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18 pages, 14526 KiB

Open AccessProject Report

Earth Observation to Investigate Occurrence, Characteristics and Changes of Glaciers, Glacial Lakes and Rock Glaciers in the Poiqu River Basin (Central Himalaya)

by Tobias Bolch, Tandong Yao, Atanu Bhattacharya, Yan Hu, Owen King, Lin Liu, Jan B. Pronk, Philipp Rastner and Guoqing Zhang

Remote Sens. 2022, 14(8), 1927; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs14081927 - 15 Apr 2022

Cited by 14 | Viewed by 3631

Abstract

Meltwater from the cryosphere contributes a significant fraction of the freshwater resources in the countries receiving water from the Third Pole. Within the ESA-MOST Dragon 4 project, we addressed in particular changes of glaciers and proglacial lakes and their interaction. In addition, we [...] Read more.

Meltwater from the cryosphere contributes a significant fraction of the freshwater resources in the countries receiving water from the Third Pole. Within the ESA-MOST Dragon 4 project, we addressed in particular changes of glaciers and proglacial lakes and their interaction. In addition, we investigated rock glaciers in permafrost environments. Here, we focus on the detailed investigations which have been performed in the Poiqu River Basin, central Himalaya. We used in particular multi-temporal stereo satellite imagery, including high-resolution 1960/70s Corona and Hexagon spy images and contemporary Pleiades data. Sentinel-2 data was applied to assess the glacier flow. The results reveal that glacier mass loss continuously increased with a mass budget of −0.42 ± 0.11 m w.e.a⁻¹ for the period 2004–2018. The mass loss has been primarily driven by an increase in summer temperature and is further accelerated by proglacial lakes, which have become abundant. The glacial lake area more than doubled between 1964 and 2017. The termini of glaciers that flow into lakes moved on average twice as fast as glaciers terminating on land, indicating that dynamical thinning plays an important role. Rock glaciers are abundant, covering approximately 21 km², which was more than 10% of the glacier area (approximately 190 km²) in 2015. With ongoing glacier wastage, rock glaciers can become an increasingly important water resource. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue ESA - NRSCC Cooperation Dragon 4 Final Results)

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29 pages, 9707 KiB

Open AccessProject Report

Multi-Source Hydrological Data Products to Monitor High Asian River Basins and Regional Water Security

by Massimo Menenti, Xin Li, Li Jia, Kun Yang, Francesca Pellicciotti, Marco Mancini, Jiancheng Shi, Maria José Escorihuela, Chaolei Zheng, Qiting Chen, Jing Lu, Jie Zhou, Guangcheng Hu, Shaoting Ren, Jing Zhang, Qinhuo Liu, Yubao Qiu, Chunlin Huang, Ji Zhou, Xujun Han, Xiaoduo Pan, Hongyi Li, Yerong Wu, Baohong Ding, Wei Yang, Pascal Buri, Michael J. McCarthy, Evan S. Miles, Thomas E. Shaw, Chunfeng Ma, Yanzhao Zhou, Chiara Corbari, Rui Li, Tianjie Zhao, Vivien Stefan, Qi Gao, Jingxiao Zhang, Qiuxia Xie, Ning Wang, Yibo Sun, Xinyu Mo, Junru Jia, Achille Pierre Jouberton, Marin Kneib, Stefan Fugger, Nicola Paciolla and Giovanni Paolini Show full author list Hide full author list

Remote Sens. 2021, 13(24), 5122; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13245122 - 16 Dec 2021

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 3980

Abstract

This project explored the integrated use of satellite, ground observations and hydrological distributed models to support water resources assessment and monitoring in High Mountain Asia (HMA). Hydrological data products were generated taking advantage of the synergies of European and Chinese data assets and [...] Read more.

