Preface: the environmental mapping and analysis program (EnMAP) mission: preparing for its scientific exploitation

Open access; distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) licenseThe imaging spectroscopy mission EnMAP aims to assess the state and evolution of terrestrialandaquaticecosystems,examinethemultifacetedimpactsofhumanactivities,andsupport a sustainable use of natural resources. Once in operation (scheduled to launch in 2019), EnMAP will provide high-quality observations in the visible to near-infrared and shortwave-infrared spectral range. The scientific preparation of the mission comprises an extensive science program. This special issue presents a collection of research articles, demonstrating the potential of EnMAP for various applications along with overview articles on the mission and software tools developed within its scientific preparation.Ye

Interrelations of vegetation growth and water scarcity in Iran revealed by satellite time series

Iran has experienced a drastic increase in water scarcity in the last decades. The main driver has been the substantial unsustainable water consumption of the agricultural sector. This study quantifies the spatiotemporal dynamics of Iran’s hydrometeorological water availability, land cover, and vegetation growth and evaluates their interrelations with a special focus on agricultural vegetation developments. It analyzes globally available reanalysis climate data and satellite time series data and products, allowing a country-wide investigation of recent 20+ years at detailed spatial and temporal scales. The results reveal a wide-spread agricultural expansion (27,000 km$^2$) and a significant cultivation intensification (48,000 km$^2$). At the same time, we observe a substantial decline in total water storage that is not represented by a decrease of meteorological water input, confirming an unsustainable use of groundwater mainly for agricultural irrigation. As consequence of water scarcity, we identify agricultural areas with a loss or reduction of vegetation growth (10,000 km$^2$), especially in irrigated agricultural areas under (hyper-)arid conditions. In Iran’s natural biomes, the results show declining trends in vegetation growth and land cover degradation from sparse vegetation to barren land in 40,000 km$^2$, mainly along the western plains and foothills of the Zagros Mountains, and at the same time wide-spread greening trends, particularly in regions of higher altitudes. Overall, the findings provide detailed insights in vegetation-related causes and consequences of Iran’s anthropogenic drought and can support sustainable management plans for Iran or other semi-arid regions worldwide, often facing similar conditions

Measuring, modelling and managing gully erosion at large scales: A state of the art

Soil erosion is generally recognized as the dominant process of land degradation. The formation and expansion of gullies is often a highly significant process of soil erosion. However, our ability to assess and simulate gully erosion and its impacts remains very limited. This is especially so at regional to continental scales. As a result, gullying is often overlooked in policies and land and catchment management strategies. Nevertheless, significant progress has been made over the past decades. Based on a review of >590 scientific articles and policy documents, we provide a state-of-the-art on our ability to monitor, model and manage gully erosion at regional to continental scales. In this review we discuss the relevance and need of assessing gully erosion at regional to continental scales (Section 1); current methods to monitor gully erosion as well as pitfalls and opportunities to apply them at larger scales (section 2); field-based gully erosion research conducted in Europe and European Russia (section 3); model approaches to simulate gully erosion and its contribution to catchment sediment yields at large scales (section 4); data products that can be used for such simulations (section 5); and currently existing policy tools and needs to address the problem of gully erosion (section 6). Section 7 formulates a series of recommendations for further research and policy development, based on this review. While several of these sections have a strong focus on Europe, most of our findings and recommendations are of global significance.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

IL4I1 Is a Metabolic Immune Checkpoint that Activates the AHR and Promotes Tumor Progression

Immune checkpoint blockade therapy induces the AHR-activating enzyme IL4I1, which promotes tumor progression, through its effects on tumor cell motility and adaptive immunity

The EnMAP imaging spectroscopy mission towards operations

EnMAP (Environmental Mapping and Analysis Program) is a high-resolution imaging spectroscopy remote sensing mission that was successfully launched on April 1st, 2022. Equipped with a prism-based dual-spectrometer, EnMAP performs observations in the spectral range between 418.2 nm and 2445.5 nm with 224 bands and a high radiometric and spectral accuracy and stability. EnMAP products, with a ground instantaneous field-of-view of 30 m x 30 m at a swath width of 30 km, allow for the qualitative and quantitative analysis of surface variables from frequently and consistently acquired observations on a global scale. This article presents the EnMAP mission and details the activities and results of the Launch and Early Orbit and Commissioning Phases until November 1st, 2022. The mission capabilities and expected performances for the operational Routine Phase are provided for existing and future EnMAP users

