0000000000667334
AUTHOR
Tomás Belenguer
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…
OMC: An Optical Monitoring Camera for INTEGRAL
The Optical Monitoring Camera (OMC) will observe the optical emission from the prime targets of the gamma- ray instruments onboard the ESA mission INTEGRAL, with the support of the JEM-X monitor in the X-ray domain. This capability will provide invaluable diagnostic information on the nature and the physics of the sources over a broad wavelength range. Its main scientific objectives are: (1) to monitor the optical emission from the sources observed by the gamma- and X-ray instruments, measuring the time and intensity structure of the optical emission for comparison with variability at high energies, and (2) to provide the brightness and position of the optical counterpart of any gamma- or X…