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THE WORLD’S NEWSSTAND®
CALL FOR PAPERS
IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Magazine
This is the fourth issue of the new IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Magazine, which was approved by the IEEE
Technical Activities Board in 2012. This is an important achievement for GRSS since it has never had a publication in
the magazine format. The magazine will provide a new venue to publish high quality technical articles that by their very
nature do not find a home in journals requiring scientific innovation but that provide relevant information to scientists,
engineers, end-users, and students who interact in different ways with the geoscience and remote sensing disciplines.
The magazine will publish tutorial papers and technical papers on geoscience and remote sensing topics, as well as
papers that describe relevant applications of and projects based on topics addressed by our society.
The magazine will also publish columns on:
— New satellite missions
— Standard remote sensing data sets
— Education in remote sensing
— Women in geoscience and remote sensing
— Industrial profiles
— University profiles
— GRSS Technical Committee activities
— GRSS Chapter activities
— Conferences and workshops.
The new magazine is published in with an appealing layout, and its articles will be included with an electronic format
in the IEEE Xplore online archive. The magazine content is freely available to GRSS members.
This call for papers is to encourage all readers to prepare and submit articles and technical content for review to be
published in the IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Magazine. Contributions for the above-mentioned columns of
the magazine are also welcome.
All technical papers will undergo blind review by multiple reviewers. The submission and the review process is managed
at the IEEE Manuscript Central as it is already done for the three GRSS journals. Prospective authors are required to
submit electronically using the website http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/grs and selecting the “Geoscience and Remote
Sensing Magazine” option from the drop-down list. Instructions for creating new user accounts, if necessary, are available on the login screen. No other manners of submission are accepted. Papers should be submitted in single column,
double-spaced format. The review process will assess the technical quality and/or the tutorial value of the contributions.
The magazine will publish also special issues. Readers interested to propose a special issue can contact the Editor In Chief.
For any additional information and for submitting papers contact the Editor In Chief:
Prof. Lorenzo Bruzzone
University of Trento,
Trento, Italy
E-Mail: [email protected]
_____________________
Phone: +39 0461 28 2056
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MGRS.2013.2291173
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DECEMBER 2013
VOLUME 1, NUMBER 4
WWW.GRSS-IEEE.ORG
_____________
FEATURE
8
Satellite Remote Sensing in Support
of an Integrated Ocean Observing System
by Frank Muller-Karger, Mitchell Roffer, Nan Walker,
Matt Oliver, Oscar Schofield, Mark Abbott,
Hans Graber, Robert Leben, and Gustavo Goni
IMAGE COURTESY OF GENE C. FELDMAN AND NORM KURING,
NASA GODDARD SPACE FLIGHT CENTER.
PG. 8
SCOPE
ON THE COVER:
Satellite images are a valuable
information source for marine
resource monitoring and understanding.
GLOBE IMAGE—IMAGE LICENSED BY
INGRAM PUBLISHING, FISH IMAGE—
© FOTOSEARCH, ICE AND WATER IMAGE—
NOAA/ALERIA JENSEN, AND ORANGE
HURRICANE IMAGE—NASA/NOAA
IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Magazine will inform readers of
activities in the GRS Society, its technical committees, and chapters.
GRSM will also inform and educate readers via technical papers, provide
information on international remote sensing activities and new satellite
missions, publish contributions on education activities, industrial and
university profiles, conference news, book reviews, and a calendar of
important events.
DECEMBER 2013
IEEE GEOSCIENCE AND REMOTE SENSING MAGAZINE
1
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COLUMNS &
DEPARTMENTS
4 FROM THE EDITOR
6 PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
19 TECHNICAL COMMITTEES
22 CHAPTERS
24 EDUCATION
31 WOMEN IN GRS
32 CONFERENCE REPORTS
54 GRSS MEMBER HIGHLIGHTS
57 INDUSTRIAL PROFILES
66 CALENDAR
68 2013 INDEX
EDITORIAL BOARD 2013
Dr. Lorenzo Bruzzone
Editor-in-Chief
University of Trento
Department of Information Engineering
and Computer Science
Via Sommarive, 5
I-38123 Povo, Trento, ITALY
E-mail: [email protected]
______________
Dr. William Blackwell
MIT Lincoln Laboratory
Lexington, MA 02420-9108, USA
_______
Dr. Kun Shan Chen
National Central University
Chungli, TAIWAN
E-mail: ____________
[email protected]
Dr. Paul Gader
CISE Dept., University of Florida
301 CSE Bldg.
Gainesville, FL 32611, USA
_________
Dr. John Kerekes
Rochester Institute of Technology
54 Lomb Memorial Dr.
Rochester, NY 14623, USA
_________
Dr. Antonio J. Plaza
Department of Technology of Computers
and Communications
Escuela Politecnica de Caceres,
University of Extremadura
Avda. de la Universidad S/N
E-10071 Cáceres, SPAIN
_______
Dr. Gail Skofronick Jackson
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Code 612
Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA
___________
Dr. Stephen Volz
NASA Earth Science Div.
300 E St., SW
Washington, DC 20546, USA
E-mail: _______
[email protected]
MISSION STATEMENT
The IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society of the IEEE seeks to advance science and
technology in geoscience, remote sensing and
related fields using conferences, education, and
other resources.
IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Magazine (ISSN 2168-6831) is published
quarterly by The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc., IEEE
Headquarters: 3 Park Ave., 17th Floor, New York, NY 10016-5997, +1 212 419
7900. Responsibility for the contents rests upon the authors and not upon
the IEEE, the Society, or its members. IEEE Service Center (for orders, subscriptions, address changes): 445 Hoes Lane, Piscataway, NJ 08854, +1 732
981 0060. Price/Publication Information. Subscriptions: included in Society
fee for each member of the IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society.
Nonmember subscription prices available on request. Copyright and Reprint
Permissions: Abstracting is permitted with credit to the source. Libraries are
permitted to photocopy beyond the limits of U.S. Copyright Law for private
use of patrons: 1) those post-1977 articles that carry a code at the bottom of
GRS OFFICERS
President
Dr. Melba M. Crawford
Purdue University, USA
Executive Vice-President
Dr. Kamal Sarabandi
University of Michigan, USA
Vice-President of Meetings and Symposia
Dr. Adriano Camps
Universitat Politecnica de
Catalunya-Barcelona Tech, Spain
Vice-President of Publications
Dr. William Emery
University of Colorado, USA
Vice-President of Technical Activities
Dr. John Kerekes
Rochester Institute of Technology, USA
Vice-President of Professional Activities
Dr. Wooil M. Moon
University of Manitoba, Canada
Vice-President of Information Resources
Dr. Steven C. Reising
Colorado State University, USA
IEEE PERIODICALS
MAGAZINES DEPARTMENT
Associate Editor
Laura Ambrosio
Senior Art Director
Janet Dudar
Assistant Art Director
Gail A. Schnitzer
Production Coordinator
Theresa L. Smith
Business Development Manager
Susan Schneiderman
+1 732 562 3946
[email protected]
__________
Fax: +1 732 981 1855
Advertising Production Manager
Felicia Spagnoli
Production Director
Peter M. Tuohy
Editorial Director
Dawn Melley
Staff Director, Publishing Operations
Fran Zappulla
the first page, provided the per-copy fee indicated in the code is paid through
the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923 USA;
2) pre-1978 articles without fee. For all other copying, reprint, or republication
information, write to: Copyrights and Permission Department, IEEE Publishing
Services, 445 Hoes Lane, Piscataway, NJ 08854 USA. Copyright © 2013 by the
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. All rights reserved. Postmaster: Send address changes to IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Magazine, IEEE,
445 Hoes Lane, Piscataway, NJ 08854 USA. Canadian GST #125634188
PRINTED IN USA
IEEE prohibits discrimination, harassment, and bullying. For more information,
visit http://www.ieee.org/web/aboutus/whatis/policies/p9-26.html.
_____
2
DECEMBER 2013
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© WESNet
© Jean-François Bergeron,
Enviro Foto
© Luc-Antoine Couturier
CALL FOR PAPERS
© SCCQ
© SCCQ
Hosted by the IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society and the Canadian
Remote Sensing Society, the International Geoscience and Remote Sensing
Symposium 2014 ( IGARSS’14 ) along with the 35th Canadian Symposium on
Remote Sensing ( CSRS ) will be held from Sunday July 13th through Friday July
18th 2014 at the Quebec Convention Center in Québec City, Quebec, Canada.
ABSTRACTS
Abstracts can be submitted on-line at www.igarss2014.org
between November 14th, 2013 and January 13th, 2014. Results
of the revision process will be available on-line by April 4th, 2014.
We are looking forward to receiving your submissions.
The assessment and development of new and renewable sources of energy in
the context of a changing planet is a critical and important issue throughout
the world. IGARSS 2014 and the 35th CSRS will include keynote speakers and
special sessions dedicated to the “Energy” theme.
In addition to a host of well-established IGARSS session themes, the following
special themes will be addressed during the IGARSS 2014 / 35th CSRS :
;,*-"4&)".(&".%.&2(9"."(&-&.4
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IGARSS 2014 / 35 CSRS Technical Co-Chairs
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Dr. Josée Lévesque
Defence Research and Development Canada / Valcartier, Québec City, QC
;&3&26/*2"."(&-&.4
Dr. Jean-Marc Garneau
Defence Research and Development Canada / Valcartier, Québec City, QC ( ret )
;&-/4& &.3*.(".%/2&.3*$ $*&.$&
Dr. Ellsworth LeDrew
University of Waterloo / Waterloo, ON
;&-/4& &.3*.(*.".5'"$452*.( 934&-3
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IGARSS 2014 / 35 CSRS General Chair
Dr. Monique Bernier
Institut national de la recherche scientifique ( INRS ) / Québec City, QC
;!&-0/2",.",93*3 : Techniques and Applications
;&-/4& &.3*.(".%2$)&/,/(9
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_________________________
W
WW.IGARSS2014.ORG
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FROM THE EDITOR
BY LORENZO BRUZZONE
T
his is the final issue of the first year of publication
of the IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Magazine.
The magazine is a new format for publication by the
Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society (GRSS) in both
concept and editorial style. This new format fills a gap
in the publication portfolio of the society and, more
importantly, provides a new venue to publish high quality technical articles that by their very nature do not find
a home in journals requiring scientific innovation. As
one can observe in the GRSM issues of 2013, the magazine contains high quality tutorial
papers, technical papers on geoscience and remote sensing topics, as
I ENCOURAGE YOU TO
well as papers that describe relevant
CONTRIBUTE TO THE SUCapplications of and projects based
CESS OF THE MAGAZINE
on topics addressed by our society.
BY SUBMITTING TUTORIAll technical papers undergo blind
ALS, TECHNICAL PAPERS,
review by multiple reviewers. The
review process is managed on the
EDUCATIONAL AND ORGAIEEE Manuscript Central web site,
NIZATIONAL PROFILES
as
is also done for the three GRSS
THAT ARE OF INTEREST TO
journals. The magazine also conOUR COMMUNITY.
tains regular columns on education
in remote sensing, remote sensing
systems, standard data sets, women
in geoscience and remote sensing, space agency news,
book reviews, and other future topics.
This issue opens with a main Feature article on the
role of Earth observing satellites in integrated ocean
observing systems. The paper describes how remote
sensing systems are some of the most valuable components of the international Global Ocean Observing
System (GOOS) and of the Global Climate Observing
System (GCOS), both part of the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS). Satellite imagery
Date of publication: 2 January 2014
4
and satellite-derived data are required for mapping
vital coastal and marine resources, improving maritime
domain awareness, and better understanding the complexities of land, ocean, atmosphere, ice, biological, and
social interactions.
The Technical Committee column describes the activities of the recently renamed Earth Science Informatics
Technical Committee (ESI TC). Given the rapid growth
in informatics, GRSS decided to expand the original
mission of its existing Data Archiving and Distribution
Technical Committee (DAD TC) and renamed it the
Earth Science Informatics Technical Committee. The
article presents the principal goals and activities of the
committee that will focus on advancing the application
of informatics to the geosciences and remote sensing.
The Education column, after a brief introduction of
the Director of Education of IEEE GRSS Prof. Michael
Inggs, presents an article that describes remote sensing research and education at the Rochester Institute of
Technology in Rochester, New York, USA.
The Women in Geoscience and Remote Sensing column contains a short overview of leadership books for
women. The article mentions a few recent and highly
regarded books authored by women.
The Reports column contains five articles. Three of
these articles are related to IGARSS. The first is related
to IGARSS 2013, held in Melbourne, Australia, on
July 21–26, 2013. It focuses on the GRSS Publications
Awards presented at IGARSS 2013 and includes information on all of the awards recipients. Congratulations
to all of them! The second article provides the results
of a web-based survey of GRSS members and IGARSS
2013 attendees. The third article introduces IGARSS
2014 to be held in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada, on
July 13–18, 2014. It includes the main technical themes
and key features of IGARSS 2014 in Quebec City. This
issue also contains the Call for Papers for IGARSS 2014.
I encourage all of you to submit your latest results to
DECEMBER 2013
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IGARSS and to attend this premier conference. The section
concludes with a report on the WHISPERS Workshop held
in Gainesville, Florida, USA, June 25–28, 2013. This workshop is technically co-sponsored by GRSS.
The Industrial Profiles column contains two contributions. The first is an article on trends in the optical commercial remote sensing industry from DigitalGlobe,
Inc. The article provides an interesting analysis of the
ongoing commercial activities in optical remote sensing
and describes the characteristics of the new Worldview
3 satellite. The second article refers to the International
Association of Oil and Gas Producers that set up an Earth
Observation Subcommittee within the Geomatics Committee to support industry projects aimed at improving
emergency response.
The GRSS Member Highlights section, among other news,
contains an important document adopted in September
2013 by the IEEE Board of Directors describing the appro-
priate use of bibliometric indicators for the assessment of
journals, research proposals, and individuals. This document is very interesting and provides guidelines for avoiding incorrect use of bibliometric indices.
Finally, I would like to draw your attention to the various calls for nominations and calls for papers in this issue.
As a final remark, I encourage you to contribute to the
success of the magazine by submitting tutorial, technical,
educational, and organizational profiles that are of interest
to our community.
Season’s Greetings!
Sincerely,
Lorenzo Bruzzone
Editor, IEEE GRSM
[email protected]
__________________
GRS
NEWLY PUBLISHED
The 1000-page full-color book
covers theoretical models, system
design and operation, and
geoscientific applications of active
and passive microwave sensing
systems. It features MATLAB codes
for scattering and emission models,
high-resolution color images, and
an extensive bibliography.
To order online:
www.press.umich.edu
__________________
DECEMBER 2013
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PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
BY MELBA CRAWFORD
A
s we approach the end of 2013, GRSS can be proud
of the accomplishments of our members and look
to building on these successes with new initiatives
in 2014.
Our journal publications continue to evolve, with
increases in both the impact factor and the number of
pages published. The Special Issues have now successfully transitioned from TGRS to JSTARS, and the sustained increase in submissions
to GRSL has motivated a shift to
12 issues in 2014. The GRS MagaCELEBRATING SUCCESSES
zine launched with 4 issues—early
OF 2013 AND INITIATING
reviews are extremely positive. The
GRS Electronic Newsletter will be
STRATEGIC PRIORITIES IN
introduced in 2014 with Fabio PaciEDUCATION AND
fici as the editor, initially providing
MEMBERSHIP FOR 2014.
bi-weekly updated information on
Society and member activities on
the GRSS web site and via e-mail.
The Society has continued to participate in international conferences. In October, former President
Tony Milne led a workshop at the Asian Conference on
Remote Sensing (Forest Monitoring Systems: Towards
Operational Readiness for MRV and REDD+ Activities).
Past president Chuck Luther and I also represented the
Society at the Global Geospatial Conference 2013 in
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in November.
The November AdCom was held in Newark, NJ,
and focused on discussion of strategic initiatives that
will be implemented over the upcoming 3 years. Outcomes included approval of a proposal for technical
workshops in Chile and Brazil in 2014, increased support of Chapters and GRSS Technical Committees, and
a workshop at the 2014 African Association of Remote
Sensing (AARSE) Conference to improve the quality of
submissions to journals. A new Regional Leader award
to recognize contributions of the Society and the David
Landgrebe Career award for contributions to analysis of
remotely sensed images were also approved. Membership in the Society grew in 2013, but we hope to improve
both our retention of existing members and recruitment
of new members through initiatives that will be responsive to young professionals and local issues.
The 2014 election of members to the AdCom was
finalized at the November AdCom. We congratulate Bill
Emery, Paolo Gamba, Mike Inggs, Kamal Sarabandi,
Mahta Moghaddam, Motoyuki Sato, and Steve Volz on
their successful reelection, and look forward to their
continued participation.
On behalf of the IEEE GRSS AdCom, thanks to all of
you for your efforts on behalf of the Society this year—
our success is determined by your contributions. We
look forward to working together again in 2014.
Best Regards,
Melba Crawford
President, IEEE GRSS
[email protected]
______________
6
GRS
DECEMBER 2013
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introducing worldview-3,
expected to be the first super-spectral,
high-resolution, multi-payload commercial satellite with multiple short-wave
infrared bands. This first-of-its-kind sensor simultaneously measures the
atmosphere while imaging, and has been designed to accurately and
consistently perform global automated information extraction. WorldView-3
will allow access to unprecedented levels of insight about our changing planet.
Learn more about WorldView-3 and the new possibilities it brings at digitalglobe.com
/ wv32014
___________________
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Satellite Remote Sensing in Support of
an Integrated Ocean Observing System
IMAGE COURTESY OF GENE C. FELDMAN AND
NORM KURING, NASA GODDARD SPACE FLIGHT CENTER.
FRANK MULLER-KARGER
University of South Florida, St. Petersburg, USA
MITCHELL ROFFER
Roffer’s Ocean Fishing Forecasting Service, Inc.,
Melbourne, Florida, USA
NAN WALKER
Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, USA
MATT OLIVER
University of Delaware, Lewes, USA
OSCAR SCHOFIELD
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey,
New Brunswick, USA
MARK ABBOTT
Oregon State University, Corvallis, USA
HANS GRABER
University of Miami, Florida, USA
ROBERT LEBEN
University of Colorado, Boulder, USA
GUSTAVO GONI
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
8
2168-6831/13/$31.00©2013IEEE
Abstract—Earth observing satellites represent some
of the most valued components of the international
Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) and of the
Global Climate Observing System (GCOS), both part
of the Global Earth Observation System of Systems
(GEOSS). In the United States, such satellites are a cornerstone of the Integrated Ocean Observing System
(IOOS), required to carry out advanced coastal and
ocean research, and to implement and sustain sensible
resource management policies based on science. Satellite imagery and satellite-derived data are required for
mapping vital coastal and marine resources, improving
maritime domain awareness, and to better understand
the complexities of land, ocean, atmosphere, ice, biological, and social interactions. These data are critical to
the strategic planning of in situ observing components
and are critical to improving forecasting and numerical modeling. Specifically, there are several stakeholder
communities that require periodic, frequent, and sustained synoptic observations. Of particular importance
are indicators of ecosystem structure (habitat and species inventories), ecosystem states (health and change)
and observations about physical and biogeochemical variables to support the operational and research
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communities, and industry sectors including mining,
fisheries, and transportation. IOOS requires a strategy
to coordinate the human capacity, and fund, advance,
and maintain the infrastructure that provides improved
remote sensing observations and support for the nation
and the globe. A partnership between the private, government, and education sectors will enhance remote sensing
support and product development for critical coastal and
deep-water regions based on infrared, ocean color, and
microwave satellite sensors. These partnerships need to
include international research, government, and industry
sectors in order to facilitate open data access, understanding of calibration and algorithm strategies, and fill gaps in
coverage. Such partnerships will define the types of observations required to sustain vibrant coastal economies and
to improve the health of our marine and coastal ecosystems. They are required to plan, fund, launch and operate
the types of satellite sensors needed in the very near future
to maintain continuity of observations.
1. INTRODUCTION, BACKGROUND,
HISTORY, AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS
oastal and ocean resources are fully interconnected
through ocean, land and atmospheric physics, chemistry, biology and geology. Our global coastal communities share significant trade and culture that is based on
living and non-living marine resources. These communities also share problems in terms of resource management, navigation and safety at sea, and the protection of
life and property. Each coastal region has unique challenges associated with the safe extraction of resources and
all support significant vessel traffic. Extreme events and
environmental disasters, such as the Deepwater Horizon
(DWH) accident in 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico, as well
as the continuing challenges posed by extreme weather,
fisheries management, and the impacts of urban and other land uses, require satellite remote sensing to track currents, map ocean productivity, assess winds and waves,
and understand environmental forcing and variability.
These situations require accessible, rapid, and frequent
synoptic maps that are easily interpretable. The development, deployment, and use of satellites that complement
ship-based observations, moored and other autonomous
sensors, and models, will provide high-quality data more
frequently, allowing for improved site-specific forecasts
of weather, water conditions, and resource distribution.
Indeed, Earth observing from satellites is at the core
of the United States’ National Ocean Policy [1, 2]. Over
the past twenty years, operational agencies, research
institutions, and private industry have made great steps
in advancing satellite remote sensing products and applications. There now exist significant collections of time
series of processed and merged infrared, ocean color,
and various microwave satellite imagery. The products
are presently accessible in different formats and through
different channels, albeit not always in a simple manner.
C
DECEMBER 2013
Yet, there is still no centralized or coordinated distribution for the various satellite data products and applications available today, or for merged or interpreted data.
For example, there still is no equivalent to the printed
version of an ‘atlas’ that takes advantage of the interpretations of a dynamic ocean based on global, regional,
or local multispectral satellite data available from the
various different satellite types flown over the past 2–3
decades. There still is no dynamic map of resources that
integrates across land use and land ecology, meteorology
and atmospheric chemistry, ocean dynamics, biogeochemistry and ecology, and that includes a human geographic dimension.
As pointed out by the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy in its 2004 report to the nation [2], achieving sustained
observations from space presents daunting challenges.
These challenges can only be met by implementing the
vision of an integrated Global Earth Observation System
of Systems (GEOSS). This will require continuing and very
active international partnerships between government,
industry, and academic sectors. The cost and long time
frame for constructing and launching satellites requires
that plans for sensors and missions be drafted five- to tenyears in advance to ensure that satellite observations will
be available on a continuous basis. Multi-decadal records
of observations also require space missions with sufficient
overlaps to avoid gaps in data and allow intercalibration
of successive generations of sensors. Lack of such coordination can seriously impair our understanding of changing marine environments and resources.
A fully integrated observing system needs mechanisms to link the remote sensing science community (academic, commercial, NGO and government) supported by
research-driven government agencies, the stakeholders
that require these observations, and the government agencies that are in a position to design and implement this
type of large infrastructure. The effort will help the user
community, including the space industry, to identify the
most important space-based ocean observation needs. The
strategy will include working with the international community to ensure that requirements for the Global Ocean
Observing System (GOOS), the Global Climate Observing
System (GCOS), and the Earth Observing System of Systems (GEOSS) are coordinated with U.S. plans for satellite
remote sensing.
The ultimate objective is to help implement phased satellite missions and equipment replacement to maintain
continuous and consistent data streams for the Regional
Associations (RA’s) mentioned in this white paper as a
pathfinder for an Integrated Ocean Observing System
(IOOS) to develop a strategy to serve the nation and the
international community. This will help build the foundational data sets necessary for the global observing systems being developed to generate the ocean information
services that will be at the heart of a healthy ocean and
ocean economy.
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2. TECHNICAL AND USER REQUIREMENTS
There are many stakeholder communities that require
real-time, periodic, frequent, and sustained synoptic
observations. Of particular importance are indicators of
public health, ecosystem states (health and change), ecosystem structure (habitat and species inventories), and
observations of physical and biogeochemical variables
to support the operational (storm prediction/tracking)
and coastal/ocean research communities, and industry
sectors including oil and gas exploration, fisheries, and
transportation. An emerging requirement is support of a
Marine Biodiversity Observation Network or MBON [3,
4]. The requirements include:
◗ Surface phytoplankton biomass, including distribution
and abundance of toxic phytoplankton, and of various
phytoplankton functional types (PFT)
◗ Water quality including turbidity or transparency, and
mapping of threats such as oil spills
◗ Spatial extent of living benthic habitats (coral reefs,
seagrass beds, mangrove forests and tidal marshes) and
ecological buffers to coastal flooding
◗ Distribution and condition of calcareous organisms (cold
and warm water corals, coccolithophores and pteropods)
◗ Distribution and abundance of exploitable fish stocks
◗ Wind speed and direction
◗ Sea level variability
◗ Currents and eddies
◗ Sea Surface Temperature
◗ Salinity.
The academic, government, and commercial communities have led efforts to develop the scientific rationale for
the application of satellite remote sensing observations of
these variables, their impact, and processes that affect them
[5–10]. Such requirements are in many ways defined from
the bottom up, as various geographical regions, such as
those organized under the US IOOS framework, recognize
common problems that can only be addressed through
large-scale observation. This includes the generation, validation, application, and distribution of real-time and historical regional sea surface temperature and meteorological
maps, and assessments of the variability in ocean color and
biogeochemical and coastal water quality parameters (Figure 1). Some of these efforts have led to successful industry
applications in support of fishing and fisheries management, navigation and ship routing, oil and gas exploration
and operations, search and rescue, and water quality monitoring (Figures 2 and 3). Some of the research and applications have been incorporated in critical government operations in the US and in many other nations.
These products have provided the necessary synoptic
time-dependent surface observations needed to detect farfield forcing of the circulation, to interpret point observations collected by buoys and ships in a regional ecological
context, and to enable more accurate numerical simulations of weather, the transport of heat and salts, of possible
sources and sinks of carbon in the ocean, and of climate
10
and of many other processes. This information is essential
to support activities as varied as ocean mining and ship
route planning, and is being used to develop new ecosystem-based management plans. Ultimately, this information is needed to sustain our economy and human health.
Stakeholders in each region need a basic level of service
to obtain continuous access to near real-time and highquality remote sensing products. Linking teams and infrastructure across coastal communities will help with coordination, increase efficiency and ensure scientific quality,
and provide 24/7 coverage. Specifically, US national ocean
policy needs to focus on setting the following goals, which
are applicable to any coastal and sea-faring nation:
1) Co-production of scientific solutions. This requires
developing a philosophy of partnerships for robust
and mutual support between government agencies (providing funding and operations), academic
research (providing research and development), and
industry (providing value added and product marketing and commercialization).
2) Maintain current funding support for the groups that
have established credible satellite remote sensing data
products and information services. This includes academic research focused on new products, testing and
validation, and support for real-time data capture
(including direct broadcast receiving stations), data
processing, and distribution of critical information,
often in near real-time.
3) Organize “think tanks” among academic, government, commercial and operational remote sensing
communities as well as data users and information
service developers.
4) Design interactive workshops where remote sensing
specialists present current and proposed products and
elicit feedback from user groups to refine the existing
satellite products. The team will assess requirements
for real-time, climatological, and historical data sets
covering the region and evaluate the cost-effectiveness
of common sets of products.
5) Promote common entry points to data services
offered by different groups that are designed to
address local and regional needs, and that are replicated across the country and internationally. These
may share a common look and feel to information.
This addresses an important, long-standing goal of
GOOS and IOOS planners and stakeholders. This is
a requirement for participating in a viable and useful
international system.