This project explored the integrated use of satellite, ground observations and hydrological distributed models to support water resources assessment and monitoring in High Mountain Asia (HMA). Hydrological data products were generated taking advantage of the synergies of European and Chinese data assets and space-borne observation systems. Energy-budget-based glacier mass balance and hydrological models driven by satellite observations were developed. These models can be applied to describe glacier-melt contribution to river flow. Satellite hydrological data products were used for forcing, calibration, validation and data assimilation in distributed river basin models. A pilot study was carried out on the Red River basin. Multiple hydrological data products were generated using the data collected by Chinese satellites. A new Evapo-Transpiration (ET) dataset from 2000 to 2018 was generated, including plant transpiration, soil evaporation, rainfall interception loss, snow/ice sublimation and open water evaporation. Higher resolution data were used to characterize glaciers and their response to environmental forcing. These studies focused on the Parlung Zangbo Basin, where glacier facies were mapped with GaoFeng (GF), Sentinal-2/Multi-Spectral Imager (S2/MSI) and Landsat8/Operational Land Imager (L8/OLI) data. The geodetic mass balance was estimated between 2000 and 2017 with Zi-Yuan (ZY)-3 Stereo Images and the SRTM DEM. Surface velocity was studied with Landsat5/Thematic Mapper (L5/TM), L8/OLI and S2/MSI data over the period 2013–2019. An updated method was developed to improve the retrieval of glacier albedo by correcting glacier reflectance for anisotropy, and a new dataset on glacier albedo was generated for the period 2001–2020. A detailed glacier energy and mass balance model was developed with the support of field experiments at the Parlung No. 4 Glacier and the 24 K Glacier, both in the Tibetan Plateau. Besides meteorological measurements, the field experiments included glaciological and hydrological measurements. The energy balance model was formulated in terms of enthalpy for easier treatment of water phase transitions. The model was applied to assess the spatial variability in glacier melt. In the Parlung No. 4 Glacier, the accumulated glacier melt was between 1.5 and 2.5 m w.e. in the accumulation zone and between 4.5 and 6.0 m w.e. in the ablation zone, reaching 6.5 m w.e. at the terminus. The seasonality in the glacier mass balance was observed by combining intensive field campaigns with continuous automatic observations. The linkage of the glacier and snowpack mass balance with water resources in a river basin was analyzed in the Chiese (Italy) and Heihe (China) basins by developing and applying integrated hydrological models using satellite retrievals in multiple ways. The model FEST-WEB was calibrated using retrievals of Land Surface Temperature (LST) to map soil hydrological properties. A watershed model was developed by coupling ecohydrological and socioeconomic systems. Integrated modeling is supported by an updated and parallelized data assimilation system. The latter exploits retrievals of brightness temperature (Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer, AMSR), LST (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, MODIS), precipitation (Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) and FengYun (FY)-2D) and in-situ measurements. In the case study on the Red River Basin, a new algorithm has been applied to disaggregate the SMOS (Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity) soil moisture retrievals by making use of the correlation between evaporative fraction and soil moisture. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue ESA - NRSCC Cooperation Dragon 4 Final Results)

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20 pages, 6041 KiB

Open AccessProject Report

Calibration and Data Quality Assurance Technical Advancements for Quantitative Remote Sensing in the DRAGON 4 Project

by Lingling Ma, Yongguang Zhao, Chuanrong Li, Philippe Goryl, Cheng Liu, Jieying He, Pucai Wang, Marc Bouvet, Ran Zhao, Ning Wang, Yaokai Liu, Caixia Gao, Bart Dils, Chengxin Zhang, Ka Lok Chan and Xinhong Wang

Remote Sens. 2021, 13(24), 4996; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13244996 - 9 Dec 2021

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2951

Abstract

Robust calibration and validation (Cal and Val) should guarantee the accuracy of the retrieved information, make the remote sensing data consistent and traceable, and maintain the sensor performance during the operational phase. The DRAGON program has set up many remote sensing research topics [...] Read more.

