Cumulative Issue #139 June 2006 ISSN 0274-6338

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http://www.grss-ieee.org/menu.taf?menu=Publications&detail=newsletter Editor: Adriano Camps

Cumulative Issue #139 June 2006 ISSN 0274-6338 grsNL0606.qxd 6/7/06 8:19 AM Page 2

Table of Contents

IEEE GRS-S ADCom, Officers and Committee Chairs...... 2 Newsletter Input and Deadlines The following is the schedule for the GRS-S Newsletter. If you would like to con- Editor’s Comments...... 3 tribute an article, please submit your input according to this schedule. Input is President’s Message...... 3 preferred in Microsoft Word, WordPerfect or ASCII for IBM format (please send disk and hard copy) as IEEE now uses electronic publishing. Other word process- Editorial Board Members ...... 4 ing formats, including those for Macintosh, are also acceptable, however, please be sure to identify the format on the disk and include the hard copy. AdCom Members...... 5

Chapters and Contact Information...... 6 GRS-S Newsletter Schedule GRS-S MEMBERS HIGHLIGHTS Month June Sept Dec March Dr. Eli Brookner to Receive the IEEE Dennis Input April 15 July 15 Oct 15 Jan 15 J. Picard Medal ...... 7

BOOK REVIEW IEEE GRS-S AdCom, Officers and Committee Cumming, I., Wong, F., Digital Processing of Chairs – 2006 GRS-29 (Division IX) Synthetic Aperture Radar Data, Algorithms President Fellow Search Paul Racette and Implementation, Artech Hose, 2005.....8 Leung Tsang D. M. LeVine Society on Social EDUCATION PROFILE Executive Vice President Membership Implications of Technology Brazil’s Efforts to Bring Remote Sensing Anthony K. Milne Steven C. Reising Keith Raney and GIS Techniques into the Classroom .11 Vice President for Technical Nominations 2006 AdCom Members Activities Martti Hallikainen, C. Luther Martti T. Hallikainen FEATURE ARTICLE Paul Smits Public Relations/Publicity Ellsworth LeDrew The OGC/GRS-S Partnership...... 13 Vice President for Meetings David Weissman David M. LeVine and Symposia Standards and Metric Alberto Moreira UNIVERSITY PROFILE Melba M. Crawford Jon A. Benediktsson Kamal Sarabandi Centre for Geo-Information, Wageningen Vice President for Operations Strategic Planning Leung Tsang University and Research Centre...... 17 and Finance Anthony K. Milne, Andrew J. 2007 AdCom Members Karen M. St. Germain Blanchard Andrew J. Blanchard Conference Report ...... 22 Vice President for Technical Activities Albin J. Gasiewski Professional Activities Paul Smits Thomas J. Jackson Annoucements ...... 25 Kamal Sarabandi Transactions Editor Nahid Khazenie Upcoming Conferences...... 32 Secretary Jon A. Benediktsson Anthony K. Milne Thomas J. Jackson GRS Letters Editor Jay Pearlman Director of Finance William Emery 2008 AdCom Members Notice to Potential James A. Gatlin Newsletter Editor Melba Crawford Director of Education Adriano Camps Diane Evans Advertisers Granville E. Paules III IGARSS 2005 Karen St. Germain The IEEE GRS-S Newsletter publishes paid Awards Wooil M. Moon David G. Goodenough advertisements for job openings, short Werner Wiesbeck IGARSS 2006 Motoyuki Sato courses, products, and services which are of Chapter Activities V. Chandrasekar Paul Smits interest to the GRS-S membership. The rates Diane Evans A. J. Gasiewski Honorary Life Members for advertisements published in the Conference Coordination IGARSS 2007 Keith R. Carver Newsletter are: Melba Crawford, Paul Smits Ignasi Corbella Kiyo Tomiyasu Per Constitution and Bylaws IGARSS 2008 Fawwaz T. Ulaby Size Dimensions Insertion Anthony K. Milne John Kerekes Werner Wiesbeck Full page 7” x 10” $500.00 Fellow Evaluation Eric Miller Half page $400.00 David Goodenough PACE Vertical 3.375” x 10” Horizontal 7” x 4.875” Postal Information and Copyright Notice Quarter page 3.375” x 4.875” $300.00 IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Newsletter (ISSN 0274-6338) is published quarterly by the Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc., The Editor reserves the right to reject adver- Headquarters: 3 Park Avenue, 17th floor, New York, NY 10016-5997. $1.00 per member per year tisements. Please address all enquires to: (included in Society fee) for each member of the Geoscience and Remote Sensing Soc.. Printed in U.S.A. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY and at additional mailing offices. Postmaster: Send Ms. Susan Schneiderman address changes to IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society Newsletter, IEEE, 445 Hoes Lane, Advertising Sales Manager Piscataway, NJ 08854. IEEE Magazines/Newsletters © 2006 IEEE. Permission to copy without fee all or part of any material without a copyright notice is 445 Hoes Lane granted provided that the copies are not made or distributed for direct commercial advantage, and the Piscataway, NJ 08855-1331 title of the publication and its date appear on each copy. To copy material with a copyright notice Tel: +1 732-562-3946 requires special permission. Please direct all inquiries or requests to the IEEE Copyrights Manager. Fax: +1 732-981-1855 IEEE Customer Service Phone: +1 732 981 1393, Fax:+1 732 981 9667.

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Editor’s Comments “Brazil’s efforts to bring Remote Sensing and GIS Techniques into the classroom” by T. M. Sausen, from the Ministério da Ciência e Tecnologia, that describes the educational efforts in GIS and Remote Sensing that are taken Adriano Camps, Editor place in Brazil. Department of Signal Theorty ¥ The feature article, by G. Percivall (OGC) and P. Smits and Communications Polytechnic University of (JRC) explains the partnership between the IEEE Catalonia Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society (GRS-S) and the UPC Campus Nord, D4-016 Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc. (OGC¨) and the coop- E-08034 Barcelona, SPAIN eration established to promote progress in technologies TEL: (34)-934.054.153 and standards that support communication between diverse FAX: (34)-934.017.232 geo-processing systems, locally and across the Internet. ¥ From our Associate Editor for University Profiles, we have In this issue you will find several articles: received an article by L. Kooistra, M. Schaepman, J. ¥ An excellent and deep book review by F. Rocca, A. Monti Clevers, L. Jia, S. Mucher, and A. de Wit describing the Guarnieri, from the Politecnico di Milano, on the book activities at the Centre for Geo-Information, Wageningen Digital Processing of Synthetic Aperture Radar Data, University and Research Centre, in the The Netherlands. Algorithms and Implementation, by I. Cumming and F. Last, but not least, you will find a nice report of the MicroRad Wong, published last year by Artech House. ’06 conference and advertisements of GRS-S co-sponsored con- ¥ From our Associate Editor from Latin American Affairs, ferences. I hope all these articles and information may be of we have received an Education Profile article entitled your interest. See you in Denver for IGARSS ’06!

President’s Message similarly successful event this year. At the Technical Program Committee meeting in February, the Committee worked hard organizing the papers into 12 parallel sessions Dr. Leung Tsang and many interactive sessions. I urge you to come a day early President, IEEE GRS-S as the IEEE GEOSS workshop and several tutorials are to be University of Washington held on Sunday, July 30th. Box 352500 As part of increasing our membership benefits we contin- Seattle, WA 98195, USA ue to enhance our web services to members. To facilitate these E-Mail: [email protected] services at the February AdCom meeting , we established a new “Director of Information Resources” position, to be initially held by Dr. Jay Pearlman. When you log on to our website, please note the new web pages and sections on Tutorials, Ask an Expert, and Interactive Forum. At the 9th Specialist Meeting on Microwave Radiometry (MicroRad `06) the It is my pleasure to invite all of you to attend IGARSS 2006 Society taped many oral presentations. About twenty of these in Denver, Colorado on July 30-August 4, 2006. Professors presentations will be made accessible to members on our web V. Chandrasekar and Al Gasiewski, together with the site. The taped presentations, together with the slides, will be IGARSS `06 Organizing and Technical Committees, have available on-line. put together a comprehensive program that covers the fore- Your feedback on IGARSS, our new web site, and new ser- front of remote sensing technology and applications. In vices such as taped presentations are important. At the recent years, IGARSS attendance has steadily increased to upcoming IGARSS in Denver , the ADCOM has planned to almost 1500. This year, IGARSS 2006 will be held jointly host , as we did in Seoul, a GRSS Members’ Forum where with the Canadian Remote Sensing Symposium. As a result Society officers will discuss the state and future of the GRSS. we have received nearly 2500 submissions, and if statistics I encourage you to attend this forum to find out more about are any indication, we expect an especially large number of our recent strategic planning activities. You will be welcome attendees. We collaborated with the Canadian Remote to ask questions about our journal publications, conferences, Sensing Society on IGARSS in 2002 and look forward to a continued on page 4

Cover Information: Cross-directional images of the floodplain Millingerwaard along the river Rhine in the Netherlands acquired using the AHS160 airborne imaging spectrometer (left) and derived products of fractional Photosynthetic Absorbed Radiation (FPAR) and Leaf Area Index (LAI) (right). See University Profile Article for more details.

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education, outreach, GEOSS activities, and many more topics Newsletter Editorial Board Members: relevant to our continued success as a professional organization. For example, the Society is currently considering the publication of a new journal in remote sensing applications. Adriano Camps, Editor Your suggestions on this and other topics would be valuable. Department of Signal Theory and In spite of our general progress, there has been a major Communications Polytechnic University of Catalonia setback for our members. To this end the GRSS regrets that UPC Campus Nord, D4-016 NASA has abruptly cancelled the Hydros sol moisture mis- E-08034 Barcelona, SPAIN sion. The Hydros mission was to provide important global TEL: (34)-934.054.153 measurements of soil moisture and land freeze/thaw condi- FAX: (34)-934.017.232 tions, and was the cumulative result of decades of study by E-mail: [email protected] the scientific community on soil moisture that addressed David B. Kunkee, Associate Editor for remote sensing technology, key scientific applications, and Organizational and Industrial Profiles data requirements. Several of our Society members made Radar and Signal Systems Department key contributions to the development of the technology for The Aerospace Corporation remote sensing of soil moisture. Numerous papers and spe- PO Box 92957 MS M4-927 Los Angeles, CA 90009-2957 cial issues on this topic have been published in TGARS and TEL: 310-336-1125 GRSL, and many soil moisture sessions held at IGARSS. FAX: 310-563-1132 The Hydros mission uses a combined active (radar) and pas- E-mail: [email protected] sive (radiometer) microwave instrument at L band frequency (1.2-1.4 GHz). Based on studies of microwave interac- Sandra Cruz-Pol, Associate Editor University Profiles tions with soil moisture, vegetation and surface roughness, Electrical and Computer Engineering Dept. the use of the L band frequency has been concluded to be the University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez, PR. most useful in sensing of soil moisture. At the L band fre- 00681-9042 quency, the brightness temperature difference between dry TEL: (787) 832-4040 x2444 x3090 and saturated soils can be as high as 100 Kelvins and the FAX: (787) 831-7564 E-mail: [email protected] backscatter difference can be as high as 5 to 7 dB. These are strong signals, enabling a robust soil moisture retrieval methodology. The decades of research have concluded that Yoshio Yamaguchi, Associate Editor for Hydros will make a giant step in the capability of global Asian Affairs measurements of soil moisture. It is thus regrettable that Dept. of Information Engineering NASA has cancelled this mission, particularly since soil Faculty of Engineering, Niigata University moisture is one of the six key NPOESS performance para- 2-8050, Ikarashi, Niigata 950-2181 JAPAN TEL: (81) 25-262-6752 meters as interpreted by the NASA-DoD-NOAA Integrated FAX: (81) 25-262-6752 Observational Requirements Document. On behalf of the E-mail: [email protected] GRSS, I have written to the NASA Administrator urging NASA to reconsider the Hydros mission. The GRSS Society continues to be a strong supporter and Sonia C. Gallegos, Associate Editor for Latin American Affairs participant of GEO activities. As a supporting organization of Naval Research Laboratory the IEEE Committee on Earth Observations, and together Ocean Sciences Branch, Oceanography with OES, AESS, SC, PES, CS, SySC, and NTDC, we are Division proposing a new initiative within IEEE to establish a multi- Stennis Space Center, MS 39529, USA society interface between the IEEE and GEO. The initiative TEL: 228-688-4867 FAX: 228-688-4149 will be used to establish a financially stable organization E-mail: [email protected] within the IEEE as the focal point for support of the GEOSS ten-year implementation plan. The organization will promote Tariro Charakupa-Chingono, Associate Editor Earth observation technology through IEEE-sponsored con- for African Affairs ferences, workshops, and publications. These activities will Institute for Environmental Studies, University of Zimbabwe be accessible to IEEE members and are also directed towards Box 1438, Kwekwe, Zimbabwe potential new members within the international Earth data TEL: 263 04 860321/33 community. As part of this effort we have organized a GEOSS FAX: 263 4 860350/1 Workshop, “The User and the GEOSS Architecture III E-mail: [email protected] Applications in Wind Energy and Resource Management”, continued on page 27

