Remote multispectral imaging with PRISMS and XRF analysis of Tang Tomb paintings

PRISMS (Portable Remote Imaging System for Multispectral Scanning) is a multispectral/hyperspectral imaging system designed for flexible in situ imaging of wall paintings at high resolution (tens of microns) over a large range of distances (less than a meter to over ten meters). This paper demonstrates a trial run of the VIS/NIR (400-880nm) component of the instrument for non-invasive imaging of wall paintings in situ. Wall painting panels from excavated Tang dynasty (618-907AD) tombs near Xi’an were examined by PRISMS. Pigment identifications were carried out using the spectral reflectance obtained from multispectral imaging coupled with non-invasive elemental analysis using a portable XRF

Earthshine as an Illumination Source at the Moon

Earthshine is the dominant source of natural illumination on the surface of the Moon during lunar night, and at locations within permanently shadowed regions that never receive direct sunlight. As such, earthshine may enable the exploration of areas of the Moon that are hidden from solar illumination. The heat flux from earthshine may also influence the transport and cold trapping of volatiles present in the very coldest areas. In this study, Earth's spectral radiance at the Moon is examined using a suite of Earth spectral models created using the Virtual Planetary Laboratory (VPL) three dimensional modeling capability. At the Moon, the broadband, hemispherical irradiance from Earth near 0 phase is approximately 0.15 watts per square meter, with comparable contributions from solar reflectance and thermal emission. Over the simulation timeframe, spanning two lunations, Earth's thermal irradiance changes less than a few mW per square meter as a result of cloud variability and the south-to-north motion of sub-observer position. In solar band, Earth's diurnally averaged light curve at phase angles < 60 degrees is well fit using a Henyey Greenstein integral phase function. At wavelengths > 0.7 microns, near the well known vegetation "red edge", Earth's reflected solar radiance shows significant diurnal modulation as a result of the longitudinal asymmetry in projected landmass, as well as from the distribution of clouds. A simple formulation with adjustable coefficients is presented for estimating Earth's hemispherical irradiance at the Moon as a function of wavelength, phase angle and sub-observer coordinates. It is demonstrated that earthshine is sufficiently bright to serve as a natural illumination source for optical measurements from the lunar surface.Comment: 27 pages, 15 figures, 1 tabl

Applications of ISES for vegetation and land use

Remote sensing relative to applications involving vegetation cover and land use is reviewed to consider the potential benefits to the Earth Observing System (Eos) of a proposed Information Sciences Experiment System (ISES). The ISES concept has been proposed as an onboard experiment and computational resource to support advanced experiments and demonstrations in the information and earth sciences. Embedded in the concept is potential for relieving the data glut problem, enhancing capabilities to meet real-time needs of data users and in-situ researchers, and introducing emerging technology to Eos as the technology matures. These potential benefits are examined in the context of state-of-the-art research activities in image/data processing and management

Monitoring of Natura 2000 sites using hyperspectral remote sensing : quality assessment of field and airborne data for Ginkelse & Ederheide and Wekeromse Zand

In 2007, an airborne imaging spectroscopy campaign was organized in the frame of the HABISTAT project. Airborne data with the AHS sensor were acquired in the Netherlands and Belgium. One test site in Belgium was recorded, the Kalmthoutse Heide and one in the Netherlands: the Edese and Ginkelse Heide and the Wekeromse Zand. This report describes the quality assessment of the field and airborne data for the Edese and Ginkelse Heide and the Wekeromse Zand site. The results for the Kalmthoutse Heide will be presented in a separate report (INBO, 2008)

Water Body Distributions Across Scales: A Remote Sensing Based Comparison of Three Arctic Tundra Wetlands

Water bodies are ubiquitous features in Arctic wetlands. Ponds, i.e., waters with a surface area smaller than 104 m2, have been recognized as hotspots of biological activity and greenhouse gas emissions but are not well inventoried. This study aimed to identify common characteristics of three Arctic wetlands including water body size and abundance for different spatial resolutions, and the potential of Landsat-5 TM satellite data to show the subpixel fraction of water cover (SWC) via the surface albedo. Water bodies were mapped using optical and radar satellite data with resolutions of 4mor better, Landsat-5 TM at 30mand the MODIS water mask (MOD44W) at 250m resolution. Study sites showed similar properties regarding water body distributions and scaling issues. Abundance-size distributions showed a curved pattern on a log-log scale with a flattened lower tail and an upper tail that appeared Paretian. Ponds represented 95% of the total water body number. Total number of water bodies decreased with coarser spatial resolutions. However, clusters of small water bodies were merged into single larger water bodies leading to local overestimation of water surface area. To assess the uncertainty of coarse-scale products, both surface water fraction and the water body size distribution should therefore be considered. Using Landsat surface albedo to estimate SWC across different terrain types including polygonal terrain and drained thermokarst basins proved to be a robust approach. However, the albedo–SWC relationship is site specific and needs to be tested in other Arctic regions. These findings present a baseline to better represent small water bodies of Arctic wet tundra environments in regional as well as global ecosystem and climate models