Robust calibration and validation (Cal and Val) should guarantee the accuracy of the retrieved information, make the remote sensing data consistent and traceable, and maintain the sensor performance during the operational phase. The DRAGON program has set up many remote sensing research topics on various application domains. In order to promote the effectiveness of data modeling and interpretation, it is necessary to solve various challenges in Cal and Val for quantitative RS applications. This project in the DRAGON 4 program aims to promote the cooperation of the Cal and Val experts from European and Chinese institutes in Cal and Val activities, and several achievements have been obtained in the advanced on-orbit optical sensor calibration, as well as microwave remote sensor calibration and product generation. The outcomes of the project have benefited the related remote sensing modeling and product retrieval, and promoted the radiometric calibration network (RadCalNet) as an international operational network for calibration, intercalibration, and validation. Moreover, this project provided local governments with a more accurate OMI NO₂ data in China, which were used to study the air quality control during APEC period, Parade period and G20 period. This will be of ongoing be value for monitoring atmospheric environmental quality and formulating pollution control strategies. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue ESA - NRSCC Cooperation Dragon 4 Final Results)

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17 pages, 4640 KiB

Open AccessProject Report

Crop Mapping with Combined Use of European and Chinese Satellite Data

by Jinlong Fan, Pierre Defourny, Xiaoyu Zhang, Qinghan Dong, Limin Wang, Zhihao Qin, Mathilde De Vroey and Chunliang Zhao

Remote Sens. 2021, 13(22), 4641; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13224641 - 18 Nov 2021

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 4233

Abstract

Agricultural landscapes are characterized by diversity and complexity, which makes crop mapping at a regional scale a top priority for different purposes such as administrative decisions and farming management. Project 32194 of the Dragon 4 Program was implemented to meet the requirements of [...] Read more.

Agricultural landscapes are characterized by diversity and complexity, which makes crop mapping at a regional scale a top priority for different purposes such as administrative decisions and farming management. Project 32194 of the Dragon 4 Program was implemented to meet the requirements of crop mapping, with the specific objective to develop suitable approaches for precise crop mapping with combined uses of European and Chinese high- and medium-resolution satellite images. Two sub-projects were involved in the project. The first was to focus on the use of time series high-resolution satellite data, including Sentinel-2 (S2, European satellite data) and Gaofen-1 (GF-1, Chinese satellite data), due to their similar spectral bands for Earth observation, while the second was to focus on medium-resolution data sources, i.e., the European Project for On-Board Autonomy–Vegetation (PROBA-V) and Chinese Fengyun-3 Medium Resolution Spectral Imager (FY-3 MERSI) satellite data, also due to their similar spectral channels. The approach of the European Space Agency (ESA) Sent2Agri project for crop mapping was adapted in the first sub-project and applied to the Yellow River irrigated district (YERID) of Ningxia in northwest China in order to assess its ability to accurately identify crop types in China. The goal of the second sub-project was to explore the potential of both European and Chinese medium-resolution satellite data for crop assessment in a large area. Methods to handle the data and retrieve the required information for the precise crop mapping were developed in the study, including the adaptation of the ESA approach to GF-1 data and the application of algorithms for classification. A scheme for the validation of the crop mapping was developed in the study. The results of implementing the scheme to the YERID in Ningxia indicated that the overall accuracies of crop mapping with S2 and GF-1 can be high, up to 94–97%, and the mapping had an accuracy of 88% with the PROBA-V and FY3B-MERSI data. The very high accuracy suggests the possibility of precise crop mapping with the combined use of time series high- and medium-resolution satellite data when suitable approaches are chosen to handle the data for the classification of crop types. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue ESA - NRSCC Cooperation Dragon 4 Final Results)

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29 pages, 24254 KiB

Open AccessProject Report

Geohazards Monitoring and Assessment Using Multi-Source Earth Observation Techniques

by Joaquim J. Sousa, Guang Liu, Jinghui Fan, Zbigniew Perski, Stefan Steger, Shibiao Bai, Lianhuan Wei, Stefano Salvi, Qun Wang, Jienan Tu, Liqiang Tong, Peter Mayrhofer, Ruth Sonnenschein, Shanjun Liu, Yachun Mao, Cristiano Tolomei, Christian Bignami, Simone Atzori, Giuseppe Pezzo, Lixin Wu, Shiyong Yan and Emanuel Peres Show full author list Hide full author list

Remote Sens. 2021, 13(21), 4269; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13214269 - 24 Oct 2021

Cited by 16 | Viewed by 5630

Abstract

Geological disasters are responsible for the loss of human lives and for significant economic and financial damage every year. Considering that these disasters may occur anywhere—both in remote and/or in highly populated areas—and anytime, continuously monitoring areas known to be more prone to [...] Read more.