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2006 ADCOM MEMBERS’ NAMES AND ADDRESSES Dr. Leung Tsang Dr. Albin J. Gasiewski Dr. Kiyo Tomiyasu, IEEE-GRSS Dr. John Kerekes President, IEEE GRSS Past President, IEEE GRSS Honorary Life Member IGARSS08 General Co-chair University of Washington NOAA Earth Systems Research Lab 890 East Harrison Ave., #30 Rochester Institute of Technology Box 352500 325 Broadway R/PSD4 Pomona, CA 91767 USA 54 Lamb Memorial Dr. Seattle, WA 98195 USA Boulder, CO 80305-3328 USA E-Mail: [email protected] Rochester, NY 14623 USA E-Mail: [email protected] E-Mail: [email protected] E-Mail: [email protected] (AdCom 2004-2006) Dr. Keith R. Carver Dr. James A. Gatlin Honorary Life Member, IEEE-GRSS Dr. Eric Miller Dr. Anthony K. Milne Director of Finance, IEEE-GRSS University of Massachusetts IGARSS08 General Co-chair Exec. VP, IEEE-GRSS Goddard Space Flight Center (Retired) Dept. of Electrical & Computer Electrical and Computer Engineering University of New South Wales Greenbelt, MD 20771 USA Engineering 315 Sterns Center School of Biological, Earth and Env. E-Mail: [email protected] Amherst, MA 01003 USA Northeastern University Sciences E-Mail: [email protected] Boston, MA 02116 USA Sydney, NSW 2052 AUSTRALIA Dr. David G. Goodenough E-Mail: [email protected] E-Mail: [email protected] Pacific Forestry Centre Dr. Fawwaz T. Ulaby (AdCom 2005-2007) Natural Resources Canada Honorary Life Member, IEEE-GRSS Dr. Harold Annegarn 506 West Burnside Road The University of Michigan IGARSS09 General Chairman Dr. Thomas J. Jackson Victoria, BC V8Z 1M5 CANADA 4080 Fleming Building Department of Geography and Secretary, IEEE-GRSS E-Mail: [email protected] Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1340 USA Environmental Management USDA-ARS Hydrology and Remote (AdCom 2006-2008) E-Mail: [email protected] Rand Afrikaans University Sensing Lab P O Box 524 104 Bldg 007 BARC-West Dr. Martti T. Hallikainen Ms. Lisa Ostendorf Auckland Park 2006 Johannesburg Beltsville, MD 20705 USA Helsinki University of Technology Director of Conferences, IEEE-GRSS REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA E-Mail: [email protected] Laboratory of Space Technology IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing E-Mail: [email protected] (AdCom 2005-2007) P. O. Box 3000 Society FIN-02015 HUT FINLAND 63 Live Oak Lane Dr. Roger King Dr. Karen M. St. Germain E-Mail: [email protected] Stafford, VA 22554 USA Instrumentation and Future Technologies VP for Operations and Finance, IEEE- (AdCom 2004-2006) E-Mail: [email protected] Committee Chair GRSS Mississippi State University NPOESS Integrated Program Office Dr. Nahid Khazenie Ms. Kimberley Jacques Box 9571 8455 Colesville Road, Suite 1450 8509 Capo Ct. Director of Information Services, IEEE GRSS Mississippi State, MS 39762-9571 USA Silver Spring, MD 20910 USA Vienna, VA 22182 USA 8521 Trail View Drive E-Mail: [email protected] E-Mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected] Ellicott City, MD 21043 USA (AdCom 2006-2008) (AdCom 2005-2007) E-Mail: [email protected] Dr. Liping Di Data Archiving and Distribution Dr. Kamal Sarabandi Dr. Ellsworth LeDrew Dr. Adriano Camps Committee Chair VP for Professional Activities, IEEE-GRSS University of Waterloo GRSS Newsletter Editor School of Computational Sciences Dept. of Electrical Eng. & Computer Dept. of Geography Dept. of Signal Theory and Communication George Mason University Science 200 University Ave. West Polytechnic University of Catalonia, Fairfax, Virginia 22030-4444 USA Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2122 USA Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3G1 CANADA Campus Nord, D4-016 E-Mail: [email protected] E-Mail: [email protected] E-Mail: [email protected] 08034 Barcelona SPAIN (AdCom 2004-2006) (AdCom 2004-2006) E-mail: [email protected] Dr. Paolo Gamba Data Fusion Technical Committee Chair Dr. Paul Smits Dr. David M. Le Vine Dr. R. Keith Raney University of Pavia VP for Technical Activities, IEEE-GRSS NASA Goddard Space Flight Center GRSS Rep. to Soc. on Social Implications Dept. Of Electronics Joint Research Centre Institute for Env. And Code 614.6 of Technology Via Ferrato 1 Sustainability Greenbelt, Maryland 20771 USA Johns Hopkins Univ. Applied Physics Lab 27100 Pavia ITALY TP262 E-mail: [email protected] Space Dept. E-Mail: [email protected] I-21020 Ispra ITALY (AdCom 2004-2006) Johns Hopkins Rd. E-Mail: [email protected] Laurel, MD 20723-6099 USA Dr. Joel T. Johnson (AdCom 2006-2008) Mr. Charles A. Luther E-Mail: [email protected] Frequency Allocations in Remote Sensing Past President, IEEE-GRSS Committee Chair Dr. Melba M. Crawford 1113 Villamay Blvd. Dr. Paul Racette The ElectroScience Laboratory VP for Meetings and Symposia, IEEE- Alexandria, VA 22307 USA GRSS PACE Rep. The Ohio State University GRSS E-Mail: [email protected] NASA/GSFC Code 555 1320 Kinnear Rd. LARS/Lilly Hall Greenbelt, MD 20771 USA Columbus, OH 43212 USA Purdue University Dr. Alberto Moreira E-Mail: Paul. E. [email protected] Email: [email protected] 915 W. State Street German Aerospace Center (DLR) W. Lafayette, IN 47907-2054 USA Microwaves and Radar Institute Dr. Verne Kaupp Dr. Siri Jodha Singh Khalsa Email: [email protected] P.O. Box 1116 IGARSS04 General Chairman IEEE Standards Committee and ISO TC- (AdCom 2006-2008) 82230 Wessling/Oberpfaffenhofen ICREST 211 Representative GERMANY Univ. of Missouri-Columbia UCB 449 Dr. Jon A. Benediktsson Email: [email protected] 349 EBW Boulder CO 80309-0449 USA Transactions Editor, IEEE-GRSS (AdCom 2004-2006) Columbia, MO 65211 USA E-mail: [email protected] Department of Electrical and Computer E-Mail: [email protected] Engineering Dr. Jay Pearlman Dr. David B. Kunkee University of Iceland The Boeing Company Dr. Wooil M. Moon Communications and Info Policy Rep. Hjardarhaga 2-6 PO Box 3707 MS 8R-24 IGARSS05 General Chairman The Aerospace Corp. 107 Reykjavik ICELAND Seattle, WA 98124 USA Seoul National University Sensing and Exploitation Department E-Mail: [email protected] E-Mail: [email protected] Dept. of Earth System Science P.O. Box 92957, MS M4-041 (AdCom 2005-2007) Kwanak-gu Shilim-dong San 56-1 Los Angeles, CA 90009-2957 USA Dr. Andrew J. Blanchard Seoul, 151-742 KOREA Email: [email protected] University of Texas Dallas Dr. Steven C. Reising E-Mail: [email protected] Johnson School Electrical and Computer Engineering or Dr. William B. Gail P. O. Box 830688 Department University of Manitoba Director of Corporate Relations, IEEE EC32 1373 Campus Delivery Geophysics Dept. GRSS Richardson, TX 75083 USA Colorado State University Winnipeg, MD R3T 2NT CANADA Vexcel Corporation E-Mail: [email protected] Fort Collins, CO 80523-1373 USA E-Mail: [email protected] 1690 38th St. (AdCom 2005-2007) Email: [email protected]; Boulder, CO 80301 USA [email protected] Dr. V. Chandrasekhar E-Mail: [email protected] Dr. William J. Emery (AdCom 2006-2008) IGARSS06 General Co-Chairman Mr. Granville E. Paules III Letters Editor, IEEE-GRSS Colorado State University Director of Education, IEEE GRSS CCAR Box 431 Dr. Motoyuki Sato Electrical Engineering Dept. Mission Infrastructure Management University of Colorado Dept. of Geoscience and Technology Fort Collins, CO 80523 USA Division Boulder, CO 80309-0431 USA Graduate School of Tohoku University E-Mail: [email protected] Science Mission Directorate E-Mail: [email protected] 980-8576 Sendai JAPAN NASA Headquarters Code DE Dr. Ignasi Corbella E-mail: [email protected] Washington, DC 20546 USA Dr. Diane Evans (AdCom 2005-2007) IGARSS07 General Chairman E-mail: granville,[email protected] NASA JPL UPC - TSC 4800 Oak Grove Drive Dr. Werner Wiesbeck Despatx: 208 Dr. David Weissman M/S 180-404 Honorary Life Member Campus Nord - Edif. D3 Publicity Chairman, IEEE GRSS Pasadena, CA 91109 USA University of Karlsruhe C. Jordi Girona, 1-3 Hofstra University, Dept. of Engineering email: [email protected] Institute for High Frequency and Electronics 08034 Barcelona SPAIN 104 Weed Hall (AdCom 2006-2008) Kaiserstrasse 12 E-Mail: [email protected] Hempstead, NY 11549 USA 76128 Karlsruhe GERMANY Email: [email protected] E-Mail: [email protected]

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GRS-S Chapters and Contact Information Chapter Location Joint with Chapter Chair E-mail Address (Societies) Region 1: Northeastern USA

Boston Section, MA GRS William Blackwell [email protected]

Springfield Section, MA AP, MTT, ED, GRS, LEO Paul Siqueira [email protected] Region 2: Eastern USA

Washington DC / Northern VA GRS James Tilton [email protected] Region 3: Southeastern USA

