METIER Graduate Training Course No. 3:

Remote Sensing of the Land Surface

Topics

• Ecological disturbances and climate feedbacks in the 
  boreal biome 
        o Fire scar mapping using short-wave infrared and
           mid-infrared channels 
        o Near-real-time fire monitoring using heat emissions
        o Fire radiative energy estimation using
           thermal channels 
        o The Global Burned Area 2000 project
• Global land cover mapping
        o Overview of global land cover products and GLC 2000
           approach
        o Major land cover types of Northern Eurasia
        o Spectral signatures and spectral-temporal metrics of 
           land cover types
        o Classification method to map Northern Eurasia’s
           land cover in GLC 2000
        o Steps forward on land cover mapping using time-
           series analysis of moderate-resolution satellite data
• Estimating biophysical vegetation properties from space
        o Forest canopy reflectance modelling using the
           FLIGHT model
        o Reflectance model inversion for retrieving 
           biophysical parameters (e.g. chlorophyll content)
        o The CHRIS-PROBA sensor
• 3D Vegetation structure and biomass
        o Airborne and Spaceborne Synthetic Aperture Radar 
           and vegetation structure
        o Airborne imaging LIDAR
        o Spaceborne profiling LIDAR
        o Vegetation indices
• Land surface processes and land use change (to be
  confirmed)
        o Geographic objects in GIS databases
        o Detecting land use change using multi-temporal 
           imaging techniques
        o Uncertainty and land use change
        o Land surface modelling and feedbacks to climate

Each student will receive learning support (powerpoint slides, tutorial documents, paper reprints) in paper and CD format (CD will include public domain software and test datasets used during the modules). At the end of each day a feedback session will be held to evaluate the achievements of the course objectives. At the end of the course an overall evaluation will be held.