Geological disasters are responsible for the loss of human lives and for significant economic and financial damage every year. Considering that these disasters may occur anywhere—both in remote and/or in highly populated areas—and anytime, continuously monitoring areas known to be more prone to geohazards can help to determine preventive or alert actions to safeguard human life, property and businesses. Remote sensing technology—especially satellite-based—can be of help due to its high spatial and temporal coverage. Indeed, data acquired from the most recent satellite missions is considered suitable for a detailed reconstruction of past events but also to continuously monitor sensitive areas on the lookout for potential geohazards. This work aims to apply different techniques and methods for extensive exploitation and analysis of remote sensing data, with special emphasis given to landslide hazard, risk management and disaster prevention. Multi-temporal SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) interferometry, SAR tomography, high-resolution image matching and data modelling are used to map out landslides and other geohazards and to also monitor possible hazardous geological activity, addressing different study areas: (i) surface deformation of mountain slopes and glaciers; (ii) land surface displacement; and (iii) subsidence, landslides and ground fissure. Results from both the processing and analysis of a dataset of earth observation (EO) multi-source data support the conclusion that geohazards can be identified, studied and monitored in an effective way using new techniques applied to multi-source EO data. As future work, the aim is threefold: extend this study to sensitive areas located in different countries; monitor structures that have strategic, cultural and/or economical relevance; and resort to artificial intelligence (AI) techniques to be able to analyse the huge amount of data generated by satellite missions and extract useful information in due course. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue ESA - NRSCC Cooperation Dragon 4 Final Results)

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24 pages, 8615 KiB

Open AccessProject Report

Monitoring Water and Energy Cycles at Climate Scale in the Third Pole Environment (CLIMATE-TPE)

by Zhongbo Su, Yaoming Ma, Xuelong Chen, Xiaohua Dong, Junping Du, Cunbo Han, Yanbo He, Jan G. Hofste, Maoshan Li, Mengna Li, Shaoning Lv, Weiqiang Ma, María J. Polo, Jian Peng, Hui Qian, Jose Sobrino, Rogier van der Velde, Jun Wen, Binbin Wang, Xin Wang, Lianyu Yu, Pei Zhang, Hong Zhao, Han Zheng, Donghai Zheng, Lei Zhong and Yijian Zeng Show full author list Hide full author list

Remote Sens. 2021, 13(18), 3661; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13183661 - 13 Sep 2021

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 3475

Abstract

A better understanding of the water and energy cycles at climate scale in the Third Pole Environment is essential for assessing and understanding the causes of changes in the cryosphere and hydrosphere in relation to changes of plateau atmosphere in the Asian monsoon [...] Read more.

A better understanding of the water and energy cycles at climate scale in the Third Pole Environment is essential for assessing and understanding the causes of changes in the cryosphere and hydrosphere in relation to changes of plateau atmosphere in the Asian monsoon system and for predicting the possible changes in water resources in South and East Asia. This paper reports the following results: (1) A platform of in situ observation stations is briefly described for quantifying the interactions in hydrosphere-pedosphere-atmosphere-cryosphere-biosphere over the Tibetan Plateau. (2) A multiyear in situ L-Band microwave radiometry of land surface processes is used to develop a new microwave radiative transfer modeling system. This new system improves the modeling of brightness temperature in both horizontal and vertical polarization. (3) A multiyear (2001–2018) monthly terrestrial actual evapotranspiration and its spatial distribution on the Tibetan Plateau is generated using the surface energy balance system (SEBS) forced by a combination of meteorological and satellite data. (4) A comparison of four large scale soil moisture products to in situ measurements is presented. (5) The trajectory of water vapor transport in the canyon area of Southeast Tibet in different seasons is analyzed, and (6) the vertical water vapor exchange between the upper troposphere and the lower stratosphere in different seasons is presented. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue ESA - NRSCC Cooperation Dragon 4 Final Results)

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27 pages, 5070 KiB

Open AccessProject Report

Air Quality over China

by Gerrit de Leeuw, Ronald van der A, Jianhui Bai, Yong Xue, Costas Varotsos, Zhengqiang Li, Cheng Fan, Xingfeng Chen, Ioannis Christodoulakis, Jieying Ding, Xuewei Hou, Georgios Kouremadas, Ding Li, Jing Wang, Marina Zara, Kainan Zhang and Ying Zhang

Remote Sens. 2021, 13(17), 3542; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13173542 - 6 Sep 2021

Cited by 15 | Viewed by 4230

Abstract

The strong economic growth in China in recent decades, together with meteorological factors, has resulted in serious air pollution problems, in particular over large industrialized areas with high population density. To reduce the concentrations of pollutants, air pollution control policies have been successfully [...] Read more.