Atlanta Section, GA AES, GRS Greg Showman [email protected]

Eastern North Carolina Section, NC GRS Linda Hayden [email protected] Region 4: Central USA

Southeastern Michigan Section GRS Mahta Moghaddam [email protected] Region 5: Southwestern USA

Denver Section, CO AP, MTT, GRS Michael Janezic [email protected]

Houston Section, TX AP, MTT, GRS, LEO Christi Madsen [email protected],edu

Region 7: Canada Quebec Section, Quebec AES, OE, GRS Xavier Maldague [email protected]

Toronto Section, Ontario SP, VT, AES, UFF, OE, GRS Sri Krishnan [email protected]

Vancouver Section, BC AES, GRS Rob Leitch [email protected]

Ottawa Section, BC OE, GRS Slawo Wesolkowski [email protected] Region 8: Europe and Middle East

Italy Section 1 GRS Nazzareno Pierdicca [email protected]

Italy Section 2 GRS Maurizio Migliaccio [email protected]

Germany Section GRS Alberto Moreira [email protected]

Russia Section GRS Anatolij Shutko [email protected] [email protected]

Spanish Section GRS J. M. Lopez-Sanchez [email protected]

Ukraine Section AP, NPS, AES, ED, MTT, GRS Anatoly Kirilenko [email protected] EMB United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland Section GRS, OE Yong Xue [email protected] Region 9: Latin America

Student Branch, Colombia Section GRS Leyini Parra Espitia [email protected] Region 10: Asia and Pacific

Beijing Section, China GRS Chao Wang [email protected]

Seoul Section, Korea GRS Wooil Moon [email protected]

Taipei Section, Taiwan GRS Kun-Shan Chen [email protected]

Japan Council GRS Motoyuki Sato [email protected]

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GRS-S MEMBERS HIGHLIGHTS DR. ELI BROOKNER TO RECEIVE THE IEEE DENNIS J. PICARD MEDAL

The 2006 IEEE Dennis J. Picard Medal for Antennas and Propagation Society Harold A. Radar Technologies and Applications recip- Wheeler Applications Prize Paper Award in ient is Dr. Eli Brookner, Principal 1999. He was awarded the Aerospace and Engineering Fellow, Raytheon Corporation, Electronics Systems Society 2003 Warren D. “for outstanding accomplishments in White Award For Excellence in Radar advancing the fields of radar technologies.” Engineering “for significant advances in He is noted for his pioneering contributions development and education of phased array to phased array radar system design and radars.” In 2000, Dr. Brookner received the radar signal processing designs, and for his IEEE Education Activities Board Meritorious continuing efforts in education programs Award. He has served as a Distinguished for radar engineers. Lecturer for both the Antennas and Dr. Brookner received a BEE from the Propagation Society and the Aerospace and City College of the City of New York and Electronics Systems Society. his Master of Science and Doctor of Science Dr. Brookner is a Fellow of the IEEE, the degrees in Electrical Engineering from AIAA and the Military Sensing Symposia. Columbia University. Since 1962 Dr. Brookner has been at He is a member of both Tau Beta Pi and Eta Kappa Nu honor Raytheon where he has made major contribution to radar and societies. phased array radar systems. In addition, he has made signifi- The IEEE Dennis J. Picard Medal is sponsored by the cant contributions to design, coding and channel-characteri- Raytheon Corporation and named in honor of Dennis J. zation of microwave and laser communication systems. Picard whose lifetime of work at the Raytheon Corporation Dr. Brookner is known for his dynamic, clear and humor- helped make them a leader in tactical missile systems. Dr. ous lectures on radar systems he has given in 22 countries to Brookner will receive the award consisting of a gold medal, over 9,000 attendees. He is the author of four books and three bronze replica, certificate and honorarium at the 2006 IEEE book chapters on radar technology. He was co-author of a Honors Ceremony in June at the Hyatt Regency, Minneapolis, paper that received the 1966 Journal of the Franklin Institute Minnesota. Premium Award. Dr. Brookner has been an invited banquet The nomination form for the 2007 Dennis J. Picard Medal and keynote speaker at numerous conferences. can be found on the IEEE web site at Awards when you click Dr Brookner along with his co-authors receives the on the About Us tab. Nominations are due 1 July 2006.

ERRATUM There was an involuntary omission in the list of members elected to the grade of Fellow of the IEEE that the appeared in page 10 of the March 2006 issue of the GRS-S Newsletter. His name an citation are listed below.

Dr. René Garello GET - ENST Bretagne, Brest, France For contributions to signal processing applied to remote sensing of the ocean.

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BOOK REVIEW

CUMMING, I., WONG, F., DIGITAL PROCESSING OF SYNTHETIC APERTURE RADAR DATA, ALGORITHMS AND IMPLEMENTATION, ARTECH HOSE, 2005. by F. Rocca, A. Monti Guarnieri, Politecnico di Milano

Data processing for Synthetic Aperture Radar is a very inter- efficiency. These techniques coalesce into the complex pic- esting and timely topic. Four civilian radar satellites ture proposed by the book. (ENVISAT and ERS -2 of the European Space Agency, the The first two chapters of the book are introductory: a Japanese PALSAR, and the Canadian Radarsat) are now in very short background of the SAR concepts in the first orbit, while ESA is watching the earth continuously from chapter, and an introduction to Digital Signal Processing in 1991. Several more missions (the Canadian Radarsat 2, the X the second. In the authors’ style, DSP is explained going band satellites TerraSAR Ð X (DLR, Germany), and the back to its very simplest bases, limiting to those fundamen- Italian constellation of 4 Cosmo Skymed) will come in the tal topics that are needed to understand a SAR processor. near future. Among the many older data sets, the Shuttle The reader can find elements like sampling and aliasing of Radar Topography Mission sponsored by NASA, DLR, and real, complex, and base band one-dimensional signals; lin- the Italian Space Agency, allowed a very good retrieval of the ear, time-invariant convolutions and interpolations (using global topography, below 640 latitude. Using all the available the windowed sinc). The Fourier transforms are presented future platforms, in practice most parts of the globe will be in the continuous and the discrete domain (introducing cir- revisited daily, with a spatial resolution of about 10 Ð 15m. cular convolutions and the throwaway region to character- The advantage with respect to optical images that have much ize the circular convolution), and extended in one page to higher spatial resolution is that SAR penetrates clouds. Thus, the two-dimensional case. This allows the authors to SAR allows ice monitoring, measurement of the wind speed approach the two-dimensional systems simply by sampling over the sea, oil spill control, and land use evaluation. More their transfer functions in the 2D frequency domain, avoid- recently, SAR interferometric techniques allowed to measure ing any discussion of practically separable or non-separable digital elevation models with metric precision and small and 2D convolutions. slow ground motions to the millimetre. Data processing for After a very simple chapter 3 on pulse compression this application is complicated and should be carried out with entirely based on the chirp, the authors jump start to their a very high precision. In fact, the electromagnetic SAR land- main topic, skipping long discussions of SAR systems, that scape extends for tens of millions of wavelengths and the indeed would be rather complex. In fact, the terrain has to be quality of processing has to be very high, to allow to measure, illuminated by the satellite with a burst of energy, as the as it is done, millimetres of subsidence from satellites close to same antenna used for the illumination is then used to a thousand kilometres away. receive the signal. The energy pulses should be separated in This book offers a perspective view of digital processing time, the longer, the wider the ground swath being illumi- for space-borne Synthetic Aperture Radar missions as seen by nated and therefore the duration of the radar returns. This two pioneers in the field, who personally contributed, since determines the Pulse Repetition Frequency, that should be the seventies, with several fundamental and original inven- such to avoid interference of the nadir return, etc. The Signal tions that paved the way for the modern SAR processors. Ð to Noise Ratio formula is just given, observing that it is an Among the major efforts and merits of the authors is to inverse cubic function of the distance. Then, using circular use very simple tools and formulations so that any reader, orbits and a spherical earth, satellite SAR data gathering is even if not introduced to digital signal processing, can presented; the change of the travel path to the target, passing appreciate and understand the history and the development from one radar pulse to the next, induces phase shifts in the of such a processing art. The academic and industrial crafts- echoes that are indicated in the SAR jargon as Doppler fre- manship behind the computer codes that allowed the quality quency shifts, with a dose of imprecision. This travel path processing of Radarsat (launched in 1995) data are now history allows to identify the SAR transfer function, i.e. the available to be expounded. Other radar satellite missions, data gathered for a point scatterer. In principle, the imaging like ERS 1 Ð 2 and ENVISAT, SRTM, J-ERS by NASDA could be carried out with ultimate precision by convolving (now JAXA) each used slightly different techniques to the 2D data set with this 2D time varying transfer function, achieve similar processing goals, in terms of precision and in a tomographic approach.

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Using the principle of stationary phase, the pulse response however, it would be much more efficient to implement it in of the SAR system is studied in its different domains: in range blocks about 50 times smaller (i.e. 1 km in range in place of and azimuth (the along track coordinate), in their correspon- 50 km) gaining a factor 5 in complexity and increasing even dent Fourier domains (frequency and wave number, also more the throughput due to a better exploitation of the defined as Doppler frequency), and in the mixed range and processor cache memory. Furthermore, while decreasing the Doppler domain. The effects of moderate squint, i.e. looking computational costs, this would solve the problem of updat- fore or aft the platform, are considered, and both parabolic ing the processing parameters, that according to the authors, and hyperbolic expansions of the travel times are introduced. represents the major limit of the Omega Ð k approach. There is no systematic discussion of the advantages of the However, the complicated transformation from the raw data second, as it is probably very limited in the case of satellite to focused ones, involving skewing and de skewing the coor- data gathering. dinate axes, and modulation of the data spectrum, would After, the authors discuss four techniques to focus raw make this implementation somewhat difficult. Mosaicking SAR data, i.e. techniques made to combine the radar returns the blocks requires proper registration, in time, space, and with proper phases and minimum computational cost to frequency to avoid artefacts, in particular if phase preserva- achieve the reconstruction of the target with minimal defo- tion is required (see more on this point in the following). cusing in the out coming image, even with non negligible These difficulties increase with the squint angle, as every- squint. Notice that this type of processing neglects the ampli- thing is simple at zero squint. The lack of discussions on tude changes of the echoes as a function of the viewing angle block processing suggests that the zero squint case and non that is induced by the antenna pattern. This approximation coherent applications (i.e. looking to the amplitudes of the appears quite reasonable for the space borne systems devel- echoes and not to their phases for interferometry) are the oped in the past, that have small relative bandwidth and short major targets of the book. aperture, whereas for large-bandwidth, wide aperture SAR Chapter 10 provides some examples of algorithms to systems (like the current airborne ones) optimum techniques process ScanSAR data, an acquisition mode that allows trad- should consider amplitudes too. ing range coverage with resolution. The techniques here pre- The processing techniques called Range Doppler, Chirp sented are described, as for the usual Strip - map one, in a Scaling, Omega Ð k, (the second two operate in 2D), general discussion. More emphasis is posed on the principles SPECAN are analyzed in depth. The authors significantly than on the details of an implementation of the processor. In contributed to the SAR community in the ideation and devel- fact, different techniques are discussed that provide compara- opment of Range Doppler and Chirp Scaling techniques, and ble results, but nothing is said on data scaling, that would be these are explained in great detail. They consist in two differ- complicated by the change in PRF, antenna pattern, process- ent approximations of the ideal transfer function in the ing bandwidth and Doppler centroid from subswath to sub- assumption of small bandwidth, and limited apertures (that swath. This problem would deserve some attention, as the hold for medium resolution SAR) and are implemented one in human eye can appreciate radiometric discontinuities the range-Doppler and the other in the 2D frequency - between swaths in the order of a very small fraction of a dB. Doppler domain). A proper solution at this level of detail would require some These techniques are first explained based on the digital basic statistical formulation, that the authors preferred to signal processing introductory remarks. For each of the two renounce in favour of the simple and elegant description of algorithms, advantages and limits are then clearly stated, so the basic focusing block. that an engineer would be able to duplicate their processing as Chapter 11 is a comparison of the computational costs of it was carried out by the authors. the discussed algorithms. But for the fast SPECAN, all algo- The Omega Ð k, algorithm developed in the geophysics rithms are shown to obtain very similar results (as it is easy to context, and widely adopted in SAR processing is discussed check, using synthetics) and the effort for each is such that in chapter 8. This algorithm is as simple as the chirp scaling, their computational costs differ by less than 10%, as it was but it implements the exact transfer function (for rectilinear necessary to survive to the competition, at the time. orbits), so it is suited for very large apertures and band- In the same chapter a rough analysis of the Quadratic widths. The authors original interpretation of the Omega Ð k Phase Errors provided by the different approaches is intro- is the major and novel contribute of the chapter, whereas an duced. This analysis is more devoted to compare the different appendix is added to provide the usual geophysics point of techniques than to assess the actual phase error of the proces- view. The emphasis here is much more on the algorithm than sor, that would require more attention to the block size, the on the implementation. The level of details is such that any interpolator design and the target statistics. reader can implement the proposed single-block scheme with Therefore, the litmus test of phase preservation is not con- rapid prototyping softwares. For an industrial processor, sidered even if it has capital importance in order to establish

