Scale-specific Hyperspectral Remote Sensing Approach in Environmental Research

Hyperspectral remote-sensing data can contribute significantly to data analysis in research, opening up a wide spectrum for fields of application due to geometrical as well as spectral characteristics, e.g. in water status analysis, in the classification of vegetation types, in the classification of physical-biochemical vegetation parameters, in classifying soil composition and structure, and in determining large-scale soil contamination. Hence, there is a tremendous demand for hyperspectral information. However the use of commercial hyperspectral data is associated with a number of problems and a great deal of time and effort is required for research using hyperspectral data that spans different spatial and/or hierarchical as well as temporal scales. As a result few investigations have been conducted on the causal relationships between imaging hyperspectral signals and meaningful vegetation variables over a longer monitoring period. At the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) Leipzig a scale-specific hyperspectral remote sensing based on the sensors AISA-EAGLE (400-970 nm) and AISA-HAWK (970-2500 nm) has been set up. On three different scales (plot, local and regional) intensive investigations are being carried out on the spatio-temporal responses of biophysical and biochemical state variables of vegetation, soil and water compared to the hyperspectral response. This paper introduces and discusses the scale approach and demonstrates some preliminary examples from its implementation.