The strong economic growth in China in recent decades, together with meteorological factors, has resulted in serious air pollution problems, in particular over large industrialized areas with high population density. To reduce the concentrations of pollutants, air pollution control policies have been successfully implemented, resulting in the gradual decrease of air pollution in China during the last decade, as evidenced from both satellite and ground-based measurements. The aims of the Dragon 4 project “Air quality over China” were the determination of trends in the concentrations of aerosols and trace gases, quantification of emissions using a top-down approach and gain a better understanding of the sources, transport and underlying processes contributing to air pollution. This was achieved through (a) satellite observations of trace gases and aerosols to study the temporal and spatial variability of air pollutants; (b) derivation of trace gas emissions from satellite observations to study sources of air pollution and improve air quality modeling; and (c) study effects of haze on air quality. In these studies, the satellite observations are complemented with ground-based observations and modeling. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue ESA - NRSCC Cooperation Dragon 4 Final Results)

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26 pages, 9985 KiB

Open AccessProject Report

Integrated Analysis of the Combined Risk of Ground Subsidence, Sea Level Rise, and Natural Hazards in Coastal and Delta River Regions

by Qing Zhao, Jiayi Pan, Adam Devlin, Qing Xu, Maochuan Tang, Zhengjie Li, Virginia Zamparelli, Francesco Falabella, Pietro Mastro and Antonio Pepe

Remote Sens. 2021, 13(17), 3431; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13173431 - 29 Aug 2021

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2813

Abstract

Non-climate-related anthropogenic processes and frequently encountered natural hazards exacerbate the risk in coastal zones and megacities and amplify local vulnerability. Coastal risk is amplified by the combination of sea level rise (SLR) resulting from climate change, associated tidal evolution, and the local sinking [...] Read more.

Non-climate-related anthropogenic processes and frequently encountered natural hazards exacerbate the risk in coastal zones and megacities and amplify local vulnerability. Coastal risk is amplified by the combination of sea level rise (SLR) resulting from climate change, associated tidal evolution, and the local sinking of land resulting from anthropogenic and natural hazards. In this framework, the authors of this investigation have actively contributed to the joint European Space Agency (ESA) and the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) Dragon IV initiative through a project (ID. 32294) that was explicitly designed to address the issue of monitoring coastal and delta river regions through Earth Observation (EO) technologies. The project’s primary goals were to provide a complete characterization of the changes in target scenes over time and provide estimates of future regional sea level changes to derive submerged coastal areas and wave fields. Suggestions are also provided for implementing coastal protection measures in order to adapt and mitigate the multifactor coastal vulnerability. In order to achieve these tasks, well-established remote sensing technologies based on the joint exploitation of multi-spectral information gathered at different spectral wavelengths, the exploitation of advanced Differential Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (DInSAR) techniques for the retrieval of ground deformations, the realization of geophysical analyses, and the use of satellite altimeters and tide gauge data have effectively been employed. The achieved results, which mainly focus on selected sensitive regions including the city of Shanghai, the Pearl River Delta in China, and the coastal city of Saint Petersburg in Europe, provide essential assets for planning present and future scientific activities devoted to monitoring such fragile environments. These analyses are crucial for assessing the factors that will amplify the vulnerability of low-elevation coastal zones. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue ESA - NRSCC Cooperation Dragon 4 Final Results)

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15 pages, 6965 KiB

Open AccessProject Report

Retrieval and Calculation of Vertical Aerosol Mass Fluxes by a Coherent Doppler Lidar and a Sun Photometer

by Xiaoye Wang, Guangyao Dai, Songhua Wu, Kangwen Sun, Xiaoquan Song, Wenzhong Chen, Rongzhong Li, Jiaping Yin and Xitao Wang

Remote Sens. 2021, 13(16), 3259; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13163259 - 18 Aug 2021

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2596

Abstract

The direct and indirect radiation forcing of aerosol particles deeply affect the energy budget and the atmospheric chemical and physical processes. To retrieve the vertical aerosol mass fluxes and to investigate the vertical transport process of aerosol by a coherent Doppler lidar (CDL), [...] Read more.

