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Current and Future Earth Observing Sensor Systems aboard the International Space Station (ISS)

A special issue of Remote Sensing (ISSN 2072-4292). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Remote Sensing".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 November 2023) | Viewed by 12116

Special Issue Editors

National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Annex 5th Floor, AIST Tokyo Waterfront, 2-4-7 Aomi, Koto-ku, Tokyo 135-0064, Japan
Interests: calibration and validation of optical remote sensing systems; atmospheric correction; validating retrieved surface reflectance
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, USA
Interests: radiometric calibration with emphasis on vicarious calibrations; atmospheric radiative transfer with emphasis on scattering dominated cases; atmospheric correction and surface reflectance retrievals
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, USA
Interests: thermal infrared spectroscopy; land surface temperature and emissivity; ECOSTRESS; improving our understanding of Earth surface properties; urban climate; hydrological processes
Department of Geographical Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA
Interests: LiDAR; 3D structure; ecosystem; carbon; GEDI; ICESat-2
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
German Aerospace Center (DLR), Remote Sensing Technology Institute, Photogrammetry and Image Analysis, Oberpfaffenhofen, 82234 Weßling, Germany
Interests: imaging spectroscopy with a focus on urban surface materials; spaceborne imaging spectroscopy missions; EnMAP; DESIS; earth observation for soil information; applied spectroscopy
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The International Space Station (ISS) is a unique platform with a human crew, which can contribute to Earth observations. Recently-launched sensors for Earth observation include ECOSTRESS, GEDI, OCO-3, DESIS, and HISUI that have all begun operations from ISS after 2018 with each sensor already providing useful information to understand planet Earth.

The Ecosystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer Experiment on Space Station (ECOSTRESS) can obtain brightness temperature of vegetation for understanding evapotranspiration dynamics. The Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI) instrument can observe Earth’s 3D vegetation structure using a high-resolution laser remote sensing system. The Orbiting Carbon Observatory-3 (OCO-3) sensor measures global carbon dioxide and solar-induced fluorescence (SIF) from space. The Hyperspectral Imager Suite (HISUI) developed by the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry and the German Space Agency (DLR) Earth Sensing Imaging Spectrometer (DESIS) are spaceborne hyperspectral Earth imaging systems. A future sensor, The Climate Absolute Radiance and Refractivity Observatory Pathfinder (CPF), will be demonstrating the capability to measure energy from reflected sunlight from Earth with higher accuracy than other Earth observation satellite sensors. Another future ISS sensor, the Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation (EMIT), will measure arid land dust source regions of the Earth.

The above examples of current and future Earth observing sensor systems on the ISS have huge potential for research on the interactions among the geosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere because their sensors can measure the Earth surface simultaneously. Data sharing obtained by Earth observing sensors onboard ISS can promote international collaboration under the international partnership.

This Special Issue invites manuscripts on research updates on the above instruments as well as other planned and previously-operated Earth observation sensors onboard the ISS. Topics can include but are not limited to descriptions of sensor calibration, validation of higher-level products, results from using multiple ISS sensors, and challenges and benefits of the ISS platform for Earth observation measurements.

Dr. Hirokazu Yamamoto
Dr. Kurtis Thome
Dr. Glynn Hulley
Dr. Hao Tang
Dr. Uta Heiden
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Remote Sensing is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • ISS
  • Calibration
  • Validation
  • Temperature
  • Evapotranspiration
  • Vegetation structure
  • Carbon dioxide
  • Solar-induced fluorescence
  • Hyperspectral imaging
  • Future instruments onboard ISS

Published Papers (4 papers)