La teledetección como instrumento de analisis de datos espaciales aplicados al estudio de incendios en el territorio italiano

The relation between the vegetation’s phenology and summer wildfires in Italy was studied using remote sensing and GIS techniques, in the course of the year 2008. We identified vegetation cover “that can be burned”, using a mask based on the CORINE Land Cover product. The vigour of the vegetation was estimated with MODIS images (MODO1KM) available at the Italian Space Agency (ASI) for May, June, July, August and September of 2008. The greenness index called Photosynthetic Reflectivity Index (PRI) and the modal filter “majority” were employed. The occurrence of fires in Italy from May to September 2008 was studied using data from hotspots provided by the Sensor Meteosat Second Generation (MSG-SEVIRI) on a query system developed by the Italian Space Agency (ASI). To analyse the relation between the occurrence of fires and the PRI, a database of hotspots was consulted. Cartography was obtained as a result, for monthly PRI during the study period with maps of PRI changes and occurrence of fires. The PRI and detected fires increased from May to August, indicating a strong seasonality and an increased vulnerability of the vegetation to summer fires. The central areas of Italy were most affected by these summer fires.La relación entre la fenología de la vegetación y la ocurrencia de incendios estivales en el territorio italiano en el transcurso del año 2008 se estudió mediante técnicas de teledetección y SIG. Se identificaron las coberturas de vegetación “susceptibles de ser quemadas”. Estas fueron determinadas mediante la aplicación de una máscara , basada en el producto CORINE Land Cover. El vigor de la vegetación se estimó a partir de imágenes MODIS (MOD01KM) disponibles en la Agencia Espacial Italiana (ASI) para mayo, junio, julio, agosto y septiembre de 2008. El índice de verdor denominado Índice de Reflectividad Fotosintética (PRI) y el filtro modal “majority” fueron empleados. La ocurrencia de incendios desde mayo a septiembre de 2008 en el territorio italiano fue estudiada mediante de focos de calor proporcionados por el sensor Meteosat Second Generation (MSG-SEVIRI), sobre un sistema de consultas desarrollado por la Agencia Espacial Italiana (ASI). Para analizar la relación entre la ocurrencia de incendios y el PRI se consultó dicha base focos de calor. Como resultado se obtuvo cartografía de PRI mensual y para el período estudiado se generaron mapas de cambio del PRI y de los incendios ocurridos. El PRI y los incendios detectados aumentaron desde mayo a agosto, indicando una marcada estacionalidad y un aumento de la vulnerabilidad de la vegetación a los incendios estivales. Las zonas centrales de Italia resultaron ser las más afectadas por los incendios.Fil: Zamboni, Lisandra Pamela. Universidad Autónoma de Entre Ríos; ArgentinaFil: Loizzo, Rosa. Agenzia Spaziale Italiana; ItaliaFil: Sione, Walter Fabian. Universidad Autónoma de Entre Ríos; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Luján; ArgentinaFil: Aceñolaza, Pablo Gilberto. Universidad Autónoma de Entre Ríos; Argentina. Provincia de Entre Ríos. Centro de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia de Tecnología a la Producción. Universidad Autónoma de Entre Ríos. Centro de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia de Tecnología a la Producción. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Centro de Investigaciones Científicas y Transferencia de Tecnología a la Producción; Argentin

Photometric Depth Super-Resolution

This study explores the use of photometric techniques (shape-from-shading and uncalibrated photometric stereo) for upsampling the low-resolution depth map from an RGB-D sensor to the higher resolution of the companion RGB image. A single-shot variational approach is first put forward, which is effective as long as the target's reflectance is piecewise-constant. It is then shown that this dependency upon a specific reflectance model can be relaxed by focusing on a specific class of objects (e.g., faces), and delegate reflectance estimation to a deep neural network. A multi-shot strategy based on randomly varying lighting conditions is eventually discussed. It requires no training or prior on the reflectance, yet this comes at the price of a dedicated acquisition setup. Both quantitative and qualitative evaluations illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed methods on synthetic and real-world scenarios.Comment: IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence (T-PAMI), 2019. First three authors contribute equall