6) Develop robust products that are consistent and
seamless across regions (imagery, GIS layers, and
other value-added information) that complement
and do not compete with industry. The IOOS and
any international entity with a regional focus require
a mechanism whereby stakeholder needs are communicated to the research community, and research
products migrate to industry and to operations and
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a (mg/m3)
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FIGURE 1. Sample synoptic observations from ocean-observing satellite sensors. (a) Global salinity fields from Aquarius, (b) Global chlorophyll
average from SeaWiFS. (c) Pacific Ocean Winds from QuikSCAT, (d) Pacific Ocean sea surface topography anomaly. (e) Chlorophyll concentrations
off California, (f) Hurricane Katrina wind speed and direction from QuikSCAT in the Gulf of Mexico. (g) Time series of global average chlorophyll
concentrations from SeaWiFS (1997–2010). (Images courtesy of NASA. The time series was extracted using NASA’s Giovanni online tool.)
are used to develop the next generation of ocean
information services.
7) Build the ability to generate the same products at IOOS
real-time stations for fail-safe service in case of station
or other failure. This coordination needs to occur at an
international level as well, since many countries don’t
have the technical expertise or capability to establish
real-time data capture and processing stations. Collaborate with physical, biological, chemical and geological
oceanographers to develop and deploy in situ real-time
systems (acoustics, bio-optics, robotics, etc.) to provide
high-quality biological and chemical observations
that serve as ground truth, and as real-time concurrent
anchor points to derive three-dimensional renderings,
time series, and environmental assessments. An emerging field that would benefit from incorporating such
DECEMBER 2013
products are Observing System Evaluations (OSE) and
Observing System Simulation Experiments (OSSE).
8) Continue to develop applications for synoptic ecosystem, climate, and renewable/non-renewable energy
siting assessments, and search and rescue and other
operations. Examples of partnerships:
a) Fisheries management community at the Federal,
Regional, and State level to provide products needed
in ecosystem based fisheries management
b) Coastal zone management agencies
c) National parks, sanctuaries, monuments, or other
marine protected areas
d) Commercial entities in need of value-added products to develop ocean information services.
9) Collaborate with numerical modelers to provide
appropriate data for model validation and effective
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utilization of satellite observations, including assimilation into numerical models.
10) Enhance product usefulness by integrating (fusing) ocean color, infrared, altimeter, scatterometer, Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), and in situ
obser vations.
11) Develop a strategy and implement plans to prepare for
new sensors and provide feedback to NASA, NOAA,
USGS and international agencies on sensor operation,
calibration, and product requirements.
12) Interact with NASA and NOAA in the US and with the
many relevant agencies internationally to help define
priorities for sensor and mission development. This is
required as the present critical US fleet of NASA and
NOAA satellite sensors age and operate beyond their
planned life expectancy.
3. STATE OF THE OBSERVING SYSTEM
AND TECHNOLOGY
Achieving continuity in satellite observations is essential for
a national Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) and
for an international GOOS, GCOS, and GEOSS. In the US,
NOAA operations can benefit from the substantial investments that other agencies make in developing new technologies and in advancing science. There is a substantial academic science community and commercial sectors that can
help satisfy many of the needs that NOAA operations have
for new and improved products, and to help generate valueadded products and information services for the nation.
IOOS should help the U.S. and collaborators globally
to plan for the proper sequence of satellites, infrastructure
to generate and keep climate records, and train the people
to generate and use these observations. This includes the
technical know-how to create innovative products. Such
bottom-up processes can be implemented around the
globe under different administrative umbrellas. A critical element of this strategy will be to engage stakeholders
and decision-makers as soon as possible to ensure the codesign for solutions to pressing problems in a near-future.
4. INTEGRATION WITHIN IOOS,
MODELING, AND DMAC
An important objective is to improve the core services that
a national observing system offers to the user/stakeholder
communities for coastal U.S. areas including the research
and operational users that require global coverage.
Foremost is the need for fundamental improvements in
data management capabilities. IOOS will need to deliver
raw data and useful analytical products in near-real time
(i.e. less than one hour latency) to the community on
an ongoing basis, reprocess data as appropriate calibration and ancillary data become available, and archive
all incoming data in readily accessible formats for future
assessments of environmental change.
An IOOS remote sensing team should be constituted
to work closely with various agencies and elements of the
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IOOS (Stakeholders, DMAC, Product and Services, and
Education and Outreach committees). This team should
include representatives from all regional associations
or other relevant body of the IOOS. Regional problems
should be identified through regional community assessments, interviews, and questionnaires. Product focus
teams should oversee the development of real-time satellite image products, including integrating data from multiple platforms and climatological data sets and data sets
that will enable the next generation of ocean information
services. An important process will be product review,
validation, and feedback, guided by metrics.
The team should collect disparate real-time data sets
presently available from geographic areas of interest but
from various unrelated observing systems and in different formats, and integrate them into coherent information
products. A set of synoptic, regionally calibrated, consistent set of products covering coastal zones to the deep
ocean should be generated using a variety of operational
and research satellite sensors (see Section 5). The precise
type, format, and product distribution mechanisms will
result from consultations between government resource
managers, industry providers, and other stakeholders
including the scientific research community. Further, this
pilot activity will help organize the remote sensing community in the region. The activity includes active outreach
efforts to help people understand the remote sensing products available from different providers and to enable the
development of innovative ocean information services.
5. THE ROLE OF THE NON-GOVERNMENTAL SECTOR
In most cases, governments are the only entities that have
the financial and political power, the responsibility, and
the capability to develop, launch and operate complex satellite systems for Earth observation. Yet government agencies need access to the science to develop new products to
protect life and property and promote economic growth in
a constantly changing world. In many cases, commercial
and academic entities can generate value-added products
at a lower cost and with more flexibility than government
entities. Commercial and academic groups also serve
an important role in promoting international collaboration, often stimulating collaboration between countries
that governments are unable to promote due to political
considerations. As part of this process, governments also
need to work hard to avoid duplication and competition
in areas not related to their primary mission.
An example of a partnership that includes government, academic, and industry partners focuses on research
designed to inform the management of Atlantic bluefin
tuna fisheries. Industry, academic researchers, and government managers from the United States, Mexico, and
Spain work together with private industry and academia to
integrate satellite remote sensing and many other types of
observations to evaluate the impacts of disturbance such
as the Deepwater Horizon oil spill [12, 13] and of potential
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MEXICO
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Chlorophyll a (mg m-3)
(a)
(b)
FIGURE 2. Sample synoptic observations from ocean-observing satellite sensors. (a) An ocean color image of chlorophyll a collected on
23 August 2011 off the eastern US coast showing a large phytoplankton bloom, combined with HF CODAR (white arrows). The satellite
data was critical to the New Jersey water quality managers and university field researchers for coordinating sampling of the phytoplankton
bloom over time as they were associated with significant declines in bottom water quality. (b) Application of satellite data for tracking the
DWH oil spill using SAR radar images to detect surface oil and GOES-E Sea Surface Temperature (SST) to resolve the Loop Current and
eddies on 17 May 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico. (Source for image (b): [11].).
shifts in habitat due to climate change in the Gulf of Mexico
[14], the Caribbean Sea, and in the Mediterranean.
The IOOS and GOOS can facilitate such partnerships
and stimulate the development of a robust data collection
and distribution backbone. The support of enhanced and
value-added information contributes to economic growth.
In its essence, one may view this partnership as having
three integrated elements, in which government organizes
and coordinates large infrastructure to generate the raw
materials (data), academia helps provide creative solutions
(technology, algorithms, new products), and industry provides a capability to generate value-added products and
to finance the feedbacks between these components (i.e.
through taxes and direct funding of academic research, in
addition to deriving profit). Private organizations provide
additional benefits through the creation of jobs.
6. INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION
A coherent vision for international cooperation has
emerged with the implementation plan (2005–2015) for
a Global Earth Observing System of Systems (GEOSS)
[http://www.earthobservations.org]. GEOSS seeks to link
international resources and facilities to address the needs
of information for the benefit of a globalized society. The
‘system of systems’ provides a framework to link existing
and planned observing systems around the world. The
GEOSS would be owned by member nations, and each
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would control its own assets. A GEOPortal would provide
an Internet gateway to the GEOSS products.
As GEOSS develops, many groups are making significant advances either through bilateral international
agreements, or under other larger umbrellas. Drinkwater
et al. [5] provide examples of important efforts, such as
those organized under the Global Ocean Data Assimilation Experiment (GODAE; http://godae.org/) [9] and
the Group for High Resolution Sea Surface Temperature
(GHRSST; https://www.ghrsst.org/)
[10]. Several other
________________
such large-scale international efforts exist, either to distribute observations or to help define strategies for international collaboration in specific areas of ocean remote
sensing, such as the International Ocean-Colour Coordinating Group (IOCCG; http://www.ioccg.org/). Many
of these organize through facilitation of the Committee
on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS; http://www.ceos.
org/), which coordinates international civil space-borne
___
observations of the Earth.
7. THE WAY FORWARD FOR THE NEXT TEN YEARS
Focusing on the needs in the United States as an example,
a good model on which to build the IOOS is the partnership between the National Weather Service (NWS) and
the private sector. We propose a partnership between
academia, industry and the government that will result
in general and tailored forecasts of physical, biological,
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ROFFSTM - Schaudt.us
Oceanographic Analysis
10 March 2006
Purple Route = Initial
Yellow Route = ROFFSTM
ROFFSTM
(a)
(b)
FIGURE 3. (a) Oceanographic analysis for oil industry ship routing off southeast Africa. An example of how private industry integrates infrared
and ocean color satellite data to visualize ocean currents. Arrows indicate the current direction. Areas where the currents are particularly favorable and unfavorable to ship routing are outlined in green and red, respectively. The purple line indicates the pre-cruise routing and the yellow
line indicates the advised routing based on the location of the favorable currents. (Image courtesy of ROFFS™-schaudt.us.) (b) An oceanographic
analysis produced by private industry for the fishing industry (recreational and commercial) and for researchers off the east coast of Florida, USA.
Infrared and ocean color data are integrated to map water mass boundaries. Black dots indicate where ocean convergence occurs over specific
bottom topography (e.g. reefs, wrecks, gradients) to generate “favorable” fishing conditions. Numbers inside the dots indicate the number of
consecutive days of relevant convergences. (Image courtesy of ROFFS™.)
geological, and chemical ocean conditions and warning
products that are acknowledged as valuable. These products have applications ranging from scientific research to
public safety, transportation, agriculture, and daily forecasts of weather, coastal and ocean currents, water quality, and many other environmental conditions of interest.
These IOOS products should be wide-ranging and based
on the needs of regional and local organizations and communities, as well as national needs. They should support
and not interfere with the competitive nature of private
industry and should enable new information services to
emerge, just as in the meteorological services industry.
An important path to pursue will be to develop stronger links between land cover and land use change assessments and coastal research and resource management. On
the one hand, fluxes of carbon and other materials, and
human impacts on these processes within the land‐ocean
continuum must be considered to correctly assess global
terrestrial and ocean material budgets. Roughly 1/3 of the
carbon buried in the ocean is derived from terrigenous
sources and is delivered to the coast via rivers; 70% of it
is buried within continental margins. Managing sediment
that may end up in rivers should be managed to understand
impacts on resources such as coral reefs. Many pollutants
also make their way to the coast in dissolved or particulate form and will have an impact on the health of coastal
communities, or markets that depend on those coastal
resources. Remote sensing is also required to understand
the impacts of rapid and episodic flushing events.
14
The IOOS can play a pivotal role in the co-development of solutions for pressing social and environmental
challenges. It can coordinate activities such as calibration and validation efforts, developing new research and
applications, refining a vision for Earth observation, and
distributing science-quality, real-time and archived products and timely information. The IOOS can help create
efficiencies in regional infrastructure and capitalize on
the human knowledge of each region. It can also help
ensure that these systems are secure and properly backed
up so that the necessary information is available even
during emergencies.
7.1. CORE REMOTE SENSING PRODUCTS
The IOOS requires the concurrent availability of the
standard suite of sea surface temperature (SST), chlorophyll, wind, and sea surface height products generated
over the past decade by NOAA and NASA. New products
are now required that include regionally calibrated and
de-clouded SST, wide swath altimetry and winds, and
advanced coastal ocean surface reflectance values based
on higher spectral resolution data.
The connections between the watershed, wetlands,
coastal floodplains and other areas prone to flooding
should be considered when defining critical remote sensing products. The IOOS system will focus on variability
and stress that may result due to combined effects of
contamination, ocean acidification, and temperature
extremes, for example, on various marine ecosystems.
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Some of these new measurements will bring very exciting new scientific advances that are directly applicable to
living resource management. For example, hyperspectral
ocean color data will help define how the biodiversity of
the phytoplankton and particle size distributions change
over large areas of the ocean. Chlorophyll fluorescence
line height (FLH) is of critical importance in this process,
to identify phytoplankton blooms in coastal, estuarine,
and shelf waters where the traditional algorithms for chlorophyll concentration based on blue to green radiance
ratios often give erroneous values. This will help quantify
global ocean ecosystem structure and biodiversity from
space for the first time. It will also bring a revolution to
how ocean color data are applied in coastal zones. These
advanced sensors will also provide improved “true-color”
imagery enhanced to highlight aquatic features, and estimates of total suspended sediment concentration (TSS),
turbidity, absorption coefficient of the colored dissolved
organic matter (CDOM), the diffuse attenuation coefficient (K_490), and water clarity/Secchi Disk Depth. One
such advanced concept is NASA’s Pre-Aerosol, Clouds,
and Ecosystem Mission (PACE) mission, planned for
development over the next decade to monitor whether
and how different biogeographical seascapes change and
how they respond to disturbance. In the meantime, ESA’s
Sentinel-3 mission, expected to launch in 2014-2015, will
also provide important information toward this goal.
New high resolution altimeter observations will offer
higher performance both in terms of spatial and vertical
resolution and better coverage closer to coastal zones. In
addition, animations of time sequence imagery along with
water mass boundary analyses will be offered to track
water masses, algal blooms, river water, and oil plumes.
It will be critical to link satellite imagery at a variety
of spatial, temporal, and spectral resolutions, and interpreted products derived from them. For example, coastal
resource managers may require rapid access to ‘climatological’ temperature and water quality indices, an assessment of anomalies and an analysis of whether these represent extremes that occur because of synergy between
different environmental variables, and an ability to ‘zoom
in’ from synoptic 1 km satellite observations to landscape
imagery at the 30 m or 2 m afforded by Landsat (Figure
4) or commercial-class satellite imagers such as WorldView-2. The Millennium Global Coral Reef Map, based
on Landsat data for the year 2000 [15, 16], is an example
of a product developed by researchers that is widely used
by managers and other scientists on a global basis.
We can’t overstress the importance of regional calibration.
The present worldwide calibrations provided by NOAA and
NASA are not adequate for providing the best available satellite data products. IOOS needs to be leading the development
of strategies to have the best standardized quality control procedures to ensure the availability of science-quality data.
One area of concern is cloud cover and relatively isothermal conditions for several months a year in some
DECEMBER 2013
areas. Thus, an IOOS remote sensing team needs to
investigate new ways to perform cloud screening, cloud
reduction, and removal of sunglint, especially as pertains
to chlorophyll and other products based on Visible and
Short-Wave-Infrared optical measurements.
The IOOS remote sensing project should develop composite images over varying time periods and across different technologies (infrared and microwave, in situ).
Products should span a range scales, allowing analysis of
daily or better variations but also include averages over
time scales longer than synoptic (e.g. 12 hours, one week,
monthly, annual and corresponding ‘climatologies’ and
anomaly products).
Different academic and industry data providers operate
dedicated downlink sites for NOAA, NASA, ESA, and other
sensors. Including these operators in the IOOS framework
will enable faster turn-around in the processing and availability of imagery provided to stakeholders.
To advance these objectives in the U.S., for example, the
list below provides a basic set of core products that should be
developed in a seamless manner and in common format for
different parts of the country, including its territories. Similar products and tools to use them to support decision-making should be developed jointly at the international level.
The IOOS needs to address both the real-time requirements
of stakeholders but also provide sufficient historical observations to provide context, define baselines and compute
anomalies, and assess variability and uncertainty.
REMOTE SENSING HIGH, MEDIUM AND LOW
SPATIAL RESOLUTION SATELLITE PRODUCTS
AND RELEVANT SENSORS
CORE PRODUCTS: (< 2 m, 30 m, 250 m, 500 m,
1-km, 25–60 km PIXELS)
◗ Coastal zone and shallow benthic resource maps
t Beaches, estuaries, mangroves, wetlands, coral reefs
◗ High spatial resolution coastal watershed, land use,
and wetlands assessments, temperature, heat and
thermal inertia products (many of these will serve as
inputs to mesoscale marine atmospheric sea-breeze
and coastal ocean “coupled” models)
◗ Coastal ocean surface spectral reflectance values in
the visible
◗ Total suspended sediment concentration (TSS)
◗ Turbidity
◗ Colored dissolved organic matter (CDOM) absorption
coefficient
◗ Chlorophyll concentration
◗ Water clarity/Secchi Disk Depth
◗ Chlorophyll fluorescence line height (FLH)
◗ Sea surface height, sea surface height anomaly and
geostrophic currents
◗ Wind speed and direction
◗ Synthetic Aperture Radar imagery (including wind
vector and directional wave fields)
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FIGURE 4. Landsat 5 image (29 March 2008) highlighting the Dry
Tortugas (patch of islands toward the left of the image) and the Lower
Florida Keys, Florida, USA. (Image modified from [17].) The image
shows a large plume of sediment (light blue color) that extends
seaward to the west-northwest from the Marquesas Keys (center, bottom). This region experiences strong currents that set up dynamic and
rapid sediment and temperature changes. The area is also affected
intermittently by large blooms of phytoplankton and turbid water
advected from the west-northwest, i.e. from Florida Bay and from the
southwest coast of mainland Florida. These changes, and the large
distance from large human population centers, helps maintain robust
coral reef communities around these remote islands.
◗ Sea surface temperature and de-clouded sea surface
temperature and composites on various time scales.
SATELLITE SENSORS: US AND INTERNATIONAL
US: HISTORICAL/CLIMATOLOGIES
AND CURRENT/REAL-TIME
◗ MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer; Terra and Aqua)
◗ AVHRR (Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer;
NOAA 15, 16, 18, 19, MetOp_A)
◗ GOES-East geostationary imagery
◗ VIIRS (Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite)
◗ Aquarius (NASA/CONAE) and suite of salinity products
◗ Suite of altimeter products
◗ Suite of wind scatterometer products
◗ Suite of wind passive radiometer observations
◗ Landsat, ASTER
◗ Worldview/Digital Globe, GeoEye-class imagery
◗ SAR
◗ Historical: sensors including Sea-viewing Wide Fieldof-view Sensor
◗ International: Sensors of similar categories as shown
above, including ENVISAT, ERS, SPOT, the upcoming
Sentinel series, etc.
7.2. APPLICATIONS
The use of oceanographic satellite data by groups outside
of the scientific research community has been limited for a
number of reasons. One is the relatively low spatial and temporal resolution of the sensors designed to examine global
ocean processes. To be useful to coastal resource managers,
spatial resolution of observations needs to drop below the
300–500 m threshold, in particular for the routine study
16
and assessment of coastal, shelf, and estuarine resources.
Such capabilities should be incorporated into the new generation of ocean color sensors, for example, along with the
capability to separate sediment and bottom reflectance
from river plumes and phytoplankton blooms, using bands
sensitive to the natural fluorescence of phytoplankton. Finer
spatial resolution data of high radiometric resolution and
quality, collected at the near-daily level, would revolutionize coastal zone assessments and the management of living
and non-living marine resources.
Another reason the data have not been used is the lack
of algorithms to address coastal issues, including important metrics of water quality, water motion, bathymetry,
habitat mapping, and so on. New algorithms are needed
and this will require a concerted, international effort and
much collaboration.
Perhaps among the most important reasons that ocean
satellite data remain under-utilized is the lack of tools to
use the data. Each data set or product comes in a variety of
different and complicated data file formats. Different sensors cover different time periods. The data are also available from many different sources and there is no portal
that facilitates collection of such multidisciplinary data.
Planning requires a vision of concurrent observations
from multiple satellites across a wide range of time scales,
spatial scales, and also spectral scales (from the ultraviolet to
the microwave). Ultimately, it will be important to develop a
set of distributed applications for different platforms including desktop and mobile media to make the products accessible, and which include a minimum of basic applications
tools to extract information from these data. These applications should be simple and can address specific tasks without trying to accomplish everything for everyone.
7.3. MANAGEMENT
In the US, IOOS needs to constitute a Strategic Remote
Sensing Planning team comprised of end user stakeholders, scientific experts, and managers of multi-institutional
remote sensing and oceanographic programs. This Planning Team would be responsible for defining the product suite to be generated at each site and for developing
a cost-efficient failsafe server mirroring plan. Major decisions about calibration, atmospheric correction, geometric
registration, scheduling, deadlines, composition of focus
teams, assignment of overall tasks, and planning to ensure
the timely, efficient, and competent accomplishment
of all work for the project would be the responsibility of
the Planning Team. The project strategy would be guided
through consultations with national agencies including
NASA, NOAA, the USGS, and with international agencies,
private industry, and by engaging the best scientists and
engineers from academic research institutions.
The major tasks proposed for such a planning team
include:
◗ Hold interactive workshops and surveys to obtain
feedback from users/stakeholders and educational
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experts on current products and formats, as well as
“needs” (i.e. “what is missing”).
Support critical dialogue among remote sensing specialists to discuss technical issues (calibration, geocorrection, file formats, geographic coverage, cloudmasking, etc.).
Improve the quality of data delivered to the users. This
would include composited imagery for cloud-removal,
animation products, and historic archives and climatologies, as well as fail-safe production in case of emergencies such as hurricanes that affect a site.
Offer training workshops to enhance the use of remote
sensing data into research, operations, and education
efforts outside the main research activities of the investigators.
Support users that require new product specifications.
Collaborate with NASA, NOAA, USGS, and other US
agencies.
Collaborate and coordinate with relevant regional
and international entities requiring and/or providing
regional synoptic coverage.
7.4. OUTREACH AND EDUCATION
The IOOS planning team program should work with
education and outreach experts across Federal and State
government entities to help users and the general public understand the concept of integrated ocean observing
and its applications, including science, research, and decision-making. The team will engage operational, research,
commercial and recreational resource users (fishermen,
tourists) to help these members of the public understand
the value of coastal and ocean resources and the utility of
the observations collected through the IOOS system. Formal and informal education activities need also be aimed
at the K-16 level and state and federal legislators.
A critical need for scientists and resource managers
trained in the use and application of ocean remote sensing products will be satisfied by coordinating investments
from different agencies in this area.
Access to these synthesized products will facilitate
research, education, as well as outreach and extension to
public groups including emergency managers along with
the Office of Homeland Security, Bureau of Ocean Energy
Management, Regulation, and Enforcement (BOEM),
U.S. Coast Guard, FEMA, and to the various NOAA line
offices. The observations will have similar applicability in
agencies within other countries, and will be of value also
to international agencies and non-governmental users.
The program will have a multi-cultural approach regarding diversity and outreach to under-represented groups.
8. COSTING AND INVESTMENT
In its report to the United States government and the
nation in 2004, the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy [18]
emphasized the importance of proper planning to ensure
the availability of a healthy space-based observing system
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component to satisfy the high demand for timely knowledge
anywhere around the world, at any time. This blue ribbon
commission recognized the challenges of sustaining these
observations. The Commission emphasized long-lead planning for funding, planning for overlap between missions to
avoid gaps in data and to allow cross-reference of the calibration of sensors, and planning for wide access to sciencequality data to enable far-reaching applications of the multiple observations collected by space-based sensors regionally
and globally. Clearly, closer coordination between our agencies in the executive branch and a well-informed congress
are critical elements to address these challenges. The budget
planning in the U.S. also needs better cooperation between
relevant agencies on maintaining present missions and
planning future missions, including coordinated budgets
for sensor design, mission planning and launch, sustaining
high-quality observations, and data management, including archive, fusion, and distribution. Again, these processes
need to be based on a solid education and capacity building
strategy that reaches across all ages.
9. CONCLUSIONS
Satellite imagery and satellite-derived data comprise a key
element of the IOOS observing system in the US. It is a
cornerstone technology for local as well as for large-scale
and international environmental assessment, research,
and commercial applications. The US IOOS can play a
pivotal role in activities such as calibration and validation
efforts, developing new research and applications, refining
a vision for Earth observation, and distributing sciencequality, real-time and archived products and timely information. The IOOS can help create efficiencies in developing a regional infrastructure and capitalize on the human
knowledge of each region. It can also help ensure viability
of systems during emergencies. Ultimately, the IOOS can
learn from international programs and also provide training opportunities to the international community.
A number of core remote sensing products are required
by a broad range of stakeholders in the industry sector, and
in operational and research communities. Basic products
include sea surface temperature (SST), chlorophyll, wind
speed/direction, salinity, and sea surface height. Newer
products to be added include indices of water quality,
coastal and marine high spatial resolution habitat maps
(status and trends), and biological diversity assessments.
Many of these products, however, require the launch of a
new generation of satellites.
IOOS requires a strategy to coordinate the human
capacity, and to fund, advance, and maintain the infrastructure that provides improved remote sensing observations and support for the nation and societies around the
globe. A partnership between the private, government, and
academic sectors (Universities) will enhance remote sensing support and product development for critical coastal
and deep-water regions based on infrared, ocean color, and
microwave satellite sensors. This white paper emphasizes
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the need for IOOS to inform operational and research agencies in the United States of the types of observations and
observing platforms required, including what types of satellite sensors need to be launched in the future to maintain
continuity of observations, and the types of new observations required. Similar requirements of agencies and other
stakeholders in other countries may be satisfied through
collaboration with the IOOS or similar regional entities.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Many scientists both in the USA and internationally have
developed the technology and solid theoretical basis for
remote sensing products that are in use today in commercial,
operational, and research settings. We are indebted to the
technical staff in government agencies, at academic research
institutions, and in private industry that ensure that satellite
data products are available in time to address specific needs.
REFERENCES
[1] National Ocean Policy Implementation Plan. [Online]. ___
http://
www.whitehouse.gov/administration/eop/oceans/implementationplan
_____
[2] U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy, “An ocean blueprint for the
21st century,” in “Final report of the U.S. Commission on ocean
policy,” Washington, D.C., Tech. Rep., 2004.
[3] L. Amaral-Zettler, J. E. Duffy, D. Fautin, G. Paulay, T. Rynearson,
H. Sosik, and J. Stachowicz. (2010). Attaining an Operational
Marine Biodiversity Observation Network (BON) Synthesis Report. [Online]. Available: http://www.nopp.org/wp-content/up_____________________
loads/2010/03/BON_SynthesisReport.pdf
_______________________
[4] J. E. Duffy, L. A. Amaral-Zettler, D. G. Fautin, G. Paulay, T. A.
Rynearson, H. M. Sosik, and J. J. Stachowicz. (2013). Envisioning
a marine biodiversity observation network. Bioscience [Online].