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17 pages, 3759 KiB  
Article
Global Intercomparison of Hyper-Resolution ECOSTRESS Coastal Sea Surface Temperature Measurements from the Space Station with VIIRS-N20
by Nicolas Weidberg, David S. Wethey and Sarah A. Woodin
Remote Sens. 2021, 13(24), 5021; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/rs13245021 - 10 Dec 2021
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2140
Abstract
The ECOSTRESS multi-channel thermal radiometer on the Space Station has an unprecedented spatial resolution of 70 m and a return time of hours to 5 days. It resolves details of oceanographic features not detectable in imagery from MODIS or VIIRS, and has open-ocean [...] Read more.
The ECOSTRESS multi-channel thermal radiometer on the Space Station has an unprecedented spatial resolution of 70 m and a return time of hours to 5 days. It resolves details of oceanographic features not detectable in imagery from MODIS or VIIRS, and has open-ocean coverage, unlike Landsat. We calibrated two years of ECOSTRESS sea surface temperature observations with L2 data from VIIRS-N20 (2019–2020) worldwide but especially focused on important upwelling systems currently undergoing climate change forcing. Unlike operational SST products from VIIRS-N20, the ECOSTRESS surface temperature algorithm does not use a regression approach to determine temperature, but solves a set of simultaneous equations based on first principles for both surface temperature and emissivity. We compared ECOSTRESS ocean temperatures to well-calibrated clear sky satellite measurements from VIIRS-N20. Data comparisons were constrained to those within 90 min of one another using co-located clear sky VIIRS and ECOSTRESS pixels. ECOSTRESS ocean temperatures have a consistent 1.01 °C negative bias relative to VIIRS-N20, although deviation in brightness temperatures within the 10.49 and 12.01 µm bands were much smaller. As an alternative, we compared the performance of NOAA, NASA, and U.S. Navy operational split-window SST regression algorithms taking into consideration the statistical limitations imposed by intrinsic SST spatial autocorrelation and applying corrections on brightness temperatures. We conclude that standard bias-correction methods using already validated and well-known algorithms can be applied to ECOSTRESS SST data, yielding highly accurate products of ultra-high spatial resolution for studies of biological and physical oceanography in a time when these are needed to properly evaluate regional and even local impacts of climate change. Full article
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28 pages, 17307 KiB  
Article
Compact Thermal Imager (CTI) for Atmospheric Remote Sensing
by Dong L. Wu, Donald E. Jennings, Kwong-Kit Choi, Murzy D. Jhabvala, James A. Limbacher, Thomas Flatley, Kyu-Myong Kim, Anh T. La, Ross J. Salawitch, Luke D. Oman, Jie Gong, Thomas R. Holmes, Douglas C. Morton, Tilak Hewagama and Robert J. Swap
Remote Sens. 2021, 13(22), 4578; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/rs13224578 - 14 Nov 2021
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2728
Abstract
The demonstration of a newly developed compact thermal imager (CTI) on the International Space Station (ISS) has provided not only a technology advancement but a rich high-resolution dataset on global clouds, atmospheric and land emissions. This study showed that the free-running CTI instrument [...] Read more.
The demonstration of a newly developed compact thermal imager (CTI) on the International Space Station (ISS) has provided not only a technology advancement but a rich high-resolution dataset on global clouds, atmospheric and land emissions. This study showed that the free-running CTI instrument could be calibrated to produce scientifically useful radiance imagery of the atmosphere, clouds, and surfaces with a vertical resolution of ~460 m at limb and a horizontal resolution of ~80 m at nadir. The new detector demonstrated an excellent sensitivity to detect the weak limb radiance perturbations modulated by small-scale atmospheric gravity waves. The CTI’s high-resolution imaging was used to infer vertical cloud temperature profiles from a side-viewing geometry. For nadir imaging, the combined high-resolution and high-sensitivity capabilities allowed the CTI to better separate cloud and surface emissions, including those in the planetary boundary layer (PBL) that had small contrast against the background surface. Finally, based on the ISS’s orbit, the stable detector performance and robust calibration algorithm produced valuable diurnal observations of cloud and surface emissions with respect to solar local time during May–October 2019, when the CTI had nearly continuous operation. Full article
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12 pages, 2571 KiB  
Article
ECOSTRESS and CIMIS: A Comparison of Potential and Reference Evapotranspiration in Riverside County, California
by Gurjot Kohli, Christine M. Lee, Joshua B. Fisher, Gregory Halverson, Evan Variano, Yufang Jin, Daniel Carney, Brenton A. Wilder and Alicia M. Kinoshita
Remote Sens. 2020, 12(24), 4126; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/rs12244126 - 17 Dec 2020
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 3844
Abstract
The ECOsystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer Experiment on Space Station (ECOSTRESS) provides remotely-sensed estimates of evapotranspiration at 70 m spatial resolution every 1–5 days, sampling across the diurnal cycle. This study, in partnership with an operational water management organization, the Eastern Municipal Water District [...] Read more.
The ECOsystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer Experiment on Space Station (ECOSTRESS) provides remotely-sensed estimates of evapotranspiration at 70 m spatial resolution every 1–5 days, sampling across the diurnal cycle. This study, in partnership with an operational water management organization, the Eastern Municipal Water District (EMWD) in Southern California, was conducted to evaluate estimates of evapotranspiration under ideal conditions where water is not limited. EMWD regularly uses a ground-based network of reference evapotranspiration (ETo) from the California Irrigation Management Information System (CIMIS); yet, there are gaps in spatial coverage and questions of spatial representativeness and consistency. Space-based potential evapotranspiration (PET) estimates, such as those from ECOSTRESS, provide consistent spatial coverage. We compared ECOSTRESS ETo (estimated from PET) to CIMIS ETo at five CIMIS sites in Riverside County, California from July 2018–June 2020. We found strong correlations between CIMIS ETo and ECOSTRESS ETo across all five sites (R2 = 0.89, root mean square error (RMSE) = 0.11 mm hr−1). Both CIMIS and ECOSTRESS ETo captured similar seasonal patterns through the study period as well as diurnal variability. There were site-specific differences in the relationship between ECOSTRESS AND CIMIS, in part due to spatial heterogeneity around the station site. Consequently, careful examination of landscapes surrounding CIMIS sites must be considered in future comparisons. These results indicate that ECOSTRESS successfully retrieves PET that is comparable to ground-based reference ET, highlighting the potential for providing observation-driven guidance for irrigation management across spatial scales. Full article
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13 pages, 4090 KiB  
Technical Note
Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment (SAGE) from SAGE III on the ISS to a Free Flying SAGE IV Cubesat
by John P. Leckey, Robert Damadeo and Charles A. Hill
Remote Sens. 2021, 13(22), 4664; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/rs13224664 - 19 Nov 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1569
Abstract
The Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment III (SAGE III) on the International Space Station (ISS) is widely accepted as a stable source for high-quality stratospheric ozone, aerosol, and water vapor measurements since it was installed on the ISS in 2017. The ISS is [...] Read more.
The Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment III (SAGE III) on the International Space Station (ISS) is widely accepted as a stable source for high-quality stratospheric ozone, aerosol, and water vapor measurements since it was installed on the ISS in 2017. The ISS is a unique platform that provides access for hosted payloads while furnishing infrastructure for power, uplink, downlink, etc. for instrument operations. The opportunities, risks, and challenges from operating on the ISS are described in addition to comprehensive lessons learned. In addition, SAGE IV is presented as an option for the future of the SAGE lineage where the lessons learned from SAGE III and technological advances have enabled the instrument to fit into a 6U CubeSat yielding a significantly smaller and cheaper form-factor to preserve the continuity of critical atmospheric measurements. Full article
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