High-resolution narrowband satellite data such as Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) contain important information that enables us to map land surface albedos and interrelated phenomenon in high precision. In this paper, land cover of study area is classified into three classes as to surface features so that it is less expensive to eliminate the adjacency effect and to reduce the uncertainty ...

Motivated by field studies of the Ems estuary which show longitudinal gradients in bottom sediment concentration as high as O(0.01 kg/m), we develop an analytical model for estuarine residual circulation based on currents from salinity gradients, turbidity gradients, and freshwater discharge. Salinity is assumed to be vertically well mixed, while the vertical concentration profile is assumed to...

Early in its mission, the Landsat-7 spacecraft was temporarily placed in a ‘‘tandem’’ orbit very close to that of the Landsat-5 spacecraft in order to facilitate the establishment of sensor calibration continuity between the Landsat-7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) and Landsat-5 Thematic Mapper (TM) sensors. The key period for the tandem configuration was June 1–4, 1999, during which hund...

In this study, a comparative analysis of capabilities of three sensors for mapping forest crown closure (CC) and leaf area index (LAI) was conducted. The three sensors are Hyperspectral Imager (Hyperion) and Advanced Land Imager (ALI) onboard EO-1 satellite and Landsat-7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+). A total of 38 mixed coniferous forest CC and 38 LAI measurements were collected at Blod...

The recent launch of Landsat-7 ETM+ extends the uninterrupted stream of TM and ETM+ images to a potential span of 32 years. This exceptional image set will allow long-term studies of natural resources, but will require an operational method for converting image digital number (dn) to the temporally comparable surface reflectance factor (rsl). A refinement to the empirical line (EL) approach for...

We analyzed the relationship between Landsat ETM+ reflectance values and commercially managed loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) stand characteristics in east Texas. Multivariate regression techniques were used to predict age and tree density for all stands. A linear combination of NDVI, ETM4/ETM3 and the tasseled cap wetness index was a better predictor of stand age (R = 78%) than other combinatio...

This paper considers implications of different forms of the ensemble transformation in the ensemble square root filters (ESRFs) for the performance of ESRF-based data assimilation systems. It highlights the importance of using mean-preserving solutions for the ensemble transform matrix (ETM). The paper shows that an arbitrary mean-preserving ETM can be represented as a product of the symmetric ...

This paper compares and contrasts predictions of forest height in Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis) plantations based on mediumresolution Landsat ETM+, high-resolution IKONOS satellite imagery and airborne Light Detection And Ranging (LiDAR) data. The relationship between field-measured height and LiDAR height is linear and highly significant (R 0.98) and so LiDAR height measurements were used to...

Remote sensing has been considered a low-cost, large-area coverage forest information resource ideally suited to broad-scale forest inventory objectives. The objective of this study is to determine stand type parameters such as crown closure, development stage and stand types, and land cover obtained from Landsat 7 ETM image and forest cover type map (stand type map). The research also focuses ...

The development of appropriate ground-based validation techniques is critical to assessing uncertainties associated with satellite databased products. Here we present a method for validation of the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Leaf Area Index (LAI) product with emphasis on the sampling strategy for field data collection. This paper, the first of two-part series, details...