or have already passed their acceptance tests, and first high spectral resolution imaging systems are already operated by private industry. On European level, the EARSEC programme of the Joint Research Centre has provided considerable financial investments for the development of an imaging spectrometer which covers the reflective and important parts of the emissive spectrum (DAIS-7915), and the European Space Agency has initiated an important airborne remote sensing campaign (EMAC 1994/95) in which imaging spectrometry will constitute one of the most important components. The increasing sensor capabilities also reflect the fact that imaging spectrometry has advanced in many application fields of earth remote sensing. Progress has been made in the development of data pre-proeessing methods, spectral signature modeling and semi-empirical approaches for retrieving surface parameters. It therefore appeared important to further disseminate information about new approaches in the application-oriented analysis of imaging spectrometry data. This volume presents the lectures of the second EUROCOURSE on imaging spectrometry which was held in November 1992 at the Joint Research Centre (a first course on "Fundamentals and Prospective Applications" of imaging spectrometry had been organised in October 1989, the lectures being published as EUROCOURSES in Remote Sensing, vol. 2).

The technique of imaging spectrometry has now passed its infancy and entered into a new phase of application oriented research. Advanced sensor systems (such as Nasa/JPL's AVIRIS) have become available for international research programmes (MAC Europe 1991), new imaging spectrometers are under development in several European countries or have already passed their acceptance tests, and first high spectral resolution imaging systems are already operated by private industry. On European level, the EARSEC programme of the Joint Research Centre has provided considerable financial investments for the development of an imaging spectrometer which covers the reflective and important parts of the emissive spectrum (DAIS-7915), and the European Space Agency has initiated an important airborne remote sensing campaign (EMAC 1994/95) in which imaging spectrometry will constitute one of the most important components. The increasing sensor capabilities also reflect the fact that imaging spectrometry has advanced in many application fields of earth remote sensing. Progress has been made in the development of data pre-proeessing methods, spectral signature modeling and semi-empirical approaches for retrieving surface parameters. It therefore appeared important to further disseminate information about new approaches in the application-oriented analysis of imaging spectrometry data. This volume presents the lectures of the second EUROCOURSE on imaging spectrometry which was held in November 1992 at the Joint Research Centre (a first course on "Fundamentals and Prospective Applications" of imaging spectrometry had been organised in October 1989, the lectures being published as EUROCOURSES in Remote Sensing, vol. 2).

Optical remote sensing is of invaluable help in understanding the marine environment and its biogeochemical and physical processes. The Coastal Zone Color Scanner (CZCS), which operated on board the Nimbus-7 satellite from late 1978 to early 1986, has been the main source of ocean colour data. Much work has been devoted to CZCS data processing and analysis techniques throughout the 1980s. After a decade of experience, the Productivity of the Global Ocean (PGO) Activity - which was established in the framework of the International Space Year 1992 (ISY '92) by SAFISY, the Space Agency Forum of ISY - sponsored a workshop aimed at providing a reference in ocean colour science and at promoting the full exploitation of the CZCS historical data in the field of biological oceanography. The present volume comprises a series of state-of-the-art contributions on theory, applications and future perspectives of ocean colour. After an introduction on the historical perspective of ocean colour, a number of articles are devoted to the CZCS theoretical background, on radiative transfer and in-water topics, as well as on calibration, atmospheric correction and pigment concentration retrieval algorithms developed for the CZCS. Further, a review is given of major applications of CZCS data around the world, carried out in the past decade. The following part of the book is centered on the application of ocean colour to the assessment of marine biological information, with particular regard to plankton biomass, primary productivity and the coupling of physical/biological models. The links between global oceanic production and climate dynamics are also addressed. Finally, the last section is devoted to future approaches and goals of ocean colour science, and to planned sensors and systems. The book is required reading for those involved in ocean colour and related disciplines, providing an overview of the current status in this field as well as stimulating thedebate on new ideas and developments for upcoming ocean colour missions.