63(5), pp. 350–361. Available: http://www.aibs.org/bioscience_________________
press-releases/resources/DuffyREV2.pdf
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[5] M. Drinkwater, H. Bonekamp, P. Bontempi, B. Chapron, C. Donlon, J.-L. Fellous, P. DiGiacomo, E. Harrison, P.-Y. LeTraon, and
S. Wilson, “Status and outlook for the space component of an
integrated ocean observing system,” in Proc. OceanObs: Sustained
Ocean Observations and Information for Society, Venice, Italy, Sept.
21–25, 2009, vol. 1.
[6] H. Bonekamp, F. Parisot, S. Wilson, L. Miller, C. Donlon, M. Drinkwater, E. Lindstrom, L. Fu, E. Thouvenot, J. Lambin, K. Nakagawa,
B. S. Gohil, M. Lin, J. Yoder, P.-Y. L. Traon, and G. Jacobs, “Transitions towards operational space based ocean observations: From
single research missions into series and constellations,” in Proc.
OceanObs’09: Sustained Ocean Observations and Information for Society, Venice, Italy, Sept. 21–25, 2009, vol. 1, p. 6.
[7] E. Lindstrom, M. A. Bourassa, L.-A. Breivik, C. J. Donlon, L.-L. Fu,
P. Hacker, G. Lagerloef, T. Lee, C. L. Quéré, V. Swail, W. S. Wilson,
and V. Zlotnicki, “Research satellite missions,” in Proc. OceanObs:
Sustained Ocean Observations and Information for Society, Venice,
Italy, Sept. 21–25 2009, vol. 1, p. 28.
[8] J. Yoder, “Ocean colour radiometry: Early successes and a look towards
the future,” in Proc. OceanObs: Sustained Ocean Observations and Information for Society, Venice, Italy, Sept. 21–25 2009, vol. 1, p. 43.
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[9] P. L. Traon, M. Bell, E. Dombrowsky, A. Schiller, and K. W. Becker,
“GODAE oceanview: From an experiment towards a long-term
international ocean analysis and forecasting program,” in Proc.
OceanObs: Sustained Ocean Observations and Information for Society,
Venice, Italy, Sept. 21–25 2009, vol. 2.
[10] C. J. Donlon, K. S. Casey, C. Gentemann, P. LeBorgne, I. S.
Robinson, R. W. Reynolds, C. Merchant, D. Llewellyn-Jones, P.
J. Minnett, J. F. Piolle, P. Cornillon, N. Rayner, T. Brandon, J.
Vazquez, E. Armstrong, H. Beggs, I. Barton, G. Wick, S. Castro,
J. Hoeyer, D. May, O. A. Arino, D. J. Poulter, R. Evans, C. T. Mutlow, A. W. Bingham, and A. Harris, “Successes and challenges
for the modern sea surface temperature observing system,” in
Proc. OceanObs’09: Sustained Ocean Observations and Information
for Society Venice, Italy, Sept. 21–25 2009, vol. 2.
[11] N. D. Walker, C. T. Pilley, V. V. Raghunathan, E. J. D’Sa, R. R.
Leben, N. G. Hoffmann, P. J. Brickley, P. D. Coholan, N. Sharma,
H. C. Graber, and R. E. Turner, “Impacts of a loop current frontal
eddy cyclone and wind forcing on the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil
spill,” in Monitoring and Modeling the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill:
A Record-Breaking Enterprise (AGU Monograph Series vol. 195), Y.
Liu, A. MacFadyen, Z. Ji, and R. Weisberg, Eds., 2011, pp. 103–116.
[12] B. A. Muhling, M. A. Roffer, J. T. Lamkin, G. W. Ingram Jr., M. A. Upton, G. Gawlikowski, F. E. Muller-Karger, S. Habtes, and W. J. Richards, “Overlap between Atlantic bluefin tuna spawning grounds
and observed Deepwater Horizon surface oil in the northern Gulf
of Mexico,” Mar. Pollut. Bull., vol. 64, no. 4, pp. 697–687, 2012.
[13] B. A. Muhling, J. T. Lamkin, and M. A. Roffer, “Predicting the occurrence of bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) larvae in the northern gulf of mexico: building a classification model from archival
data,” Fish Oceanogr., vol. 19, no. 6, pp. 526–539, 2010.
[14] B. A. Muhling, S.-K. Lee, J. T. Lamkin, and Y. Liu, “Predicting
the effects of climate change on bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus)
spawning habitat in the Gulf of Mexico,” ICES J. Mar. Sci., vol. 68,
no. 6, p. 1051, 2011.
[15] S. Andréfouët, F. E. Muller-Karger, J. A. Robinson, C. J. Kranenburg, D. Torres-Pulliza, S. Spraggins, and B. Murch, “Global
assessment of modern coral reef extent and diversity for regional
science and management applications: A view from space,” in
Proc. 10th Int. Coral Reef Symp., Okinawa, Japan, June 28–July 2,
2004, pp. 1732–1745.
[16] S. Andréfouët, E. Hochberg, C. Chevillon, F. E. Muller-Karger, J.
C. Brock, and C. Hu, “Multi-scale remote sensing of coral reefs,”
in Remote Sensing of Coastal Aquatic Environments: Technologies,
Techniques and Application, R. L. Miller, C. E. Del Castillo, and B.
A. McKee, Eds., New York: Springer-Verlag, 2005, pp. 297–315.
[17] B. B. Brian, C. Hu, B. A. Schaeffer, Z. Lee, D. A. Palandro, and
J. C. Lehrter. (2013, July). MODIS-derived spatiotemporal water clarity patterns in optically shallow Florida Keys waters: A
new approach to remove bottom contamination. Remote Sens.
Environ. [Online]. 134, pp. 377–391. Available: http://dx.doi.
org/10.1016/j.rse.2013.03.016
[18] U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy. (2004). An ocean blueprint
for the 21st century. Final Report of the U.S. Commission on
Ocean Policy. Washington, D.C., Tech. Rep. [Online]. Available:
http://govinfo.library.unt.edu/oceancommission/documents/
GRS
full_color_rpt/welcome.html#final
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TECHNICAL COMMITTEES
SIRI JODHA S. KHALSA, University of Colorado, NSIDC
RAHUL RAMACHANDRAN, NASA/MSFC
Earth Science Informatics Comes of Age
I. THE EMERGENCE OF
EARTH SCIENCE INFORMATICS
he volume and complexity of Earth science data have
steadily increased, placing ever-greater demands on
researchers, software developers and data managers
tasked with handling such data. Additional demands
arise from requirements being levied by funding agencies and governments to better manage, preserve and
provide open access to data. Fortunately, over the past
10–15 years significant advances in information technology, such as increased processing power, advanced
programming languages, more sophisticated and practical standards, and near-ubiquitous internet access have
made the jobs of those acquiring, processing, distributing and archiving data easier. These advances have also
led to an increasing number of individuals entering
the field of informatics as it applies to Geoscience and
Remote Sensing. Informatics is the science and technology of applying computers and computational methods
to the systematic analysis, management, interchange,
and representation of data, information, and knowledge. Informatics also encompasses the use of computers and computational methods to support decisionmaking and other applications for societal benefits.
T
II. THE GRSS ESI TC
The mission of the IEEE GRSS is “to advance science and
technology in geoscience, remote sensing and related
fields...” with the society’s fields of interest being “the
theory, concepts, and techniques of science and engineering as they apply to the remote sensing of the Earth,
oceans, atmosphere, and space, as well as the processing, interpretation and dissemination of this information.” Both the mission statement and the fields of interest of the IEEE GRSS clearly encompass Earth Science
DECEMBER 2013
Informatics (ESI). A large number of IEEE GRSS members work in the ESI area and at each IGARSS there are
ESI related regular and invited sessions on topics such
as GIS, semantic web, data provenance, sensor web,
GEOSS, standards, data processing, data management,
and decision support. However, until recently GRSS had
yet to set up an ESI related technical committee.
Given the rapid growth in informatics, GRSS decided
to expand the original mission of its existing Data
Archiving and Distribution Technical Committee (the
DAD TC) and rename it the Earth Science Informatics
Technical Committee (ESI TC), focusing on advancing
the application of informatics to the geosciences and
remote sensing.
By establishing an ESI Technical Committee at GRSS
we provide a home to GRSS ESI professionals, enabling
them to exchange information and knowledge while
setting a research agenda and making GRSS more visible in the broader ESI community. We aim to provide
technology advice to major national and international
ESI initiatives. An ESI TC also helps GRSS attract more
ESI professionals to the GRSS.
III. THE KNOWLEDGE GENERATION LIFECYCLE
The scope of the ESI TC can be better understood by
considering the knowledge generation lifecycle, shown
schematically at a high level in Figure 1. This lifecycle
depicts the sequence of processes involved in knowledge
generation and is useful in identifying where data and
information can be enhanced or even lost. Standards play
important roles at each stage of the knowledge generation
lifecycle and some relevant categories of standards are
listed at each stage to illustrate this fact.
The scope of the original DAD TC was essentially
limited to the data lifecycle, shown by the inner cycle
of Figure 1. The data lifecycle is part of the more comprehensive knowledge generation lifecycle, and could be
said to underpin it.
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can be of great benefit in this
task. Standards are also useful
in applying and documenting
Design & Plan
the outcomes of quality assurData Management Plan
ance steps.
Reference Architecture
The ability to apply tools
and algorithms in the Analyze
Data phase is enhanced by
the use of standards, such as
Collect Data
Discover & Reuse
for encoding, geospatial refCal/Val
Linked Data
Document
Sensor Web
erencing and portrayal. The
Semantics
Data
reuse of software and procedures is also facilitated by the
Preserve
QC Data
use of standards.
Data
It is coming to be recognized that it is important to
Transfer to Stage Data
preserve all the outputs of the
Archive
for Access
research process, not just pubProcess Data
Publish Results
lications. Reproducibility and
QA/QC
Data Archiving
traceability demand that the
Integrate Other Data
Data Citation
data behind the publication
be documented, preserved
and made available. Placing
Analyze Data
data into a trusted repository,
Visualization
assigning persistent identifiers
Interpretation
to data and referring to those
PIDs in the publications is now
considered an essential part of
FIGURE 1. The Research Knowledge Generation Lifecycle. The inner cycle is the foundational data
the Publish Results phase.
lifecycle, which is an integral aspect of the outer knowledge generation lifecycle. Example categories
Finally, data must be disof standards that apply in each phase of the knowledge management lifecycle are shown.
coverable and accessible so
that future research can build
upon those results. The traditional approach to Discovery
In the Design and Plan phase of the lifecycle it is imporand Reuse, i.e. placing the data in an archive and populattant to consider how data will be acquired, evaluated,
ing a metadata catalog, is being extended through linked
transferred, stored and documented. These activities are
data and semantic technologies. Of particular importance is
best captured in a data management plan, which is now a
the ability for data to be used by disciplines and in contexts
requirement of awards made by many agencies. While variother than those in which the data were generated. Mediaous agencies and organizations have developed guidelines
tion and brokering technologies are beginning to be applied
and templates for writing data management plans, there
to meet this challenge [4].
has yet to be developed an international standard for this.
A reference architecture can be helpful in designing the
IV. STANDARDS DEVELOPMENT AND USAGE
systems that will realize project goals in a way that makes the
One of key elements of the ESI TC mission is to help develop
components and interfaces of that system more reusable and
and employ standards and best practices that are needed to
interoperable with other systems. Reference architectures repmake both data and data systems usable and interoperable.
resent abstract solutions implementing the concepts and relaThe GRSS ESI TC is pursuing this objective through particitionships identified in a reference model, for which there are
pation in, and collaboration with the Open Geospatial Conseveral standards such as OSI [1], OAIS [2] and RM-ODP [3].
sortium, OGC [5], Technical Committee 211 of the InterResearch projects often Collect Data from a suite of
national Organization for Standardization, ISO TC211 [6],
sensors which must be controlled, calibrated and moniand the IEEE Standards Association, IEEE-SA [7].
tored. Traceability to reference standards is a fundamental
The Open Geospatial Consortium develops geospatial
requirement for producing accurate and reliable data. There
standards that are in widespread use within the geoscience
are also information standards specifying how to calibrate
community. Among the more commonly known standards
and document instrument performance.
and specification that the OGC has developed are:
The Process Data phase of the lifecycle includes the many
steps needed to harmonize and integrate data streams and
◗ CSW—Catalog Service for the Web
otherwise prepare it for analysis. Conformance to standards
◗ GML—Geography Markup Language
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◗
◗
◗
◗
SOS—Sensor Observation Service
SensorML—Sensor Model Language
W*S—Suite of Web Services
GeoSPARQL—for representation and querying of geospatial data for the Semantic Web.
A recently established MOU between GRSS and OGC
will enhance the cooperation and provide support to the
GRSS Earth Science Informatics (ESI) Technical Committee.
GRSS will provide support to the OGC Earth Systems Science (ESS) Domain Working Group (DWG), contributing to
the ESS discussions based on GRSS developments and recommending GRSS related presentations at OGC ESS meetings. GRSS and OGC agree to jointly support presentations,
journal articles and other related outreach to highlight the
applicability and benefits of geoscience interoperability.
OGC and GRSS will work to involve other relevant standards consortia and professional organizations in the development and advancement of geoscience interoperability.
ISO/TC211 develops international standards for geographic information, addressing the methods, tools and
services for management and interoperability of geospatial
data. Among the standards that are relevant to the routine
activities of many GRSS members are:
◗ ISO 19115—Metadata
◗ ISO 19119—Services
◗ ISO 19130—Imagery sensor models for geopositioning
◗ ISO 19139—Metadata—XML schema implementation
◗ ISO 19157—Data Quality
◗ ISO 19159—Calibration and validation of remote sensing imagery sensors and data.
Currently under development are standards for representing concepts that support the interpretation of, and
reasoning with geographic information (ISO 19150), and
a common content model for imagery formats (ISO 19163).
GRSS established a liaison relationship with ISO/TC211
in 2004 and has since made regular presentations to its Plenary on GRSS’ activities, and has had regular representation on its projects and committees.
The IEEE Standards Association facilitates standards
development and standards related collaboration to
advance global technologies. The IEEE-SA has overseen the
development of many of standards that are at the heart of
the information infrastructure. GRSS interfaces with the
IEEE-SA through Standards Coordinating Committee 40
(SCC40—Earth Observations).
V. OVERVIEW OF THE ESI TC
As stated earlier, the mission of the ESI TC is to advance the
application of informatics to the geosciences and remote
sensing, and to provide a platform for ESI professionals to
collaborate. The fields of interest of the ESI TC include, but
are not limited to:
◗ Data and information policies, stewardship, preservation, provenance and quality
◗ Knowledge representation, information models for the
spatial and temporal relationships between entities in
DECEMBER 2013
the Geosciences (e.g., spatial and process ontologies,
vocabularies, semantic web)
◗ Cyberinfrastructures, interoperability, standardization,
web service, sensor web and cloud computing
◗ Improving data discovery and access
◗ Tools supporting spatial and temporal analyses and their
applications including decision support systems, tools
and systems to model the Earth system, tools to visualize
and analyze geoscience data, information, and knowledge
◗ Emerging information technologies trends and both
their impact and applications in the geosciences.
The ESI TC will be sponsoring two invited sessions at
IGARSS 2014. The first session, titled “Implications of Big
Data to Remote Sensing,” will focus on evaluating different
big data technologies that leverage a “shared nothing architecture” and distributed file storage systems to support reliable processing and analysis of satellite imagery. The second
session is a joint ESI TC and OGC session titled “Advancing Science through Management of the Geospatial Data
Lifecycle”. The focus of this session is to explore the role of
standards at different stages of the data lifecycle. As science
becomes more reliant on information technology, data standards are as vital as uniform standards for weights and measures. In addition to these special sessions, ESI TC will seek
to sponsor either a TGRS or JSTARS special issue focusing on
specific Earth Science Informatics topics.
VI. CALL FOR PARTICIPATION
As science and technology progress, the knowledge generation lifecycle evolves, impacting everyone involved including the scientists and engineers who design and operate
instruments, processing systems and numerical models,
and acquire, validate, analyze, manage and interpret data.
GRSS members are thus encouraged to engage with the ESI
TC in its mission to bring together those GRSS members
interested in advancing the field of informatics. Specific
opportunities to contribute include serving as subject matter experts in the development and/or review of standards,
presenting ESI related research at IGARSS and submitting
papers to the special issue of the Journals. To participate
contact the ESI TC chairs Dr. Ramachandran and Yue (rama___
[email protected],
[email protected])
and
join
the
IEEE
_________ _____________
GRSS Earth Science Informatics group on LinkedIn [8].
REFERENCES
[1] ISO/IEC Open System Interconnection, ISO/IEC Standard 7498–1, 1994.
[2] Reference Model for an Open Archival Information System, CCSDS Standard, 2012.
[3] ISO/IEC Information Technology—Open Distributed Processing—Reference Model: Overview, ISO/IEC Standard 10746–1, 1998.
[4] S. Nativi, M. Craglia, and J. Pearlman, “The brokering approach
for multidisciplinary interoperability: A position paper.” Int. J.
Spatial Data Infrastruct. Res., vol. 7, pp. 1–15, 2012.
[5] [Online]. Available: http://www.opengeospatial.org/
[6] [Online]. Available: http://www.isotc211.org/
[7] [Online]. Available: http://standards.ieee.org/
[8] [Online]. Available: http://www.linkedin.com/groups/IEEE______________________
GRS
GRSS-Earth-Science-Informatics-5136161
_______________________
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CHAPTERS
GRSS CHAPTERS AND CONTACT INFORMATION
CHAPTER LOCATION
JOINT WITH (SOCIETIES)
CHAPTER CHAIR
E-MAIL ADDRESS
GRS
William Blackwell
[email protected]
________
Region 1: Northeastern USA
Boston Section, MA
Springfield Section, MA
AP, MTT, ED, GRS, LEO
Paul Siqueira
[email protected]
_____________
Western New York
GRS
Anthony Vodacek
[email protected]
__________
GRS
Miguel Roman
[email protected]
______________
Region 2: Eastern USA
Washington, DC & Northern VA area
Region 3: Southeastern USA
Atlanta Section, GA
AES, GRS
Clayton Kerce
[email protected]
________________
Eastern North Carolina Section
GRS
Linda Hayden
[email protected]
______________
Region 4: Central USA
Central Illinois Section
LEO, GRS
Weng Cho Chew
[email protected]
___________
Southeastern Michigan Section
GRS
Adib Y. Nashashibi
[email protected]
____________
Denver Section, CO
AP, MTT, GRS
Michael Janezic
[email protected]
_____________
Houston Section, TX
AP, MTT, GRS, LEO
Christi Madsen
[email protected]
____________
Region 5: Southwestern USA
Region 6: Western USA
Alaska Section, AK
GRS
Franz Meyer
[email protected]
___________
Los Angeles Section, CA
GRS
Paul A. Rosen
[email protected]
______________
Ottawa Section, ON
OE, GRS
Yifeng Zhou
[email protected]
____________
Quebec Section, Quebec, QC
AES, OE, GRS
Xavier Maldague
[email protected]
____________
Toronto Section, ON
SP, VT, AES, UFF, OE, GRS
Sri Krishnan
[email protected]
_____________
Vancouver Section, BC
AES, GRS
David G. Michelson
Steven McClain
[email protected]
___________
[email protected]
_____________
Region 7: Canada
Region 8: Europe,
Middle East and Africa
Benelux Section
AES, GRS
Mark Bentum
[email protected]
_____________
Croatia Section
AES, GRS
Juraj Bartolic
[email protected]
___________
France Section
GRS
Mathieu Fauvel
[email protected]
_____________
Germany Section
GRS
Irena Hajnsek
[email protected]
___________
Islamabad Section, Pakistan
GRS, AES
M. Umar Khattak
[email protected]
____________
Italy Section
GRS
Simonetta Paloscia
[email protected]
___________
Russia Section
GRS
Anatolij Shutko
_________________
[email protected]
[email protected]
_________
Saudi Arabia Section
GRS
Yakoub Bazi
[email protected]
__________
South Africa Section
AES, GRS
Meena Lysko
[email protected]
__________
South Italy Section
GRS
Maurizio Migliaccio
[email protected]
_______________
Spain Section
GRS
Antonio J. Plaza
[email protected]
________
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CHAPTER LOCATION
JOINT WITH (SOCIETIES)
CHAPTER CHAIR
E-MAIL ADDRESS
Student Branch, Spain Section
GRS
Pablo Benedicto
[email protected]
_____________
Turkey Section
GRS
Kadim Tasdemir
[email protected]
__________
Ukraine Section
AP, MTT, ED, AES, GRS, NPS
Kostyantyn V. Ilyenko
[email protected]
___________
United Kingdom & Rep. of Ireland (UKRI)
Section
GRS, OE
Yong Xue
[email protected]
_____________
Region 9: Latin America
Student Branch, Colombia Section
GRS
Leyini Parra Espitia
[email protected]
___________
Student Branch, South Brazil Section
GRS
Marcus Vasconcelos
[email protected]
___________
Guadalajara Section, Mexico
GRS
Iván Villalón
[email protected]
____________
Region 10: Asia and Pacific
Australian Capital Territory and New
South Wales Sections, Australia
Bangalore Section, India
GRS
Xiuping Jia
[email protected]
_________
GRS
Daya Sagar Behara
[email protected]
____________
Beijing Section, China
GRS
Ji Wu
[email protected]
________
Delhi Section, India
GRS
O.P.N. Calla
[email protected]
___________
Gujarat Section, India
GRS
Shiv Mohan
[email protected]
_______________
Indonesia Section
GRS, AES
Arifin Nugroho
[email protected]
______________
Japan Section
GRS
Yoshihisa Hara
Hara.Yoshihisa@
_________
cb.MitsubishiElectric.co.jp
______________
Malaysia Section
GRS, AES
Voon-Chet Koo
[email protected]
___________
Melbourne Section
GRS, AES
William Junek
[email protected]
_____________
Nanjing Section, China
GRS
Feng Jiao
[email protected]
_______________
Seoul Section, Korea
GRS
Joong-Sun Won
[email protected]
___________
Singapore Section
AES, GRS
See Kye Yak
[email protected]
___________
Taipei Section, Taiwan
GRS
Yang-Lang Chang
[email protected]
___________
Abbreviation Guide for IEEE Technical Societies
AES
AP
ED
EMB
LEO
MTT
Aerospace and Electronic Systems Society
Antennas and Propagation Society
Electron Devices Society
Engineering in Medicine and Biology
Lasers & Electro-Optics Society
Microwave Theory and Techniques Society
NPS
OE
SP
UFF
VT
Nuclear and Plasma Sciences Society
Oceanic Engineering Society
Signal Processing Society
Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control Society
Vehicular Technology Society
GRS
_________________
__________
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EDUCATION
JOHN KEREKES, Rochester Institute of Technology, USA
DAVID MESSINGER, Rochester Institute of Technology, USA
Guest Feature: Remote Sensing Research and
Education at Rochester Institute of Technology
Introduction
by Michael Inggs, Director Education GRSS,
University of Cape Town, South Africa
As part of a series of articles, in this issue we present
the work of the Rochester Institute of Technology.
We encourage volunteers from other Academic and
Government Institutions to tell us about their work,
emphasizing the educational aspects. This article follows on from one authored by Melba Crawford1
reviewing the activities of Purdue University and we
look forward to similar articles from our colleagues.
1 M. Crawford, “Remote Sensing and Geospatial Science at Purdue University: 1960s into the 21st
Century,” IEEE Geosci. Remote Sens. Mag., vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 67–71, Mar. 2013.
INTRODUCTION
emote sensing research and education at the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, New
York, USA, traces its roots from an academic degree program in Photographic Sciences established in the 1960’s.
Many students were educated (and continue to be) in the
science behind photography, later going on to careers
working for NASA, the US defense and intelligence community, and other research organizations. In particular,
the Digital Imaging and Remote Sensing (DIRS) Laboratory was formed in the early 1980’s by Prof. John Schott
while part of the Photo Science program. Prof. Schott
and the lab transitioned to the Chester F. Carlson Center
for Imaging Science (CIS) when it was established in the
mid 1980’s and remote sensing activity has grown from
one professor and a few students to now encompassing
ten professors, dozens of students, and over 40 research
projects ongoing at any one time.
R
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2168-6831/13/$31.00©2013IEEE
This article introduces the reader to the Center
for Imaging Science and its academic programs, the
DIRS Lab and its people, and then describes examples
of several research areas including remote sensing
instrumentation, community data sets, physics-based
modeling and simulation, and remote sensing algorithmic research.
CHESTER F. CARLSON CENTER
FOR IMAGING SCIENCE
Most remote sensing activity at RIT takes place within
CIS (www.cis.rit.edu), which is an academic unit
within the College of Science. CIS has degree programs
in Imaging Science at the BS, MS, and PhD levels. At
this time, there are about 40 students pursuing their
BS, 40 students pursing their MS (including 10 via an
on-line, distance learning option), and 70 enrolled
in the PhD program. Of these, approximately 40%
of the MS and PhD students are pursuing their thesis research in remote sensing. Other research areas
include vision science, color science, sensor design,
astronomical technology, historical document imaging, nanoimaging, and medical imaging. The Center
has about 25 full-time faculty with CIS as their home
department, and another 25 whom are Graduate Program Faculty but have another home department,
such as Electrical and Microelectronic Engineering,
Mathematics, or Physics.
Most remote sensing specific courses are taught at the
graduate level within CIS, although a couple are offered
at the undergraduate level. Graduate courses include
IMGS 619—Radiometry, IMGS 722—Remote Sensing Systems, Sensors and Radiometric Image Analysis, IMGS 723—
Spectral Image Analysis, IMGS-729 Photogrammetry, IMGS
732—Advanced Environmental Applications of Remote
Sensing, and IMGS—765 Performance Modeling and Characterization of Remote Sensing Systems. Undergraduate
courses include IMGS 431—Environmental Applications of
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Remote Sensing, IMGS 432—Advanced Environmental Applications of Remote Sensing, and IMGS 433—Remote Sensing System Engineering.
DIGITAL IMAGING AND
REMOTE SENSING LABORATORY
For over 25 years, Prof. John Schott headed up the DIRS Lab
(dirs.cis.rit.edu)
_________ as one of the first faculty at RIT to develop
an externally funded research program (Figure 1). Having
worked in a local airborne imaging systems company, Prof.
Schott had an appreciation for the practical issues associated with remote sensing and developed a systems-oriented
perspective in his research and education termed the “image
chain approach” [1]. This theme has continued through the
courses and thesis projects ongoing today within DIRS.
In 2008, Prof. Schott stepped down and Prof. David
Messinger took over as Director of DIRS. Through the
steady leadership of Professors Schott and Messinger the
DIRS group has grown and now represents the largest
research lab within CIS. Currently the following CIS faculty
are associated with the laboratory:
◗ Dr. David Messinger, Associate Research Professor and
Director, DIRS
◗ Dr. Michael Gartley, Assistant Research Professor
◗ Dr. Emmett Ientilucci, Assistant Research Professor
◗ Dr. John Kerekes, Professor
◗ Dr. Robert Kremens, Research Professor
◗ Dr. Harvey Rhody, Professor
◗ Dr. Carl Salvaggio, Professor
◗ Dr. John R. Schott, Research Professor
◗ Dr. Jan van Aardt, Associate Professor
◗ Dr. Anthony Vodacek, Associate Professor
◗ Dr. Charles Bachmann, Associate Professor
In addition, twelve full time research staff are supported
by externally funded research grants, and about 45 graduate students are pursuing research within the DIRS Lab.