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the fitness of the focused data to provide acceptable interfer- that is deterministically characterized. For the estimates, like ometric products. This test is intended to check the phase Doppler parameters, the authors take advantage of the fre- response of the focusing processor, verifying its limited sen- quent occurrence of point-like structures in SAR images to sitivity to the position of the pulse in time and space. Today, assume the deterministic case. On the other side, the authors phase preservation is as relevant as the quality of focusing. do not consider one of the most powerful disciplines in mod- Further and foremost, it makes focusing codes indifferent to ern DSP. Somewhere in the book the authors are still forced the final interferometric user. However, the precision with to use statistics, processes, expectations and cross correla- which the algorithms are discussed would not make it very tions. However, these become minor aspects, as the major difficult for an informed reader to evaluate their performance task of the book is just explaining many SAR processors and also for this figure of merit. But indeed ice, oil spills, and ship indeed not to put the reader in conditions to design a new one, detection where the principal motivating rationales in Canada that would require a much different background. The concept whereas more researchers investigated interferometry in of Equivalent Number of Looks (say the number of degrees of Europe to study the subsidence of their old towns. freedom of the out coming image, dependent both on the two Another point that could have deserved a closer analysis is dimensional resolution and on the level of noise) is intro- the impact of the antenna pattern, shaping the amplitudes of duced, but it is not used to evaluate the processing quality. the returns, and thus sizing the 2D noise spectrum (alias, ther- The autocorrelation function is alluded to only in one line of mal, etc.). Ambiguity noise is just mentioned in a note. The the book (page 511). spatial resolution is therefore linked to the spatial bandwidth Modern SAR data processing deals with interferometry, only, without considering inverse filtering and antenna decon- polarimetry, multistatic data gathering. Focusing is given volution. But this would have needed attention to estimation for granted, once it has passed the resolution test and the theory, target statistics, power spectra, Signal to Noise ratios, mentioned phase preservation test. The authors present in while the attention is rather on the techniques to focus given this book their own way of understanding the different radar data. focusing techniques, and not always are successful in com- The book concludes with two chapters (12 and 13) on municating the importance of these differences to the read- parameters estimation. The first is on the estimation of the ers. However, their pattern of thought always comes out Doppler centroid, i.e. the direction of the main lobe of the clearly, and one deeply appreciates their diligence, depth, antenna as it is measured from the position of the maximum and thoroughness, and the precision in the proposal and in of the wave number power spectrum. The sensitivity of this the design of processing procedures that had thereafter to measurement has to be very high, in order not to lose too be considered as reference. This book has thus mostly a much spectrum to alias. Surface sea currents may bias the very high historical value. A tiny blemish: the authors are measure, and possible solutions are discussed in detail. The indexed by their given name. last chapter studies the measurement of the FM rate from the The quality of the work being done in Vancouver in the past data: again different schools proposed different solutions and emerges neatly and also the honesty and quality of the com- again the authors provide patient, objective, and careful com- parisons of the solutions found locally with those found else- parison of the results. Nowadays, the precise satellite attitude where. We have to thank Ian and Frank for remembering to us data available allow precise estimates of both parameters and the way they were and indicating to us the way we should be. add to the historical value of these chapters. In their effort to target the book to the widest and non-spe- Profs. Fabio Rocca and Andrea Monti Guarnieri have been cialized audience, the authors removed any input from esti- teaching Digital Signal processing at the Politecnico di mation theory. This effort is partly successful, as least as far Milano for the last several years. They published several as a SAR processors’ task is to revert and impulse response papers on SAR processing.

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EDUCATION PROFILE

BRAZIL’S EFFORTS TO BRING REMOTE SENSING AND GIS TECHNIQUES INTO THE CLASSROOM Tania Maria Sausen, Ph.D. Ministério da Ciência e Tecnologia, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais Av. dos Astronautas 1758, Cx.P. 515 CEP 12245-970 São José dos Campos, SP, Brasil, [email protected]

The National Institute for Space Research (INPE) created in ¥ PROJECT I includes the development of educational 1961, is an agency of the Ministry of Science and Technology handbooks responsible for space research in Brazil. Atmospheric and ¥ PROJECT II entails the development of a CD ROM Space-related research, as well as its post-graduate programs ¥ PROJECT III is the development of Image-maps started at the Institute in 1968. The Institute grants Master and ¥ PROJECT IV is the development of electronic Homepages Doctorate degrees in several space-related concentrations. In 2003 INPE joined the Vale do Rio dos Sinos University INPE acquired its satellite data acquisition and tracking capa- (UNISINOS) in developing remote sensing and GIS courses bilities in 1973. for geography teachers from grammar and high schools from In partnership with China, INPE launched the first China- the Porto Brazil Earth Resource Satellite (CBERS) on 14 October Alegre metropolitan area, Sinos river valley, and Rio 1999. It carries on board three sensors: a CCD Visible Grande do Sul State. The main objective of this project was to Camera, an Infrared Multispectral Scanner (IRMSS), and a educate the school teachers on the use of remote sensing data Wide Field Imager (WFI). The follow-on, CBERS II was from LANDSAT, CBERS, ASTER and MODIS, and to launched on 21 October 2004, and is identical in design, mis- acquaint them with the INPE Geographical Information sion and payload to the CBERS. System (GIS) techniques: SPRING and TERRAView. From the beginning INPE remote sensing efforts have Considering the National Curricula Parameters for focused on education and technology transfer. In the last eight Geography, the goals of the courses are: years, these efforts have extended to develop specialized edu- ¥ To show to the geography teachers the potential of remote cational programs for grammar and high school teachers. The sensing data and GIS techniques as educational resources EDUCA SeRe Program is one of those programs. Its main in the classroom objective is the development of courses and educational mate- ¥ To make the geography courses more attractive to the stu- rial based on remote sensing and GIS techniques for teaching dents through the use of remote sensing data and GIS tech- geography and natural sciences in grammar and high schools. The Program is divided into five projects:

Figure 1. Image interpretation exercise at the Amazonas University, Figure 2. CBERS/CCD Image-map of Porto Alegre city, Rio Grande Manaus, Amazonas state, Brazil. do Sul state capital, Brazil

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Figure 4. INPE - EDUCA SeRe website

in Figure 3. These mosaics are part of the educational material of the training courses. More than 150-school teachers have been Figure 3. Rio Grande do Norte State CBERS/CCD Mosaic trained at INPE in three-day courses that cover fundamentals of remote sensing, satellite systems, image interpretation, car- niques in the classroom tography and GPS. Field work activities, remote sensing ¥ To assist the geography teachers in developing classroom applications and the use of the images in the classroom are activities using remote sensing data and GIS techniques also addressed during these sessions. ¥ To develop new methodologies and educational applica- In 2004, the EDUCA SeRe III Project added new material tions for the INPE remote sensing data and GIS techniques such as the INPE GIS techniques (SPRING and Terraview) with input from the teachers. and a database for geography activities in the classroom. It is In this same year, 26 teachers and approximately 300 stu- expected that this methodology will be adopted in courses dents developed a four-month project dealing with remote geared towards educating grammar and high school teachers. sensing and GIS technology in geography classes under INPE In 2005, INPE and UNISINOS signed an agreement to and UNISINOS supervision. The results of the project were continue educational activities and to subsequently devel- displayed in an exposition at the UNISINOS campus. Figure op a three-month specialized course on teaching remote 1 shows a group of teachers during the training courses. sensing for grammar and high schools. Members of INPE Since the launch of CBERS, the EDUCA SeRe PROJECT are concentrating in endeavors for new and improved III has developed image-maps using CBERS-CCD (Visible) teaching of Remote Sensing applications. Tania Sausen has data. These are divided into: Brazilian cities series, and developed an international advanced course on Remote Brazilian state capitals series. Sensing and GIS. Clairton Batista Machado developed a Three Brazilian cities image-maps (Foz do Iguaçu, tutorial and a handbook containing lessons and geography Cachoeira Paulista and São Leopoldo), and six Brazilian state exercises for teaching 10 and 11 year old students. The capitals cities image maps (Brasília, Belo Horizonte, Cuiabá, tutorial includes databases of Rio Grade do Sul, and the Manaus, Natal and Porto Alegre), were initially created. One Ibicui river basin of Brazil. of these image maps is presented in Figure 2. Since 2005, INPE has made available electronically all the In partnership with INPE Image Generation Division, the educational materials developed by the EDUCA Se Re EDUCA SeRe Project produced six Infrared mosaics (Rio Program. These include educational material from the cours- Grande do Norte, Rio Grande do Sul, São Paulo, Minas es, SPRING software, and tutorials. Their website is continu- Gerais, Paraná, and Rio-São Paulo Corridor) and, one Visible ously updated. Interested individuals can download material Mosaic (Rio Grande do Norte). An example of these appears at: http://www.inpe.br/unidades/cep/atividadescep

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FEATURE ARTICLE THE OGC / GRS-S PARTNERSHIP George Percivall Executive Director, Interoperability Architecture Open Geospatial Consortium, Inc. (OGC)

Paul Smits Scientific Officer Joint Research Centre (JRC) Vice-President for Technical Activities, IEEE GRS-S e-mail: [email protected]