The direct and indirect radiation forcing of aerosol particles deeply affect the energy budget and the atmospheric chemical and physical processes. To retrieve the vertical aerosol mass fluxes and to investigate the vertical transport process of aerosol by a coherent Doppler lidar (CDL), a practical method for instrumental calibration and aerosol optical properties retrieval based on CDL and sun photometer synchronization observations has been developed. A conversion of aerosol optical properties to aerosol microphysical properties is achieved by applying a well-developed algorithm. Furthermore, combining the vertical velocity measured simultaneously with a CDL, we use the eddy covariance (EC) method to retrieve the vertical turbulent aerosol mass fluxes by a CDL and sun photometer with a spatial resolution of 15 m and a temporal resolution of 1 s throughout the planetary boundary layer (PBL). In this paper, we present a measurement case of 24-h continuous fluxes observations and analyze the diurnal variation of the vertical velocity, the aerosol backscatter coefficient at 1550 nm, the mean aerosol mass concentration, and the vertical aerosol mass fluxes on 13 April 2020. Finally, the main relative errors in aerosol mass flux retrieval, including sample error

σ_{F, S}

, aerosol optical properties retrieval error

σ_{F, R}

, and error introduced from aerosol microphysical properties retrieval algorithm

σ_{F, I}

, are evaluated. The sample error

σ_{F, S}

is the dominating error which increases with height except during 12:00–13:12 LST. The aerosol optical properties retrieval error

σ_{F, R}

is 21% and the error introduced from the aerosol microphysical properties retrieval algorithm

σ_{F, I}

is less than 50%. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue ESA - NRSCC Cooperation Dragon 4 Final Results)

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21 pages, 3478 KiB

Open AccessProject Report

Microwave Satellite Measurements for Coastal Area and Extreme Weather Monitoring

by Ferdinando Nunziata, Xiaofeng Li, Armando Marino, Weizeng Shao, Marcos Portabella, Xiaofeng Yang and Andrea Buono

Remote Sens. 2021, 13(16), 3126; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13163126 - 6 Aug 2021

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 2582

Abstract

In this project report, the main outcomes relevant to the Sino-European Dragon-4 cooperation project ID 32235 “Microwave satellite measurements for coastal area and extreme weather monitoring” are reported. The project aimed at strengthening the Sino-European research cooperation in the exploitation of European Space [...] Read more.

In this project report, the main outcomes relevant to the Sino-European Dragon-4 cooperation project ID 32235 “Microwave satellite measurements for coastal area and extreme weather monitoring” are reported. The project aimed at strengthening the Sino-European research cooperation in the exploitation of European Space Agency, Chinese and third-party mission Earth Observation (EO) microwave satellite data. The latter were exploited to perform an effective monitoring of coastal areas, even under extreme weather conditions. An integrated multifrequency/polarization approach based on complementary microwave sensors (e.g., Synthetic Aperture Radar, scatterometer, radiometer), together with ancillary information coming from independent sources, i.e., optical imagery, numerical simulations and ground measurements, was designed. In this framework, several tasks were addressed including marine target detection, sea pollution, sea surface wind estimation and coastline extraction/classification. The main outcomes are both theoretical (i.e., new models and algorithms were developed) and applicative (i.e., user-friendly maps were provided to the end-user community of coastal area management according to smart processing of remotely sensed data). The scientific relevance consists in the development of new algorithms, the effectiveness and robustness of which were verified on actual microwave measurements, and the improvement of existing methodologies to deal with challenging test cases. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue ESA - NRSCC Cooperation Dragon 4 Final Results)