Many of these students are shown in Figure 2.
AIRBORNE AND GROUND-BASED INSTRUMENTATION
Over the years, RIT DIRS has assembled a number of airborne, field, and laboratory instruments to support remote
sensing research. The Wildfire Airborne Sensor Program
(WASP) instrument was developed in collaboration with
NASA to map wildfires and includes a high-resolution
RGB visible camera co-boresighted with shortwave, midwave, and longwave infrared cameras (see Figure 3.) Since
its development in 2004, WASP has been used to support
many different applications including its deployment to
Haiti in January 2010 to image affected areas after the devastating earthquake [2].
Another airborne camera known as the Low Altitude
Multispectral Mapping System (LAMMS) incorporates a
high resolution panchromatic camera, 5 VNIR cameras
with user selectable narrowband filters, and a longwave
infrared microbolometer. LAMMS has been used in a number of airborne water quality mapping missions.
DECEMBER 2013
FIGURE 1. Prof. John Schott in the early days.
FIGURE 2. Graduate students working in the RIT DIRS Lab.
FIGURE 3. The RIT WASP airborne sensor as viewed from underneath the aircraft.
Recently a Ground Based Lidar (GBL) system was developed by integrating a SICK lidar with a rotation stage, GPS,
and associated hardware to provide a cost-effective rapid
scan tool with which to assess vegetation structure. Other
field instruments owned by DIRS include an Analytical
Spectral Devices FieldSpecPro and a Spectra Vista Corporation HR-1024i, both nonimaging field spectrometers
used to collect high spectral resolution visible through
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(a)
(b)
FIGURE 4. (a) Centers of WASP images acquired over downtown Rochester, New York; (b) 3D surface model extracted from WASP images.
shortwave infrared radiance and reflectance spectra. DIRS
also has a Designs & Prototypes Model 102F FTIR spectrometer to collect radiance spectra in the 2 to 25 micron
wavelength range. Laboratory instrumentation includes a
CARY 500 spectrophotometer and several Ocean Optics
spectrometers.
EMPIRICAL DATA SETS
One of the ways DIRS serves the broader remote sensing
community is through the collection and dissemination
of well ground-truthed remote sensing data sets, available
through the “Resources” tab at the DIRS web site.
Since 2008, the RIT Blindtest data set has been available to support unresolved object detection research with
hyperspectral imagery (HSI) [3]. This data set contains
two airborne HSI images with unresolved targets in the
scene. Pixel locations for the targets are provided in one
image, but not the other, and users are challenged to find
the unresolved objects using only their provided spectra.
To date, over 600 users have registered to access the data.
In 2011 the RIT WASP airborne sensor was repeatedly flown over downtown Rochester, New York, with
extremely high overlap between images to collect a dataset for development and testing of 3D surface extraction techniques from high resolution airborne imagery
FIGURE 5. WASP image of Avon test site during SHARE 2012.
26
(see Figure 4) [4]. This 3D-Rochester data set contains
hundreds of WASP images acquired with 70–90% overlap.
In addition, the data set includes lidar data, which were
simultaneously acquired to compare with the imageryderived surfaces.
In September of 2012, RIT DIRS partnered with a number of other organizations to deploy ground targets and
acquire multisensor airborne and satellite imagery over
multiple areas near Rochester, New York. This data collection, known as SHARE 2012, includes numerous ground
targets with associated truth, airborne multispectral,
polarimetric, hyperspectral, and lidar data, along with
commercial high resolution satellite imagery [5]. Figure 5
is a high resolution WASP image of the primary test area
with many targets visible, and Figure 6 shows many of the
students, staff, and faculty involved in the collection. These
data, which are available through the DIRS website, can be
used to test object detection, hyperspectral unmixing, and
change detection algorithms.
DIGITAL IMAGING AND REMOTE SENSING
IMAGE GENERATION (DIRSIG)
DIRSIG is a suite of software tools that uses first principles
physics-based ray tracing to generate synthetic radiometrically accurate remote sensing imagery (www.dirsig.org) [6].
Since its early development in simulating thermal infrared
imagery, the capabilities have expanded to include multiand hyperspectral imagery in the visible through shortwave infrared, lidar, polarimetric, and synthetic aperture
radar (SAR) imagery.
DIRSIG was recently used in support of system engineering studies for the Landsat Data Continuity Mission
(LDCM). One project used the scene simulation and sensor modeling capabilities to study the potential of the
improved capabilities of the Operational Land Imager
(OLI) to monitor water quality in the near shore environment [7]. This study quantified the enhanced ability of OLI
to retrieve water constituents due to its enhanced spectral coverage, higher signal-to-noise ratio and increased
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quantization levels as compared to
the Landsat 7 ETM+. Early on-orbit
results from Landsat 8 have indicated
an even better than predicted level of
performance.
Further support to LDCM included
a precise simulation of the raw data
stream anticipated from the satellite
prior to launch to develop, test, and
evaluate the operational processing
software. Figure 7 shows an example
of the simulated raw imagery including artifacts to be corrected in the processing software. In addition, studies
were performed to assess the impact
on OLI image quality from vibrations
of the cyrocooler on the accompanying Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) by FIGURE 6. Some of the volunteers supporting the SHARE 2012 data collection.
simulating images with varying levels
of anticipated jitter. The results of these studies were used to
make engineering decisions on allowable jitter levels.
1
Another ongoing research project is using DIRSIG is an
effort to advance the science behind photon-counting lidar
3
sensing of complex surfaces in ice sheets and glaciers. This
work is motivated by the upcoming NASA ICESat-2 mission
which will use photon-counting detectors in mapping the
surface topography of polar ice sheets and glaciers. Desired
accuracies for the height mapping are driving research to
better understand the return signal characteristics when the
surface has steep slopes and deep crevasses. Through the
2
use of DIRSIG to generate accurate simulated lidar returns,
project collaborators are learning how best to interpret the
data in the case where perfect knowledge of the true surface
characteristics is available.
ALGORITHM RESEARCH
Algorithm research conducted by the DIRS laboratory is
spread across a wide variety of imaging modalities as well
as application domains. Algorithms have been developed
based on physics-based models of specific phenomenology,
using advanced mathematical methods, as well as using
techniques from the computer vision community. Example
applications include detection in spectral imagery, 3D surface reconstructions from 2D airborne imagery, and development of waveform lidar processing algorithms for extraction of forest canopy parameters of interest.
Over the past several years DIRS researchers have
explored the development of detection algorithms for spectral imagery based on graphical models of the data in the
spectral domain, as opposed to statistical or linear geometrical models. We have developed several algorithms for
analysis of spectral imagery in areas such as change detection, anomaly detection, and classification that do not
require traditional assumptions about the data and have
demonstrated promise for robust algorithmic performance
in challenging, complex scenes.
DECEMBER 2013
FIGURE 7. DIRSIG-simulated raw LDCM image over Lake Tahoe,
Nevada showing 1) spatial offsets between spectral filters, 2) offset
and overlap between detector modules, and 3) offsets due to alternating detectors on focal plane.
One example of this approach is the Topological Anomaly Detection algorithm (TAD) [8]. The TAD algorithm
identifies anomalies by developing a graph-based model
of the background components. Random pixel samples
are taken from an image and a k-Nearest Neighbor graph is
built for those samples. A connected components analysis
is then performed on the graph and large components are
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m = 2.08 nm
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FIGURE 8. (a) Multiple two-band projections of original spectral data and (b) after Commute Time Distance transformation for a hyperspectral
image with full and subpixel man-made targets present.
labeled as the background. Then, all pixels in the image that
are not part of the background components are ranked as
anomalies by a measure called their “co-density”—essentially a measure of their Euclidean distance to the nearest
background component, weighted by a measure of the density of component in the spectral domain. This algorithm
has been shown to outperform traditional statistical methods, particularly in complex environments.
28
Another algorithmic approach involves the development of the Commute Time Distance (CTD) data transformation for hyperspectral imagery [9]. The CTD transformation is a nonlinear data transformation that has the
properties of identifying and enhancing structures in the
data based on the graphical representation of the pixels in
the spectral domain. The CTD transformation essentially
represents the data in a space where the distance between
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(b)
10 m
(a)
FIGURE 9. A virtual forest stand, based on inventory data from Harvard Forest. Various species are included in this rendering, with species-
specific spectral properties. The level of simulation detail is shown on the right. Scenes such as this one enables researchers to better understand
even leaf-level laser-target interactions for improved processing chain and algorithm development (a) DIRSIG RGB rendering. (b) Side-view, zoom
Onyx Tree rendering.
two pixels represents the “time” it would take a random
walker to move along the graph between the two nodes,
and then back again (thus the “commute”). The result is
that compact dense clusters become even more compact,
and the between cluster distances are enhanced as well.
Figure 8 demonstrate this for hyperspectral imagery of a
field with targets placed in it. In the top image, four twoband projections of the spectral data are shown, demonstrating the overlap between the background and target
pixels. In the bottom of Figure 8, we show two-band projections for the first four bands in the CTD transformed
space, highlighting how in the new space the man-made
targets are well separated from the background and much
simpler to detect.
Recently, under support from several sponsors, we have
pursued a research program to develop techniques that
extract 3D surface models of structures from multi-look
2D imagery. These workflows use approaches from computer vision and photogrammetry and provide a method
to quickly build facetized models for use in several applications such as line of sight analysis and scene simulation.
These techniques are particularly important in areas where
lidar point cloud data are not available. These techniques
have been built from Structure from Motion concepts and
have resulted in the ability to create and extract building
DECEMBER 2013
models from imagery with significant overlap, as shown on
the right hand side of Figure 4.
This 3D algorithm research has been extended to the
environmental domain as well. Faculty, post-doctoral
researchers, and graduate students are working with
the Airborne Observation Platform (AOP) team of the
National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) on
FIGURE 10. An example a forest scan (point cloud) collected by
RIT’s ground based lidar and the application of an associated stem
quantification algorithm, developed at RIT.
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3D structural algorithm research. NEON plans to operate three airborne remote sensing platforms that incorporate a high fidelity imaging spectrometer, a discrete
return lidar, and a waveform lidar sensor. The DIRS Lab’s
involvement stems from the need for robust waveform
lidar processing [10], [11] and 3D algorithms [12], specifically towards assessment of biophysical vegetation
structure. Specific “product-level” structural parameters
include tree height, crown volume, leaf area index (LAI),
canopy gaps, and biomass assessments. Given the need
for well-characterized target scenes the team is using a
DIRSIG simulation approach (Figure 9). Additionally,
real data are used such as terrestrial lidar sensing (Figure 10) to improve fine-scale algorithm validation, and
AOP data for algorithm development. Test sites include
established field plots in Harvard Forest and in NEON’s
Pacific Southwest Domain. Various field and airborne
campaigns have been completed, along with AVIRIS campaigns to collect data at a variety of scales.
SUMMARY
The DIRS Laboratory at RIT is a vibrant research center focused on the tools, techniques, and science behind
remote sensing of the Earth. As the field of remote sensing
advances, we look forward to continuing our contributions
through education and research, and we welcome inquiries
from prospective students and collaborators.
REFERENCES
[1] J. R. Schott, Remote Sensing: The Image Chain Approach, 2nd ed.
Oxford, U.K.: Oxford Publishing, 2007.
[2] J. A. van Aardt, D. McKeown, J. W. Faulring, N. G. Raqueno, M.
V. Casterline, C. Renschler, R. Eguchi, D. W. Messinger, R. S.
Krzaczek, S. Cavillia, J. Antalovich, N. Philips, B. D. Bartlett,
C. Salvaggio, E. M. Ontiveros, and S. Gill, “Geospatial disaster
response during the Haiti earthquake: A case study spanning
airborne deployment, data collection, transfer, processing, and
dissemination,” Photogramm. Eng. Remote Sens., vol. 77, no. 9, pp.
943–952, 2011.
[3] D. Snyder, J. Kerekes, I. Fairweather, R. Crabtree, J. Shive, and S.
Hager, “Development of a web-based application to evaluate target finding algorithms,” in Proc. IEEE Int. Geoscience Remote Sensing Symp., Boston, MA, 2008, vol. 2, pp. 915–918.
[4] E. M. Ontiveros, C. Salvaggio, D. R. Nilosek, N. G. Raqueno, and
J. W. Faulring, “Evaluation of image collection requirements for
3D reconstruction using phototourism techniques on sparse
overhead data,” in Proc. SPIE Defense and Security Sensing, Algorithms and Technologies for Multispectral, Hyperspectral, and Ultraspectral Imagery XVIII, Modeling and Simulation, 2012, vol. 8390.
30
[5] A. Giannandrea, N. Raqueno, D. Messinger, J. Faulring, J. Kerekes,
J. van Aardt, K. Canham, S. Hagstrom, E. Ontiveros, A. Gerace, J.
Kaufman, K. Vongsy, H. Griffith, B. Bartlett, E. Ientilucci, J. Meola, L. Scarff, and B. Daniel, “The SHARE 2012 data campaign,”
in Proc. Algorithms and Technologies for Multispectral, Hyperspectral,
and Ultraspectral Imagery XIX, 2013, vol. 8743, p. 87430F.
[6] J. R. Schott, S. D. Brown, R. V. Raqueno, H. N. Gross, and G. Robinson, “An advanced synthetic image generation model and its
application to multi-hyperspectral algorithm development,”
Can. J. Remote Sens., vol. 25, no. 2, pp. 99–111, 1999.
[7] A. D. Gerace, J. R. Schott, and R. Nevins, “Increased potential to
monitor water quality in the near-shore environment with Landsat’s next-generation satellite,” SPIE J. Appl. Remote Sens., vol. 7,
no. 1, p. 073558, 2013.
[8] B. Basener and D. W. Messinger, “Enhanced detection and visualization of anomalies in spectral imagery,” in Proc. SPIE Algorithms
and Technologies for Multispectral, Hyperspectral, and Ultraspectral
Imagery XV, Orlando, FL, Apr. 2009, vol. 7334.
[9] J. A. Albano, D. W. Messinger, and S. Rotman, “Commute time
distance transformation applied to spectral imagery and its utilization in material clustering,” Opt. Eng., vol. 51, no. 7, p. 076202,
July 2012.
[10] J. Wu, J. A. N. van Aardt, and G. P. Asner, “A comparison of signal deconvolution algorithms based on small-footprint LiDAR
waveform simulation,” IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sensing, vol. 49,
no. 6, pp. 2402–2414, 2011.
[11] J. Wu, J. A. N. van Aardt, J. McGlinchy, and G. P. Asner, “Robust
signal preprocessing Chain for small-footprint waveform
LiDAR,” IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sensing, vol. 50, no. 8, pp.
3242–3255, 2012.
[12] P. Romanczyk, J. van Aardt, K. Cawse-Nicholson, D. Kelbe, J.
McGlinchy, and K. Krause, “Assessing the impact of broadleaf
tree structure on airborne full-waveform small-footprint LiDAR
signals through simulation,” Can. J. Remote Sens., 2013, to be
published.
Concluding Remarks
I would also like to remind the community of our quest for recently
published Ph.D. theses. For publishing the Ph.D. thesis information you
can contact Michael Inggs ([email protected])
___________ or Dr. Lorenzo
Bruzzone ([email protected]).
___________ Ph.D. dissertations should be in the
fields of activity of IEEE GRSS and should be recently completed.
Please provide us with the following: title of the dissertation, the students and advisors names, the date of the thesis defense or publication, and a link for downloading the electronic version of the thesis.
GRS
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WOMEN IN GRS
GAIL SKOFRONICK JACKSON,
GRSS Liaison to IEEE Women in Engineering
Leadership Books
T
his issue we’ll be focusing on leadership books for
women. Obviously, there is no way to review all of
them, hence a few recent and highly regarded books,
along with some of my favorites, will be mentioned in
this article.
Sheryl Sandberg’s book Lean In: Women, Work, and
the Will to Lead published in 2013 describes progress,
or lack thereof, for women in obtaining leadership
roles in a male dominated management across both
government and industry. The book describes ways for
women reach a higher potential in terms of leadership
by “leaning in” and taking risks. Sandberg encourages
conversations on what women can do, not what they
can’t do and offers useful and practical information to
help women attain their goals.
The book entitled How Remarkable Women Lead by
Joanna Barsh and Susie Cranston published in 2011
relies on interviews with more than 100 women leaders. The Centered Leadership Project used these interviews to distill motivational drivers and methodologies
for sustaining energy in highly charged environments.
Five key elements were identified to help achieve leadership success: (1) Meaning in the work: to inspire, to
sustain optimism, and to provide sense of purpose;
(2) Framing: self-awareness to view situations clearly,
learned optimism, moving on; (3) Connecting: for
sponsorship, followership, inclusiveness, and collaborativeness; (4) Engaging: to be present, take ownership,
and be adaptable; and (5) Energizing: to minimize
depletion, provide restoration and tap into flow. These
five traits seem to fit well with women’s strengths and
are also applicable for male leaders.
DECEMBER 2013
It would be remiss to not mention the leadership
skills of the great Antarctic explorer and scientist Sir
Ernest Shackleton. In late 1914, Shackleton’s ship
was catastrophically frozen into the Antarctic sea
ice, crushed, sank, with the crew living on ice sheets
until they broke up, then rowing
to an uninhabited island, finally
journeying 800 miles to a whaler
LEADERS CANNOT EFFECport. In their book Shackleton’s
TIVELY MANAGE IF THEY
Way Margo Morrell and Stephanie
ARE NOT ORGANIZED AND
Capperell describe seven leaderEFFICIENT. BRIAN TRACY’S
ship traits that allowed Shackleton
to successfully manage and rescue
BOOK EAT THAT FROG!
his nearly 30 men, with no loss
PROVIDES 21 TIPS FOR
of life 21 months after they origiREDUCING PROCRASTINAnally set sail. These leadership
TION, IDENTIFYING CRITItraits are easy to grasp: Have an
CAL AND IMPORTANT
outstanding crew, Create a spirit
TASKS AND GETTING
of camaraderie, Get the best from
VITAL WORK DONE.
each individual, Lead effectively
in a crisis, Form teams for tough
assignments, Overcome obstacles
to reach a goal, and Leave a legacy.
Finally, leaders cannot effectively manage if they
are not organized and efficient. Brian Tracy’s book
Eat That Frog! provides 21 tips for reducing procrastination, identifying critical and important tasks and
getting vital work done. This book has been on my
bookshelf since shortly after it came out in 2007.
In closing, we look forward to providing informative and interesting articles in future issues of the GRSS
Magazine. We welcome your suggestions of material,
topics, and guest editors for future columns. Please feel
free to contact us at [email protected].
______________
GRS
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CONFERENCE REPORTS
MARTTI HALLIKAINEN AND WERNER WIESBECK,
IEEE GRSS Awards Committee Co-Chairs
GRSS Publications Awards Presented
at IGARSS 2013 Banquet
T
he IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society’s
2013 Publications Awards were presented at the
IGARSS Awards Banquet on Thursday, July 25 at the
Plaza Ballroom. Situated in the heart of Collins Street
at Melbourne’s famous Regent Theatre, the prestigious
Plaza Ballroom is reminiscent of the grand European
ballrooms of the 19th Century. Built in 1929, the
venue has undergone meticulous restoration returning it to its breathtaking former glory.
The following awards and recognitions were presented by GRSS President Melba Crawford and GRSS
Publications Awards Chair Martti Hallikainen during
the dinner:
◗ Transactions Prize Paper Award
◗ Letters Prize Paper Award
◗ J-STARS Prize Paper Award
◗ Highest Impact Paper Award
◗ Symposium Prize Paper Award
◗ Symposium Interactive Prize Paper Award
◗ Three Student Prize Paper Awards
◗ Certificate of Recognition.
FIGURE 1. The venue for the Awards Banquet was Plaza Ball-
room in Melbourne.
32
1. IEEE GRSS TRANSACTIONS
PRIZE PAPER AWARD
The GRSS established the Transactions Prize Paper
Award to recognize authors who have published an
exceptional paper in IEEE Transactions on Geoscience
and Remote Sensing during the past calendar year. When
selecting the paper, other factors considered are originality and clarity of the paper. The Award consists of
a Certificate and an honorarium of $3000, equally
divided between the authors.
The 2013 Transactions Prize Paper Award is presented to Thomas Meissner and Frank J. Wentz, with
the citation: For a very significant contribution to the field
of endeavor of the IEEE GRS Society in the paper authored by
Thomas Meissner and Frank J. Wentz, entitled ”The Emissivity of the Ocean Surface between 6 and 90 GHz over a Large
Range of Wind Speeds and Earth Incidence Angles,” published in IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote
Sensing, Vol. 50, No. 8, pp. 3004–3026, August 2012.
Thomas Meissner (M’02, SM’13) received the B.S. in
physics from the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany, in 1983, the M.S. (Diploma) in physics from the
University of Bonn, Germany, in 1987 and the Ph.D. in
theoretical physics from the University of Bochum, Germany, in 1991. Between 1992 and 1998 he conducted
postdoctoral research at the University of Washington,
Seattle, WA, the University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, and at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh,
PA, in Theoretical Nuclear and Particle Physics.
In 1998, he joined Remote Sensing Systems (RSS),
Santa Rosa, CA. Since then, he has been working on the
development and refinement of radiative transfer models, calibration, validation and ocean retrieval algorithms for various microwave instruments (SSM/I, TMI,
AMSR-E, WindSat, CMIS, SSMIS, GMI, AQUARIUS).
Dr. Meissner has been serving on the review panel
for the National Academies’ Committee on Radio
Frequencies (CORF). As member of the AQUARIUS
DECEMBER 2013
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FIGURE 2. Music was presented by Jacqueline Gawler (vocals), Gideon Brazil (flute), and Ryan Griffith (guitar).
Launch, Early Orbit Operations and Commissioning Team
he has been recognized with the NASA Group Achievement Award in 2012.
Frank J. Wentz has a B.S. (1969) and M.S. (1971) in physics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 1974, he
established Remote Sensing Systems, a research company
specializing in satellite microwave remote sensing of the
Earth. His past research focused on radiative transfer models that relate satellite observations to geophysical parameters, with the objective of providing reliable geophysical
data sets to the Earth science community. As a member of
NASA’s SeaSat Experiment Team (1978–1982), he pioneered
the development of physically based retrieval methods
for microwave scatterometers and radiometers. Starting in
1987, he took the lead on providing the worldwide research
community with high-quality ocean products derived from
satellite microwave imagers (SSM/I). As the president of
RSS, he oversees the production and validation of climatequality satellite products. These data are dispersed via the
company’s web and FTP sites.
He is currently a member of NASA Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer (AMSR) Team, NASA Ocean
Vector Wind Science (OVWST) Team, the AQUARIUS
Launch, Early Orbit Operations and Commissioning Team
and NASA REASoN DISCOVER Project. He has served on
many NASA review panels, the National Research Council’s Earth Studies Board, the National Research Council’s
FIGURE 3. GRSS Publications Awards Chair Martti Hallikainen
started the Awards Ceremony.
DECEMBER 2013
Panel on Reconciling Temperature Observations. He is a
Lead Author for CCSP Synthesis and Assessment Product
on Temperature Trends in the Lower Atmosphere. He is
currently working on scatterometer/radiometer combinations, satellite-derived decadal time series of atmospheric
moisture and temperature, the measurement of seasurface temperature through clouds, and advanced microwave sensor designs for climatological studies.
Mr. Wentz is Fellow Member of the American Geophysical Union. As member of the AQUARIUS Launch,
Early Orbit Operations and Commissioning Team he
has been recognized with the NASA Group Achievement
Award in 2012.
2. IEEE GRSS LETTERS PRIZE PAPER AWARD
The GRSS established the Letters Prize Paper Award to
recognize the author(s) who has published in the IEEE
Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters during the previous calendar year an exceptional paper in terms of content and impact on the GRS Society. If a suitable paper
cannot be identified from among those published during the calendar year, papers published in prior years,
and subsequently recognized as being meritorious, may
be considered. When selecting the paper, originality,
impact, scientific value and clarity are factors considered.
Prize: Certificate and $1500, equally divided between
the authors.
FIGURE 4. Transactions Prize Paper Award recipients Thomas
Meissner (left) and Frank J. Wentz with Society President
Melba Crawford.
33
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sis Award, as well as the 2008 Best PhD Thesis Award of
the Spanish Chapter of the IEEE Geoscience and Remote
Sensing Society (GRSS). His paper “Kernel Entropy Component Analysis for Remote Sensing Image Clustering”
was the Editor’s Choice Paper of the March 2012 issue of
the IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters.
Robert Jenssen received the degree of Dr. Scient.
(Ph.D.) in Electrical Engineering in 2005 from the University of Tromsø (UiT), Norway, where he is currently an
associate professor at the Department of Physics and Technology. Jenssen is also a research professor at the Norwegian Center for Telemedicine and Integrated Care. Jenssen
FIGURE 5. Recipients of the Letters Prize Paper Award Luis Gómezwas a visiting guest researcher at the Technical University
Chova (left) and Gustavo Camps-Valls with Society President
of Denmark (DTU Compute, Cognitive Systems Section
Melba Crawford.
with L. K. Hansen) 2012/2013, at the Technical University of Berlin, 2008/2009 (Machine Learning Group with
K.-R. Muller) and at the University of Florida, 2002/2003
The 2013 Letters Prize Paper Award is presented to
and March/April 2004 (Computational NeuroEngineerLuis Gómez-Chova, Luis Robert Jenssen and Gustavo
ing Laboratory with J.C. Principe). In his research, he has
Camps-Valls with the citation: “For a very significant confocused on developing an information theoretic approach
tribution to the field of endeavor of the IEEE GRS Society in
to machine learning based on Renyi entropy, with strong
the paper authored by Luis Gómez-Chova, Luis Robert Jenssen,
connections to Mercer kernel methods and to spectral
and Gustavo Camps-Valls entitled “Kernel Entropy Component
clustering and dimensionality reduction methods. JensAnalysis for Remote Sensing Image Clustering,” published in
sen received “Honorable Mention for the 2003 Pattern
IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters, Vol. 9, No.
Recognition Journal Best Paper Award”, the “2005 IEEE
2, pp. 312–316, March 2012.”
ICASSP Outstanding Student Paper Award” and the
Luis Gómez-Chova (S’08–M’09) received the B.Sc.
“2007 UiT Young Investigator Award.” His paper “Kernel
(with first-class honors), M.Sc., and Ph.D. degrees in
Entropy Component Analysis” was the Featured Paper of
electronics engineering from the University of Valenthe May 2010 issue of IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analycia, Spain, in 2000, 2002, and 2008, respectively. He is
sis and Machine Intelligence, and the paper “Kernel Entropy
currently an associate professor at the Department of
Component Analysis for Remote Sensing Image ClusterElectronics Engineering and researcher at the Image Proing,” co-authored by Jenssen, was the Editor’s Choice
cessing Laboratory in the University of Valencia. He has
Paper of the March 2012 issue of the IEEE Geoscience and
completed different research stays at the European Space
Remote Sensing Letters. Jenssen served on the IEEE Signal
Research Institute (ESRIN) of the European Space Agency
Processing Society’s Machine Learning for Signal Process(Jul–Dec 2003), the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in
ing Technical Committee 2006–2009, and is currently an
Munich (Jul–Sep 2004), the Università Degli Studi di
Associate Editor of the journal Pattern Recognition.