1. Introduction and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have been repre- The geosciences and remote sensing communities require senting their organizations in both OGC and GRS-S. cooperation across many disciplines and markets. They also An initial coordination between the GRS-S and the OGC require integration of data sources and services that reside on resulted in the creation of a technical paper describing a web different technology platforms. Because geoscientists and accessible Image Classification Service. This service was remote sensing experts need to share, integrate and distribute tested and further developed in the OGC Web Services, phase data, they benefit from progress in technologies and standards 3 (OWS-3) interoperability testbed, a major OGC testbed that support communication between diverse geoprocessing activity completed in 2005. That paper is now a publicly systems, both locally and across the Internet. available OGC Discussion Paper. Other activities in OWS-3 On 30 November 2005, the IEEE Geoscience and Remote involved the "Sensor Web Enablement" (SWE) suite of candi- Sensing Society (GRS-S) and the Open Geospatial date OGC specifications and their integration with the IEEE Consortium, Inc. (OGC¨) signed a Memorandum of 1453 standards for plug-and-play sensors. Understanding (MOU) to work together to support such The OGC has also coordinated with other organizations progress. whose efforts involve and benefit members of IEEE GRS-S: The OGC is an international voluntary consensus stan- ¥ The OGC has a Class A liaison with ISO (International dards organization of more than 300 companies, government Organization for Standardization) Technical Committee 211 agencies and universities. OGC members participate in a con- Geographic information/Geomatics (TC 211). The two sensus process to develop publicly available geoprocessing organizations sustain the technical alignment of their respec- interface and encoding standards that enable integration of tive developments through mutual review and development geospatial content and services into enterprise systems and of draft documents. When an OGC specification meets cer- that "geo-enable" the Web, wireless and location-based ser- tain requirements, ISO adopts it as an ISO specification. vices, and mainstream information technology. ¥ The OGC is a member of the International Society for It is critically important for informed decisions that the Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS). vast data and processing resources of the geosciences and ¥ In January, 2002 the OGC signed an MOU with the remote sensing community become available as part of the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) and Web. Improving our ability to discover and access both data the US Geological Survey (USGS) to collaborate on a pro- and services benefits not only the remote sensing experts and ject focused on removing technical obstacles to sharing scientists, but also the broader community of professionals earth observation data. who can benefit from better access to information derived The OGC also works with the World Wide Web from this science and technology. Consortium (W3C), the Internet Engineering Task Force In this article, we look at what has been accomplished and (IETF), the Organization for the Advancement of Structured we look at the plans for future coordination. Information Standards (OASIS), and other standards organizations to ensure the development of a consistent internation- 2. A Tradition of Cooperation al geoprocessing standards platform. Since 2000, the OGC and IEEE GRS-S have been informally This article is not the first time that OGC and IEEE have coordinating. Individuals working in OGC member organiza- cooperated for publication. The September/October 2003 tions such as the Joint Research Centre (JRC), European issue of IEEE Internet Computing included an article by Space Agency (ESA), the US National Aeronautics and Space Nadine Alameh of Global Science and Technology titled Administration (NASA), and the US National Oceanographic "Chaining Geographic Information Web Services."

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Recent IEEE/OGC coordination has focused on Global that need to be accessed by various clients and server process- Earth Observing System of Systems (GEOSS). OGC Web es running on diverse and unknown computing platforms Services as applied to the GEOSS architecture were success- across the Web. Standards also reduce dependence on single fully demonstrated at a workshop on the opening day of the point solutions, reduce risk, reduce software lifecycle costs, International Geosciences and Remote Sensing Symposium and create new business opportunities for technology (IGARSS 2005, Seoul, Korea). The workshop, entitled "The providers. Providing open access to data and services on the User and the GEOSS Architecture - Applications for Asia and Web and making data and services discoverable through a the Pacific Rim," was originated and coordinated by the IEEE spatial catalog exposes them to a much larger set of potential Committee on Earth Observation (CEO) and co-sponsored by users, and thus increases their value. the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC), and the Below we describe some of the adopted OpenGIS International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Implementation Specifications and other documents that are Sensing (ISPRS). The objective of the workshop was to pro- most relevant to remote sensing. The adopted specifications are vide opportunities for GEOSS users to learn about the archi- available at http://www.opengeospatial.org/specs/?page=specs. tecture approach recommended by the Group on Earth The OpenGIS¨ Web Map Service (WMS) Implementation Observation (GEO). GEO plans to use open standards in the Specification provides operations in support of the creation GEOSS architecture to support interoperability. and display of registered and superimposed map-like views of information that come simultaneously from multiple remote 3. OGC Standards Overview and heterogeneous sources. The servers can be servers of raster or vector data, or even scanned maps. The maps are delivered to the browser or other Web-based viewing application in simple Web graphic image formats. The OpenGIS¨ Styled Layer Descriptor (SLD) Implementation Specification extends the WMS specification to allow user-defined symbol- ization of feature data. The OpenGIS¨ Web Coverage Service (WCS) Implementation Specification interface allows client and/or application query and access to geospatial "coverages", such as imagery and digital elevation models. The result of the coverage query (the actual data) is made available to the client, service, or application. The WCS operations allow for access to imagery including subsetting requests in space, time and Figure 1. Web services enable automated discovery, access and use other parameters. of Web-resident geospatial data and services of all types. Services, The OpenGIS¨ Web Feature Service (WFS) such as coordinate system transformations or image processing Implementation Specification enables a client or service that operations, can be be “chained” together to streamline decision implements the interface to retrieve and optionally update support activities. geospatial feature data from any server that implements the WFS interface. The WFS interface does not “care” how the The OGC consensus process for defining, developing, and feature data are stored. The interface is content and storage approving a standard generates a number of documents. model independent. The result of a WFS query is typically These draft standards documents work their way through the returned as a GML document (see below). approval process in the OGC Technical Committee and the The OpenGIS¨ Web Map Context (WMC) Implementation OGC Planning Committee. The approved standards, called Specification is a companion specification to the Web Map Implementation Specifications, detail the interface or encod- Service Specification. It enables an application to store “state” ing structures that, when implemented, enable interoperabili- information. The XML-encoded Context document includes ty between systems. information about the WMS servers providing layers to the Standard interfaces, protocols, and encodings enable dif- overall map, the bounding box and map projection shared by all ferent software and application products to communicate, the maps, and so forth. This is sufficient metadata for any client whether they are running on the same computer or they are software to reproduce the composite map, and ancillary meta- exchanging instructions across the Web. They also enable data used to annotate or describe the maps and their provenance much easier integration of complex systems. Standards are for the benefit of human viewers. necessary ingredients for designing and implementing "open Web Image Classification Service (WICS) interface deals architectures" and for "service oriented architectures (SOA)" specifically with classification of digital images. This draft

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specification provides a web based interface to image classi- 4. Current Developments fication services of any type. This specification does not The interfaces described above have been implemented in hundreds specify a particular classification algorithm. The interface of commercial products, custom systems and open source applica- allows a client to request that the service perform a classifica- tions. (See http://www.opengeospatial.org/resources/?page= prod- tion on a source image resulting in a grid coverage feature ucts) But many other specifications are working their way through with the attributes being categories. This specification allows OGC's processes. Below is a summary of the main technology for clients to request classification from a variety of algo- domains in which there is ongoing specification development rithms. This document is currently a Discussion Paper, which activity: after further development may become an implementation specification. Web Coordinate Transformation Service (WCTS) defines an interface to request transformation of geospatial data from one coordinate reference system (CRS) to another. Geospatial data including imagery are often stored in different CRSs. For an application to use data stored in different CRSs, such data must be transformed or converted into the same CRS. This service inputs digital features or coverages in one CRS and outputs the same features in a different CRS. This document is currently an OGC Discussion Paper, which may become an implementation specification. The OpenGIS Catalog Services (CAT) Implementation Specification defines common interfaces to discover, browse, and query metadata about data, services, and other potential resources. Once substantial numbers of data sets and geospatial Web services have been registered in such catalogs with Figure 2. OGC members are cooperatively developing a set of open metadata that conforms to ISO/CD TS 19139 (XML schema standards for discovering, reading, controlling, and aggregating the implementation), users (and automated processes) will have a outputs of Internet-connected sensors, including earth imaging devices. far greater ability to find data and services. The OpenGIS¨ Geography Markup Language (GML) Sensor Web Enablement (SWE) is an OGC initiative to Encoding Specification is an XML-based language for build a framework of open standards for exploiting Web- encoding geographic information to be transported over the accessible sensors and sensor systems of all types, including Internet or other transport environments. GML defines both satellite-borne earth imaging devices, flood gauges, air pollu- the geometry and properties of objects that comprise geo- tion monitors, stress gauges on bridges, mobile heart moni- graphic information. GML allows the data to be controlled tors, Webcams and so forth. SWE presents opportunities for in the client by the user who receives geometries and geo- adding a real-time sensor dimension to the Internet and the graphic features and customizes how the data is to be dis- Web. The following documents are being developed for adop- played. GML is a practical application for transferring geo- tion as OpenGIS Specifications or Best Practices recommen- graphic information over the Web. Instead of transmitting a dations by the OGC: GIF or JPG map, GML allows the data to be controlled on the ¥ SensorML Ð Information model and XML encodings of browser end by the user or client that receives geometries and sensor descriptions for enabling discovery, tasking, and geographic features and customizes how the data is to be dis- exploiting Web-resident sensors. played. Profiles and application schemas of GML can be ¥ Observations & Measurements Ð Information model and defined to meet the requirements of specific information encodings for observations and measurements. communities. An example is the new OpenGIS GML in ¥ TransducerML Ð Encodings for supporting streaming JPEG 2000 Implementation Specification which defines the observation data from a sensor system. means by which the GML can be used within JPEG 2000 ¥ Sensor Observation Service Ð Interface to fetch observa- images for geographic imagery. tions from a sensor or constellation of sensors. The OGC Reference Model is a document that describes ¥ Sensor Planning Service Ð Interface to assist in "collection all the OpenGIS Specifications, how they work together, and feasibility plans" and to process collection requests for a how they work in various distributed computing environ- sensor or sensor constellation. ments. This is a good place to begin a study of OGC's techni- ¥ Sensor Alert Service Ð Interface that supports publication cal baseline and standards framework. of and subscription to alerts from sensor systems.

