International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, Vol XXXV, Part B6. Istanbul 2004 
  
terrestrial carbon cycle balance by describing, understanding 
and modelling the role that terrestrial vegetation plays in the 
carbon cycle and how it responds to climate change. The work 
presented at the event demonstrated that the preparation of the 
SPECTRA mission concept has focussed a wide community on 
the scientific exploitation of the data that can be achieved from 
this mission. 
Next spring the mission will undergo the Earth Explorer 
selection process. If selected for further development, the 
SPECTRA mission will offer a better understanding of the role 
that vegetation plays in the carbon cycle, and this is vital for 
improving capabilities to analyse processes related to climate 
change and to further our understanding of the impact that 
increasing human activity is having on terrestrial ecosystems. 
As an additional product of the long optical remote sensing 
development effort in Europe, SPECTRA will extend and 
consolidate European expertise in the area of hyper-spectral 
instrumentation. It will provide the knowledge base needed to 
develop space-based tools for long-term observations of the 
state and mechanisms of the biosphere, as required for the 
European GMES effort. 
3.HYPERSPECTRAL OBSERVATIONS OF 
TERRESTRIAL ENVIRONMENTS 
Airborne imaging spectroscopy in Europe has a long history, 
including the Italian spectrometer MIVIS (Multispectral 
Infrared and Visible Imaging Spectrometer) of the CNR and the 
German spectrometers ROSIS and DAIS. In the last years 
MIVIS supported several projects aimed at urban areas 
monitoring, forest mapping and analysis, environmental hazard 
and monitoring. A major concern on the applications that can be 
carried out by hyperspectral data is also expressed by 
departments of the Italian Ministry of Defence to fight illegal 
activities all over the Italian Territory. 
Hyperspectral instruments have already been launched into 
space; Hyperion on EO1 by NASA and CHRIS on the PROBA 
platform by ESA. Contemporaneously, ASI has financed some 
studies on the technology and application potential of 
hyperspectral sensors. In the next few years, ASI plans to 
develop a technological demonstrator of hyperspectral 
observations in the VIS through SWIR region. These 
instruments are prototypes that are designed to validate new 
technological solutions and concepts. They are associated with 
low and uncertain revisiting capacity, limited swath, and often 
limited radiometric performances. Furthermore, they will also 
have a relatively short lifetime and give limited access to the 
data. Nevertheless, they offer a very interesting opportunity to 
evaluate and develop retrieval algorithms based on their 
improved spectral sampling capacity. 
A workshop concerning hyperspectral observations was held in 
Florence, in March 2004. The workshop was intended to be a 
forum to report recent advances on instrument development, 
processing and calibration, new methods and algorithms as well 
thematic applications with focus on different terrestrial 
environments. It was therefore an opportunity to present and 
discuss the last advances in these fields, with particular 
relevance to the integrated use of hyper-spectral observations 
and ground data for simulating and modeling the main 
processes occurring through the land-atmosphere interface, such 
as evapo-transpiration, photosynthesis and productivity. The 
event was sponsored by the National Research Council, the 
Italian Remote Sensing Association and the Italian Space 
Agency, and it was hosted by the Accademia dei Georgofili of 
Florence. 
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4. MONITORING AND INDICATORS OF FOREST 
BIODIVERSITY 
The biological diversity of European forests is the result of the 
evolution of the communities under ecological forces such as 
climate, fire and competition, as well as a long history of human 
influence. A key issue for a strategy to preserve [forest 
biodiversity is to find principles based upon an optimal mixture 
of designated areas and production forests managed with 
considerations of biodiversity. In both categories the objectives 
and management to reach the aims must be based upon 
scientifically sound knowledge of the biological diversity and 
ecosystem processes. To be successful this strategy should be 
developed and locally adapted in close interaction with policy 
makers, forest owners and other stakeholders. On a pan- 
European scale there is a need to further develop biodiversity 
assessment tools; i.e. indicators of biodiversity and preferred 
methodologies to collect data. Validation and further definition 
of biodiversity indicators and/or inventory methodologies are 
crucial for the progress. A pan-European forest stratification, 
ie. forest type classification, is needed both for a successful 
implementation of indicators and to facilitate the assessment to 
be carried out. In this context Remote Sensing plays a major 
role as demonstrated by the IUFRO (International Union of 
Forest Research Organisation) conference organised in 
Florence, Italy, November 2003. The conference, organised by 
Italian (University of Florence, Italian Academy of forest 
Sciences, Italian Ministry of Agriculture) and European (EEA, 
JRC) institutions provided a forum for discussions between 
experts with field experience, the wider scientific community 
and policymakers related to forests and the environment on how 
to successfully implement biodiversity indicators, e.g. with 
respect to adaptation to forest types and methods for inventory. 
5. MULTI-TEMPORAL STUDIES 
The development of effective methodologies for the analysis of 
multi-temporal data is one of the most important and 
challenging issues that the remote sensing community will face 
in the coming years. Its importance and timeliness are directly 
related to the ever-increasing quantity of multi-temporal data 
provided by the numerous remote sensing satellites that orbit 
our planet. The synergistic use of multi-temporal remote 
sensing data and advanced analysis methodologies results in the 
possibility of solving complex problems related to the 
monitoring of the Earth's surface and atmosphere at different 
scales. However, the advances in the methodologies for the 
analysis of multi-temporal data have been significantly under- 
illuminated with respect to other remote sensing data analysis 
topics. In addition, the link between the end-users needs and the 
scientific community needs to be strengthened. The second 
International Workshop “Analysis of Multi-Temporal Remote 
Sensing Images” was successfully held at Joint Research 
Centre, Ispra, Italy on July 2003. The proceedings volume is 
now available and contains several contributions from 
researchers representing academic and research institutions, 
industry and governmental organizations. It is organized into 
three thematic sections: Image Analysis and Algorithms; 
Analysis of Synthetic Aperture Radar Data; Monitoring and 
Management of Resources. The workshop was organised by the 
Remote Sensing Laboratory, Dept. of Information and 
Communication Technologies, University of Trento, Italy