—_— eU
ISPRS
2000
Links with Regional Organisations
Commission VII Secretary Peter Winkler, as member of the
EARSeL Bureau, keeps daily contact with the European
Association of Remote Sensing Laboratories. Commission
VII President Gabor Remetey-Fülópp, as a member of the
Executive Committee of EUROGI, ensures links with the
European Umbrella Organisation of Geographical-Informa-
tion, which plays a leading role in the European GI policy
making.
Working Group VII/1 - Fundamental Physics and
Modelling
Chairman: Dr. Karl Staenz (since 1997), (Former:
Dr. Gerald Guyot, INRA, France )
Co-Chair: Dr. Jan G.PW.Clevers, AUW, The
Netherlands (since 1997) (Former:
Dr. Thierry Phulpin, France)
Secretary: Dr. Phil Teillet, CCRS,Canada (since
1997)
Terms of Reference
- Physical measurements and modelling related to
remote sensing
- Studies of spectral measurements and calibration at
different spatial scales
- Standardisation and harmonisation of experimental
methods and procedures in remote sensing
- Remote sensing of minor constituents of the atmos-
phere
- Spectral, spatial and temporal radiation and polarisa-
tion properties of objects
Accomplishments of ISPRS WG VII/1 1996-2000
- The 7th International Symposium on Physical Measure-
ments and Signatures in Remote Sensing took place in
Courchevel from 7th to 11th April 1997. It was organised
by the French Space Agency (CNES) and the Joint
Research Centre (JRC/SAI) of the European Commission
under the auspices of ISPRS, with the support of NASA,
CNRS,INRA, DLR,ESA and NERC. The Symposium was
also sponsored by the following scientific societies: Euro-
pean Association of Remote Sensing Laboratories
(EARSeL), Association Quebecoise de Télédétection
(AQT), Canadian Remote Sensing Society (CRSS), The
Remote Sensing Society (RSS) and the Societé Fran-
caise de Photogrammetrie er de Télédétection (SFPT).
This symposium was a continuation of the series of six sym-
posia organised since 1981 by the Working Group VII/1.
It focused on the following topics: analysis of the relation-
ships between the specific properties of a target (plant
canopies, soils, rocks, water bodies, snow, ice) and its
spectral characteristics in different spectral domains (from
ultraviolet to microwaves), and determination of the factors
affecting the spectral response of an object (atmospheric
effects), measuring techniques, development of interpreta-
tion models. The success of these symposia was reflected
by the gradual growth in the number of submitted papers,
(more than 40 96 of the papers were rejected for the last
symposium held in Val d'Isere), while the number of par-
ticipants increased from 220 to 316 (representing 24 coun-
tries). This Symposium has become during the past years
one of the major international scientific meetings in the
domain of the research in remote sensing and it provides
a valuable overview of current research on earth resources
International Archives of Photogrammerty and Remote Sensing. Vol. XXXIII, Part A. Amsterdam 2000.
and environmentel monitoring. However, the increasing
audience was seen as limiting one of the specific charac-
teristics of the first meetings, that was to facilitate
exchanges and discussions among participants. There-
fore, it has been decided to limit the number of partici-
pants to about two hundred, presumably leading to a more
severe selection of the submitted papers. About 220
abstracts were received and selected by the International
Scientific Committee. The number of participants was
around 240. Publication: Abstracts of the 7th International
Symposium on Physical Measurements and Signatures in
Remote Sensing, 7-11 April 1997, Courchevel (France), G.
Guyot Ed. CNES Toulouse (France), 434 pp.
Chair Karl Staenz personally participated in the prepara-
tion of the /nternational Symposium on Spectral Sensing
Research held in San Diego. A special issue of the journal
Remote Sensing of Environment with refereed papers aris-
ing from this symposium went to the press. Emphasis in
the future will be on the development of hyperspectral
remote sensing with spaceborne sensors under construc-
tion, such as the US Navy's Naval Earth Map Observer
(NEMO) and Orbimage's Warfighter, as well as sensor sys-
tems in a planning stage such as the Australian Resource
Information and Environment Satellite (ARIES) and the
German Smart SPECTRAL imaging spectrometer. The
synergistic use of data from these sensors with other opti-
cal instruments and SAR is another WG priority. Other
objectives include the validation and use of parameters
derived from calibrated satellite sensor data in land
process models, as well as the utilisation of the BRDF
effect for the extraction of information as stipulated in
ESA's Land-Surface Interactions Mission (LSPIM).
The major activity of WG VII/1 was the organisation of two
sessions at the ISPRS VII mid-term symposium “ECO
BP'98 - International Symposium on Resource and Envi-
ronmental Monitoring" held in Budapest, September 1998.
The topics of the sessions were as follows:
- Towards improved geometry and radiometry of
remotely sensed data;
- Experimental methods and procedures in remote sens-
ing.
Nine papers were presented during the sessions. High-
lights included surface reflectance retrieval incorporating
linear polarization and georadiometric effects, stereo-
matching using neural networks, and signal-to-noise
improvements involving multiple linear array CCDs. Addi-
tional topics covered the correction of airborne and satel-
lite attitude platform fluctuation. A new hyperspectral air-
borne sensor system, APEX (Airborne PRISM Experiment),
was presented. This system is currently under develop-
ment by ESA for use with its spaceborne PRISM
(Processes Research for Imaging Spectrometry Mission).
Experimental results were presented on the retrieval of leaf
area index (LAI) extracted from end-member fraction
images with a new method.
Much of the research and development related to the WG
topic has been reported in recent workshops and confer-
ences. Progress in the fundamental development of imaging
spectrometry (hyperspectral remote sensing) was presented
at NASA's 6th Annual Geoscience and Airborne Workshop
(Pasadena, January 1998), the International SPIE Confer-
ence on Imaging Spectrometry Ill (San Diego, July 1998),
and the 1st EARSeL Workshop on Imaging Spectroscopy
(Zurich, October 1998).
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