0000000000133452
AUTHOR
Elizabeth M. Middleton
Very high spectral resolution imaging spectroscopy: The Fluorescence Explorer (FLEX) mission
The Fluorescence Explorer (FLEX) mission has been recently selected as the 8th Earth Explorer by the European Space Agency (ESA). It will be the first mission specifically designed to measure from space vegetation fluorescence emission, by making use of very high spectral resolution imaging spectroscopy techniques. Vegetation fluorescence is the best proxy to actual vegetation photosynthesis which can be measurable from space, allowing an improved quantification of vegetation carbon assimilation and vegetation stress conditions, thus having key relevance for global mapping of ecosystems dynamics and aspects related with agricultural production and food security. The FLEX mission carries the…
Oxygen transmittance correction for solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence measured on proximal sensing: Application to the NASA-GSFC fusion tower
Since oxygen (O 2 ) absorption of light becomes more pronounced at higher pressure levels, even a few meters distance between the target and the sensor can strongly affect canopy-leaving Solar-Induced chlorophyll Fluorescence (SIF) retrievals. This study was conducted to quantify the consequent error propagation and the impact of ignoring oxygen absorption effects on proximal sensing SIF measurements based on the O 2 -A absorption band with field-acquired and simulated data. It was demonstrated that the uncorrected oxygen transmittance between target and sensor distance of 10 m can lead to SIF relative errors ranging from 66% to higher than 100% when using a Spectral Fitting (SF) technique …
Quantitative global mapping of terrestrial vegetation photosynthesis
Although traditional remote sensing systems based on spectral reflectance can already provide estimates of the 'potential' photosynthetic activity of terrestrial vegetation through the quantification of total canopy chlorophyll content or absorbed photosynthetic radiation, the determination of the 'actual' photosynthetic activity of terrestrial vegetation requires information about how the absorbed light is used by plants, such as vegetation fluorescence, using very high spectral resolution spectroscopy in the range 650-800 nm. The Fluorescence Explorer (FLEX) mission, selected in November 2015 as the 8th Earth Explorer by the European Space Agency (ESA), carries the FLORIS spectrometer, wi…
Fluorescence explorer (FLEX): An optimised payload to map vegetation photosynthesis from space
The FLuorescence EXplorer (FLEX) mission proposes to launch a satellite for the global monitoring of steady-state chlorophyll fluorescence in terrestrial vegetation. Fluorescence is a sensitive probe of photosynthetic function in both healthy and physiologically perturbed vegetation, and a powerful non-invasive tool to track the status, resilience, and recovery of photochemical processes and moreover provides important information on overall photosynthetic performance with implications for related carbon sequestration. The early responsiveness of fluorescence to atmospheric, soil and plant water balance, as well as to atmospheric chemistry and human intervention in land usage makes it an ob…
Compensation of Oxygen Transmittance Effects for Proximal Sensing Retrieval of Canopy–Leaving Sun–Induced Chlorophyll Fluorescence
Estimates of Sun–Induced vegetation chlorophyll Fluorescence (SIF) using remote sensing techniques are commonly determined by exploiting solar and/or telluric absorption features. When SIF is retrieved in the strong oxygen (O 2 ) absorption features, atmospheric effects must always be compensated. Whereas correction of atmospheric effects is a standard airborne or satellite data processing step, there is no consensus regarding whether it is required for SIF proximal–sensing measurements nor what is the best strategy to be followed. Thus, by using simulated data, this work provides a comprehensive analysis about how atmospheric effects impact SIF estimations on proximal sensing, regarding: (…
Novel leaf-level measurements of chlorophyll fluorescence for photosynthetic efficiency
Solar induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF) from vegetation can now be obtained from satellites as well as ground-based field studies, at select wavelengths associated with atmospheric features. At the leaf level, full spectrum (650–800 nm) chlorophyll emissions (ChlF) can be measured using specialized instrumentation to support interpretation of these SIF observations. We found that ChlF spectra differ for leaf bottoms versus upper leaf surfaces, potentially affecting within-canopy radiative scattering. Our ChlF measurements for leaves of eight tree species (n≥125) obtained during fall 2013 senescence at the Duke Forest in North Carolina, USA and the 2014 growing season (n=72) at the USDA…
The 2013 FLEX—US Airborne Campaign at the Parker Tract Loblolly Pine Plantation in North Carolina, USA
The first European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA collaboration in an airborne campaign to support ESA’s FLuorescence EXplorer (FLEX) mission was conducted in North Carolina, USA during September–October 2013 (FLEX-US 2013) at the Parker Tract Loblolly Pine (LP) Plantation (Plymouth, NC, USA). This campaign combined two unique airborne instrument packages to obtain simultaneous observations of solar-induced fluorescence (SIF), LiDAR-based canopy structural information, visible through shortwave infrared (VSWIR) reflectance spectra, and surface temperature, to advance vegetation studies of carbon cycle dynamics and ecosystem health. We obtained statistically significant results for fluorescence…
Remote sensing of solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF) in vegetation: 50 years of progress
Remote sensing of solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF) is a rapidly advancing front in terrestrial vegetation science, with emerging capability in space-based methodologies and diverse application prospects. Although remote sensing of SIF – especially from space – is seen as a contemporary new specialty for terrestrial plants, it is founded upon a multi-decadal history of research, applications, and sensor developments in active and passive sensing of chlorophyll fluorescence. Current technical capabilities allow SIF to be measured across a range of biological, spatial, and temporal scales. As an optical signal, SIF may be assessed remotely using high-resolution spectral sensors in …
Diurnal and Seasonal Solar Induced Chlorophyll Fluorescence and Photosynthesis in a Boreal Scots Pine Canopy
Solar induced chlorophyll fluorescence has been shown to be increasingly an useful proxy for the estimation of gross primary productivity (GPP), at a range of spatial scales. Here, we explore the seasonality in a continuous time series of canopy solar induced fluorescence (hereafter SiF) and its relation to canopy gross primary production (GPP), canopy light use efficiency (LUE), and direct estimates of leaf level photochemical efficiency in an evergreen canopy. SiF was calculated using infilling in two bands from the incoming and reflected radiance using a pair of Ocean Optics USB2000+ spectrometers operated in a dual field of view mode, sampling at a 30 min time step using custom written …
The FLuorescence EXplorer Mission Concept-ESA's Earth Explorer 8
In November 2015, the FLuorescence EXplorer (FLEX) was selected as the eighth Earth Explorer mission of the European Space Agency. The tandem mission concept will provide measurements at a spectral and spatial resolution enabling the retrieval and interpretation of the full chlorophyll fluorescence spectrum emitted by the terrestrial vegetation. This paper provides a mission concept overview of the scientific goals, the key objectives related to fluorescence, and the requirements guaranteeing the fitness for purpose of the resulting scientific data set. We present the mission design at the time of selection, i.e., at the end of project phase Phase A/B1, as developed by two independent indus…