0000000000133458
AUTHOR
Gina H. Mohammed
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…
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…
Global sensitivity analysis of the SCOPE model : what drives simulated canopy - leaving sun - induced fluorescence?
This study provides insight into the key variables that drive sun-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF) emanating from vegetation canopies, based on a global sensitivity analysis (GSA) of the Soil-Canopy Observation of Photosynthesis and Energy (SCOPE) balance model. An updated version of the SCOPE model was used here (v1.53) which contains novel leaf physiological modules for determination of the steady state fluorescence yield: a photosynthesis model coupled with (a) submodels having empirically derived relationships, identified as TB12 for unstressed and TB12-D for drought conditions and (b) a mechanistic (MD12) submodel based on theoretical relationships. By inspecting Sobol's total or…
Global sensitivity analysis of the A-SCOPE model in support of future FLEX fluorescence retrievals
In support of ESA's Earth Explorer 8 candidate mission FLEX (FLuorescence EXplorer), a Photosynthesis Study has been initiated to quantitatively link fluorescence to photosynthesis. This led to the development of A-SCOPE, a graphical user interface software package that integrates multiple biochemical models into the soil-vegetation-atmosphere-transfer model SCOPE. Its latest version (v1.53) has been successfully verified and was subsequently evaluated through a global sensitivity analysis. By using the method of Saltelli [4], the relative importance of each input variable to model outputs was quantified through first order and total effect sensitivity indices. Variations in leaf area index…
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 …
Sensitivity of scope modelled GPP and fluorescence for different plant functional types
This study addresses the question which factors are responsible for reported positive correlations between solar induced fluorescence (SIF) and gross primary production (GPP). A sensitivity analysis of the model SCOPE, which simulates photosynthesis, fluorescence emission and radiative transfer in canopies, has been carried out for four different plant functional types (PFT): tropical rainforest, C4 crops, C3 crops, and tundra, located in distinct climate zones: tropical everwet (Af), tropical with seasonal drought (savannah, Aw), temperate (Cf), and continental tundra (Dfd). Literature values for structural and physiological parameters and climate reanalysis data were used as input. The ef…
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…
Evaluating the predictive power of sun-induced chlorophyll fluorescence to estimate net photosynthesis of vegetation canopies: A SCOPE modeling study
Abstract Progress in imaging spectroscopy technology and data processing can enable derivation of the complete sun-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF) emission spectrum. This opens up opportunities to fully exploit the use of the SIF spectrum as an indicator of photosynthetic activity. Simulations performed with the coupled fluorescence–photosynthesis model SCOPE were used to determine how strongly canopy-leaving SIF can be related to net photosynthesis of the canopy (NPC) for various canopy configurations. Regression analysis between SIF retrievals and NPC values produced the following general findings: (1) individual SIF bands that were most sensitive to NPC were located around the fir…