EnMAP Campaign Portal – Flight campaigns of the “EnMAP Data Exploitation and Application Development Program”

Hyperspectral airborne campaigns have been carried out in the frame of the data exploitation and application development program of the German Environmental Mapping and Analysis Program (EnMAP) to support method and application development in the prelaunch phase of the EnMAP satellite mission. A metadata portal (EnMAP Campaign Portal) has been set up providing general information about the campaigns, recorded airborne hyperspectral data sets, other data associated to the respective campaigns like field and laboratory measurements and a number of field guides for in - situ data acquisition. Furthermore, it informs about the availability of simulated EnMAP and Sentinel-2 data for the respective campaign region. The data listed in the EnMAP Campaign Portal is freely available under a Creative Commons License as DOI-referenced data publications

Prediction of Common Surface Soil Properties Based on Vis-NIR Airborne and Simulated EnMAP Imaging Spectroscopy Data: Prediction Accuracy and Influence of Spatial Resolution

With the upcoming availability of the next generation of high quality orbiting hyperspectral sensors, a major step toward improved regional soil mapping and monitoring and delivery of quantitative soil maps is expected. This study focuses on the determination of the prediction accuracy of spectral models for the mapping of common soil properties based on upcoming EnMAP (Environmental Mapping and Analysis Program) satellite data using semi-operational soil models. Iron oxide (Fed), clay, and soil organic carbon (SOC) content are predicted in test areas in Spain and Luxembourg based on a semi-automatic Partial-Least-Square (PLS) regression approach using airborne hyperspectral, simulated EnMAP, and soil chemical datasets. A variance contribution analysis, accounting for errors in the dependent variables, is used alongside classical error measurements. Results show that EnMAP allows predicting iron oxide, clay, and SOC with an R2 between 0.53 and 0.67 compared to Hyperspectral Mapper (HyMap)/Airborne Hyperspectral System (AHS) imagery with an R2 between 0.64 and 0.74. Although a slight decrease in soil prediction accuracy is observed at the spaceborne scale compared to the airborne scale, the decrease in accuracy is still reasonable. Furthermore, spatial distribution is coherent between the HyMap/AHS mapping and simulated EnMAP mapping as shown with a spatial structure analysis with a systematically lower semivariance at the EnMAP scale

In Situ and Satellite Observation of CDOM and Chlorophyll-a Dynamics in Small Water Surface Reservoirs in the Brazilian Semiarid Region

We analyzed chlorophyll-a and Colored Dissolved Organic Matter (CDOM) dynamics from field measurements and assessed the potential of multispectral satellite data for retrieving water-quality parameters in three small surface reservoirs in the Brazilian semiarid region. More specifically, this work is comprised of: (i) analysis of Chl-a and trophic dynamics; (ii) characterization of CDOM; (iii) estimation of Chl-a and CDOM from OLI/Landsat-8 and RapidEye imagery. The monitoring lasted 20 months within a multi-year drought, which contributed to water-quality deterioration. Chl-a and trophic state analysis showed a highly eutrophic status for the perennial reservoir during the entire study period, while the non-perennial reservoirs ranged from oligotrophic to eutrophic, with changes associated with the first events of the rainy season. CDOM characterization suggests that the perennial reservoir is mostly influenced by autochthonous sources, while allochthonous sources dominate the non-perennial ones. Spectral-group classification assigned the perennial reservoir as a CDOM-moderate and highly eutrophic reservoir, whereas the non-perennial ones were assigned as CDOM-rich and oligotrophic-dystrophic reservoirs. The remote sensing initiative was partially successful: the Chl-a was best modelled using RapidEye for the perennial one; whereas CDOM performed best with Landsat-8 for non-perennial reservoirs. This investigation showed potential for retrieving water quality parameters in dry areas with small reservoirs