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SWE was one of the main focus areas in OGC's 2005 OGC resource, work begins and the participants report the results of Web Services 3 (OWS-3) testbed activity. Important progress their work at the next meetings. Initiatives such as was made in harmonizing the SWE services listed above with Interoperability Testbeds and Experiments are planned and the IEEE 1453 standard for plug-and-play sensors. executed. The scope of the work keeps expanding, and so Geospatial Digital Rights Management (GeoDRM) Ð does the number of adopted specifications, the number of Efforts to manage data ownership and data rights in the digi- implementations, and the number of people who are benefit- tal environment are of great interest to geospatial data ing from the implementations. providers who need to control access to their data and how it is used. This is of concern to data sellers, to organizations 5. Institutional Coordination whose data is for internal use only, and to those whose data It is natural that OGC and GRS-S should work together to distribution follows a library model. GeoDRM involves per- advance the integration of geospatial interoperability and sistent management of a geospatial digital object under a set remote sensing. As the recent OGC/GRS-S MOU explains: of rights and conditions. OGC and GRS-S are both working to define mecha- Geoprocessing Workflow: Geoprocessing creates geospa- nisms to increase the accessibility and usability of remote- tial information specific to a user’s particular decision making ly sensed data: GRS-S leads and OGC benefits from the needs. In some cases, a chain of OGC Web services is need- IEEE peer-reviewed process for science and technology ed to produce the value-added products that are needed. OGC related to earth observation; and OGC maintains and GRS- Web Services have been chained together using the OASIS S benefits from OGC's open, consensus-based process to Business Process Execution Language (BPEL) specification. advance and gain approval of standards for geospatial For example, the OGC Web Coordinate Transformation interoperability. Service (WCTS) and the OGC Web Image Classification Therefore, OGC and GRS-S have agreed to work together Service can be “chained” into an integrated workflow. The to define a program of activities for the purpose of supporting WCS-WCTS-WICS workflow was specifically tailored for the mission of both organizations and the geospatial commu- demonstration at the GEOSS Workshop that was held during nity as a whole. the IGARSS 2005 Symposium. The initial list of activities and agreements includes the CAD/GIS Integration: Computer Aided Design (CAD)/geospa- following, depending on available resources: tial convergence is necessary because the architecture/engineer- ¥ Representatives of GRS-S and OGC will attend and par- ing/construction industry and other domains often need to use ticipate in committee meetings and working groups of building information in the context of diverse geospatial informa- their respective organizations for the purpose of joint coor- tion. The OGC is collaborating to develop the International Alliance dination of geospatial remote-sensing related standards for Interoperability (IAI) Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) and the development. National Building Information Model (BIM) standard. Other ¥ GRS-S and OGC will coordinate on GEO activities in the efforts connected to OGC include the University of Bonn's development of GEOSS. GRS-S is a proxy to the IEEE CityGML project; 3D and GML at the Ordnance Survey in Great Committee on Earth Observations (CEO). IEEE CEO and Britain; and TransXML, a US national effort to develop XML and OGC are both Participating Organizations of GEO. GML schemas for exchange of transportation data. The use of ¥ GRS-S and OGC will implement procedures to share and CityGML can be of significant relevance to the IEEE GRS-S encourage review of in-work standards by GRS-S members. research in urban settings. ¥ OGC will provide presentation material the tutorial on Decision Support Services: In the past "decision support Geospatial Data Fusion and Interoperability at IGARSS06. systems" have been monolithic applications that helped man- ¥ GRS-S and OGC will pursue a special joint issue of the agers find solutions to difficult management problems. With Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters (GRSL) . the advent of the internet and distributed web services it is ¥ GRS-S and OGC will jointly support presentations, arti- now possible to define decision support as the coordination of cles for journals, and other outreach to highlight the various services that transparently convert geospatial data applicability and benefits of geospatial interoperability. from other communities into terms familiar to the user. A ¥ GRS-S and OGC will work to involve other relevant stan- decision maker is able to sit down at a single workstation, dards consortia and professional organizations in the identify any resource anywhere, access that resource, bring it development and advancement of geospatial interoperabil- into that decision maker’s operational context, and integrate it ity, in particular for the Group on Earth Observation. with other resources to support the decision process. The leaders of both organizations invite and encourage At every OGC meeting, new requirements for interoper- members of GRS-S to find ways to play active roles in these ability are discussed. If there is sufficient interest and activities.

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UNIVERSITY PROFILE

CENTRE FOR GEO-INFORMATION, WAGENINGEN UNIVERSITY AND RESEARCH CENTRE, THE NETHERLANDS

Lammert Kooistra1, Michael Schaepman1,2, Jan Clevers1, Li Jia2, Sander Mucher2, and Allard de Wit2 1Laboratory of Geo-Information Science and Remote Sensing; Wageningen University, Centre for Geo-Information, Droevendaalsesteeg 3, 6708 PB, Wageningen, The Netherlands 2Alterra Green World Research, Centre for Geo-Information, Wageningen UR, Droevendaalsesteeg 3, 6708 PB, Wageningen, The Netherlands e-mail: [email protected]

Introduction People The Centre for Geo-Information (CGI) of Wageningen Remote sensing is one of the main research topics within University and Research Centre is a joint research centre CGI. However, there are substantial other fundamental and founded in the year 2000. CGI is a combination of two applied research activities going on, that include spatial data research entities. On the one hand the Laboratory for Geo- infrastructures, spatial data modelling and geo-visualization. Information Science and Remote Sensing of Wageningen In the subsequent part of this section we will put the main University and on the other hand the Geo-Information emphasis on remote sensing related research of both, the group of Alterra. Both entities are managed in a joint man- University and Alterra. The remote sensing team of CGI agement team, creating mutual research benefits on both includes the following staff: sides. The Wageningen University based part has been founded already in 1994. It was named the Laboratory for Wageningen University Geo-Information Science and Remote Sensing (GRS) and ¥ Dr. Michael Schaepman, full professor, scientific manager has been serving as a focal point for geo-information relat- CGI, quantitative, physical based remote sensing ed academic research and education within Wageningen ¥ Dr. Jan Clevers, associate professor, quantitative, statistical University since then. Applied research in the domain of based remote sensing geo-information already has a long tradition within Alterra ¥ Dr. Lammert Kooistra, assistant professor, ecology and and its predecessors. As a result research within CGI is typ- remote sensing ically performed in multidisciplinary teams that offer the ¥ Dr. Sytze de Bruin, assistant professor, spatial data quality opportunity to share and integrate knowledge between both and uncertainty scientific and applied research, and education in the field of ¥ Drs. Harm Bartholomeus, university lecturer remote sensing geo-information science. ¥ Dr. Gabriela Schaepman-Strub, external research fellow The following research themes delineate the main research (European Space Agency sponsored), jointly with KNMI, focus of CGI: Centre Ecosystems and Centre Water and Climate of ¥ providing geo-information for rural areas: making knowl- Wageningen University; quantitative remote sensing, ter- edge and information available to underpin policy deci- minology, Albedo. sions on natural resources; ¥ monitoring rural areas; developing GIS-based and RS- Alterra based methods for monitoring rural areas, at national as ¥ Dr. Li Jia, researcher, physical based multi-angular remote well as global levels; sensing ¥ quantitative retrieval of geo-biophysical and Ðchemical ¥ Ir. Sander Mucher, researcher, land-use monitoring variables from spatially distributed data at scales from ¥ Ir. Allard de Wit, researcher, crop monitoring and forecasting local to global for environmental management; ¥ Ir. Gerard Hazeu, researcher, land-use monitoring ¥ scenario studies: integrating GIS and RS knowledge in ¥ Ir. Anne Schmidt, researcher, ecology and remote sensing process models for planning and scenario studies; ¥ visualization and communication of geo-information: The University staff is complemented by the scientific staff using multimedia technology in developing and underpin- focusing on GIS and visualization as follows: ning policies for the rural areas. ¥ Dr. Arnold Bregt, full professor, spatial data infrastructures

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¥ Dr. Ron van Lammeren, associate professor, geo-visual- University level teaching aims at an end-to-end under- ization standing of the geo-information cycle, ranging from acquisi- ¥ Dr. Joep Crompvoets, assistant professor, spatial data tion and storage, to Earth Observation (remote sensing meth- infrastructures ods), GIS, analysis (including spatio-temporal modeling and research tools), to visualization. The solid training of acade- In total, CGI is home to more than 60 scientists, researchers, mic competencies includes approaches to improve scientific technical staff, as well as software engineers (split into approx. writing and evaluating skills, as well as recognizing innova- 50% University staff (http://www.grs.wur.nl/UK/Staff/) and tive opportunities within the Geographic Information 50% Alterra staff). They are working in collaboration with var- Sciences. Particular focus is put on a multidisciplinary educa- ious national and international research institutions and organi- tional curriculum, where students can apply the gained zations, including the government and private sectors to pro- knowledge in geo-information to spatial planning, geography, vide university-level education and research in geo-information ecology and environmental management applications. Since science, in view to support policy development and the design recently, a joint distance learning MSc in Geo-information and management of rural areas. Management and Applications (GIMA) is offered by Delft In the following sections, the research focus of the remote University, Utrecht University, the International Institute for sensing activities of the Centre for Geo-Information are out- Geo-information and Earth Observation (ITC) and lined using a number of case studies and research directions. Wageningen University (www.msc-gima.nl). A multitude of PhD students are working on their PhD dis- sertations usually finalizing their work in a period of four years. GRS is member of the C.T. de Wit Graduate School for Production Ecology and Resource Conservation (PE&RC) (www.dpw.wageningen-ur.nl/peenrc), which is ensuring the quality and coherence of the PhD education. GRS is also hosting PostDoc’s and research fellows, wanting to pursue a further specialization of the core research subject.

International embedding CGI participates and contributes to major international developments in remote sensing through active participation in programmes, working groups and steering committees. These range from the contribution to the Group on Earth Figure 1. Aerial view of a part of the WUR campus to the North of Observations (GEO) work plan to build a Global Earth the city of Wageningen collected by a Vexcel Ultracam D digital cam- Observation System of Systems (GEOSS), to drafting the sci- era (courtesy: Aerodata). entific challenges for ESA’s (European Space Agency) Living Planet Programme, defining the land contribution in the joint Education ESA/EU (European Union) ‘Global Monitoring for GRS offers various academic programs and educational train- Environment and Security’ (GMES) programme, amongst ing at BSc, MSc, PhD, and PostDoc levels focusing on four others. Significant input to the further advancement of spec- specializations: i) remote sensing and geospatial imaging, ii) trodirectional imaging has been made in the form of con- geographical information systems (GIS), iii) geospatial infor- tributing to the ESA Earth Explorer Core Mission definition, mation and communication technology (Geo-ICT), and iv) namely SPECTRA, as well as providing contributions to new geographical information management). At the BSc level, sensor development (ESA APEX), definition (ESA SPEC- GRS takes care of introductory teaching in geo-information TRA, FLEX, Sentinel), as well as calibration (ESA science for large groups of students at Wageningen University MERIS/ENVISAT and CHRIS/PROBA). CGI’s societal con- of various backgrounds and disciplines. In average about 30 tribution is reflected in active roles at ISPRS (Chairing WG students join our MSc programme on Geo-Information VII/1 on fundamental physics and modeling) and EARSeL, as Science every academic year, which has been fully accredited well as offering and chairing invited sessions at several con- to be taught in English and is compliant with the European ferences on remote sensing (IEEE, ISPRS, SPIE, EARSeL, Credit Transfer System (ECTS) (www.geo-informatie.nl). ESA). CGI strives for honoring all activities relevant for sci- Our MSc students originate from over 29 countries world- ence and therefore actively contributes to the peer review wide, combining skills of various disciplines relevant in the process of most relevant remote sensing journals. GRS is also Earth System Sciences. involved in several EU-funded activities, such as the HYRES-

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SA project, aiming at building a European-wide network of eco-physiological processes in combination with extensive hyperspectral remote sensing facilities. field measurements. The in-situ measurements are sufficient- ly precise, but for large heterogeneous areas they eventually Research focus should be replaced using comparable nondestructive Remote sensing research at CGI specializes in the domain of approaches (e.g. LIDAR Ð forest structure measurements), as quantitative, physical and statistical based retrieval of land well as by modeling methods (e.g. PROSPECT Ð a model of surface parameters relevant for earth system modeling with leaf optical properties). In another application, the seasonal special focus on spectrodirectional imaging. Particular atten- variability in a boreal forest ecosystem is assessed using spec- tion is paid to the use of radiative transfer models, support tro-directional satellite data (CHRIS/PROBA) and radiative vector machines, data assimilation methods, and linking soil- transfer modeling. We develop methods that combine recent vegetation-atmosphere transfer models to state-space estima- advances in spectro-directional imaging (e.g. surface and tion algorithms. This is complemented by our expertise in atmosphere anisotropy, laboratory and field directional mea- linking ecological and dynamic vegetation models to imaging surements, etc.) with explicit scene modeling of individual spectroscopy for applications like biodiversity assessment at trees and their changing background. Inclusion of the spatial- habitat and ecosystem level as well as modeling CO2-seques- temporal dynamics of the understory’s seasonal coverage tration. Additional expertise is present in the domain of spa- should decrease the retrieval uncertainty of relevant parame- tial data infrastructures (global inventory of clearinghouses), ters like fPAR and finally Net Primary Production. crop yield forecasting (e.g., CGMS, MARS), National, European and global scale land use mapping (e.g., LGN5, GLC2000, PELCOM), directional thermal and reflective measurements, as well as water and energy balance modeling. Further activities include the definition of user requirements for future sensors, including the translation of application requirements into engineering specifications. Extensive laboratory and field measurement activities complement the research activities. The following sections presents a selection of recent research advances with emphasis on remote sensing.