Trento in Italy (Jun–Aug 2007), and the Technical UniGustavo Camps-Valls (M’04, SM’07) received a Ph.D.
versity of Denmark (DTU-Space) in Copenhagen (Jul–
degree in Physics (2002, summa cum laude) from the UniAug 2010). His work is mainly related to pattern recogversitat de València, Spain, where he is currently an Assonition and machine learning applied to remote sensing
ciate Professor in the Electrical Engineermultispectral images and cloud screening.
ing Dep. He teaches time series analysis,
He conducts and supervises research on
image processing, machine learning, and
these topics within the framework of sevknowledge extraction for remote sensing.
eral national and international projects.
His research is conducted as Group Leader
He is the author of more than 30 internaof the Image and Signal Processing (ISP)
tional journal papers, more than 90 intergroup, http://isp.uv.es, of the same univernational conference papers, and several
sity. He has been Visiting Researcher at the
international book chapters. He is a also
Remote Sensing Laboratory (Univ. Trento,
referee of many international journals and
Italy) in 2002, the Max Planck Institute
serves on the program committees of sevfor Biological Cybernetics (Tübingen, Gereral international conferences.
many) in 2009, and as Invited Professor at
Dr. Gómez-Chova was awarded by
the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausthe Spanish Ministry of Education with
anne (Lausanne, Switzerland) in 2013. His
the National Award for Electronic Engi- FIGURE 6. Recipient of the
research interests are tied to the developneering. He has been the recipient of the Letters Prize Paper Award
ment of machine learning algorithms for
2008 European Best IEEE GRSS PhD The- Robert Jenssen.
34
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signal and image processing with special focus on remote
sensing data analysis. He conducts and supervises research
within the frameworks of several national and international projects, and he is Evaluator of project proposals and
scientific organizations. He is the author (or co-author) of
95 international peer-reviewed journal papers, more than
120 international conference papers, 20 international book
chapters, and editor of the books “Kernel methods in bioengineering, signal and image processing” (IGI, 2007),
“Kernel methods for remote sensing data analysis” (Wiley
& Sons, 2009), and “Remote Sensing Image Processing”
(MC, 2011). He’s a co-editor of the forthcoming book “Digital Signal Processing with Kernel Methods” (Wiley & Sons,
2014). He holds a Hirsch’s index h = 28, entered the ISI list
of Highly Cited Researchers in 2011, and he is a co-author
of the 3 most highly cited papers in relevant remote sensing
journals. Thomson Reuters identified one of his papers as
a Fast Moving Front research. He is a referee of many international journals and conferences, and currently serves on
the Program Committees of International Society for Optical Engineers (SPIE) Europe, International Geoscience and
Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS), Machine Learning
for Signal Processing (MLSP), and International Conference on Image Processing (ICIP) among others. In 2007
he was elevated to IEEE Senior Member, and since 2007 he
is member of the Data Fusion technical committee of the
IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society, and since
2009 he is member of the Machine Learning for Signal Processing Technical Committee of the IEEE Signal Processing Society. He is member of the MTG-IRS Science Team
(MIST) of the European Organization for the Exploitation
of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT). He is Associate
Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing, IEEE Signal Processing Letters, IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters, ISRN Signal Processing Journal, and Guest Editor of IEEE
Journal of Selected Topics in Signal Processing.
FIGURE 7. J-STARS Prize Paper Award recipient Salman Saeed
Khan with Society President Melba Crawford.
by Salman Saeed Khan and Raffaella Guida entitled “On SingleLook Multivariate G Distribution for PolSAR Data,” published in the
IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations
and Remote Sensing, Vol. 5, No. 4, pp. 1149–1163, August 2012.”
Salman Saeed Khan (S’11) was born in 1982 in Lahore,
Pakistan. He received the B.S. degree in Computer Sciences from National University of Computer and Emerging Sciences, Pakistan in 2004, the M.S. degree in Electrical Engineering as a Fulbright scholar from University
of Central Florida, Orlando, U.S.A. in 2009, and is currently in the fourth year of Ph.D. degree in Electronics
Engineering (Remote Sensing Applications group) at the
Surrey Space Centre, University of Surrey in Guildford,
U.K. His current research interests include Statistical Signal Processing in polarimetric SAR, and its applications
in Pattern Recognition and Target Detection.
Raffaella Guida (S’04–M’08) was born in Naples, Italy,
on October 24, 1975. She received the Laurea degree (cum
laude) in Telecommunications Engineering and the Ph.D.
degree in Electronic and Telecommunications Engineering from the University of Naples Federico II, Naples, in
2003 and 2007, respectively. In 2003, she received a grant
3. IEEE GRSS J-STARS PRIZE PAPER AWARD
from the University of Naples Federico II to be spent at the
The GRSS established the J-STARS Prize Paper Award to
Department of Electronic and Telecommunication Engirecognize the author(s) who published in the IEEE Journal
neering (DIET) for research in the field
of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observaof remote sensing. In 2006, she received
tions and Remote Sensing during the previa two-year grant from the University of
ous calendar year an exceptional paper in
Naples Federico II to be spent at DIET for
terms of content and impact on the GRS
research in electromagnetics, particularly
Society. When selecting the paper, other
on the topic of electromagnetic field propfactors considered are originality, clarity
agation in an urban environment, within
and timeliness of the paper. IEEE memberthe Italian project S.Co.P.E. In 2006, she
ship is preferable. The Award consists of a
was also a Guest Scientist with the DepartCertificate and an honorarium of $1,500.
ment of Photogrammetry and Remote
If the paper has more than one author, the
Sensing, Technische Universität München,
honorarium shall be shared.
Munich, Germany. In 2008, she joined the
The 2013 J-STARS Prize Paper Award is
Surrey Space Centre (SSC), University of
presented to Salman Saeed Khan and RafSurrey, Guildford, U.K., as Lecturer in Satfaella Guida with the citation: “For a very
ellite Remote Sensing. Today she is still in
significant contribution to the field of endeavor FIGURE 8. J-STARS Prize Paper
SSC where she leads the Remote Sensing
of the IEEE GRS Society in the paper authored Award recipient Raffaella Guida.
DECEMBER 2013
35
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FIGURE 9. Jocelyn Chanussot (left) and Jon Atli Benediktsson
received the Highest Impact Paper Award from Society President
Melba Crawford.
Applications group. Her main research interests are in the
fields of electromagnetics and microwave remote sensing,
particularly in simulation and modeling of synthetic aperture radar signals relevant to natural surfaces and urban
scenes, new remote sensing mission concepts and applications. She is involved as PI and co-I in many national and
European research projects.
4. IEEE GRSS HIGHEST IMPACT PAPER AWARD
The GRSS established the GRSS Highest Impact Paper
Award to recognize the author(s) who has published during
the past five years in an IEEE GRSS Journal the scientific
paper that has received the highest number of citations and
impact over the past five years as measured by the Thomson
Reuters Web of Science citation index. A previously selected
paper shall not be eligible for this award in the following
years. The Award consists of a Certificate and an honorarium of $3,000. If the paper has more than one author,
the honorarium shall be shared. The Highest Impact Paper
Award was presented in 2012 for the first time.
FIGURE 10. Recipients of the Highest Impact Paper Award Mathieu
Fauvel (left) and Johannes R. Sveinsson (right).
36
The 2013 Highest Paper Award is presented to Mathieu
Fauvel, Jon Atli Benediktsson, Jocelyn Chanussot, and
Johannes R. Sveinsson with the citation: “For a very significant contribution to the field of endeavor of the IEEE GRS
Society in the paper authored by Mathieu Fauvel, Jon Atli Benediktsson, Jocelyn Chanussot, and Johannes R. Sveinsson entitled “Spectral and Spatial Classification of Hyperspectral Data
using SVMs and Morphological Profiles,” published in IEEE
Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, Vol. 46,
No. 11, pp. 3804–3814, November 2008.”
Mathieu Fauvel graduated in electrical engineering
from the Grenoble Institute of Technology (Grenoble
INP), Grenoble, France, in 2004. He received the M.Sc.
and Ph.D. degrees in image and signal processing from
the Grenoble INP in 2004 and 2007, respectively. In 2007,
he was a teaching assistant in Grenoble INP. From 2008
to 2010, he was a postdoctoral research associate with
the MISTIS Team of the National Institute for Research
in Computer Science and Control (INRIA). Since 2010,
Dr. Fauvel has been an Assistant Professor with the
National Polytechnic Institute of Toulouse (ENSAT—
University of Toulouse) within the DYNAFOR lab (University of Toulouse—INRA). His research interests are
remote sensing, data fusion, pattern recognition, multicomponent signal and image processing.
Jón Atli Benediktsson received the Cand.Sci. degree
in electrical engineering from the University of Iceland,
Reykjavik, in 1984, and the M.S.E.E. and Ph.D. degrees
from Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, in 1987 and
1990, respectively. He is currently Pro Rector for Academic Affairs and Professor of Electrical and Computer
Engineering at the University of Iceland. His research
interests are in remote sensing, biomedical analysis of
signals, pattern recognition, image processing, and signal processing, and he has published extensively in those
fields. Prof. Benediktsson was the 2011–2012 President of
the IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society (GRSS)
and has been on the GRSS AdCom since 2000. He was
Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote
Sensing (TGRS) from 2003 to 2008 and has served as
Associate Editor of TGRS since 1999 and the IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters since 2003. He was the
Chairman of the Steering Committee of IEEE Journal of
Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote
Sensing (J-STARS) 2007–2010. Prof. Benediktsson is a
co-founder of the biomedical start up company Oxymap
(www.oxymap.com). He is a Fellow of the IEEE and a Fellow of SPIE. He received the Stevan J. Kristof Award from
Purdue University in 1991 as outstanding graduate student
in remote sensing. In 1997, Dr. Benediktsson was the recipient of the Icelandic Research Council’s Outstanding Young
Researcher Award, in 2000, he was granted the IEEE Third
Millennium Medal, in 2004, he was a co-recipient of the
University of Iceland’s Technology Innovation Award, in
2006 he received the yearly research award from the Engineering Research Institute of the University of Iceland, and
DECEMBER 2013
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in 2007, he received the Outstanding Service Award from
the IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society. He is corecipient of the 2012 IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and
Remote Sensing Paper Award. He is a member of Societas
Scinetiarum Islandica and Tau Beta Pi.
Jocelyn Chanussot (M’04-SM’04-F’12) received the
M.Sc. degree in electrical engineering from the Grenoble Institute of Technology (Grenoble INP), Grenoble,
France, in 1995, and the Ph.D. degree from Savoie University, Annecy, France, in 1998. In 1999, he was with the
Geography Imagery Perception Laboratory for the Delegation Generale de l’Armement (DGA—French National
Defense Department). Since 1999, he has been with
Grenoble INP, where he was an Assistant Professor from
1999 to 2005, an Associate Professor from 2005 to 2007,
and is currently a Professor of signal and image processing. He is conducting his research at the Grenoble Images
Speech Signals and Automatics Laboratory (GIPSA-Lab).
His research interests include image analysis, multicomponent image processing, nonlinear filtering, and data
fusion in remote sensing.
Dr. Chanussot is the founding President of IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing French chapter (2007–2010)
which received the 2010 IEEE GRSS Chapter Excellence
Award. He was the co-recipient of the NORSIG 2006 Best
Student Paper Award, the IEEE GRSS 2011 Symposium
Prize Paper Award, the IEEE GRSS 2012 Transactions Prize
Paper Award and the IEEE GRSS 2013 Highest Impact
Paper Award. He was a member of the IEEE Geoscience
and Remote Sensing Society AdCom (2009–2010), in
charge of membership development. He was the General
Chair of the first IEEE GRSS Workshop on Hyperspectral
Image and Signal Processing, Evolution in Remote Sensing (WHISPERS). He was the Chair (2009–2011) and Cochair of the GRS Data Fusion Technical Committee (2005–
2008). He was a member of the Machine Learning for
Signal Processing Technical Committee of the IEEE Signal
Processing Society (2006–2008) and the Program Chair of
the IEEE International Workshop on Machine Learning for
Signal Processing, (2009). He was an Associate Editor for
the IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters (2005–2007)
and for Pattern Recognition (2006–2008). Since 2007, he is
an Associate Editor for the IEEE Transactions on Geoscience
and Remote Sensing. Since 2011, he is the Editor-in-Chief of
the IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing.
Johannes R. Sveinsson received the B.S. degree from
the University of Iceland, Reykjavk, and the M.S. and Ph.D.
degrees from Queen‘s University, Kingston, ON, Canada,
all in Electrical Engineering. He is currently the Head and
Professor with the Department of Electrical and Computer
Engineering, University of Iceland. He was with the Laboratory of Information Technology and Signal Processing
from 1981 to 1982 and, from November 1991 to 1998,
with the Engineering Research Institute as a Senior Member of the research staff and a Lecturer at the Department
DECEMBER 2013
of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Iceland. He was a Visiting Research Student with the Imperial
College of Science and Technology, London, U.K., from
1985 to 1986. At Queen‘s University, he held teaching and
research assistantships. His current research interests are
in systems and signal theory. Dr. Sveinsson received the
Queens Graduate Awards from Queens University.
5. IEEE GRSS SYMPOSIUM PRIZE PAPER AWARD
The GRSS established the Symposium Prize Paper Award
to recognize the author(s) who presented at the IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium
(IGARSS) an exceptional paper in terms of content and
impact on the GRSS. In selecting the paper, other factors
considered are originality, clarity and timeliness of the
paper. The published versions of the papers in the Digest
shall also be evaluated. Prize: Certificate and $1250,
equally divided between the authors.
The 2013 Symposium Prize Paper Award is presented
to Yi Cui, Yoshio Yamaguchi, Hirokazu Kobayashi, and
Jian Yang with the citation: “For a very significant contribution to the field of endeavor of the IEEE GRS Society in the paper
entitled “Filtering of Polarimetric Synthetic Aperture Radar
Images: A Sequential Approach,” co-authored by Yi Cui, Yoshio
Yamaguchi, Hirokazu Kobayashi, and Jian Yang, and presented
at the 2012 International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, July 2012, in Munich, IGARSS´12 Proceedings.”
Yi Cui (S’09–M’11) received the B.S. degree (with honors) in electronic information science and technology
from Jilin University, Changchun, China, in 2006 and the
Ph.D. degree in information and communication engineering from the Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, in
2011. He is currently a Postdoctoral Research Fellow with
Niigata University, Niigata, Japan. His research interests
include SAR image processing, radar polarimetry, and electromagnetic theory. Dr. Cui is the first-prize winner of the
student paper competition at the 2010 Asia-Pacific Radio
Science Conference (AP-RASC’10), and a recipient of the
best paper award of the 2012 International Symposium on
Antennas and Propagation (ISAP’2012).
FIGURE 11. Symposium Prize Paper Award recipients Jian Yang
(left), Yoshio Yamaguchi, and Yi Cui with Society President
Melba Crawford.
37
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Faculty of Engineering as a Professor in
Yoshio Yamaguchi (M’83–SM’94–
Niigata University, Niigata, Japan. His curF’02) received the B.E. degree in electronrent research interests are high-frequency
ics engineering from Niigata University in
electromagnetic analysis for computing of
1976, and the M.E. and Dr.Eng. Degrees
radar cross section of large objects, nearfrom Tokyo Institute of Technology,
field analysis and imaging using PO/PTD/
Tokyo, in 1978 and 1983, respectively.
GTD, and near-field RCS transformation
He joined the Faculty of Engineering,
to far-field based on microwave imaging
Niigata University in 1978. He is a Protheory such as SAR and Inverse SAR.
fessor of Information Engineering, and
Dr. Kobayashi is a Senior member of
Director of Main Library of the University.
the IEEE Antennas and Propagation SociHis interests are in the field of radar polarety, and a member of the Institute of Elecimetry, microwave sensing and imaging.
tronics, Information and Communication
He received IEEE GRSS 2008 Education
FIGURE 12. Symposium Prize
Engineers, Japan. He was Adjunct Lecturer
Award. He has served as Chair of IEEE
Paper Award recipient Hirokazu
of Tsukuba University (2002–2004) and
GRSS Japan Chapter (2002–03), Vice
Kobayashi.
Tokyo Metropolitan University, Advanced
Chair (2000–01), Chair of URSI-F Japan
Institute of Industrial Technology (2009–
(06–12). He had been serving as an asso2010) and recently he published a book, “Electromagciate editor of GRSS Newsletter, and Paper Award Comnetic Wave in Space,” Press-Media, Niigata, Japan (2011,
mittee member of IEEE GRS Society. He was a co-chair of
in Japanese).
the Technical Program Committee of IGARSS 2011. He is
Jian Yang (M’98–SM’02) received the B.S. and M.S.
a Fellow of the Institute of Electronics Information and
degrees from Northwestern Polytechnical University,
Communication Engineers (IEICE), Japan.
Xian, China, in 1985 and 1990, respectively, and the Ph.D.
He has authored two books in Japanese, “Radar Polardegree from Niigata University, Niigata, Japan, in 1999. In
imetry from Basics to Applications” published by IEICE
1985, he was with the Department of Applied Mathematin 2007, and “Fundamentals of Polarimetric Radar and
ics, Northwestern Polytechnical University. From 1999 to
Its Applications”, published by Realize Inc. in 1998.
2000, he was an Assistant Professor with Niigata UniverHirokazu Kobayashi (M’87–SM’10) was born in Hoksity. Since April 2000, he has been with the Department
kaido, Japan. He received the B.E.E. and M.E.E. degrees
of Electronic Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing,
from the Shizuoka University, Shizuoka, Japan, in 1978
China, where he is currently a Professor. His research
and 1980, respectively, and received the Dr. Eng. degree
interests include radar polarimetry, remote sensing, mathfrom Tsukuba University, Tsukuba, Japan, in 2000.
ematical modeling, optimization in engineering, and
He joined Fujitsu LTD., Kawasaki, Japan in 1980. Since
fuzzy theory. Dr. Yang is the Chairman of the Institute of
1981 he has been with the Fujitsu System Integration LabElectrical, Information, and Communication Engineers in
oratories as a Researcher for development of micro- and
Beijing and the Vice Chairman of the IEEE Aerospace and
millimeter-wave wide-band antennas and passive devices,
Electronic Systems Society, Beijing chapter.
active phased array radar, and electromagnetic theoretical investigation for scattering cross-sections. During
6. IEEE GRSS INTERACTIVE SESSION
1999–2010, he served as a Director and General Manager
PRIZE PAPER AWARD
of the Laboratories and Fujitsu LTD. In 2010 he joined the
The GRSS established the Interactive Session Prize
Paper Award to recognize the author(s) who posted at
the GRSS Symposium (IGARSS) an exceptional paper in
terms of content and impact on the GRSS. When selecting the paper, other factors considered are originality,
clarity and timeliness of the paper. The published versions of the papers in the Digest shall also be evaluated.
Prize: Certificate and $1250, equally divided between
the authors.
The 2013 Interactive Session Prize Paper Award is presented to Spencer Farrar, Martín Labanda, María Marta
Jacob, Sergio Masuelli, Sayak Biswas, Héctor Raimondo,
and Linwood Jones with the citation: “For an exceptional
paper posted in the Interactive Session of the International
Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, IGARSS’11 entitled “An Empirical Correction for the MWR Brightness TemFIGURE 13. Interactive Session Prize Paper Award recipient
perature Smear Effect,” co-authored by Spencer Farrar, Martín
W. Linwood Jones with Society President Melba Crawford.
38
DECEMBER 2013
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Spencer Farrar
Martín Labanda
María Marta Jacob
Sergio Masuelli
Sayak Biswas
Héctor Raimondo
FIGURE 14. Interactive Session Prize Paper Award recipients.
Labanda, María Marta Jacob, Sergio Masuelli, Sayak Biswas,
Héctor Raimondo, and Linwood Jones, and presented at the
2012 International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, July 2012 in Munich, IGARSS´12 Proceedings.”
Spencer Farrar (S’07) received the B.S. & M.S. degree
in electrical engineering in 2008 & 2009 from the University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida. He is currently
working toward the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering at the University of Central Florida. Since 2008, he
has been a Graduate Research Assistant with the Central
Florida Remote Sensing Laboratory, University of Central
Florida. His past research within the satellite remote sensing field has been analysis on rainfall products, simulation of MWR Geophysical retrievals, Hurricane Imaging
Radiometer (HIRAD) geophysical retrievals for 2010
GRIP flights. He has been involved in the GPM Intersatellite Calibration Working Group (X-CAL) performing
satellite calibration on multiple satellites since Summer
2010. His current dissertation topic is Cold Sky Analysis
of Spaceborne Microwave Radiometers.
Martín Labanda received his degree of Licenciate in
Physics from the Faculty of Mathematics, Astronomy and
Physics (FaMAF), National University of Córdoba, Córdoba, Argentina in 2011. From 2009, he has been working at the Argentina Space Agency (Comisión Nacional de
Actividades Espaciales, CONAE) as member of the SAC‐D
Calibration Group. Within the satellite remote sensing
field, he has been performing research on‐flight sensor
calibration methodologies and radiative transfer modelDECEMBER 2013
ing especially in microwave radiometry. Currently, he is
contributing to the calibration of the microwave radiometer (MWR) and the infrared camera (NIRST).
Maria Marta Jacob received the Licenciate degree in
Physics from the Facultad of Matemática, Astronomía y
Física at the Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Argentina, in 2009. She is currently a Visitor Research Scholar
at Central Florida Remote Sensing Laboratory (CFRSL) at
the University of Central Florida in Orlando, FL. In this
position, she performs research in satellite microwave
remote sensing, related to calibration and geophysical
retrieval algorithm development from microwave radiometer data. Since 2009 she has been working at the
Argentine Space Agency (Comisión Nacional de Actividades Espaciales, CONAE), where she contributed in the
Flight Engineering Group of the SAC-D/ Aquarius Satellite and the Microwave Radiometer Inter-Satellite Radiometric Calibration (X-Cal) Working Group.
Sergio Masuelli received the B.S. degree and the Ph.D.
in Physics from the UNC (Córdoba National University), in 1994 and 2000, respectively. Since 2009 he is a
CONAE’s system engineer working in the development of
geophysical applications for this sensor, in special L2 and
L3 Sea Ice products. In parallel he is an Associated Professor of the Master Program in Emergency Early Warning
and Response Space Applications, at of the Gulich Institute (CONAE, UNC, ASI); he teaches graduate courses in
Modelling, SAR Applications, Numerical Analysis and
Emergency Applications.
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From 1994 to 1998 he was a Ph.D. fellow in the Atmospheric Physics team of the Math, Astronomy and Physics
faculty of the Córdoba National University. In his thesis he
studied the role of electrical parameters in the cloud microphysics and its influence in the cleaning of atmospheric
pollutant, given contributions principally in numerical
cloud modelling, electrification of clouds, and the collection efficiency of charged droplets and aerosols by hydrometeors under intense electric fields. From 1996 to 1998
he collaborated with the Air Quality Monitoring System
of Córdoba city, developing a daily air pollution forecast.
From 1999 to 2005 he was an INVAP SA employee,
working in the Teófilo Tabanera Space Center (CETT) of
CONAE, as SAC-A mission operator, system production
operator of satellite images, operation supervisor, support
operation engineer. Additionally, he worked for the provision of images for emergency and the Charter for major
disasters. From 2005 to 2007 he was Associate Professor
of the Technologic National University, Concepción del
Uruguay, teaching undergraduate courses in Physics and
Numerical Analysis, and doing research on image processing and hydrological modeling.
Sayak K. Biswas (S’08-M’12) received the B.Tech. degree
in electronics and communication engineering from the
National Institute of Technology, Calicut, India, in 2005,
and the M.Sc. and Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering
from the University of Central Florida (UCF), Orlando, in
2009 and 2012, respectively.
He is currently a NASA Postdoctoral Fellow with the
Earth Science Office at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. From 2008 to early 2012 he
was with the Central Florida Remote Sensing Laboratory
(CFRSL) at UCF, where he contributed in various research
projects related to calibration of microwave radiometers
and geo-physical retrieval algorithm development from
microwave radiometer data. Prior to CFRSL, from 2005 to
2007 he worked as an Associate Systems Engineer at IBM
India Private Limited in Pune, India.
Dr. Biswas is a recipient of the NASA Postdoctoral
Research Fellowship Award for the proposal titled “Calibration and Image Reconstruction Algorithm Development for Hurricane Imaging Radiometer”.
Héctor Raimondo received B.S. degree of Engineer in
Electronics and Electricity, awarded by the Universidad
de Mendoza, Argentina in 1978. He is currently working
at the Argentine Space Agency (Comisión Nacional de
Actividades Espaciales, CONAE) as Coordinator of the
Ground Segment and Applications Engineering Group. He
is responsible for the coordination of the working groups
for the development of the software that will carry out the
routine processing (radiometric and geometric calibration)
of the data generated by CoNAE instruments on board
the Argentine SAC-D/Aquarius satellite. Since 1992 he
has been working in CONAE, involved in several projects,
such as the specification and design of the image acquisition software of the instruments MMRS & HTRC, both on
40
board of the SAC-C satellite. Prior to this, he collaborated
in the Airborne Multispectral Scanner Project (AMS) of the
Comisión Nacional de Investigaciones Espaciales (CNIE)
& the Deutsche Forschungsanstalt Luft und Raumfahrt
e.V (DFVLR—German Space Agency). Héctor Raimondo
has also been a professor of the Universidad Tecnológica
Nacional—Facultad Regional Mendoza, since 1983.
W. Linwood Jones (SM’75-F’99-LF09) received the
B.S. degree in electrical engineering from the Virginia
Polytechnic Institute, Blacksburg, VA in 1962, M.S. degree
in electrical engineering from the University of Virginia,
Charlottesville, VA in 1965, and the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute
and State University in 1971.
He is currently a professor with the Department of
Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University
of Central Florida in Orlando. At UCF, he teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in RF/MW communications, satellite remote sensing and radar systems. Also,
he is the director of the Central Florida Remote Sensing
Laboratory, where he performs research in satellite microwave remote sensing technology development. Prior to
becoming a college professor in 1994, he had 27 years federal government employment with NASA at the Langley
Research Center in Hampton, VA; at NASA Headquarters
in Washington DC and at the Kennedy Space Center, FL.
Further, he spent 8 years in the private aerospace industry
with employment at General Electric’s Space Division in
King of Prussia, PA and Harris Corp.’s Govt. Aerospace
Systems Division in Melbourne, FL.
Prof. Jones is a Life Fellow of the IEEE Geoscience and
Remote Sensing Society, Antennas and Propagation Society, and Oceanic Engineering Society; and a member of the
American Geophysical Union (AGU) and Commission F
of the Union Radio Scientifique Internationale. For excellence in education, he received the IEEE Orlando Section:
Outstanding Engineering Educator Award 2003, the College of Engineering: Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching
Award 2004, the IEEE Florida Council: Outstanding Engineering Educator Award 2004 and the University of Central
Fl Outstanding Graduate Student Mentor Award 2011. For
his research, he received four NASA Special Achievement
Awards, eight NASA Group Achievement Awards, the CNES
Space Medal, the Aviation Week & Space Technology Space
Program Award—1993, and the Naval Research Lab 2004
Alan Berman Research Publications Award.
