Abstract. EAGLE2006 -an intensive field campaign for the advances in land surface hydrometeorological processes -was carried out in the Netherlands from 8th to 18th June 2006, involving 16 institutions with in total 67 people from 16 different countries. In addition to the acquisition of multiangle and multi-sensor satellite data, several airborne instruments -an optical imaging sensor, an imaging microwave radiometer, and a flux airplane -were deployed and extensive Correspondence to: Z. Su (b su@itc.nl) ground measurements were conducted over one grassland site at Cabauw and two forest sites at Loobos and Speulderbos in the central part of the Netherlands. The generated data set is both unique and urgently needed for the development and validation of models and inversion algorithms for quantitative land surface parameter estimation and land surface hydrometeorological process studies. EAGLE2006 was led by the Department of Water Resources of the International Institute for Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC) and originated from the combination of a number of initiatives supported by different funding agencies. The objectives of the EAGLE2006 campaign were closely Published by Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union. 834 Z. Su et al.: EAGLE 2006 -Multi-purpose, multi-angle and multi-sensor in-situ and airborne campaigns related to the objectives of other European Space Agency (ESA) campaign activities (SPARC2004, SEN2FLEX2005 and especially AGRISAR2006). However, one important objective of the EAGLE2006 campaign is to build up a data base for the investigation and validation of the retrieval of bio-geophysical parameters, obtained at different radar frequencies (X-, C-and L-Band) and at hyperspectral optical and thermal bands acquired simultaneously over contrasting vegetated fields (forest and grassland). As such, all activities were related to algorithm development for future satellite missions such as the Sentinels and for validation of retrievals of land surface parameters with optical and thermal and microwave sensors onboard current and future satellite missions. This contribution describes the campaign objectives and provides an overview of the airborne and field campaign dataset. This dataset is available for scientific investigations and can be accessed on the ESA Principal Investigator Portal http://eopi.esa.int.

Recent and ongoing developments of state-of-the-art sensor technologies have resulted in smaller and lighter photogrammetric cameras with IMU, lidar scanners and other sensors that can now be integrated with and mounted on the larger Light UAS. This paper describes as an example the successful automatic flight of the 50-megapixel DigiCAM with AEROcontrol IMU developed by IGI flown on Geocopter's GC-201 unmanned helicopter system. The operational and technical requirements of UAS defined in new legislation remain however the safeguard to protect people and costly sensor payload assets. The current prospects of UAS-g face additional challenges related to end-user awareness and the return on investment. The current status of UAS legislation is given in this paper. This legislation justifies UAS-g operations of mapping coastal zones, forests, agricultural fields, and open mines. Sooner return on investment happens when the UAS legislation will be opening up airspace over urban areas (Class 2 approved UAS-g), to longer distances (BLOS operations), and to higher altitudes. UAS-g flights then become feasible to the maximum extent for cadastral mapping of larger areas, oil and gas pipeline monitoring, power line surveys, dike inspection, and highway and railway mapping.

Abstract. EAGLE2006 – an intensive field campaign for the advances in land surface hydrometeorological processes – was carried out in the Netherlands from 8 to 18 June 2006, involving 16 institutions with in total 67 people from 16 different countries. In addition to the acquisition of multi-angle and multi-sensor satellite data, several airborne instruments – an optical imaging sensor, an imaging microwave radiometer, and a flux airplane – were deployed and extensive ground measurements were conducted over one grassland site at Cabauw and two forest sites at Loobos and Speulderbos in the central part of the Netherlands. The generated data set is both unique and urgently needed for the development and validation of models and inversion algorithms for quantitative land surface parameter estimation and land surface hydrometeorological process studies. EAGLE2006 was led by the Department of Water Resources of the International Institute for Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC) and originated from the combination of a number of initiatives supported by different funding agencies. The objectives of the EAGLE2006 campaign were closely related to the objectives of other European Space Agency (ESA) campaign activities (SPARC2004, SEN2FLEX2005 and especially AGRISAR2006). However, one important objective of the EAGLE 2006 campaign is to build up a data base for the investigation and validation of the retrieval of bio-geophysical parameters, obtained at different radar frequencies (X-, C- and L-Band) and at hyperspectral optical and thermal bands acquired simultaneously over contrasting vegetated fields (forest and grassland). As such, all activities were related to algorithm development for future satellite missions such as the Sentinels and for validation of retrievals of land surface parameters with optical and thermal and microwave sensors onboard current and future satellite missions. This contribution describes the campaign objectives and provides an overview of the airborne and field campaign dataset. This dataset is available for scientific investigations and can be accessed on the ESA Principal Investigator Portal http://eopi.esa.int.

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