Validation measurements for remote sensing based agricultural monitoring: Status update and future perspectives for the German JECAM site DEMMIN/TERENO-NE

SPENGLER, D.; DOGLIOTTI, A.I.

Simposio; 2019 Living Planet Symposium; 2019

Agriculturallandscapes form the basis for the supply of food, renewable raw materials, andincreasingly energy. Against the background of the high demand of a growingworld population, it is necessary to make land use decisions to protect thelandscape or soil functionality, to optimize the agricultural production and, atthe same time, to ensure the preservation or qualitative improvement ofecosystems and their services. Remote sensing data as well as field andlaboratory measurements can be used for biophysical monitoring of agriculturallandscapes. Essentially therefore is the use of a validation strategy for thequantification of uncertainties. The Cal/ValDEMMIN (Durable Environmental Multidisciplinary Monitoring Information Network)facility, operated by German Remote Sensing Data Center of the German AerospaceCenter (DLR) and the German Research Center for Geosciences (GFZ), collectsagrometeorological and soil parameters using an environmental monitoringnetwork of over 40 environmental and 63 soil moisture stations, a crane forforest measurements, a lysimeter hexagon for hydrological observations(SoilCan), and different Eddy-covariance towers for gas measurements. Thesedata are combined with in-situ campaign based field measurements to provide asubstantial data base for data and product validation. DEMMIN is also part ofthe observation network TERENO (TERrestrial ENvironmental Observatories)(www.tereno.net) and since 2017 assigned to the international validationnetwork Joint Experiment of Crop Assessment and Monitoring (JECAM,www.jecam.org). In 2019this infrastructure will be complemented by a HYPERNETS instrument tower. TheH2020/HYPERNETS project, started in February 2018, is to develop a new lowercost hyperspectral radiometer and an associated pointing system with embeddedcalibration device for automated measurements of water and land bidirectionalreflectance. The instrument will be tested in a prototype network covering awide range of water and land types under different operating conditions. One ofthe test sites is the TERENO NE area is DEMMIN, where the installation of a 10mheight measuring mast for the HYPERCAM instrument is planned on an agriculturalfield. In addition, the measuring station will be equipped with sensors forclimate and soil variables measurements and an Eddy Flux station. This workwill present the status and future perspectives for the German JECAM siteDEMMIN/TERENO-NE with respect to new innovative validation instruments likeHYPERNETS for agricultural research.