7. STUDENT PRIZE PAPER AWARDS
A total of three prizes are presented including two GRSS
Student Prize Paper Awards (third and second prize) and
the IEEE Mikio Takagi Student Prize (first prize).
7.1. GRSS STUDENT PRIZE PAPER AWARDS
The GRSS Student Prize Paper Award was established
to recognize the best student papers presented at the
IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing
DECEMBER 2013
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Symposium (IGARSS). It is believed that early recognition of an outstanding paper will encourage the student
to strive for greater and continued contributions to the
Geoscience and Remote Sensing profession. The award
shall be considered annually.
Ten high-quality papers were preselected by the Student Prize Paper Awards Committee in cooperation with
the Technical Program Committee. At IGARSS 2013 in
Melbourne, the students presented their papers in a special session and a jury, nominated by the GRSS Awards
Co-Chair, evaluated and ranked them for the awards.
The Third Prize is presented to Ruzbeh Akbar with
the citation: “For the paper “A Radar-Radiometer Surface Soil
Moisture Retrieval Algorithm for SMAP.” His advisor is Mahta
Moghaddam from the University of Southern California.
Ruzbeh Akbar was born in High Wycombe, United
Kingdom, and attended Montgomery Community College in Rockville MD, USA, in 2003. He then received his
B.S. in Electrical Engineering from The George Washington University, in Washington DC, in 2009. He joined the
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor in 2009 and received
his M.S. in Electrical Engineering in December 2011 from
UM’s Radiation Laboratory.
Following his research groups transition to University
of Southern California, Los Angeles, in January 2012,
Ruzbeh followed suite and is currently finishing his Ph.D.
degree in Electrical Engineering. His primary research
interests are forward and inverse Electromagnetic modeling for remote sensing applications, especially soil moisture remote sensing. His current focus is development of
radar-radiometer forward and inverse methods for soil
moisture remote sensing. This work is directly related
to NASA’s Soil Moisture Active Passive, SMAP, mission
scheduled to launch late 2014. His other research interests
include in situ vegetation (trees, crops, etc.) dielectric measurements and measurement techniques, electromagnetic
scattering models for trees, microwave emission modeling for forested areas. He has also regularly participated
in many multi-scale field campaigns, from ground truth
collection (CanEx’10 & SMAPVEx’12) to wireless sensor
node deployment (SoilSCAPE) and radar measurements
(AirMOSS). Ruzbeh is a member of IEEE, IEEE-GRSS and
AGU. He is also a recipient of NASA’s Earth and Space Science Fellowship, NESSF, from 2010 till present (2010/11,
2011/12 and 2012/13).
The Second Student Prize Paper Award is presented to
Octavio Ponce with the citation: “For the paper “Semisupervised Nonlinear Feature Extraction for Image Classification.”
His advisor is Andreas Reigber from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology.
Octavio Ponce (S’12) was born in Mexico, in 1985. He
received the Engineer’s degree (with honors) in telematics
engineering from Mexico Autonomous Institute of Technology (ITAM), Mexico, in 2009. He is currently working
toward the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering at the
Microwaves and Radar Institute, German Aerospace CenDECEMBER 2013
ter (DLR), Wessling, Germany. In 2009, he was with the
Astrium, European Aeronautic Defense and Space Company (EADS) GmbH, Germany, designing a high-speed
video interface unit for the Fluid Science Laboratory,
Columbus Module, International Space Station. In 2007,
he was with the Defense and Security, EADS GmbH, Germany, developing software for interpretation and analysis
of security system onboard aircraft, i.e., black boxes. His
research interests include 3-D high-resolution SAR imaging, new SAR imaging modes, radar signal processing, and
future Earth observation space missions.
7.2. 2013 IEEE MIKIO TAKAGI STUDENT PRIZE
The IEEE Mikio Takagi Student Prize was established to
recognize a student who has presented an exceptional
paper at the IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS).
The 2013 IEEE Mikio Takagi Student Prize is presented to
Pedram Ghamisi with the citation: “For the paper “The Spectral Spatial Classification of Hyperspectral Images Based on Hidden Markov Random Field and Its Expectation-Maximization.”
FIGURE 15. Student Prize Paper Award recipient Ruzbeh Akbar
with Society President Melba Crawford.
FIGURE 16. Student Prize Paper Award recipient Octavio Ponce
with Society President Melba Crawford.
41
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His advisor is Jon Atli Benediktsson from the University
of Iceland.
Pedram Ghamisi (S’13) received the B.Sc. degree in
civil (survey) engineering from Islamic Azad University,
Tehran, Iran, and the M.Sc. degree in remote sensing from
K. N. Toosi University of Technology, Tehran, in 2012. He
is currently working toward the Ph.D. degree in electrical
and computer engineering at the University of Iceland,
Reykjavik, Iceland. His research interests are remote
sensing and image analysis with the current focus on
spectral and spatial techniques for hyperspectral image
classification. He received the Best Researcher Award for
M.Sc. students from K. N. Toosi University of Technology
in 2010–2011. He serves as a reviewer for a number of
journals including the IEEE Transactions on Image Processing, IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing, and IEEE Geoscience and Remote
Sensing Letters.
8. CERTIFICATES OF RECOGNITION
In the past Certificates of Recognition have been in most
cases presented to persons, who have provided continuous
contributions and leadership to the GRSS Administrative
Committee and the GRS Society. At IGARSS 2013 three Certificates of Recognition were presented for technical merits.
A Certificate of Recognition is presented to Elena
Daganzo Eusebio, Roger Oliva, Sara Nieto, and Philippe
Richaume with the citation: “For their successful efforts
in working with national authorities in removing radio-frequency interference sources from the protected 1400–1427
MHz EESS band.”
Elena Daganzo Eusebio received the M.Sc. degree in
FIGURE 17. Recipient of the IEEE Mikio Takagi Student Prize
telecommunication
engineering from the Universidad
Pedram Ghamisi with Society President Melba Crawford.
Politécnica de Madrid, Spain in 1988. In 1992 she joined
the European Space Agency (ESA) at its Operations Center in Darmstadt, Germany, as a Ground Segment Systems
Engineer. She was involved in the preparation of the ESA
ground segment network to support the launch and operations of several space missions. Since 1996, she has worked
at the European Space Research and Technology Centre
(ESA/ESTEC), first as a TT&C and RF System Engineer and
then, since 2009, as the Frequency Management Engineer
in the Directorate of Earth Observation Programmes. She
analyzes the spectrum requirements for future Earth observation missions; addresses interference issues and monitors
the evolution of the frequency needs for future missions.
She participates in numerous technical committees within
the ITU, CEPT, and SFCG. She liaises with National Frequency Management Administrations in order to improve
the RF interference environment encountered by ESA’s
FIGURE 18. Roger Oliva received the Certificate of Recognition
Earth Observation missions, in particular on the Soil Moisfrom Society President Melba Crawford.
ture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) spacecraft.
Roger Oliva received the M.S degree in
telecommunication engineering from the
Polytechnic University of Catalonia, Spain;
and the M.S. degree in Astronomy (D.E.A)
from the Barcelona University, Spain. He has
been working in several space and astronomy
projects, including Mars Express, astronomical microwave observatories and in the design
of advanced telecommunications satellite payloads. Since 2007 he is working as a Calibration Engineer for the European Space Agency,
FIGURE 19. Certificate of Recognition recipients from left: Elena Daganzo Eusebio,
on the Earth Observation satellite SMOS.
Sara Nieto, and Philippe Richaume.
42
DECEMBER 2013
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FIGURE 20. All award recipients and involved GRSS and IEEE officials, from left: Jian Yang, Yi Cui, Yoshio Yamaguchi, Gustavo Camps-Valls,
Luis Gómez-Chova, GRSS Publications Awards Chair Martti Hallikainen, Jocelyn Chanussot, Jon Atli Benediktsson, Pedram Ghamisi, IEEE
President Peter Staecker, GRSS President Melba Crawford, Thomas Meissner, Frank J. Wentz, W. Linwood Jones, Salman Saeed Khan, Roger
Oliva, Ruzbeh Akbar, and Octavio Ponce.
Sara Nieto received the B.S. degree in
computer science, specializing in information systems development and artificial
intelligence from the Universidad Carlos III
de Madrid, Madrid, Spain. She has been a
part of the SMOS Operations Team, European Space Astronomy Centre, Madrid,
since April 2010, where she provides support
on radio frequency interference detection.
Philippe Richaume received the engineer degree in computer, electronic, and
automatic from the Ecole Supérieure
FIGURE 21. IGARSS’14 organizer Monique Bernier received the best wishes and
d’Informatique, Electronique et Automasome supplies for a successful symposium from IGARSS’13 organizers Simon Jones
tique, Paris, France, in 1990, the M.Sc.
(left) and Peter Woodgate (right).
degree in computer sciences and artificial
intelligence from Paul Sabatier University,
rial Boards of IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote
Toulouse, France, in 1991, and the Ph.D. degree in comSensing, IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters, IEEE
puter sciences and applied mathematics from CNAM,
Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and
Paris, 1996. For the last 20 years, he has worked in variRemote Sensing, and the GRSS Student Prize Paper Awards
ous geophysical laboratories, putting to stress advanced
Committee for their valuable inputs to the awards procomputer science and applied mathematics paradigms
cess. We would also like to encourage all GRSS members
against real problems, particularly in the remote sensto actively participate in nominating distinguished coling context. He is working currently with the Centre
leagues for the GRSS Major Awards including the Disd’Etudes Spatiales de la BIOsphère (CESBIO), Toulouse,
tinguished Achievement Award, the Outstanding SerFrance. His domains of interest are signal processing,
vice Award and the Education Award. GRSS members
nonlinear modeling and inverse problem, particularly
can nominate papers also for journal awards. Please see
using artificial neural networks such as for real-time
instructions on the GRSS Home Page.
signal processing controller of a radio receiver dedicated
to solar wind plasma line tracking onboard the WIND/
10. BEST WISHES FOR A SUCCESSFUL IGARSS 2014
WAVES spacecraft, or for direct-inverse modeling of
The General Co-Chairs of IGARSS 2013 Simon Jones
ocean surface wind from ERS 1/2 scatterometer or bioand Peter Woodgate turned over the responsibility for
physical parameters, LAI, chlorophyll, etc., from POLthe IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing
DER optical directional reflectance, or using traditional
Symposium to IGARSS 2014 General Chair Monique Beriterative minimization approaches like for soil moisture
nier, with their best wishes for a successful symposium
retrieval from SMOS brightness temperature he is workin Quebec City, July 13–18, 2014. The symposium will be
ing on currently.
held in conjunction with the 35th Canadian Symposium
on Remote Sensing and the theme is “Energy and Our
9. CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL
Changing Planet”. Please visit __________________
http://igarss2014.com/Wel2013 AWARD RECIPIENTS
come.asp
for
further
information.
The GRSS Awards Committee would like to thank the
______
We hope to see you in Quebec City at IGARSS 2014!
evaluators of IGARSS’13 technical sessions and the EditoDECEMBER 2013
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IRENA HAJNSEK,
ETH Zürich, Switzerland, DLR Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany
IGARSS 2013 Survey
INTRODUCTION
he International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS) was held this year in the
vibrant Australian city of Melbourne and attracted about
1300 scientists from all over the world. IGARSS is the premier conference organized by the Geoscience and Remote
Sensing Society (GRSS) and is held each year in different
international locations. One of the tasks of the Conference Advisory Committee (CAC) of the GRSS Administrative Committee (AdCom) is making sure that our most
important conference event fulfills the members’ expectations. For this we request our members of the society, as
well as all the IGARSS attendees to complete the survey
shortly after the conference.
The results of the survey are presented in the following article. Every year we have some questions that are
repeated and are made in order to display a long-term
trend; additionally a few new questions are included
emerging from the AdCom and/or from the IEEE GRSS
members. Selected questions and comments of the survey are summarized in this article.
The results of the survey are presented in percentage of respondents. Not all survey respondents actually
attended this year’s IGARSS or are also not IEEE GRSS
members. In both cases the numbers are small. However,
with regards to the registered IGARSS attendees the participation in the survey is around 35 percent this year.
The survey is important for IEEE GRSS to capture the
satisfaction of the current IGARSS and to identify areas
for active improvements. Therefore, we would like to
encourage you to participate in the next IGARSS survey
and to provide us your comments and suggestions.
Before we start with the summary of the IGARSS survey we congratulate the IGARSS 2013 Organizing Committee for the successful performance of the symposium.
T
IGARSS 2013 attracted this year a huge number of
attendees from Asia and the Pacific region with less attendees from Western Europe and North America (Figure 3).
60 percent of the attendees were ranked as mid-career
and early-career and 25 percent as students. The student
rate is just as high as at IGARSS 2012 in Munich.
Academic members increased slightly their attendance
to 67 percent, whereas a slight decrease is noticed to 18
percent of Governmental employees and 8 percent in the
private sector.
REASONS FOR ATTENDANCE
The main reasons for attending IGARSS are the technical
content and the networking opportunity. On average, 80
percent of the attendees are satisfied with the Technical
Program of IGARSS. Depending on the actual year there
are slight variations observed.
Melbourne 2013
Munich 2012
Vancouver 2011
Honolulu 2010
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
FIGURE 1. Percentage of the ratio between survey respondents
to total IGARSS attendees per IGARSS.
RESPONDENT DEMOGRAPHICS
On average, 71 percent of the IGARSS 2013 attendees that
answered the survey are IEEE or GRSS members. High
fractions are non-members (around 28 percent). The society is actively trying to attract new members by granting
complimentary affiliate memberships at conferences.
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FIGURE 2. Exhibition and coffee break space at IGARSS 2013.
DECEMBER 2013
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The pre-conference tutorial attendance was weak this
year and therefore a new question has been placed in order
to observe if a change is needed. However, 64 percent of
the responses quoted that the Tutorials should be retained
on the Sunday before IGARSS starts. The Director of Education surveyed all the attendees of the Tutorials in some
detail, to ensure that the topics are appropriate to the needs
of the membership, and to check perceived quality.
PEER REVIEW OF PROCEEDINGS
Also this year, a dedicated question was posed to the
attendees to determine whether a change in the abstract
review system is required. About 41 percent of the attendees prefer the present model of peer-reviewed abstracts
only and about 31 percent would prefer to see 4-page, fully
reviewed papers. This amount has not changed significantly over the years and a discussion should be launched
to consider if a change can be implemented as a trial.
BALANCE OF INVITED AND CONTRIBUTED SESSIONS
The preference of the respondents is to keep the percentage
of invited papers to 10–20 percent. The invited sessions
are organized by individuals with reviews by the convener
and at least two independent reviewers (Figure 5).
POSTER, TOURS AND CONFERENCE VENUE
At IGARSS 2013, traditional poster presentations were
hosted. 62 percent of the attendees liked the style of the
poster presentations. However, a lot of comments were
received about the low quality of the poster content and
also the low attendance at the poster sessions. One reason of the low attendance, explained by the respondents,
was the very late placements of the sessions during the day
with no coffee break attached. Improvements to the poster
session formats should be considered for future IGARSS.
Regarding the venue, a clear preference is given to a
Convention Center with a lot of space for session rooms
and poster displays (Figure 6).
IGARSS 2013 EXPERIENCE
The attendance of this IGARSS in terms of abstracts submitted and registration was the lowest since IGARSS 2009
in South Africa. One main reason was the enormous
4
3
2013 Melbourne
2012 Munich
2011 Vancouver
2010 Honolulu
2
1
0%
20%
40%
60%
FIGURE 4. Percentage of respondent rating the technical content
of IGARSS: (1) excellent, (2) good, (3) satisfactory and (4) in need
of improvement.
5
4
2013 Melbourne
2012 Munich
2011 Vancouver
2010 Honolulu
3
2
1
0
10
20
30
40
50
FIGURE 5. Percentage of invited papers: (1) less than 10, (2) 10-20,
(3) 20–30 (4) 30–40 and (5) 40–50.
6
4
5
2013 Melbourne
2012 Munich
2011 Vancouver
2010 Honolulu
4
3
3
2013 Melbourne
2012 Munich
2011 Vancouver
2010 Honolulu
2
2
1
1
0
20
40
60
0
10
20
30
40
50
FIGURE 3. Percentage of respondents by region: (1) Africa, (2)
Asia/Pacific, (3) Western Europe, (4) Eastern Europe, (5) North
America and (6) South America.
DECEMBER 2013
FIGURE 6. Venues type preference: (1) Hotel, (2) Convention
Center, (3) University and (4) no preference.
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travel distance and the associated costs. In addition, the
sequestration in the USA restricted the number of participants to attend this international conference.
An innovation at IGARSS 2013 was the use of an
IGARSS App, where regular changes in the program could
be followed. The acceptance of this tool was very high and
was recommended to be improved and continued for next
IGARSS symposia.
SUMMARY
In summary the ongoing survey shows that the current
format of IGARSS is satisfactory for most of the participants. Some more attention should be paid on the quality
of the paper content and that will be a point of discussion
with the next local organizing team.
We would like to thank all respondents to the survey
for their evaluation and valuable comments. The outcome
of this survey is being provided to the Quebec City local
organizing committee, hosts of IGARSS 2014.
The Conference Advisory Committee
◗ Michael Inggs
◗ John Kerekes
◗ Bill Emery
◗ Tom Lukowski
◗ Adriano Camps
◗ Irena Hajnsek (Chair).
ANDRÉ MORIN, IEEE Québec, Québec City
MONIQUE BERNIER, INRS-ETE, Québec City
IGARSS 2014 in Québec City—
A Destination for the Mind and the Soul
I
t is with great pleasure that the organizing committee
extends to you an invitation to attend IGARSS 2014 in
beautiful Québec City. We truly believe a successful conference should not only include an enticing technical program but also provide for an enriching social and cultural
experience. With its historical quarter, great outdoors,
vibrant nightlife and renowned gastronomy, Québec City
should appeal to everyone.
Realizing that attendees seldom have the opportunity
to take advantage of the new destinations they visit, the
organizing committee has also made the commitment to
embed in a light yet informative way, local cultural and
historical aspects to the program.
The key dates for IGARSS 2014 are listed in Table 1.
IGARSS’14 THEME
The development of new and renewable sources of energy
in the context of a changing planet is a critical and important issue throughout the world. IGARSS 2014 and the
35th Canadian Symposium on Remote Sensing (CSRS)
will include keynote speakers and include special sessions
dedicated to the “Energy” theme.
In addition to the host of well-established session
themes, IGARSS 2014/35th CSRS topics will also include:
TABLE 1. IGARSS 2014 KEY DATES.
INVITED SESSIONS
Invited session proposal deadline
October 11, 2013
Invited session notification
November 11, 2013
Invited session papers submission deadline
January 13, 2014
TUTORIALS
Tutorial proposal deadline
November 22, 2013
Tutorial notification
December 20, 2013
ABSTRACTS AND PAPERS
Abstract submission system online
November 14, 2013
Abstract submission deadline
January 13, 2014
Review results available online
April 4, 2014
Author registration deadline*
May 16, 2014
Full paper submission deadline
May 30, 2014
GENERAL
Travel support application deadline
January 13, 2014
Student paper competition full paper deadline
January 13, 2014
Registration opens
April 7, 2014
Early registration deadline
May 30, 2014
IGARSS 2014
July 13–18, 2014
*: Papers without an author registered by this date will be withdrawn.
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2168-6831/13/$31.00©2013IEEE
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FIGURE 1. Old Québec from the Plains of Abraham.
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Dynamics of Earth Processes and Climate Change
Oil, Gas and Mineral Exploration
Reservoir Management
Bioenergy
Temporal Analysis: Techniques and Applications
Remote Sensing and Forensic Science
Remote Sensing in Archeology
Remote Sensing in Manufacturing Systems (including
the forest products industry)
◗ Environmental Remediation and Assessment
◗ Remote Sensing in Developing Countries
THE 35TH CANADIAN SYMPOSIUM
ON REMOTE SENSING
IGARSS 2014 will be held in conjunction with the 35th
Canadian Symposium on Remote Sensing (CSRS).
The Canadian Remote Sensing Society (CRSS) is the
focal point for leadership and excellence in advancing
the art, science, technologies and applications of remote
sensing and related fields for our members in Canada and
abroad. The CRSS was formed in 1974 and, among other
highlights, hosts the Canadian Symposium on Remote
Sensing, the longest running national symposium series in
the world that is dedicated to remote sensing. In 2014, we
are delighted to once again partner with IEEE GRSS in cohosting IGARSS with our Canadian Symposium, as we did
in Vancouver (1989), Toronto (2002), and Denver (2006).
QUÉBEC REMOTE SENSING COMMUNITY
With its booming economy and highly trained workforce,
Québec City provides fertile ground for innovation. It
has the province’s highest concentration of research
and transfer centres with 6,000 researchers and associates, 400 laboratories, groups, consortia, institutes, and
R&D centers.
There is a strong commitment to remote sensing in the
Province of Québec, with many groups within governments, universities and industries active in the uses of
Earth Observation data in Canada and abroad, including
the Québec Association of Remote Sensing (AQT), the Network of Centers of Excellence in Geomatics, GEOIDE, etc.
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CONSTANCE LAMOUREUX
FIGURE 2. Place Royale.
The greater Québec area is also home to one of Canada’s
largest concentration of researchers and specialists in photonics and electro-optics. Tele-detection and remote sensing represent a significant portion of these activities, and
the area boasts a significant number of industries, organizations and research centers involved in remote sensing. The interests of these groups are varied, ranging from
defense-related applications to Earth Observation, climatology and weather forecasting. There are providers as well
as end users of hyperspectral data for civilian applications
(agriculture, forestry, oceanography, etc.), represented by
the many companies and Laval University to name a few.
The area also hosts a local IEEE GRSS/AES/OES joint chapter, with activities and events including representatives
from all spheres of the local remote sensing community.
CONFERENCE VENUE—THE QUÉBEC
CITY CONVENTION CENTRE
Directly connected to two major hotels with more than
900 rooms, the Québec City Convention Centre is located
adjacent to Parliament Hill, only 0.1 km away (300 ft.)
from the historic downtown which is part of UNESCO’s
world heritage sites list. The distance to the airport is
approximately 17 km (11 miles).
DESTINATION—QUÉBEC CITY,
A WORLD HERITAGE GEM
Founded in 1608 by Samuel de Champlain, Québec City
is the capital of the Province of Québec and the cradle of
French civilization in America. It is the only city north of
Mexico to have preserved its original fortifications and has
retained its distinctive European charm.
With its cobblestone streets, sidewalk cafés, boutiques
and museums, Québec City is the ideal leisure and travel
destination. The past comes to life for visitors at every
turn in Old Québec, the historic district, where the architecture and urban setting bear witness to the city’s rule
under the French, British, and current regimes. Owing to
its origins, Québec is a truly bilingual destination.
Recognized for its exceptional universal value, Old
Québec was added to UNESCO’s prestigious list of World
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FIGURE 3. The Tourny Fountain.
FIGURE 4. Old Québec during New-France Festival.
Heritage Sites in 1985. The Organization of World Heritage
Cities has chosen to establish its Canadian headquarters in
Québec City.
Visitors in Québec City will find a European atmosphere
in a North American settling and a bilingual environment
that will appeal to visitors from all continents.
The quality of life in Québec City is exceptional. It is a
safe, clean city with one of the lowest crime rates in Canada. You will feel safe strolling the streets night or day.
for anyone who loves the great outdoors: white-water rafting, hiking, mountain biking, horseback riding, golfing…
the choice is yours!
Québec City is also home to a wide variety of shops and
boutiques. A shopping spree awaits the visitor as they stroll
down rue Saint-Jean, rue du Trésor, rue Saint-Paul, OldQuébec’s promenades or Petit-Champlain’s historic quarters, North America’s oldest commercial district.
While in Québec, take your time, as there is something
cultural for everyone to enjoy. Here are a few suggestions
while you are in town.
Discover the Heritage of the Cradle of Canada. Start your
day with a short slide lecture on the British and French
influences. Learn about the history, the architecture, urban
planning and political institutions of the city. Then take a
walking tour focusing on British influences on domestic
architecture, public buildings, as well as public gardens and
parks. Have lunch at the elegant Garrison Club, which was
founded by English speaking military officers in the 1870’s.
The atmosphere remains very British, even though today;
almost all the members speak French.
Meet the great whales. In Québec City, the Saint Lawrence River is already brackish, salt water can be found a
few kilometres down river. A three-hour motor coach drive
down river from Québec City will allow you to discover the
Saguenay Fjord and one of the best whale-watching site in
the world: Baie-Sainte-Catherine and Tadoussac. Aboard
a catamaran (or a zodiac for the more adventurous), you
can admire the largest blue whales, fin whales, humpback
whales and white whales.
Extend your stay and be part of the Québec Summer Festival—Canada’s Largest Music Festival. Immediately prior to
the conference will take place the 47th edition of the Festival
d’été de Québec, the city’s music and street arts festival and
Canada’s largest outdoor musical event: 1,000 artists, 300
shows, 10 stunning venues. World-renowned stars as well
as up-and-coming bands in all styles: rock, hip-hop, electro,
pop, reggae, world beat, and more. Québec city historical
center is taken over by tens of thousands of festival-goers
enjoying the unique ambiance of this urban festival! Placido
AWARD-WINNING INTERNATIONAL REPUTATION
Over five million tourists visit Québec City every year.
They are drawn to its rich architecture, remarkable historic heritage, singular aesthetics, outstanding tourist
facilities, and vibrant culture. Québec City’s appeal as a
tourist destination is widely recognized, and, year after
year, Québec City has been showered with many awards:
◗ 10th best destination in the world, 3rd best in North
America and No. 1 in Canada, Condé Nast Traveler
(2013);
◗ In Travel+Leisure (Summer 2013), Québec City ranks
first among the top destinations in Canada and eighth
in North America in the “World’s Best Awards 2013”
◗ In the top 10 of best North American destinations and
2nd best Canadian destination, Travel + Leisure (2012)
◗ 6th travel destination in the world, 3rd in North America
and 1st in Canada, Condé Nast Traveler (2011)
◗ 7th favorite romantic destination in the world, TripAdvisor Travelers’ Choice Awards (2010).
ACTIVITIES AND ATTRACTIONS—
SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE
The Québec area is the hometown of the world’s famous
Cirque du Soleil. No wonder then that Québec City knows
how to entertain people.
The city’s network of recreational facilities offers a wide
range of sports, leisure, outdoor, and indoor activities. Just
a few minutes from downtown, re-discover the wonders of
nature. The Québec area being surrounded by mountains,
lakes and rivers, there is always something exciting to do
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LA MAISON SIMONS
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LOUIS VÉZINA
Domingo, Metallica, Elton John, Céline Dion, Bon Jovi,
Sting, Paul McCartney, Charles Aznavour, Simple Plan…,
year over year, the choice is yours.
Observatoire de la Capitale. Visit the Observatoire de la
Capitale, an observatory atop a 221-meter tower offering a
stunning panoramic view.
Dufferin Terrace. Stroll along the Dufferin Terrace and
Old Québec’s funicular, for a panoramic view of the St.
Lawrence River.
The Citadel. Visit the Citadel, an active military garrison where visitors can watch the changing of the guard or
explore the Governor General’s official residence.