Quantitative statistical and physical approaches assessing leaf to canopy properties Several ongoing projects focus on the application of radiative transfer (RT) based models to estimate canopy structural and biochemical properties for different ecosystems. We use quantitative statistical based approaches, which are relatively easy to develop but usually are site-specific. Radiative transfer modeling takes into account physical processes describing the interaction of radiation with the various canopy compo- nents at foliage and canopy level. In combination with the above, we apply multi-angular approaches for parameter retrieval as well. We use all three approaches for the enhanced retrieval of biophysical variables (e.g., Leaf-Area-Index) to detect multiple stress response in Norway spruce forest stand, Figure 2. 3D representation of Norway spruce as used in the DART or assess the ecological relevance of Minnaert’s k in Boreal model (left), and resulting radiative transfer modeling result for sim- ecosystems. The 3-D based DART model is used to simulate ulated forest stand (right) high spatial and spectral resolution image data (Figure 2). We invert models (RPV, SAIL/PROSPECT, DART) using air- Quantitative remote sensing in ecosystem modeling borne and spaceborne spectro-directional data. Selected An important research focus is the application of remote results show that the parameterization of the canopy RT sensing for ecosystem modeling. Recent advances in model must correspond to the spatial and spectral scale of the applying biogeochemistry based process models prove observed objects and should consider important eco-physio- that their combination with regional scale remote sensing logical processes of the studied tree species. The presented is a very promising approach for testing ecological DART parameterization is based on enhancing the model for hypotheses and for assessing and forecasting the state of

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large landscapes. In particular spatially contiguous distributed input of biophysical (e.g., LAI, fPAR, gap fraction) and biochemical parameters (e.g., chlorophyll a/b content, the C:N ratio) are of outmost importance. In a joint Belgian-Dutch project, a combined remote sensing- ecological modeling approach was elaborated for a river floodplain in the Netherlands. Directional airborne imaging spectrometer data from the HyMap sensor in 2004 and AHS-160 sensor in 2005 were used to derive continuous fields for several biophysical variables (cover figure). Such derived variables were used as input for the ecological model SMART-SUMO (developed within WUR) to simulate vegetation development under scenarios of changing abiotic conditions and management. Significant simulation differences in total biomass depending on the Figure 3. Overview of BIOPRESS methodology: land cover change management approach (agriculture vs. natural reserve) analysis performed using a comparison of aerial photographs demonstrate the need to develop ‘vegetation’ scenarios from1950 and Landsat TM images of 1990 for selected areas in the analogous to IPCC atmospheric scenarios. Other ongoing Belgium and Spain. projects focus on the improved retrieval of Albedo for natural vegetation in arctic regions to reduce uncertainties in Modeling land-atmosphere exchange using multi- regional to global climate modeling; and the spatial-tem- angular remote sensing poral modeling of organic carbon in agricultural soil using The study of multiÐangular radiometric observations of the imaging spectroscopy. terrestrial biosphere from airborne and spaceborne platforms is a major research interest of several projects within CGI. Monitoring land cover change and habitat quality Available water determines how terrestrial vegetation CGI is involved in several projects that deal with land use responds to weather and climate by controlling the allocation monitoring at the national (Dutch Land Use Database: of available energy and by modulating the land-atmosphere www.lgn.nl), European (Corine Land Cover, PELCOM) exchange of water and carbon. The exchange of energy and global scale (GLC2000). Standardized and validated between land-surface and atmosphere and within terrestrial classification methodologies have been developed based vegetation canopies is a significant determinant of processes on sources originating from multi-temporal satellite data in the atmospheric boundary layer and in terrestrial ecosys- (e.g., Landsat TM, NOAA-AVHRR, ERS-SAR, LISS) and tems. For these processes, it is crucial to determine accurate- ancillary geographical information (e.g., topography, aeri- ly the partitioning of available energy into sensible heat flux al photographs). In addition, several projects focus on nat- density (heating or cooling of the surface) and latent heat flux ural habitat monitoring over large regions (e.g., EU density (evaporation from surface) over a wide range of spa- Natura2000 network). To map all major European habitats tial and temporal scales. Observations from space of surface a flexible spatial data infrastructure was developed in albedo, temperature and roughness help modeling and under- which existing and new spatial data sets (including remote- standing land Ð atmosphere interactions. ly sensed information) are exploited and (ecological) MultiÐangular radiometric observations of the terrestrial knowledge rules have been explicitly defined (PEEN- biosphere have been adopted to characterize and understand HAB). The resulting European Habitat Map has been vali- thermal heterogeneity towards better models of heat exchange dated extensively and is now being used as an indicative at the land Ð atmosphere interface. At CGI, a modeling sys- map for the definition of a Pan-European Ecological tem has been developed that describes radiative and convec- Network. In addition, a standardized methodology has tive processes in the canopy space using a 3D model to deal been developed (Figure 3) linking measures of historical with realistic canopy architecture. Based on this sophisticated land cover change to pressures on biodiversity model, simpler models have been derived and validated to (www.creaf.uab.es/biopress). The method produces esti- retrieve foliage and soil temperatures using space-borne mates of land cover change (1950 Ð 2000) that are statisti- multi-spectral imaging radiometers. Models and algorithms cally representative of change dynamics in the different have been evaluated using data collected during field experi- bio-geographical regions of Europe. Special attention was ments in China, USA, France and Spain (Figure 4). At the paid to land cover change affected in the vicinity of areas regional scale, sensible heat flux density was modeled using that are protected for reasons of their biodiversity interest. bi-angular ATSR-2 observations of exitance and compared

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with measurements by Large Aperture Scintillometers (LAS) NDVI and accumulated dry matter) to provide crop yield and at a spatial scale comparable with the ATSR-2 spatial resolu- other crop related variables. Time-series of crop simulation tion. The comparison showed a high agreement and was with- results are used as input in a statistical analysis which fore- in the accuracy of the scintillometers. casts current years crop yield. The spatial output of the system is made available through the Crop Growth Monitoring System (http://www.marsop.info). Recently, efforts have been made to develop a global system for monitoring crop conditions based on the so-called Crop Water Satisfaction Index (CWSI). New programming techniques have made it possible to create an online interactive interface for querying the CWSI database (Figure 5). In this way end-users are facilitat- ed to quickly navigate through global coverage maps for CWSI values for different crops, make comparison between years and with long term averages, and make detailed ana- lyzes of CWSI for specific locations. A critical aspect is the accuracy of the yield forecasts. Within the Geoland project, five different systems for yield forecasting from different European research institutes are compared for three test sites (Poland, Belgium and Spain). Results from this project are essential to improve yield forecasting system performance at the European and global level.

Figure 4. Upper panel: Simulated images of brightness temperature of the Barrax agricultural site (Spain) at nadir and at forward 60 degree zenith view angle by using process and radiative transfer models. Lower panel: retrieved soil and vegetation component images using synthetic multi-angular TIR images.

Crop yield monitoring and forecasting Several projects are ongoing which are developing sophisticated applications for crop yield monitoring and forecasting. Information on the outlook of yield and production of crops Figure 5. Interface of CWSI database showing the global distribu- over large regions is essential for government services dealing tion of rain fall during the last 10 days of June 2005. with import and export of food crops, for agencies with a role in food relief and for international organizations with a man- Field equipment and sensor development date in monitoring the world food production and trade. A At the GRS laboratory, a field equipment pool with state-of- team from CGI is as consortium leader responsible for pro- the-art instruments is available to support the above research viding agricultural crop monitoring services to the Joint projects. The pool includes 2 ASD FieldSpec Pro spectrora- Research Centre of the European Commission within the diometers (including contact probes for soils and leaves; nee- MARS project (Monitoring Agriculture through Remote dle optical properties measurement devices; and directional Sensing techniques). The monitoring system, consist of three leaf optical properties measurements using a sphere), hemi- main tasks: providing information on weather spherical cameras (including various analytical software (MeteoConsult), processing and visualizing results from packages assessing gap fraction, LAI, etc.), DGPS systems satellite imagery (Flemish Institute for Technology (VITO)) and field digitizing systems (PDA’s). A laboratory-based mea- and monitoring of conditions for crop growth and yield fore- surement set-up for controlled spectral measurements is avail- casting (CGI). Within these systems, crop models (e.g., able which is also equipped with a calibration facility. The WOFOST) are fed with daily weather variables and compared instruments are used by staff and students to measure spectral to remote sensing derived variables (e.g., SPOT-Vegetation: ground truth in the field and provide accurate laboratory mea-

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surements as required for simulation and modeling. In addi- Summary and references tion, within the Wageningen University network we have In this paper we have provided a brief overview of the ongo- access several laboratory facilities (e.g., spectroscopy, fluo- ing research activities in the field of remote sensing at the rescence, soil and plant biochemistry), and several types of GRS laboratory within the Centre for Geo-information. More meteorological equipment (incl. scintillometers). A large detailed information about all our research projects within the library of remote sensing imagery is available in-house, con- broad field of geo-information science, publications, staff and sisting of full global cover datasets (NASA GIMMS, also the academic educational programs can be found at Pathfinder, GeoCover), space-borne imaging spectrometer www.geo-informatie.nl. If this article has drawn your atten- data (MERIS, CHRIS/PROBA, HYPERION/EO-1, MODIS), tion as a potential student, researcher or collaborator, we and various airborne imaging spectrometer data sets, incl. encourage you to contact the corresponding author ground measurements (DAIS7915, CASI, HyMap, AHS160, ([email protected]) such that we can provide you AISA, AVIRIS, etc.). with more detailed information.

CONFERENCE REPORT

THE 9TH SPECIALIST MEETING ON MICROWAVE RADIOMETRY AND REMOTE SENSING APPLICATIONS (MICRORAD’06) IN SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO, USA, FEBRUARY 28 – MARCH 3, 2006. By Steven C. Reising and David B. Kunkee

The Specialist Meeting on Microwave Radiometry and PM-Networks, MicroRad 06 was the pilot conference for Remote Sensing Applications, commonly referred to as audio lectures recorded by IEEE GRSS to make available not MicroRad or simply “µrad,” was conceived to provide a com- only the slide presentations, but also full audio presentation mon international forum to report and discuss recent achieve- with a synchronized slide show. The first audio lecture is ments in the field of microwave radiometry for remote sens- available to the general public at http://www.grss- ing of the environment. The meetings are also intended to ieee.org/menu.taf?menu=Conferences&detail=Audio. One facilitate interaction between the scientific community and may also navigate to the IEEE GRSS home page, industry, and to foster the benefits to society of microwave http://www.grss-ieee.org, select “Conferences” from the top and millimeter-wave radiometry, both through the application menu bar, and then select “Audio Lectures.” Additional audio of data products in weather prediction, climate analysis, and lectures from MicroRad ‘06 are accessible to all IEEE GRSS environmental management, and through economic gain. The members who log in as such and visit the same web page. first MicroRad specialist meeting was held in Rome at “La MicroRad ’06 Proceedings will be published on CD-ROM Sapienza” in 1983, and the second in Florence in 1988. Since and distributed to all participants after the conference. Another then, MicroRad has been held approximately every 2.5 years, new aspect of MicroRad ’06 is that these proceedings will include alternating in venue between the United States and Italy. PDF versions of presentation slides, for those authors who gave permission to include them. Longer papers have been solicited MicroRad ‘06 for a Special Issue of TGARS, with a manuscript due date of June This year at least 125 MicroRad attendees from 15 different 1, 2006. See the TGARS web site at http://www.grss- countries convened in San Juan, Puerto Rico, USA. They pre- ieee.org/menu.taf?menu=Publications&detail=TGARS or the sented 130 technical papers in 16 sequential sessions over 4 MicroRad ’06 web site at http://www.microrad06.org (click on full days, with 5 oral papers per session. These included 34 Technical Program) for more information. invited talks, half from Europe and half from the U.S. Posters associated with each session were introduced by session Technical Program chairs preceding each 40-minute coffee break, allowing plen- The conference opened on Tuesday, February 28, with the ty of time for interacting with poster presenters and for sensor calibration session featuring presentations on current renewing aquaintances. This format continued the successful and planned radiometer systems given by representatives of structure of the MicroRad conferences to date. government, federally funded agencies, universities and pri- There were several new aspects of MicroRad in 2006. One vate industry. Specifically, correlating systems provide was audio recordings. Deftly handled by Shane Pearlman of unique calibration challenges as do the long term monitoring

