Subject: Re: comments related to remote sensing
Date: Thu, 4 Oct 2001 21:08:03 -0400
From: NACP mail account <nacp@io.harvard.edu>
To: Mahta Moghaddam <mahta@ampersand.Jpl.Nasa.Gov>
CC: harriss <harriss@ucar.edu>

On Thu, 4 Oct 2001, Mahta Moghaddam wrote:
Mahta--would you be willing to make the table of parameters, prioritized
(1,2,3)=highest, high, useful.

Many thanks!
--s

>
> Recalling some discussions at the workshop and deriving from pieces
> of several comments submitted to the web site, here are a few summary
> comments and questions related to remote sensing:
>
> - It is not clear whether wetlands characterization is identified as
> one of the required remote sensing products in the text of the plan.
> It is not specifically called out as a required item, however,
> delineated wetland maps are stated as one of the critical pieces of
> information that will be available by 2004 from satellite
> observations. This brings up another point: which satellite will be
> providing the wetlands maps? Since, to the best of my knowledge, only
> radars  can provide such information both with and without vegetation
> cover, the  upcoming instrument capable of producing such information
> will be the Japanese PALSAR on-board ALOS  in conjunction with
> Envisat or Radarsat-II, planned for launch in the next 2-4 years. The
> table of measurements and mission (supplied by Chuck McClain) could
> thus be updated.
>
> - Soil moisture  was identified as an essential piece of information,
> which was largely missing from the initial draft of the plan. Is
> surface moisture the needed quantity or is deeper moisture needed as
> well? For surface moisture and at the stated resolution of 10km,
> there is no currently planned satellite  (although an ESSP is
> proposed). Instruments for characterization of deeper moisture are at
> technology development stages.
>
> - As indirectly stated in the plan, one of the key input variables to
> ecosystem process models is LAI, whose maps could potentially be
> derived from remote sensing data. In the plan, the text under remote
> sensing states that by 2004 we will have LAI maps. Given that such
> maps if produced by optical instruments will have large errors for
> LAI values larger than 6m^2/m^2, and the temperate forests in the US
> easily exceed this LAI value in many areas, my conclusion is that LAI
> maps reasonably accurate for the 0-12 m^2/m^2 range by 2004 will have
> been produced by fusion of radar (PALSAR, again) and optical data.
> true/false?
>
> - It would be helpful if a comprehensive list of priority variables
> derivable from remote sensing measurements is compiled in the plan.
> As it stands, there are partial lists and mentions of few others here
> and there. Measurement requirements (temporal and spatial sampling
> rates and accuracies) should also be clarified.
>
>
> Mahta Moghaddam
>
>
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