Battlefield Park. Have lunch on the Battlefield Park also
known as the Plains of Abraham, where French and British
clashed in the 1759 historic battle that changed the face of
America forever.
Promenade Samuel-De-Champlain. Ride a bike or walk
the Promenade Samuel-De-Champlain, which runs 2.5 km
along the St. Lawrence River.
Village Vacances Valcartier. On a hot summer day, Village Vacances Valcartier offers plenty of exciting activities
such as water slides.
The Wendake Huron village. Located on the HuronWendat reservation, the Huron Traditional Site is a unique
opportunity to discover the history, the culture and the lifestyle of Native American Hurons.
Montmorency Falls. On the Côte-de-Beaupré, ten minutes away from the Convention Centre, discover the
83-meter high (272 feet) Montmorency Falls, a natural masterpiece that is one and a half times higher than
Niagara Falls. Get close the falls, climb to lookouts on the
cliff, or simply take the cable car to have a breathtaking
walk over the falls.
A GOURMET DESTINATION—
OVER A THOUSAND RESTAURANTS
Québec City is known as the gastronomic capital of
North America. The downtown area and its historical district boast the most restaurants per capita on the continent! The choice of restaurants includes many of superior
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FIGURE 5. Rue du Petit-Champlain street.
FIGURE 6. Old Port from Dufferin Terrace.
quality, indulging a wide range of gastronomic pleasures.
Another great way to experience Quebecers’ joie de vivre
is to partake of the downtown nightlife! Catch a jazz set,
taste a local beer directly from the microbrewery, or hit
the dance floor at one of our many nightclubs… open
until 3 a.m.!
Old Québec alone offers a breathtaking selection of
more than 100 restaurants for all tastes and budgets.
Numerous fine restaurants can be found nestled in ageold buildings where the service is attentive and the wine
list impressive.
ACCOMMODATIONS—FROM LUXURY
TO BOUTIQUE HOTELS
The vicinity of the Convention Centre abounds with
hotels for all budgets and tastes within 5–10 minutes
walking distance. The Québec City area boasts over 12,000
hotel rooms and suites in the historic heart of town, urban
neighborhoods, and the surrounding countryside. Old
Québec features a number of bed & breakfasts and boutique hotels featuring highly personalized service and distinctive style.
Housing is also available in campus dorms. Over
1,600 rooms and suites are available from mid-May to late
August, on two local campuses including Université Laval.
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Youth hostels remain an affordable option for both young
and old.
You can also choose from a variety of accommodations
such as large chain hotels, motels, and inns surrounding
the downtown area. Less than 30 minutes from downtown Québec near many resorts, sports, and recreation
centres, numerous small and large inns, condominiums
and hotel complexes are specially designed to welcome
conventioneers.
QUÉBEC CITY, EASY TRAVEL
Québec City is easily accessible by plane, car, train, and
ship. Its strategic location on North America’s northeastern
coast places it near primary business and research centres.
It is about 90 minutes by plane from New York, Detroit, or
Toronto, and less than 50 minutes from Montréal.
Direct flights are available daily to and from major eastern Canadian and American hub airports such as Mon-
tréal, Ottawa, Toronto, Boston, Detroit, New York, Chicago,
Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia with easy connections
to international destinations.
For delegates from the Northeastern USA, or Eastern
and Central Canada, car travel is a viable option.
Two train stations serve Québec City and its surrounding areas, one downtown and one in the suburbs. Via Rail
Canada offers daily service between Toronto, Ottawa, and
Québec City, and up to five daily connections between
Montréal and Québec.
The only deep-water port open year-round in the heart of
the continent, the Port of Québec is a must stop on the New
England-St. Lawrence route. Its cruise ship terminal, located
in the city’s historic and cultural district welcomes cruise ships
from Europe and the United States from May to October.
For the latest updates on IGARSS 2014, please visit
www.igarss2014.com. For further information on the
Québec City area, please consult www.quebecregion.com.
PAUL GADER, University of Florida, Gainesville
ALINA ZARE, University of Missouri, Columbia
JEREMY BOLTON, University of Florida, Gainesville
JOCELYN CHANUSSOT, GIPSA-Lab, Grenoble Institute of Technology, France
WHISPERS 2013
5th Workshop on Hyperspectral Image and Signal Processing—Evolution in Remote Sensing
T
he 5th Workshop on Hyperspectral Image and Signal
Processing—Evolution in Remote Sensing (WHISPERS) was held on June 25–28, 2013 in Gainesville, FL.
WHISPERS 2013 received the technical sponsorship of
the IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society (GRSS),
and support from the University of Florida and the WHISPERS Foundation. The workshop held two parallel tracks
over three days and was a great success welcoming over
180 international researchers.
A total of 180 papers were submitted (both regular and
special session submissions), 158 of which were accepted,
50
resulting in a 12% rejection rate. There were 90 oral presentations and 68 posters. WHISPERS 2013 comprised of
24 carefully arranged sessions covering a wide spectrum
of topics and techniques in hyperspectral image and signal processing. The workshop was enhanced by several
special sessions: Planetary Exploration chaired by Bethany Ehlmann, CalTech and Sylvian Doute, IPAG, France;
Thermal Hyperspectral Imaging chaired by Michal Shimoni, SIC-RMA, Belgium and Xavier Briottet, ONERADOTA, France; Detection of Difficult Targets chaired by
James Theiler and Al Schaum; and Spectral Unmixing
chaired by Mario Parente, University of Massachusetts
and Qian (Jenny) Du, Mississippi State University. All the
papers published at WHISPERS 2013 will be available on
IEEE Xplore.
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WHISPERS 2013 attendees in Gainesville, FL.
The banquet was featured a 17-piece “big band” where General Chair Paul Gader played the saxophone. Also, attendees had the opportunity to learn
how to swing dance from dance instructors and, then, dance into the night.
As in the previous year, tutorials were offered at WHISPERS 2013. These tutorials included:
◗ “Spectral Unmixing of Hyperspectral Data“ by Prof.
Antonio J. Plaza, Department of Technology of Computers and Communications, University of Extremadura, Spain
◗ “Feature Mining from Hyperspectral Data“ by Dr. Xuping Jia, School of Engineering and Information Technology, The University of New South Wales, Australia
◗ “Hyperspectral Target and Anomaly Detection“ by Dr.
Qian Du, Mississippi State University, USA.
The technical program also featured three outstanding
plenary talks delivered by prestigious and highly recognized experts worldwide:
DECEMBER 2013
◗ “Compressive Spectral Imaging,“ David J. Brady, Duke
University, Durham, NC, USA
◗ “The Hyperion Imaging Spectrometer on the Earth
Observing One (EO-1)“ Elizabeth M. Middleton, Biospheric Sciences Laboratory, USA
◗ “Recent Advances in Spectral Unmixing of Hyperspectral
Data“ Antonio Plaza, University of Extramadura, Spain.
Three papers were selected to receive a Best Paper
Award, in no specific order. The authors received one
copy of the greatly sought-after “golden whispers” trophy
and a certificate of recognition. Congratulations go to:
◗ “Non-linear Hyperspectral Unmixing using the Gaussian Process,” Yoann Altmann, Nicolas Dobigeon, Steve
McLaughlin and Jean-Yves Tourneret
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Josee Levesque receiving the best paper certificate and trophy from
WHISPERS 2013 Chairs.
WHISPERS 2013 had very interactive and well-attended poster sessions
as shown here.
Kuniaki Uto receiving the best paper certificate and trophy from the
WHISPERS 2013 Chairs.
Our warmest thanks to our three prestigious plenary speakers: David
Brady, Elizabeth Middleton, and Antonio Plaza, two of which are
pictured here with WHISPERS 2013 Chairs.
Yoann Altmann from IRIT, Toulouse receiving the best paper certificate
and trophy from WHISPERS 2013 Chairs.
◗ “Hyperspectral Gas and Polarization Sensing in the
LWIR: Recent Results with MoDDIFS,” Jean-Marc
Theriault, Gilles Fortin, Francois Bouffard, Hugo
Lavoie, Paul Lacasse and Josee Levesque
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◗ “Leaf Parameter Estimation Based on Shading Distri-
bution in Leaf Scale Hyperspectral Images,” Kuniaki
Uto and Yukio Kosugi.
Furthermore, a special issue of the IEEE Journal of
Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote
Sensing (IEEE-JSTARS) associated to WHISPERS 2013 (but
open to everyone working on hyperspectral image and
signal processing) will be published.
WHISPERS is also a venue for cross-fertilization
between industrial partners and researchers from the
academic world. We would like to thank the companies
sponsoring and/or exhibiting their latest products during
the event. The companies in attendance at WHISPERS
2013 were ITRES, ASD, Inc., SpectralEvolution, HeadWall
Photonics, and HySpex—Norsk Elektro Optikk. Some of
them are WHISPERS’ long-term sponsors and we truly
appreciate their continued support!
In addition to the technical program, social events
included a welcome reception at the Florida Museum of
Natural History and a banquet at Cellar 12 in Downtown
DECEMBER 2013
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Innovation doesn’t just happen.
Read first-person accounts of
IEEE members who were there.
GRS
Photo: NASA
WHISPERS is a venue for cross-fertilization between industrial
partners and researchers from the academic world. We would like
to thank the companies sponsoring and/or exhibiting their latest
products during the event.
Gainesville. The welcome reception featured full access
to the museum including displays of fossils found in
Florida, full-scale recreations of a Florida hammock forest, caves, and bogs in addition to delicious food and lavish desserts. The museum also opened its unique Butterfly Rainforest to the WHISPERS attendees. The banquet,
held in downtown Gainesville, included entertainment
from a live, 17-piece “big band” and swing dancing with
dance instructors.
The success of WHISPERS 2013 would be impossible
without the hardworking of our technical program committee members. We are very grateful for their detailed
reviews, which is the key to maintaining WHISPERS as
the most prestigious meeting in hyperspectral remote
sensing. We would also like to thank the local organizing committee and volunteers to help with many tedious
but important duties. Last but not least, we would like
to thank our loyal WHISPERS attendees, who travelled
thousands of miles to attend and support this meeting.
Their presence is always great encouragement to organizing teams.
After the first five successful WHISPERS meetings, we
are very happy to announce that the 6th WHISPERS will
move to Lausanne, Switzerland.
Looking forward to seeing you in Lausanne in June
2014 for this GRSS premier event!
IEEE Global History Network
www.ieeeghn.org
DECEMBER 2013
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GRSS MEMBER HIGHLIGHTS
Appropriate Use of Bibliometric Indicators
for the Assessment of Journals,
Research Proposals, and Individuals
(Adopted by the IEEE Board of Directors 9 September 2013)
B
ibliometric indicators provide numerical scales
that are intended to quantitatively determine the
value of scientific research and the scholarly publication in which that research is published. Since scientific performance cannot, of course, be directly “measured”, citations acquired by each published paper are
assumed as a proxy for quality, without prejudging the
reasons for the citations.
The application of bibliometrics to quantify the
significance of individual journals dates back several
decades [1] and the field has now reached a sufficiently
high level of maturity to recognize that the scientific
impact of journals as evaluated by bibliometrics is a
complex, multi-dimensional construct and therefore
more than one indicator is needed for such evaluation
[2]–[4]. Nearly all commonly used bibliometric indices
[1], [5]–[7] can be classified fundamentally as measuring either popularity or prestige, two concepts for which
citation behaviors are valued in different and complementary ways. These indices also offer differing consideration of self-citations and have various levels of
susceptibility to potential manipulation. As such, use of
a single bibliometric index to rank, evaluate, and value
journals is inappropriate. Rather, the use of multiple
metrics with complementary features provides a more
comprehensive view of journals and their relative placements in their fields.
Recently, citation counts and proxies thereof have
risen in importance as fundamental elements in the
determination of the scientific impact of entire departments or universities and research centers [8], funding
evaluations of research proposals and the assessment
of individual scientists for tenure and promotion [9],
54
salary raises [10], or even to predict future career success [11]. While the first use is technically appropriate,
provided it relies on data collected from a sufficiently
large set to provide a statistically meaningful analysis,
this condition is never satisfied when applied to individual scientists.
Furthermore, while using data appropriate for an
individual researcher (such as average citation count or
h-index and its variations [12]) can provide information
to be adopted in conjunction with other measures to form
a comprehensive evaluation, the use of the bibliometric
index of a journal in which a researcher publishes (typically the Impact Factor (IF)) as a proxy for the quality of
his/her specific paper is a common example of a technically incorrect use of bibliometrics [13], [29]. There is, in
fact, no guarantee that every single article published in
a high-impact journal, as determined by any particular
metric, will be of high quality and highly cited.
Measuring individual impact by using journal bibliometric indicators is worse when comparing researchers
in different areas. In fact, citation practices vary significantly across disciplines and even sub-disciplines, and
similarly the number of scientists (and authors) contributing to a specific field can be substantially different.
This can result in large numerical differences for some
bibliometric indicators (the IF in particular) that have
no correlation with the actual scientific quality of the
corresponding journals.
When based upon such data as a measurement of
“scientific quality,” decisions by research funding agencies or by tenure/promotion committees can be misguided and biased.
Such technically incorrect use of bibliometric indices is a problem of severe concern in the scholarly community. Many scientists and science organizations in
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US, Europe and Australia have raised concerns about or
taken strong positions against purely numerical assessment based on bibliometrics (see, e.g., [14]–[18],[29]),
highlighting the potential unintended and adverse consequences of these practices. They have proposed clear
recommendations on the correct use of such indices [19],
[29], and described best practices for using peer review in
the assessment of scientists and research projects [20]–
[23]. A common conclusion is the recognition of the need
to use multiple indicators as well of the importance of
peer review in the assessment of research quality, which
resulted in the recommendation that bibliometric performance indicators should be applied only as a collective
group (and not individually), and in conjunction with
peer review following a clearly stated code of conduct.
The IEEE, in its leading position as the world’s largest
professional association dedicated to advancing technological innovation and in its desire to fulfill its primary mission of fostering technological excellence for the benefit of
humanity, recognizes the above concerns about the inappropriate application of bibliometrics to the evaluation of
both scientists and research proposals.
More specifically, the IEEE endorses the following tenets
in conducting proper assessment in the areas of Engineering, Computer Science and Information Technology:
1) The use of multiple complementary bibliometric indicators [2]–[4] is fundamentally important to offer
an appropriate, comprehensive and balanced view of
each journal in the space of scholarly publications. The
IEEE has recently adopted the Eigenfactor and the Article
Influence [5] in addition to the IF for the internal and
competitive assessment of its publications [24] and welcomes the adoption of other appropriate complementary measures at the article level, such as those recently
introduced in the framework of the so-called altmetrics
[25], once they have been appropriately validated and
recognized by the scientific community.
2) Any journal-based metric is not designed to capture
qualities of individual papers and must therefore not be
used as a proxy for single-article quality or to evaluate
individual scientists [26]–[28]. All journals’ bibliometric
indices are obtained by averaging over many papers, and
it cannot be assumed that every single article published
in a high-impact journal, as determined by any particular journal metric, will be highly cited.
3) While bibliometrics may be employed as a source of
additional information for quality assessment within a
specific area of research, the primary manner for assessment of either the scientific quality of a research project or of an individual scientist should be peer review,
which will consider the scientific content as the most
important aspect, and also the publication expectations
in the area, and the size and practice of the research
community.
The IEEE also recognizes the increasing importance of
bibliometric indicators as independent measures of qualDECEMBER 2013
ity or impact of any scientific publication and therefore
explicitly and firmly condemns any practice aimed at
influencing the number of citations to a specific journal
with the sole purpose of artificially influencing the corresponding indices.
REFERENCES
[1] E. Garfield, “Citation analysis as a tool in journal evaluation,”
Science, vol. 178, no. 4060, pp. 471–479, 1972.
[2] C. Neylon and S. Wu, “Article-level metrics and the evolution of
scientific impact’”, PLOS Biol., vol. 7, no. 11, p. e1000242, 2009.
[3] J. Bollen, H. van de Sompel, A. Hagberg, and R. Chute, “A principal component analysis of 39 scientific impact measures,” PLOS
One, vol. 4, no. 6, p. e6022, 2009.
[4] L. Leydesdorff, “How are new citation-based journal indicators
adding to the bibliometric toolbox?” J. Amer. Soc. Inform. Sci.
Technol., vol. 60, no. 7, pp. 1327–1336, 2008.
[5] J. D. West, T. C. Bergstrom, and C. T. Bergstrom, “The eigenfactor metrics: A network approach to assessing scholarly journals,”
College Res. Libr., vol. 71, no. 3, pp. 236–244, 2010.
[6] B. Gonzalez-Pereira, V. P. Guerrero-Bote, and F. Moya-Anegon,
“A new approach to the metric of journals scientific prestige: The
SJR indicator,’’ J. Informetr. vol. 4, no. 3, pp. 379–391, 2010.
[7] H. F. Moed, “Measuring contextual citation impact of scientific
journals,” J. Informetr. vol. 4, no. 3, pp. 265–277, 2010.
[8] L. Waltman, C. Calero-Medina, J. Kosten, E. C. M. Noyons, R. J.
W. Tijssen, N. Jan van Eck, T. N. van Leeuwen, A. F. J. van Raan,
M. S. Visser, and P. Wouters. (2012, Feb. 17). The Leiden ranking
2011/2012: Data collection, indicators, and Interpretation [Online]. Available: http://arxiv.org/abs/1202.3941
[9] S. Lehmann, A. D. Jackson, and B. E. Lautrup, “Measures for Measures,” Nature, vol. 444, pp. 1003–1004, Dec. 21/28, 2006.
[10] J. Shao and H. Shen, “The outflow of academic papers from China: Why is it happening and can it be stemmed?” Learn. Publishing, vol. 24, no. 2, pp. 95–97, Apr. 2011.
[11] D. E. Acuna, S. Allessina, and K. P. Kording, “Future impact: Predicting scientific success,” Nature, vol. 489, no. 7415, pp. 201–
202, 2012.
[12] S. Alonso, F. Cabrerizo, E. Herrera-Viedma, and F. Herrera, “Hindex: A review focused in its variants, computation and standardization for different scientific fields,” J. Informetr., vol. 3, no.
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[13] G. F. Gaetani and A. M. Ferraris, “Academic promotion in Italy,”
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[17] A. Abbott, D. Cyranoski, N. Jones, B. Maher, Q. Schiermeier, and
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[18] National Health and Medical Research Council. (2010, Apr.).
NHMRC removes journal impact factor from peer review of individual research grant and fellowship applications [Online].
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peer/impact%20factors%20in%20peer%20review.pdf
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[19] Institut de France, Académie des Sciences. (2011, Jan. 17). On
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[29] (2013). San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment. [Online]. Available: http://am.ascb.org/dora/
GRSS Members Elevated to the Grade of
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GRS
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INDUSTRIAL PROFILES
KUMAR NAVULUR, FABIO PACIFICI, AND BILL BAUGH
Trends in Optical Commercial
Remote Sensing Industry
O
ver the last decade, significant progress has been
made in developing and launching satellites suited for earth observation, with instruments in both the
optical/infrared and microwave regions of the spectra.
Commercial availability of optical very high spatial resolution spaceborne imagery began more than 10 years
ago with the launch of IKONOS and QuickBird, which
led to an increasing interest in satellite data for mapping and precise location-based service applications.
Since then, a large amount of data has been acquired,
including images from newer and more complex platforms such as WorldView-1, WorldView-2, GeoEye-1,
and the more recent Pleiades-1A and Pleiades-1B. Currently, the potential global capacity of very high spatial
resolution imaging satellites is greater than 1.8 billion
square kilometers per year, which corresponds to more
than 12 times the land surface area of the earth. This
capacity could potentially increase to more than 2.4 billion square kilometers per year (about 16 times the land
surface area of the earth) in the near future.
Despite the vast amounts of data collected, commercial imagery providers are finding that imagery
alone does not meet all customers’ real needs. Users
in many domains require information or informationrelated services that are focused, concise, reliable, lowcost, timely, and which are provided in forms and formats specific to a user’s own activities.
The commercial remote sensing industry is on the
verge of an information revolution, as new satellites are
developed that offer increased resolution, improved
accuracies, and faster access to imagery and derived
information. These trends are further aided by technology improvements in processing speeds, cloud computing, delivery mechanisms, and new information extraction techniques that will make the imagery and derived
information more economical and accessible.
DECEMBER 2013
As shown in Figure 1, the evolution of the geospatial
industry can be illustrated as four different eras, each
characterized by its ground-breaking emphasis, namely
resolution, accuracy and precision, speed, and analytics. Satellite resolution was leveraged in a way to support basic geospatial needs, where a premium was placed on the detail
within the scene. For years, the industry rode the “onemeter-resolution” standard that has since been surpassed
by resolutions well under a half-meter. Accuracy and precision became relevant as both government and commercial enterprises focused on building maps to facilitate
urban planning, infrastructure deployment, and voiceguided turn-by-turn navigation systems. Speed became a
critical aspect as an expanding number of users wanted
and expected on-demand, rapid access to data required
for emergency planning and response, risk assessment,
and monitoring. And now, as the fourth era unfolds with
the expectation of both information and insight derived
from the imagery, the geospatial industry is well positioned to deliver capabilities that include custom site
monitoring, change detection analysis, and active monitoring of “hot events” around the world, such as natural
disasters, social unrest, or man-made crises.
1. RESOLUTION
The designing and launching of more sophisticated space
sensors has led to increasingly finer spatial, spectral,
and temporal resolutions of data. Sensors with meter or
sub-meter resolutions allow the detection of small-scale
objects, such as elements of residential housing, commercial buildings, transportation systems, and utilities.
Sensors with spectral capabilities provide additional discriminative features for objects that are spatially similar.
The temporal component, integrated with the spectral
and spatial dimensions, can provide critical information, such as vegetation dynamics. Additionally, newer
classes of satellites have high-performance camera control systems capable of rapid re-targeting, allowing the
2168-6831/13/$31.00©2013IEEE
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the delineation of cars’ windshields. Cars’ side mirrors can
4th Era:
3rd Era:
be detected only with 30 cm
Analytics
Speed
2nd Era:
imagery, clearing a path for
New
Valuable
ProblemAccuracy and
Reliance on Imagery
Solving Uses Emerging
Precision
automated computer vision
at an All-Time High
1st Era:
and Priority Becomes
and
Customer
Priority
Resolution
techniques permitting car
Emergence of Map
Measuring on Surface
Becomes Speed
Making
Industry
and
model identification. It is
and
Below
Water
Customer Needs
and Relevancy
Greater Accuracy
Evolve Beyond
also worth noting that yelDrives Growth
Aerial
low lines in the parking area
appear clearer at 30 cm resolution, while they are barely
visible at 1 m resolution.
Spectral resolution refers
to the number of spectral
FIGURE 1. The four eras of the geospatial industry evolution.
bands available on a satellite.
Each of the spectral bands is
designed for specific applications and can range from viscollection of dozens of images over a single target, each with
ible, to near infrared (NIR), to short wave infrared (SWIR),
a unique angular perspective, within a few seconds.
to thermal bands. Commercial satellites primarily have four
Spatial resolution refers to pixel size with respect to the
bands in the visible and NIR bands (VNIR). DigitalGlobe’s
smallest feature that can be detected from space. The late 1990s
WorldView-2 satellite was designed with eight spectral bands
saw the launch of the first sub-meter resolution satellite, IKOin the VNIR region, with the additional bands being much
NOS. Since then, satellites have been trending toward higher
narrower in width (40 to 50 nm) as compared to 100 nm or
and higher resolutions. DigitalGlobe currently operates some
broader in typical VNIR bands. Figure 3 illustrates the “walkof the highest spatial resolution commercial satellites with
through” from the longest to the shortest wavelengths, of the
resolutions up to .41 cm. In the coming years, several comeight spectral bands of WorldView-2 over a coastal region.
mercial providers expect to launch satellites with 1 m resoluFigure 3 (a) shows the scene in true color. As displayed, diftion or better. For example, the Indian Cartosat-3 is planned
ferent features appear with different band combinations. For
to collect imagery at 25 cm resolution. Figure 2 illustrates the
example, wave refraction patterns and submerged aquatic
refinement in spatial accuracy using platforms with 1 m, 50
vegetation appear clear with combinations of the NIR bands,
cm, and 30 cm resolution. For example, cars can be detected
whereas structural features are visible using shorter wave viswith some level of uncertainty (depending on their size) with
ible bands, such as coastal and blue channels.
1 m resolution imagery, whereas 50 cm resolution allows for
50 cm
30 cm
100 cm
FIGURE 2. Increasing spatial resolution in optical satellite imaging.
58
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(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
(e)
(f)
FIGURE 3. Spectral information in various spectral bands on WorldView-2.
ing high off-nadir images that can be used to measure
Radiometric resolution refers to the bits of informaheights of objects such as buildings or oil tanks. Multiple
tion in the imagery. Radiometric capabilities have greatly
images over an area of interest, collected either in one pass
increasing in recent years, with sensors evolving from
or multiple passes, can be used to create accurate 3D mod8-bit, to 11-bit, to 14-bit. These increased capabilities
els of cities as well as highly accuracy elevation models.
determine the quality of the images and, subsequently,
Figure 5 illustrates the process of automatically generating
the ability to extract information from them accurately
a realistic 3D model, from the planning of the collection
and in automated fashion.
as shown in (a), to the extraction of 2 m resolution Digital
Temporal resolution refers to the frequency that a satelSurface Model (DSM) and Digital Terrain Model (DTM)
lite, or constellation of satellites, can collect imagery over a
illustrated in (b), to the final city model as shown in (c).
given area of interest. With the increased agility provided by
technologies such as controlled moment gyros, today’s sat2. POSITIONAL ACCURACY AND PRECISION
ellites can take images further from nadir, greatly improving
As location-based systems become an integral part of life,
collection efficiency and allowing rapid collection of point
high accuracy and precision are two aspects needed to
targets. Improved temporal resolution all serves to increase
ensure that imagery and derived information can be used
area collection capability, due in part to technologies that
permit forward and backward scanning. Figure 4 illustrates the agility of the five DigitalQuickBird
WorldView-1 WorldView-2
IKONOS
GeoEye-1
Globe satellites constellation.
DigitalGlobe’s constellation has intra-day
revisit anywhere across the globe and it is capable
of collecting over 3 million square kilometers of
imagery every day. The company’s archive has
complete coverage of most nations and urban
areas have imagery as fresh as three months old.
30 s
7s
7s
18 s
20 s
Angular resolution refers to the agility of a
Target 1 200 km Target 2
satellite system to collect off-nadir as well as
stereo imagery. Satellites are capable of shoot- FIGURE 4. Satellite agility of the DigitalGlobe`s constellation.
DECEMBER 2013
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Pass A
Pass B
A1
B1
A2
B2
A3
B3
Target AOI
A4
B4
A5
Two Separate Pass
Groundtracks
B5
(a)
(b)
(c)
FIGURE 5. Urban 3D model extracted from multiple images.
for actionable intelligence. Imagery’s positional accuracy has been steadily improving with errors around 23
m in the early 2000s to 3 m today. Increased accuracy is
primarily due to more stable orbits and innovative post
processing techniques that reduce the error margins.
There are several technologies that enable efficient registration of data to a base map, both imagery as well as
vector base layers. This practice is referred to as “second
60
generation ortho” where a new image is registered to a
base map that is, in turn, used for maintenance and updates of geospatial databases aligned to the base map.