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Session Co-Chair Niels Skou tells presenter Ed Westwater that his 20 MicroRad has always provided a highly interactive environment for minutes are up, and he had better sit down. Dr. Westwater takes this its attendees, with excellent poster sessions, long discussion breaks with a gracious smile. and debate among the experts.

and calibration improvement of conically-scanning radiome- tunities for lively debate, as exemplified in the photo below. ters with externally-mounted warm calibration targets. The One of the most beneficial aspects of specialist conferences diverse backgrounds of contributors allowed a complete per- is the high potential for interaction and learning. Where else spective of calibration. could you engage the collection of gentlemen in this picture in The conference continued the sensor and hardware theme casual conversation about synthetic aperture radiometers. with a session devoted to instrumentation and advanced techniques followed by one on RFI mitigation. The day ended Attending the Conference with an excellent session on experimental campaigns that pri- As noted in the technical program description, the Specialist marily focused on airborne remote sensing but also included Meeting truly has a rich history. Over the years, MicroRad has space-based and cal/val related activities. A distinct empha- undoubtedly provided many with their first real introduction sis on sensor and hardware aspects of microwave remote sens- to the passive microwave remote sensing community. ing prevailed on the opening day. Proceedings from the conferences are commonly found in The second day opened with a session devoted to soil prominent places within the offices of our colleagues. Paging moisture and salinity satellite missions continuing the high through the distinctive marine-blue hardbound proceedings level of attention on L-band. Unfortunately, many of us also from the Boulder µrad 92 meeting, one can find papers from learned of NASA’s cancellation of the Hydros soil moisture many of the familiar names in passive microwave remote mission at the conference. On Wednesday considerable time sensing. The sequential oral sessions, long discussion breaks, was devoted to sea surface salinity and wind speed, in addi- and informative poster sessions give the conference a distinc- tion to sea ice and electromagnetic modeling of the sea sur- tive and academic flavor. face. Remote sensing of land surfaces followed, with ses- On the topic of flavor, or “sabor” en Español, the island sions focused on snow, soil, vegetation and electromagnetic venue for MicroRad ‘06 provided plenty of opportunities for modeling of emission from land and the cryosphere. unique dining. As one example, this year’s banquet was held On Thursday afternoon MicroRad began to focus on weath- at Casa Bacardi, where their rum is made for worldwide ship- er and the atmosphere, starting with two sessions devoted to ment, and only a 30-minute bus ride from the conference retrieval methodologies and radiance assimilation. These venue. First, banquet attendees were treated to a tour of included four presentations from government laboratories on Bacardi’s history back to 1863, were given insights into the both sides of the Atlantic to highlight rapid advances in numer- rum manufacturing process and allowed to sample the aromas ical weather prediction and applications of satellite radiances. of rum. After their appetite was whetted, Bacardi provided a Atmospheric remote sensing continued throughout Friday, one-hour open-bar reception, followed by a full dinner with emphasizing temperature and humidity in the morning, and wine and dessert. Needless to say, the evening was enjoyed clouds and precipitation in the afternoon to close the confer- by all. It ended with historical anecdotes from several previ- ence. Friday’s sessions included many presentations on ous MicroRad Chairs, Drs. Ed Westwater, Calvin Swift, Frank ground based techniques and sensor design. Focused sessions Marzano and Nazzareno Pierdicca. throughout the conference systematically addressed all As a final note, about midway through the conference sev- aspects of microwave radiometry and provided many oppor- eral attendees gathered for a frank discussion on what appears

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Banquet at Bacardi rum factory, Cataño, Puerto Rico. From left, Dinner at Bacardi. From left, Suzanne Crewell, Thomas Rose (fore- Pablo Clemente-Colón and Al Gasiewski are shown in the foreground), Catherine Prigent, Domenico Cimini, Stephen English, ground. Amir Azar appears in the background. Harald Czekala (foreground), and Tim Hewison.

to be practical examples of statistical retrieval. At the time of of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez and Colorado State University. In this photo, there was no determination regarding which addition to financial co-sponsorship, IEEE GRSS held two meet- approach was optimal. ings immediately preceding MicroRad, i.e. the Technical Program Committee Meeting for the upcoming IGARSS 2006, Conference Organizing Committee to be held in Denver, Colorado, July 31 Ð August 4, and the Many people and institutions were responsible for the success of GRSS AdCom meeting. Dr. Eni Njoku of JPL/CalTech, Dr. MicroRad ’06. The meeting chair, Dr. Steven C. Reising of Fuzhong Weng of NOAA/NESDIS, and Dr. J. Vivekanandan of Colorado State University, would like to acknowledge the out- NCAR were instrumental in engaging the financial sponsorship standing contributions of the reviewers, session co-chairs and the of their respective organizations. Finally, many thanks go to Dr. MicroRad ’06 Scientific and Steering Committee, Drs. Giovanni Ed Westwater of CIRES/CU and NOAA/ESRL for playing an d’Auria, Al Gasiewski, Martti Hallikainen, Roger Lang, Frank key role in organizing the MicroRad Technical Program. Last Marzano, Eni Njoku, Simonetta Paloscia, Paolo Pampaloni, but far from least, Ms. Tammy Stein of MC2 did an excellent job Nazzareno Pierdicca, Domenico Solimini, Calvin Swift, J. of managing all the details of the meeting. Vivekanandan and Ed Westwater. A grateful acknowledgment goes to the MicroRad ’06 Local Organizing Committee, Drs. Next MicroRad Conference Sandra Cruz-Pol (Chair), Jose Colom Ustariz and Mario Ierkic The next MicroRad specialist meeting will be held in of the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez. MicroRad ’06 Florence, Italy, in March of 2008. The meeting will be co- was sponsored by IEEE, the IEEE Geoscience and Remote chaired by Drs. Simonetta Paloscia and Giovanni Macelloni. Sensing Society, NASA, NOAA, NCAR, URSI, the University We hope to see you there!

Scene from MicroRad 06 in Puerto Rico. Most participants Several MicroRad ’06 attendees enjoying dinner Monday night appeared to be surprised at having the luxury of a ‘real’table for this before the conference. From left, Roger Lang, Calvin and Jo Swift, event. Exuberance from the crowd that gathered next door to watch Gail Skofronick Jackson, Ed Kim and Joanne Lang. basketball added to the experience.

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President’s Message continued from page 4

held in Beijing in May, 2006. The support of GEO also gives GRSS opportunities to diversify into new areas of application in remote sensing, for example, wind energy. Satellite data can be used to construct wind resource maps that are important for the efficient utilization of wind energy. In the past few GEOSS Workshops, the Open Geospatial Symposium (OGC) organized demonstrations of GEOSS basic standards, services, architecture, and access to data using OGC Web Services. OGC is a non- profit, international, voluntary consensus standards organization that is involved in the development of open standards and architectures that enable the integration of geospatial data and services into user applications Recently GRSS signed an MOU with OGC such that the two organizations work together for the purpose of supporting the mission of both organizations and the geospatial community. We look forward to fruitful collaboration with OGC. The GRSS has nominated Dr. David Goodenough to be a can- didate for the Division IX Director. Division IX is entitled “Signals and Applications” and consists of seven IEEE Societies. The Director’s role is to oversee the technical activities of the Division. The Director is a member of the IEEE Technical Activities Board and also a member of the IEEE Board of Directors. Capable leadership is needed to propel IEEE in advancing global prosperity by fostering technological innova- tion, enabling members' careers and promoting community worldwide. Dr. Goodenough is a past GRSS President and has served on the GRSS AdCom for many years. We earnestly endorse his candidacy for Director. Finally, a sad note. The GRSS is grieved to learn that Professor Mikio Takagi had recently passed away. Prof. Takagi was a pioneer in digital signal and image processing. and their applications in remote sensing . He was a GRSS AdCom member and was the General Chairman of IGARSS 1993 in Tokyo. With the help of Prof. Takagi’s family and friends, GRSS is establishing the Mikio Takagi Travel Grant through the IEEE Foundation in memory of Prof. Takagi.

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UPCOMING CONFERENCES See also http://www.techexpo.com/events or http://www.papersinvited.com for more conference listings

Name: 28th Review of Atmospheric Transmission Models Name: XII Simposio Internacional SELPER Location: Lexington, Massachusetts SIG y Percepción Remota aplicados a “Riesgos Dates: June 14-15, 2006 Naturales y Gestión del Territorio” Contact: [email protected] Location: Cartagena, Colombia URL: www.grss-ieee.org Dates: September 24 Ð 29, 2006 Contact: [email protected] Name: 11th International Conference on Ground Penetration Fax: 571- 3694096 Radars URL: www.selper.org.co Location: Columbus, Ohio, USA Dates: June 19 - 22, 2006 Name: The 6th Bi-annual Conference of The African Association Contact: Mark Cramer, ExpoMasters, Inc. of Remote Sensing of the Environment (AARSE) Fax: +1-303-843-6232 Location: Cairo, Egypt E-mail: [email protected] Dates: October 30 Ð November 2, 2006 URL: http://www.gpr.osu.edu/ Contact: Atef Sherif E-mail: [email protected] Name: 2006 International Geoscience and Remote Sensing URL: http://www.narss.sci.eg/aarse2006/ Symposium & 27th Canadian Symposium on Remote Sensing Name: ISPRS Mid-Term Symposium. Remote Sensing: From Location: Denver, Colorado, USA Pixels to Processes Dates: July 31 Ð August 4, 2006 Location: Enschede, The Netherlands Contact: V. Chandrasekar, A. J. Gasiewski, general co-chairs. Dates: May 8 - 11, 2006 E-mail: [email protected] URL: www.itc.nl/isprsc7/symposium2006 URL: http://www.igarss06.org/ Name: 3rd International Conference on Microwaves, Antenna, Name: 2007 International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation and Remote Sensing Propagation (ISAP 2007) Location: Jodhpur, India Location: Niigata, Japan Dates: December 18 - 22, 2006 Dates: August 20-24, 2007 Contact: O.P.N. Calla Contact: [email protected] Fax: 91-0291-2626166 URL: http://www.isap07.org/ E-mail: [email protected]

Name: The 2nd International Symposium On Recent Advances In Quantitative Remote Sensing (Raqrs'ii) Location: Torrent, València, Spain Dates: September 25-29, 2006 Contact: José A. Sobrino E-mail: [email protected] URL: http://www.uv.es/raqrs/index.htm

The Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, Inc. 445 Hoes Lane, Piscataway, NJ 08854

32 IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society Newsletter • June 2006