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26 pages, 14183 KiB

Open AccessProject Report

Sino–EU Earth Observation Data to Support the Monitoring and Management of Agricultural Resources

by Stefano Pignatti, Raffaele Casa, Giovanni Laneve, Zhenhai Li, Linyi Liu, Pablo Marzialetti, Nada Mzid, Simone Pascucci, Paolo Cosmo Silvestro, Massimo Tolomio, Deepak Upreti, Hao Yang, Guijun Yang and Wenjiang Huang

Remote Sens. 2021, 13(15), 2889; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13152889 - 23 Jul 2021

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 3391

Abstract

Novel approaches and algorithms to estimate crop physiological processes from Earth Observation (EO) data are essential to develop more sustainable management practices in agricultural systems. Within this context, this paper presents the results of different research activities carried out within the ESA-MOST Dragon [...] Read more.

Novel approaches and algorithms to estimate crop physiological processes from Earth Observation (EO) data are essential to develop more sustainable management practices in agricultural systems. Within this context, this paper presents the results of different research activities carried out within the ESA-MOST Dragon 4 programme. The paper encompasses two research avenues: (a) the retrieval of biophysical variables of crops and yield prediction; and (b) food security related to different crop management strategies. Concerning the retrieval of variables, results show that LAI, derived by radiative transfer model (RTM) inversion, when assimilated into a crop growth model (i.e., SAFY) provides a way to assess yields with a higher accuracy with respect to open loop model runs: 1.14 t·ha⁻¹ vs 4.42 t·ha⁻¹ RMSE for assimilation and open loop, respectively. Concerning food security, results show that different pathogens could be detected by remote sensing satellite data. A k coefficient higher than 0.84 was achieved for yellow rust, thus assuring a monitoring accuracy, and for the diseased samples k was higher than 0.87. Concerning permanent crops, neural network (NN) algorithms allow classification of the Pseudomonas syringae pathogen on kiwi orchards with an overall accuracy higher than 91%. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue ESA - NRSCC Cooperation Dragon 4 Final Results)

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23 pages, 9193 KiB

Open AccessProject Report

Three- and Four-Dimensional Topographic Measurement and Validation

by Fabio Rocca, Deren Li, Stefano Tebaldini, Mingsheng Liao, Lu Zhang, Fabrizio Lombardini, Timo Balz, Norbert Haala, Xiaoli Ding and Ramon Hanssen

Remote Sens. 2021, 13(15), 2861; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13152861 - 21 Jul 2021

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2742

Abstract

This paper reports on the activities carried out in the context of “Dragon project 32278: Three- and Four-Dimensional Topographic Measurement and Validation”. The research work was split into three subprojects and encompassed several activities to deliver accurate characterization of targets on land surfaces [...] Read more.

This paper reports on the activities carried out in the context of “Dragon project 32278: Three- and Four-Dimensional Topographic Measurement and Validation”. The research work was split into three subprojects and encompassed several activities to deliver accurate characterization of targets on land surfaces and deepen the current knowledge on the exploitation of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data. The goal of Subproject 1 was to validate topographic mapping accuracy of various ESA, TPM, and Chinese satellite system on test sites in the EU and China; define and improve validation methodologies for topographic mapping; and develop and setup test sites for the validation of different surface motion estimation techniques. Subproject 2 focused on the specific case of spatially and temporally decorrelating targets by using multi-baseline interferometric (InSAR) and tomographic (TomoSAR) SAR processing. Research on InSAR led to the development of robust retrieval techniques to estimate target displacement over time. Research on TomoSAR was focused on testing or defining new processing methods for high-resolution 3D imaging of the interior of forests and glaciers and the characterization of their temporal behavior. Subproject 3 was focused on near-real-time motion estimation, considering efficient algorithms for the digestion of new acquisitions and for changes in problem parameterization. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue ESA - NRSCC Cooperation Dragon 4 Final Results)

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26 pages, 6939 KiB

Open AccessProject Report

Results of the Dragon 4 Project on New Ocean Remote Sensing Data for Operational Applications

by Ferran Gibert, Jacqueline Boutin, Wolfgang Dierking, Alba Granados, Yan Li, Eduard Makhoul, Junmin Meng, Alexandre Supply, Ester Vendrell, Jean-Luc Vergely, Jin Wang, Jungang Yang, Kunsheng Xiang, Xiaobin Yin and Xi Zhang

Remote Sens. 2021, 13(14), 2847; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13142847 - 20 Jul 2021

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 3405

Abstract

This paper provides an overview of the Dragon 4 project dealing with operational monitoring of sea ice and sea surface salinity (SSS) and new product developments for altimetry data. To improve sea ice thickness retrieval, a new method was developed to match the [...] Read more.

