2004 
  
entre, 
  
REMOTE SENSING IN ITALY FROM 2000 TO 2004 
Ruggero Casacchia 
President of the Italian Remote Sensing Association 
CNR-Institute for Atmospheric Pollution, Via Salaria km 29,300, 00016 Monterotondo Stazione (Roma) Italy 
casacchia(@iia.cnr.it 
KEY WORDS: Remote Sensing, AIT, ASITA, Italy, Application, Hyperpsectral 
ABSTRACT 
This paper summarises the activity performed by the Italian scientific community in the field of remote sensing in the last four years. 
It is particularly referred to the community that is represented by the Italian Remote Sensing Association (AIT) that includes people 
operating in different sectors concerning scientific (public and private) and academic institutions, and industry. According to the 
guidelines provided by the international community, techniques focused on improving the scientific knowledge of the environment, 
on operational applications devoted to provide innovation, added-value to services and, globally, enhancement of quality of life were 
developed. The more relevant initiatives of the Italian Remote Sensing community are reported, as they are testified by the scientific 
workshop and conferences organised on specific topics. 
I.INTRODUCTION 
[n the last four years the remote sensing Italian community has 
been particularly active, besides restriction occurred in terms of 
financial support to public structures and institutions including 
research centres and universities. Also for the year 2003 the 
trend of the reduction of the budget for research in Earth 
Observation has strongly characterised the scientific activities in 
Italy. The freezing of the employment at the University and 
Institutions like the National Research Council of Italy (CNR), 
and many others, joint with the nomination of commissaries at 
CNR and Italian Space Agency (ASI), reduced significantly the 
opportunities to carry on research activities in the field of 
remote sensing. However, many groups have been working in 
international projects, both devoted to analysis of data produced 
by new sensors and to the design of new instruments. Also 
project devoted to education in the use of remote sensing data 
and techniques were carried out, involving in particular the 
universities that organised master courses in Remote Sensing 
and GIS. 
In recent years the main feature that has characterised Remote 
Sensing in ltaly is a new approach to environmental 
applications driven by the availability of a new satellite sensor 
generation, both in the optical and in the microwave range. Very 
high resolution optical data, such as those provided by IKONOS 
and Quickbird satellites had profound effects on expanding 
remote sensing applications in terms of stimulating a major 
request from public administration of products derived from 
these satellites to study, monitor and manage the environment. 
In particular these data, along with those provided by digital 
cameras, favoured the development of applications on 
agricultural (precision farming) and urban areas as well as on 
areas of small extension, which are often of major concern to 
public administration. In microwave range, the multi- 
polarization and multi-angle SAR of ENVISAT represented a 
considerable improvement with respect of ERS satellites for 
land applications. On the other hand, for a large scale 
monitoring, which is useful for the study of the dynamics of 
climate changes, the new multi-channel microwave radiometers 
AMSR and AMSR-E onboard ADEOS-II and AQUA satellites, 
respectively, guarantee a very large Earth's coverage with a 
frequency spectrum able to give information on the whole water 
cycle. 
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Studies are also being conducted on the integration of optical 
remote sensing data and ecosystem modelling functions for 
evaluating the carbon budget of natural and semi-natural 
vegetated surfaces. 
Following the more relevant initiatives of the Italian Remote 
Sensing community are reported, as they are testified by the 
scientific workshop and conferences organised on specific 
topics. Reference is also made to the activity of the Remote 
Sensing Association and of ASI. 
2. THE SPECTRA MISSION 
The goal of the SPECTRA mission is to investigate the role of 
terrestrial vegetation in the carbon cycle and its response to 
climate variability. Dedicated research has demonstrated that 
accuracy of biophysical variables, as used in ecosystem models 
can be improved with retrievals from multi-angular, 
hyperspectral remotely sensed data. The SPECTRA mission 
will provide such data sets for all global biomes. Biome-specific 
parameters can then be assimilated into ecosystem models at 
local, regional and global scales, resulting in improved 
monitoring and understanding of the dynamics of the global 
carbon cycle. 
The mission is conceived as a single satellite that will carry a 
space-borne imaging spectrometer. This instrument will be able 
to view targets on the Earth from different angles in order to 
analyse directional reflectance and emission of thermal radiance 
by soil and vegetation. SPECTRA will focus on systematically 
obtaining data over an ensemble of regions that are 
representative of all the major terrestrial biomes, such as boreal 
forest, deciduous woodland, tropical forest and savannah. The 
data acquired by SPECTRA will help derive measurements of 
important plant properties, such as chlorophyll and water 
content, temperature and leaf area. This information can then be 
used in larger scale models for accurate assessment of the 
current and future role that terrestrial vegetation plays in the 
global carbon cycle. 
The 2nd SPECTRA Workshop, was held on 28-30 October 
2003, provided the forum for a wide range of interesting 
discussions covering all aspects of the SPECTRA mission 
concept. The mission, which has just finished undergoing 
feasibility study, aims to address areas of uncertainty in the