The Remote Sensing of Solar-Induced Chlorophyll Fluorescence in Terrestrial Vegetation

Dear Colleague,

Starting with the simple question “what is that vegetation?” (e.g., trees, grass), the remote sensing of terrestrial vegetation progressed swiftly to “how much is there?” (e.g., biomass, Leaf Area Index) and then to “what is its composition?” (e.g., chlorophyll, water). Each increasingly demanding step was enabled by an increase in sensor sophistication and theoretical understanding and a transition from empirical to physical modelling. Rapid developments in all three enabled an even more challenging question to be posed: “how productive is it?” (e.g., gross primary productivity).  Fortunately, our theoretical understanding of the interaction of radiation with chlorophyll is long-standing, and the move from empirical to physical modelling had occurred for the remote sensing of ocean chlorophyll fluorescence in the 1990s. Tackling this question over land was initiated, therefore, by the development, during the past decade, of ever more sophisticated spectrometers with a sensitivity for recording the relatively low photon flux associated with solar-induced fluorescence from terrestrial vegetation.

By way of background, during photosynthesis, chlorophyll absorbs radiation at wavelengths between 400 and 700 nm (i.e., sunlight) and emits around 2% of this radiation at wavelengths between 650 and 850 nm (i.e., red and near infrared). Radiation is emitted as a result of chlorophyll fluorescence and is in direct proportion to the radiation absorbed. As a result, it can be used to estimate not only vegetation productivity but other areas of vegetation function that are linked to photosynthetic rate (e.g., vegetation stress and phenological stage), at scales from leaf to landscape.

While the remote sensing of solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence has progressed rapidly in the past few years, the full potential of this promising technique is yet to be explored, let alone realised.  This Special Edition invites contributions on this frontier area of remote sensing.

Prof. Dr. Paul Curran
Guest Editor

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.

• Terrestrial vegetation
• Chlorophyl fluorescence
• Photosynthesis
• Productivity
• Modelling
• Vegetation stress
• Passive sensing
• Photosystem II
• Spectrometer