This paper provides an overview of the Dragon 4 project dealing with operational monitoring of sea ice and sea surface salinity (SSS) and new product developments for altimetry data. To improve sea ice thickness retrieval, a new method was developed to match the Cryosat-2 radar waveform. Additionally, an automated sea ice drift detection scheme was developed and tested on Sentinel-1 data, and the sea ice drifty capability of Gaofen-4 geostationary optical data was evaluated. A second topic included implementation and validation of a prototype of a Fully-Focussed SAR processor adapted for Sentinel-3 and Sentinel-6 altimeters and evaluation of its performance with Sentinel-3 data over the Yellow Sea; the assessment of sea surface height (SSH), significant wave height (SWH), and wind speed measurements using different altimeters and CFOSAT SWIM; and the fusion of SSH measurements in mapping sea level anomaly (SLA) data to detect mesoscale eddies. Thirdly, the investigations on the retrieval of SSS include simulations to analyse the performances of the Chinese payload configurations of the Interferometric Microwave Radiometer and the Microwave Imager Combined Active and Passive, SSS retrieval under rain conditions, and the combination of active and passive microwave to study extreme winds. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue ESA - NRSCC Cooperation Dragon 4 Final Results)

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24 pages, 8838 KiB

Open AccessProject Report

Monitoring Greenhouse Gases from Space

by Hartmut Boesch, Yi Liu, Johanna Tamminen, Dongxu Yang, Paul I. Palmer, Hannakaisa Lindqvist, Zhaonan Cai, Ke Che, Antonio Di Noia, Liang Feng, Janne Hakkarainen, Iolanda Ialongo, Nikoleta Kalaitzi, Tomi Karppinen, Rigel Kivi, Ella Kivimäki, Robert J. Parker, Simon Preval, Jing Wang, Alex J. Webb, Lu Yao and Huilin Chen Show full author list Hide full author list

Remote Sens. 2021, 13(14), 2700; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13142700 - 8 Jul 2021

Cited by 21 | Viewed by 7898

Abstract

The increase in atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations of CO₂ and CH₄, due to human activities, is the main driver of the observed increase in surface temperature by more than 1 °C since the pre-industrial era. At the 2015 United Nations [...] Read more.

The increase in atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations of CO₂ and CH₄, due to human activities, is the main driver of the observed increase in surface temperature by more than 1 °C since the pre-industrial era. At the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference held in Paris, most nations agreed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to limit the increase in global surface temperature to 1.5 °C. Satellite remote sensing of CO₂ and CH₄ is now well established thanks to missions such as NASA’s OCO-2 and the Japanese GOSAT missions, which have allowed us to build a long-term record of atmospheric GHG concentrations from space. They also give us a first glimpse into CO₂ and CH₄ enhancements related to anthropogenic emission, which helps to pave the way towards the future missions aimed at a Monitoring & Verification Support (MVS) capacity for the global stock take of the Paris agreement. China plays an important role for the global carbon budget as the largest source of anthropogenic carbon emissions but also as a region of increased carbon sequestration as a result of several reforestation projects. Over the last 10 years, a series of projects on mitigation of carbon emission has been started in China, including the development of the first Chinese greenhouse gas monitoring satellite mission, TanSat, which was successfully launched on 22 December 2016. Here, we summarise the results of a collaborative project between European and Chinese teams under the framework of the Dragon-4 programme of ESA and the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) to characterize and evaluate the datasets from the TanSat mission by retrieval intercomparisons and ground-based validation and to apply model comparisons and surface flux inversion methods to TanSat and other CO₂ missions, with a focus on China. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue ESA - NRSCC Cooperation Dragon 4 Final Results)

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