EAGLE 2006 – multi-purpose, multi-angle and multi-sensor in-situ, airborne and space borne campaigns over grassland and forest

Abstract

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.

Inter- and intra-annual variations in canopy fine litterfall and carbon and nitrogen inputs to the forest floor in two European coniferous forests

“…The Speulderbos site (Su et al 2009), operated by the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), is located in the central Netherlands. It is approximately 25 km northeast from the city of Amersfoort, within a large forested area in the Netherlands.…”

“…aKolari et al (2009) bSu et al (2009) c Van Wijk et al(2000)dDrebs et al (2002) e Reyer et al(2010)Inter-and intra-annual variations in litterfall…”

A Bayesian approach to estimate sensible and latent heat over vegetated land surface

“…Data were collected between 10 and 21 June 2006 during an intensive field campaign (EAGLE). Details about the field campaign are described by Su et al (2009).…”