The coming years will see accuracies getting better with
increased spectral resolution. Precision, on the other
hand, refers to relative accuracy of images collected over
time. This is an important aspect to consider when creating and maintaining multi-year geospatial databases.
DECEMBER 2013
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Platform
Accuracy Levels
QuickBird
r
r
23 m CE90 or Better
Quick Production
r
r
4.0 m CE90 or Better
Broad Coverage with High
Accuracy for Mapping
and Feature Extraction
r
r
2.6 m CE90
United States and
Western Europe
WorldView-1
WorldView-2
Precision Aerial
Increasing Accuracy
Increasing Precision
FIGURE 6. Increasing spatial accuracy of satellite imagery.
Figure 6 illustrates the concepts of accuracy and precision.
As shown, newer platforms such as the WorldView series
of satellites have an average accuracy of 4 m which can be
compared to the performance of precision aerial imagery.
4. SPEED
Following events such as natural disasters, imagery itself
can be made available to end users within hours of acquisition. DigitalGlobe has invested in a network of ground
terminals distributed across the globe that allow imagery to be captured, processed, and distributed to the final
users within minutes from collection.
Speed can also be assessed as a function of time relative to the mapping of large areas. Using traditional mapping techniques, cartographers typically take four to five
years to create authoritative maps. These timelines are no
longer acceptable for today’s geospatial needs. The remote
sensing industry has started leveraging high performance
computing (HPC) and cloud computing to make these
tasks faster and more efficient than ever. Figure 7 illustrates three years’ worth of cloud-free imagery available
over Mexico from the DigitalGlobe archive, and the corresponding orthomosaic of Northern Mexico at 50 cm
resolution created by DigitalGlobe in less than three days.
5. ANALYSIS
Today, DigitalGlobe’s archive has more than 4.5 billion
square kilometers of imagery. As users have started mapping and monitoring the world at unprecedented rates,
there is a growing need for information suited for “actionable intelligence” and decision making. This need is leading the geospatial industry toward sophisticated information extraction techniques that were never possible
DECEMBER 2013
before. For example, DigitalGlobe uses a combination
of automated tools for generating derived products over
large areas using various analysis techniques. Information layers created through these analyses leverage imagery’s rich spectral, spatial, and angular information to
create derived-information that is complete and ready to
fulfill the user needs in many domains.
With the growing acceptance of “crowdsourcing” the geospatial industry is now able to leverage almost any person to
help rapidly add information to pixels. For example, as tornados touched down in Oklahoma in May 2013, DigitalGlobe
tasked its satellite constellation to capture imagery of the
area. Upon collection, DigitalGlobe launched its recently
acquired Tomnod Crowdsourcing System (TCS) to help
extract information from the image. The crowd was able to
quickly and efficiently locate affected areas in order to help
with the delivery of aid and support. DigitalGlobe’s TCS
approach is most powerful in situations where rapid insight
is required in order to enable fast decision making. In support
of the Oklahoma crisis, announcements were sent out to the
FIGURE 7. Three years’ worth of cloud-free imagery over Mexico
and the corresponding orthomosaic of Northern Mexico at 50 cm
resolution created in less than three days.
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crowd on Facebook and Twitter, and to
dedicated groups, such as CrisisMappers.
Users were given a short tutorial and then
asked to view the imagery and identify
destroyed buildings, tarped roofs, and
fallen trees. Within 60 minutes, over
15,000 points of interest were collected
by the crowd and the crowdsourced damage map was immediately published
online. The damage map in Figure 8
highlights the trail left by the tornado of
destroyed buildings (in orange) as identified by members of the TCS crowd. Just
off of the main path of the tornado, it is
FIGURE 8. DigitalGlobe’s TCS crowd sourcing based assessment of the tornado
possible to see the tarped roofs that had
damage on the ground, in Moore Okla., USA.
been identified (in blue) where buildings
were partially damaged by high winds or flying debris.
True Color
Cloud
Smoke
(a)
SWIR (2,215 nm)
Cloud
Active
Fire
(b)
FIGURE 9. Imagery of a forest fire near Los Angeles, CA, on Sep-
tember 3, 2009: (a) true color (RGB) composite, (b) SWIR band at
2,215 nm. Note that while smoke is nearly transparent in the SWIR
image, water vapor clouds remain opaque.
62
6. WORLDVIEW-3
The latest trends in the geospatial industry have influenced the design of DigitalGlobe’s newest satellite. WorldView-3, to be launched in 2014, is expected to be the first
very high spatial resolution, multi-payload, super-spectral
commercial satellite. Operating at an expected altitude of
617 km, WorldView-3 will be capable of collecting 31 cm
panchromatic, 1.24 m visible and near infrared, and 3.7
m short-wave infrared imagery (up to 680,000 square km
per day), with an average revisit time of less than one day
and positional accuracy of 3.5 m CE90 (or better) without
ground control points. It is expected that WorldView-3’s new
SWIR bands will significantly impact surface compositional
modeling, and mapping of rock and soil exposures worldwide. Potential applications include: improved geologic
mapping, environmental and disaster monitoring, exploration for petroleum, minerals, and geothermal resources, as
well as other non-renewable resource assessments.
The placement of SWIR bands is determined by water
molecules absorbing light at specific SWIR wavelengths,
rendering the atmosphere nearly opaque in these ranges.
Remotely sensed data must, therefore, be collected in atmospheric windows between these water absorption wavelengths. There are three atmospheric windows in which
WorldView-3 has SWIR bands. The first window is centered near 1,250 nm. Bands here are useful for bracketing
iron absorption features at shorter wavelengths. Vegetation
indices that are sensitive to leaf moisture content, such as
NDWI, also use bands within this 1,250 nm window. The
second SWIR window is between about 1,500–1,750 nm.
Man-made materials and chemicals have multiple absorption features in this range; examples include plastics, fiberglass, and petroleum. Snow and ice can also be differentiated
from clouds in this window. The third atmospheric window
lies between about 2,000–2,400 nm. Mineral absorption
features are the focal point in this range. With sufficient sensor radiometric resolution, unique mineral identifications
and chemical measurements can be made.
DECEMBER 2013
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250
Solar
Radiation
405–420 Desert Clouds
459–479 Blue Aerosol 1
400–700 nm
Visible to
the Human Eye
Blue 448–510 nm
WorldVew-3 VNIR Bands
750
500
Coastal 400–452 nm
Green 518–586 nm
Yellow 590–630 nm
525–585 Green
635–685 Red Aerosol-2
Red 632–692 nm
Red-edge 706–746 nm
NIR1 772–890 nm
845–885 Water-1
897–927 Water-2
930–965 Water-3
WorldView-3 CAVIS Bands
1000
NIR2 866–954 nm
1250
1,220–1,252 Aerosol NDVI
1,370–1410 Cirrus
1500
Wavelength (nm)
SWIR-1 1,195–1,225 nm
SWIR-4 1,710–1,750 nm
2000
1750
SWIR-3 1,640–1,680 nm
WorldView-3 SWIR Bands
SWIR-2 1,550–1,590 nm
2250
SWIR-5 2,145–2,185 nm
SWIR-6 2,185–2,225 nm
1,620–1,680 Snow/Cloud
2,105–2,245 Aerosol-3
SWIR-7 2,235–2,285 nm
2500
SWIR-8 2,295–2,365 nm
FIGURE 10. WorldView-3 spectral bands.
DECEMBER 2013
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(a)
(b)
regardless of different atmospheric
conditions, improves the performance of data analysis for land
cover and change detection applications, facilitates multi-temporal
and cross-sensor comparison, and
enables the extraction of information using physical quantities.
Figure 11 illustrates the effects of
image normalization using the
information derived from the
CAVIS data.
FIGURE 11. Effect of image normalization using the information derived from the CAVIS data.
Collecting satellite imagery in both VNIR and SWIR
wavelengths has unique benefits, including improved
atmospheric transparency and material identification.
Because of their chemistries, many materials and substances have specific reflectance and absorption features
in the VNIR and SWIR allowing for their characterization
from space. Examples include: vegetation; minerals used
in economic mineral exploration; urban features such as
roofing and construction materials (and their weathering); petroleum (e.g. spilled); and a variety of other manmade chemical compounds. Snow and ice show distinctive variations in some SWIR bands and, because of the
wavelengths, SWIR bands can even penetrate some types
of smoke, such as from a forest fire as shown in Figure 9.
In addition to the 17 bands comprising VNIR and
SWIR, WorldView-3 will carry a separate instrument,
named CAVIS, specifically designed to measure the atmospheric components necessary to improve the consistency
of image quality and create accurate metadata on clouds
and snow/ice. CAVIS, which stand for Clouds, Aerosols,
water Vapor, Ice and Snow, is composed of 12 additional
bands of 30 m resolution in the VNIR and SWIR part of the
spectra, with two bands having stereoscopic characteristics
to allow the extraction of 3D features at each overpass. The
bands of WorldView-3 are illustrated in Figure 10.
CAVIS is expected to greatly improve imagery yield,
particularly in hazy areas. The consistency of image values,
ABOUT DIGITALGLOBE, INC.
DigitalGlobe is a leading global
provider of commercial very high spatial resolution earth
imagery products and services. Sourced from our own
advanced satellite constellation, our imagery solutions
support a wide variety of uses within defense and intelligence, civil agencies, mapping and analysis, environmental monitoring, oil and gas exploration, infrastructure
management, internet portals and navigation technology.
DigitalGlobe was founded in 1992, and was the first
company to be awarded a license by the US Department
of Commerce allowing a private enterprise to build and
operate a satellite system to gather high resolution earth
imagery for commercial sale. In addition, DigitalGlobe was
the first company to offer visually sharp sub-meter resolution imagery when it launched QuickBird in 2001, which
is still operational today. In 2007, DigitalGlobe launched
a second satellite, WorldView-1, to begin delivering on
expanded agreements with the U.S. Government. More
recently DigitalGlobe successfully launched its third satellite, WorldView-2 in 2009, which extended its technological leadership through the first incorporation of 8-band
technology, providing an unparalled level of on-the-ground
detail that enables faster and better decisions. In January
2013, DigitalGlobe and GeoEye finalized their combination
into one company, creating a constellation of five sub-meter
resolution satellites. Finally, DigitalGlobe plans to launch
WorldView-3 in 2014, which will further bolster its ability
to deliver more imagery and analysis services.
OGP to Drive Earth Observation
Uptake in the Industry
T
he International Association of Oil and Gas Producers
has set up a new body with the goal of increasing the
industry’s use of Earth satellite and airborne imagery, a
64
key tool that will improve emergency response and also
make exploration and production more efficient.
Satellite and airborne imaging of the surface of the
Earth—often referred to as Earth Observation (EO) and
also known technically as Remote Sensing (RS)—involves
using earth-orbiting satellites or dedicated survey aircrafts
DECEMBER 2013
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OKIOC
OKIOC
LUKOIL
© ASAR (ESA) AND MODIS (NASA) DATA PROCESSED BY EOSPHERE, 2012.
FIGURE 2. A true color composite of an EnviSat-MERIS (ESA) image
of the NE Caspian Sea, captured in March 2007 and showing the ice
covered areas along the shore line of the Caspian Sea as well as some
ice sheets breaking off. The open water is visible in the blue / green
colors, the land in brown and the ice covered areas in white and shades
of grey. Mapping the extent of the ice and the forecasting of the movements is important to assist with keeping operational activities safe and
production from being interrupted.
to obtain information regarding the status of the surface of
the Earth and its Atmosphere.
“OGP decided to set up the Earth Observation Subcommittee within the Geomatics Committee to support
DECEMBER 2013
MERIS DATA PROCESSED BY EOMAP GMBH © 2013 ESA, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
FIGURE 1. A fused ASAR (ESA) and MODIS (NASA) composite of the
ice-covered NE Caspian Sea, with oil concession regions highlighted.
The ASAR and MODIS imagery provide complementary information on the ice conditions. The MODIS imagery picks out the young
ice being advected from the east by winds, while the ASAR imagery
shows open water in leads and the fast ice.
industry projects aimed at improving emergency response”
said Palle Jensen, Geomatics Committee Chair. “It is part
of OGP’s comprehensive effort to improve prevention and
enhance preparedness” he added.
Satellite imaging is regularly used throughout oil & gas
activities, from the initial exploration, to development and
production until decommissioning. Use of EO data can save
time and money and reduce risks to personnel and assets.
The subcommittee will initially focus on the use of EO
data to monitor sea ice, for environmental baseline mapping
and monitoring as well as improving the mapping and modelling of meteorological and oceanographic (metocean)
parameters. It will actively support the Oil Spill Response
Joint Industry Project (OSR JIP) led collaboratively by
IPIECA and OGP, and other OGP-managed projects where
Remote Sensing plays a major role. It will cooperate with
OGP’s Environment and Metocean Committees.
The group will also work in close contact with the
European Space Agency (ESA) and with European Association of Remote Sensing Companies (EARSC). It will
assist with ESA and EARSC efforts to promote industrywide awareness and rapid implementation of new Earth
Observation technologies, to utilise new opportunities
and to maximise its benefits for the oil and gas industry.
OGP’s members include most of the world’s leading publicly-traded, private
and state-owned oil & gas companies, oil & gas associations and major
upstream service companies. OGP members produce more than half the
world’s oil and about one third of its gas.
OGP represents the upstream oil and gas industry before international regulators and legislators. From its headquarters in London, OGP represents the
industry in such UN bodies as the International Maritime Organization and the
Commission for Sustainable Development. OGP also works with the World
Bank and with the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). It is also
accredited to a range of regional bodies that include OSPAR, the Helsinki
Commission and the Barcelona Convention.
OGP Brussels provides an essential conduit for advocacy and debate
between the upstream industry and the European Union (EU). This involves
regular contact with the European Commission and the European Parliament.
OGP also helps members achieve continuous improvements in safety,
health and environmental performance and in the engineering and operation of
upstream ventures. OGP’s extensive international membership brings with it a
wealth of know-how, data and experience. OGP committees and task forces
manage the exchange and dissemination of this knowledge through publications and events around the world.
For further information contact [email protected].
____________
GRS
65
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CALENDAR
See also HTTP://WWW.IEEE.ORG/CONFERENCES_EVENTS/INDEX.HTML
___________________________________________ or HTTP://WWW.TECHEXPO.COM/EVENTS
___________________________
2013
DECEMBER
2014
JULY
MAY
INTERNATIONAL GOESCIENCE
AND REMOTE SENSING
SYMPOSIUM (IGARSS 2014)
July 13–18, 2014
Québec City, Canada
Contact: ____________
[email protected]
http://igarss2014.com/
IEEE RADAR CONFERENCE: FROM
SENSING TO INFORMATION
May 19–23, 2014
Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
http://www.radarcon2014.org
9TH INTERNATIONAL
CONFERENCE ON
MICROWAVES, ANTENNA,
PROPAGATION &
REMOTE SENSING
(ICMARS 2013)
December 11–14, 2013
Jodhpur, India
http://www.icmars2013.org
JUNE
10TH EUROPEAN CONFERENCE
ON SYNTHETIC APERTURE RADAR
June 3–5, 2014
Berlin, Germany
www.eusar.de
35TH CANADIAN SYMPOSIUM
ON REMOTE SENSING (CSRS)
July 13–18, 2014
Québec City, Canada
GRS
Call for Papers
2014 IEEE Radar Conference:
From Sensing to Information
19-23 May 2014
10 th European Conference on
Cincinnati, Ohio (USA)
Cincinnati Marriott at RiverCenter
Synthetic Aperture Radar
03-05 June 2014 - Berlin, Germany
Tutorials: 02 June 2014
General Chair:
Prof. Brian Rigling – Wright State University
Technical Chair:
Dr. Muralidhar Rangaswamy – US Air Force Research Lab
GRSS Liaison:
Prof. Joel Johnson – The Ohio State University
Abstract submission: 18 October 2013
(Up to 4 pages with figures)
Author notification: 20 January 2014
Final papers: 21 February 2014
(Up to 6 pages with figures)
EUSAR is Europe's leading forum dedicated to SAR
techniques, technology and applications related technologies
with an international audience. We invite you to participate
in this world-class scientific event by submitting a paper.
This will be a unique opportunity for you to present your
research results, innovations and technologies to the world.
Draft Paper Submission Deadline:
October 31, 2014
Call for Exhibition and Sponsoring:
Please refer to www.eusar.de for details.
EUSAR 2014 General Chair: Manfred Zink, DLR
EUSAR 2014 Technical Chair: Gerhard Krieger, DLR
Web Address:
http://www.radarcon2014.org
66
DECEMBER 2013
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AD INDEX
The Advertisers Index contained in this issue is compiled as a service to our readers and advertisers:
the publisher is not liable for errors or omissions although every effort is made to ensure its accuracy.
Be sure to let our advertisers know you found them through IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Magazine.
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MS, TN
Midwest/South Central/
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AR, IL, IN, IA, KS, LA, MI,
MN, MO, NE, ND, SD,
OH, OK, TX, WI
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West Coast/Southwest/
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Phone: +1 310 836 4064
Fax: +1 310 836 4067
[email protected]
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AZ, CO, HI, NV, NM, UT,
CA, AK, ID, MT, WY,
OR, WA
Canada: British Columbia
Europe/Africa/
Middle East
Heleen Vodegel
Phone:
+44 1875 825 700
Fax: +44 1875 825 701
[email protected]
_____________
Europe, Africa, Middle
East
DECEMBER 2013
67
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2013 Index
IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Magazine
Vol. 1
This index covers all technical items — papers, correspondence, reviews, etc.
— that appeared in this periodical during 2013, and items from previous years
that were commented upon or corrected in 2013. Departments and other items
may also be covered if they have been judged to have archival value.
The Author Index contains the primary entry for each item, listed under the
¿rst author’s name. The primary entry includes the coauthors’ names, the title
of the paper or other item, and its location, speci¿ed by the publication abbreviation, year, month, and inclusive pagination. The Subject Index contains entries
describing the item under all appropriate subject headings, plus the ¿rst author’s
name, the publication abbreviation, month, and year, and inclusive pages. Note
that the item title is found only under the primary entry in the Author Index.
Hallikainen, M., and Wiesbeck, W., IGARSS in Melbourne July 21-26, 2013:
GRSS Major Awards and Fellow Recognitions at the Plenary Session [Conference Reports]; GRSM Sept. 2013 48-58
Hallikainen, M., and Wiesbeck, W., GRSS Publications Awards Presented at
IGARSS 2013 Banquet [Conference Reports]; GRSM Dec. 2013 32-43
K
Kerekes, J., and Messinger, D., Guest Feature: Remote Sensing Research and
Education at Rochester Institute of Technology [Education]; GRSM Dec.
2013 24-30
Krieger, G., see Moreira, A., GRSM March 2013 6-43
AUTHOR INDEX
L
A
Abbott, M., see Muller-Karger, F., GRSM Dec. 2013 8-18
Alparone, L., see Argenti, F., GRSM Sept. 2013 6-35
Argenti, F., Lapini, A., Bianchi, T., and Alparone, L., A Tutorial on Speckle
Reduction in Synthetic Aperture Radar Images; GRSM Sept. 2013 6-35
Lapini, A., see Argenti, F., GRSM Sept. 2013 6-35
Le Moigne, J., Grubb, T.G., and Milner, B.C., IMAGESEER: NASA IMAGEs
for Science, Education, Experimentation and Research; GRSM March 2013
44-58
Leben, R., see Muller-Karger, F., GRSM Dec. 2013 8-18
Lyons, A., see Ruf, C., GRSM June 2013 52-67
B
M
Baugh, B., see Navulur, K., GRSM Dec. 2013 57-64
Bianchi, T., see Argenti, F., GRSM Sept. 2013 6-35
Bioucas-Dias, J., Plaza, A., Camps-Valls, G., Scheunders, P., Nasrabadi, N.,
and Chanussot, J., Hyperspectral Remote Sensing Data Analysis and Future
Challenges; GRSM June 2013 6-36
Boschetti, M., see Pompilio, L., GRSM June 2013 37-51
Bruzzone, L., [From the Editor]; GRSM March 2013 3-61
Bruzzone, L., [From the Editor]; GRSM Sept. 2013 3-4
Bruzzone, L., [From the Editor]; GRSM June 2013 3-4
Bruzzone, L., [From the Editor]; GRSM Dec. 2013 4-5
Messinger, D., see Kerekes, J., GRSM Dec. 2013 24-30
Milner, B.C., see Le Moigne, J., GRSM March 2013 44-58
Moreira, A., Prats-Iraola, P., Younis, M., Krieger, G., Hajnsek, I., and Papathanassiou, K.P., A tutorial on synthetic aperture radar; GRSM March
2013 6-43
Muller-Karger, F., Roffer, M., Walker, N., Oliver, M., Scho¿eld, O., Abbott,
M., Graber, H., Leben, R., and Goni, G., Satellite Remote Sensing in Support of an Integrated Ocean Observing System; GRSM Dec. 2013 8-18
N
C
Camps-Valls, G., see Bioucas-Dias, J., GRSM June 2013 6-36
Chanussot, J., see Bioucas-Dias, J., GRSM June 2013 6-36
Crawford, M., [President’s Message]; GRSM Sept. 2013 5
Crawford, M., [President’s Message]; GRSM June 2013 5
Crawford, M., [President’s Message]; GRSM March 2013 4
Crawford, M., Remote Sensing and Geospatial Science at Purdue University:
1960s into the 21st Century [Education]; GRSM March 2013 67-71
Crawford, M., [President’s Message]; GRSM Dec. 2013 6
Nasrabadi, N., see Bioucas-Dias, J., GRSM June 2013 6-36
Navulur, K., Paci¿ci, F., and Baugh, B., Trends in Optical Commercial Remote
Sensing Industry [Industrial Pro¿les]; GRSM Dec. 2013 57-64
O
Oliver, M., see Muller-Karger, F., GRSM Dec. 2013 8-18
P
D
Dickinson, J., see Ruf, C., GRSM June 2013 52-67
G
Goni, G., see Muller-Karger, F., GRSM Dec. 2013 8-18
Graber, H., see Muller-Karger, F., GRSM Dec. 2013 8-18
Grubb, T.G., see Le Moigne, J., GRSM March 2013 44-58
Paci¿ci, F., see Navulur, K., GRSM Dec. 2013 57-64
Papathanassiou, K.P., see Moreira, A., GRSM March 2013 6-43
Pepe, M., see Pompilio, L., GRSM June 2013 37-51
Plaza, A., see Bioucas-Dias, J., GRSM June 2013 6-36
Pompilio, L., Villa, P., Boschetti, M., and Pepe, M., Spectroradiometric Field
Surveys in Remote Sensing Practice: A WorkÀow Proposal, from Planning
to Analysis; GRSM June 2013 37-51
Prats-Iraola, P., see Moreira, A., GRSM March 2013 6-43
R
H
Hajnsek, I., see Moreira, A., GRSM March 2013 6-43
Roffer, M., see Muller-Karger, F., GRSM Dec. 2013 8-18
Rose, D., see Ruf, C., GRSM June 2013 52-67
Rose, R., see Ruf, C., GRSM June 2013 52-67
68
DECEMBER 2013
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Ruf, C., Unwin, M., Dickinson, J., Rose, R., Rose, D., Vincent, M., and Lyons,
A., CYGNSS: Enabling the Future of Hurricane Prediction [Remote
Sensing Satellites]; GRSM June 2013 52-67
S
Scheunders, P., see Bioucas-Dias, J., GRSM June 2013 6-36
Scho¿eld, O., see Muller-Karger, F., GRSM Dec. 2013 8-18
C
Cloud computing
IMAGESEER: NASA IMAGEs for Science, Education, Experimentation
and Research. Le Moigne, J., +, GRSM March 2013 44-58
Commercialization
Trends in Optical Commercial Remote Sensing Industry [Industrial Pro¿les]. Navulur, K., +, GRSM Dec. 2013 57-64
D
U
Unwin, M., see Ruf, C., GRSM June 2013 52-67
V
Villa, P., see Pompilio, L., GRSM June 2013 37-51
Vincent, M., see Ruf, C., GRSM June 2013 52-67
Data acquisition
Spectroradiometric Field Surveys in Remote Sensing Practice: A WorkÀow
Proposal, from Planning to Analysis. Pompilio, L., +, GRSM June 2013
37-51
Data analysis
37-51
Data models
Guest Feature: Remote Sensing Research and Education at Rochester Institute of Technology [Education]. Kerekes, J., +, GRSM Dec. 2013 24-30
W
Walker, N., see Muller-Karger, F., GRSM Dec. 2013 8-18
Wiesbeck, W., see Hallikainen, M., GRSM Sept. 2013 48-58
Wiesbeck, W., see Hallikainen, M., GRSM Dec. 2013 32-43
Y
Younis, M., see Moreira, A., GRSM March 2013 6-43
SUBJECT INDEX
A
Agriculture
Remote Sensing and Geospatial Science at Purdue University: 1960s into
the 21st Century [Education]. Crawford, M., +, GRSM March 2013 67-71
Atmospheric measurements
Satellite Remote Sensing in Support of an Integrated Ocean Observing
System. Muller-Karger, F., +, GRSM Dec. 2013 8-18
Atmospheric modeling
Atmospheric precipitation
CYGNSS: Enabling the Future of Hurricane Prediction [Remote Sensing
Satellites]. Ruf, C., +, GRSM June 2013 52-67
Atmospheric techniques
Awards
GRSS Members Elevated to the Grade of Senior Member in the Period
March-June 2013 [GRSS Member Highlights]. GRSM Sept. 2013 62
GRSS Publications Awards Presented at IGARSS 2013 Banquet [Conference Reports]. Hallikainen, M., +, GRSM Dec. 2013 32-43
IGARSS in Melbourne July 21-26, 2013: GRSS Major Awards and Fellow
Recognitions at the Plenary Session [Conference Reports]. Hallikainen, M.,
+, GRSM Sept. 2013 48-58
E
Environmental management
37-51
Estimation theory
A Tutorial on Speckle Reduction in Synthetic Aperture Radar Images. Argenti, F., +, GRSM Sept. 2013 6-35
F
Filtering theory
G
Geophysical image processing
Hyperspectral Remote Sensing Data Analysis and Future Challenges. Bioucas-Dias, J., +, GRSM June 2013 6-36
Geophysical techniques
A tutorial on synthetic aperture radar. Moreira, A., +, GRSM March 2013
6-43
Geospatial analysis
Global Earth Observation System of Systems
Global Positioning System
Graphical user interfaces
B
H
Bayes methods
Hyperspectral imaging
+ Check author entry for coauthors
DECEMBER 2013
69
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I
Image classi¿cation
Image processing
Image registration
Information retrieval systems
L
Laboratories
M
Meteorological radar
Meteorology
O
Object detection
Ocean temperature
Optical remote sensing
Remote sensing by laser beam
Remote sensing by radar
6-43
Research and development
S
Satellite broadcasting
Satellite communication
Satellite navigation
Sea measurements
Sensor fusion
Spatial resolution
Speckle
Storms
Synthetic aperture radar
6-43
R
T
Radar imaging
Radar interferometry
6-43
Radar polarimetry
6-43
Radiometry
37-51
Remote sensing
37-51
Terrain mapping
W
Wavelet transforms
Weather forecasting
Web sites
Wind
+ Check author entry for coauthors
70
DECEMBER 2013
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