IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Magazine - June 2016 - 92

Technical committees
CINDY ONG, ANDREAS MUELLER, KURTIS THOME,
LELAND E. PIERCE, AND TIMOTHY MALTHUS

The Geoscience Spaceborne Imaging
Spectroscopy Technical Committee's
Calibration and Validation Workshop

C

alibration is the process of quantitatively defining a
system's responses to known, controlled signal inputs, and validation is the process of assessing, by independent means, the quality of the data products derived
from those system outputs [1]. Similar to other Earthobservation (EO) sensors, the calibration and validation
of spaceborne imaging spectroscopy sensors is a fundamental underpinning activity. Calibration and validation
determine the quality and integrity of the data provided
by spaceborne imaging spectroscopy sensors and have
enormous downstream impacts on the accuracy and reliability of products generated from these sensors.
At least five imaging spectroscopy satellites are planned
to be launched within the next five years, with the two
most advanced scheduled to be launched in the next two
years [2]. The launch of these sensors requires the establishment of suitable, standardized, and harmonized calibration and validation strategies to ensure that high-quality data are acquired and comparable between these sensor
systems. Such activities are extremely important for the
community of imaging spectroscopy users. Recognizing
the need to focus on this underpinning topic, the Geoscience Spaceborne Imaging Spectroscopy (previously, the
International Spaceborne Imaging Spectroscopy) Technical Committee launched a calibration and validation initiative at the 2013 International Geoscience and Remote
Sensing Symposium (IGARSS) in Melbourne, Australia,
and a post-conference activity of a vicarious calibration
field trip at Lake Lefroy in Western Australia.
THE WORKSHOP
The IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society recently supported a workshop as part of the calibration
and validation initiative of the Geoscience Spaceborne
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MGRS.2016.2540661
Date of publication: 13 June 2016

94

0274-6638/16©2016IEEE

Imaging Spectroscopy Technical Committee. The workshop, which was held in October 2015, brought together
a core group of domain experts with the objective of establishing a good-practice framework for radiometric
and spectral calibration and validation in support of
spaceborne imaging spectroscopy missions. The workshop was hosted by the National Environment Research
Council Field Spectroscopy Facility (FSF) at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland (Figure 1). The location of
the workshop was specifically chosen to take advantage
of the FSF's expertise in the calibration and validation of
imaging spectroscopy sensors and the ability to demonstrate good practices in the FSF's associated laboratory
facility (Figure 2). The workshop brought together 12 domain experts (Figure 3) who were representatives of proponents of the two most advanced spaceborne imaging
sensors, i.e., Environmental Mapping and Analysis Program [3] and Hyperspectral Imager Suite [4], as well as

FiguRE 1. A plaque of the mission statement of the department at the Grant Institute, University of Edinburgh, where
the calibration and validation workshop was held. (Photo
courtesy of Siri Jodha Khalsa.)
ieee Geoscience and remote sensing magazine

June 2016
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Magazine - June 2016
