Knowledge about the land cover of large areas is important for monitoring and modeling of ecological and environmental processes and for land cover change detection. Considerable efforts have recently resulted in the development of global continuous fields for different land cover types at large spatial scales based on NOAA-AVHRR, SPOT-VEGETATION, and TERRA-MODIS data. Researchers have applied ...

Two sites in Sweden are investigated for a potential deep repository of the nuclear waste, the Laxemar investigation area (57°5’N, 16°7’E) and the Forsmark investigation area (60°4’N, 18°2’E). In the characterisation of these sites, development of site descriptive models is an important part. Leaves are the main surface were an exchange of matter and energy between the atmosphere and the biosph...

Using data collected from 62 coastal stations worldwide from the Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) from 2002-2011, accuracy assessments are made for coastal aerosol optical depth (AOD) retrieved from MODIS aboard the Aqua satellite. It is found that coastal AODs (at 550 nm) characterized respectively by the MODIS Dark Land (Land) surface algorithm, the Open Ocean (Ocean) algorithm, and AERONET ...

Human-induced global warming has significantly increased the importance ofsatellite monitoring of land surface temperature (LST) on a global scale. The MODerate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) provides a 1-km resolution LST productwith almost daily coverage of the Earth, invaluable to both local and global change studies.The Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission Reflection Radiomete...

A semi empirical bio-optical model was developed for the Pakri Bay. Model input parameters i.e. particle-specific spectral absorption and scattering coefficients and slope factor of coloured dissolved organic matter were calculated from the field data. The modelled reflectance spectra correspond to typical reflectance spectra with low chlorophyll-a concentration. The model is intended for the c...

The S-NPP Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrument, a polar orbiting Earth remote sensing instrument built using a strong MODIS background, employs a similarly designed on-board calibrating source—a V-grooved blackbody for the Thermal Emissive Bands (TEB). The central wavelengths of most VIIRS TEBs are very close to those of MODIS with the exception of the 10.7 μm channel. T...

Growing stock volume (GSV) is a fundamental parameter of forests, closely related to the above-ground biomass and hence carbon storage. Estimation GSV at regional global scales depends on use satellite remote sensing data, although accuracies are generally lower over sparse boreal forest. This especially true forest in Russia, for which knowledge currently poor despite its importance. Here we d...

Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) is the keystone instrument for NASA’s EOS Terra and Aqua missions, designed to extend and improve heritage sensor measurements and data records of the land, oceans and atmosphere. The reflective solar bands (RSB) of MODIS covering wavelengths from 0.41 μm to 2.2 μm, are calibrated on-orbit using a solar diffuser (SD), with its on-orbit bi-di...