meeting were taken up with the fundamentals of radar,
AIRSAR standard data products, ordering procedures and
data processing and analysis. The remainder of the work-
shop was concerned with reports on the objectives and
planning for the various scientific applications of the data
over the next two years.
A three day follow-up PACRIM Applications Workshop was
held at the Malaysian Centre for Remote Sensing, Kuala
Lumpur, 11th-13th August 1997, in which delegates broke
into six application groups, namely, geology, vegetation,
marine applications, interferometry and topography, regional
analysis, and agriculture. These application groups were led
by US and Australian investigators and sought to achieve an
overview of the radar potential for the relative discipline area.
Regional scientists also evaluated research objectives for
individual projects and determined what was feasible from
the available data. Each group then outlined an optimal
approach to data analysis, identified processing require-
ments, determined what field information was required and
undertook ‘hands-on’ image processing to demonstrate var-
ious processing applications. Further radar applications
workshops were held in Bangkok, Thailand 4th-6th March
1998 and Manila, Philippines, 27th-29th April 1998.
A PACRIM Significant Results Workshop was held in Sydney,
Australia, 26th-28th July 1998 in association with the 9th
Australasian Remote Sensing and Photogrammetric Confer-
ence
(www.geog.unsw.edu.au/arspc98).
Activities of the Working Group have been directed towards
establishing effective networking between radar application
scientists; conducting radar training workshops, particularly
in the Asian-Pacific Region, and in providing input into
developmental programmes for the next generation of radar
instruments and platforms.
Strong linkages have been established with the members of
the Global Rainforest Mapping Mission (GRFM) sponsored
by NASDA and using JERS-1 data; with NASA and the Jet
Propulsion Laboratory AIRSAR program and with proposals
related to ESA's Earth Explorer Opportunity Mission.
Five workshops have been held in the Asian-Australian
region in association with the NASA sponsored AIRSAR
PACRIM Mission. These workshops were held in 1998 at,
4th-6th March Bangkok, 27th-29th April Manila, 26th-27th
July Sydney, 9th-14th November Kuala Lumpur and 19th-
20th November, Manila. Each workshop involved ‘hands-on’
image processing and was designed to assist in sharing
skills and techniques necessary to address research in
seven application areas. These are forestry and vegetation,
geology and tectonic processes, interferometry, disaster
management, coastal analysis, agriculture, and urban and
regional development.
PACRIM2, the proposed AIRSAR Mission to the Pacific Rim
countries scheduled for March-May 2000, was launched at
a special session of the Asian Remote Sensing Conference
held in Manila, 16th-20th November 1998.
Thirteen papers were presented by members of the Work-
ing Group at the ISPRS Commission VII Symposium on
Resource and Environmental Monitoring held in
Budapest, 1st-4th September 1998. Major themes pre-
sented related to vegetation and biomass estimation pro-
cedures and thematic extraction from single and multi-
band radar imagery.
Working Group VII/6 is organising a tutorial on Recent
Developments in Radar Science and is participating with
WG VII/2 in Applications of Remote Sensing and GIS for
Sustainable Development, Workshop on Disaster Monitor-
ing, in Amsterdam 2000. It is also co-sponsoring with WG
VI/5 a Workshop on Spaceborne Low Frequency
Microwave Sensors for Global Biomass Estimation. Tech-
nical Sessions at the main Congress will focus on radar
applications in renewable resource monitoring. This WG
collaborated with WG VII/5 (Global Monitoring) and the
University of Michigan in the conduct of a three-day work-
shop on “Remote Sensing and the Kyoto Protocol: A
Review of Available and Future Technology for Monitoring
Treaty Compliance" (see report WG VII-5) and participated
in the 4th Global Rainforest Mapping GRFM Science
Meeting held in Brazil, November 8th-12th, 1999. Mem-
bers of this WG have been active in the organisation of
PACRIM2, which will see the NASA-JPL Airborne SAR
(AIRSAR) flown in sixteen countries in the Pacific, Aus-
tralian and Asian region in the April-May 2000 time period.
This collaborative science research mission provides the
opportunity for environmental scientists in the region to
acquire multi-polarimetric and interferometric SAR. In
addition the Modis-Aster simulator MASTER will also be
flown on this mission to acquire imagery in the visible NIR,
SWIR and thermal portions of the electromagnetic spec-
trum.
The Working Group co-hosted a Pacific-Rim Significant
Results Workshop in Maui, Hawaii from 24th-26th August
1999 attended by sixty people. Papers and information on
this meeting can be obtained from http://Southport.jpl.nasa.
gov/AIRSAR/
Working Group Programme for 2000
WG VII/6 will conduct a Tutorial on ‘Recent Developments
in Radar Science and Applications’ given by Dr. Tony Free-
man from the Radar Sciences Group at JPL. The WG will
participate in an Inter-Technical Commission, IC-22, on
‘Global Remote Sensing and GIS in the Service of the
Kyoto Protocol’, in addition to organising two Technical
Sessions. A Workshop on Disaster Monitoring and Mitiga-
tion using remotely sensed data is being co-hosted with
WG VII/3.
Working Group VII/7 - Non-renewable Resources and
Geotechnical Applications
Chair: Dr. Tsehaie Woldai ITC, The Netherlands
(Since August 1996)
Co-Chair: Dr. James V. Taranik Desert Research Insti-
tute, USA (Since August 1996)
Terms of Reference
Application of remote sensing digital image processing
and analysis techniques to mineral and petroleum explo-
ration, geotechnical and geological applications. High
spectral resolution sensor data from aerial photography
and satellite sensors for earth resources surveys, with spe-
cial emphasis on mineral classification and geotechnical
characterisation of rocks and soils.
Multi data integration, including geophysical images.
Accomplishments of ISPRS WG VII/7
A Scientific Workshop as joint action of the European Com-
mission's European Scientific Research Network and
ISPRS Working Group VII/7 was held in the Netherlands on
the 17th and 18th of February 1997. Co-organised by J. L.
212 — — International Archives of Photogrammerty and Remote Sensing. Vol. XXXIII, Part A. Amsterdam 2000.
