The EnMAP spaceborne imaging spectroscopy mission: Initial scientific results two years after launch

Imaging spectroscopy has been a recognized and established remote sensing technology since the 1980s, mainly using airborne and field-based platforms to identify and quantify key bio- and geo-chemical surface and atmospheric compounds, based on characteristic spectral reflectance features in the visible-near infrared (VNIR) and short-wave infrared (SWIR). Spaceborne missions, a leap in technology, were sparse, starting with the CHRIS/PROBA and EO1/Hyperion missions in the early 2000s, and providing spectroscopy data with limited spectral coverage and/or low data quality in the SWIR. Since 2019, several countries and agencies have successfully launched a number of spaceborne imaging spectroscopy systems into orbit or deployed them on the International Space Station (ISS) such as DESIS, PRISMA, HISUI, GF-5, EnMAP and EMIT. Among these recent missions, the German Environmental Mapping and Analysis Program (EnMAP) stands for its long-term development, sophisticated design with on-board calibration, high data quality requirements, and extensive accompanying science program. EnMAP was launched in April 2022 and, following a successful commissioning phase, started its operational activities in November 2022. The EnMAP mission encompasses global coverage from 80° N to 80° S through on-demand data acquisitions. Data are free and open access with 30 m spatial resolution, a high spectral resolution with a spectral sampling distance of 6.5 nm and 10 nm in the VNIR and SWIR regions respectively, and a high signal-to-noise ratio. In this paper, we aim to present the mission's current status, coverage, science capabilities and performance two years after launch. We show the potential of EnMAP for space-based imaging spectroscopy to operate in various environments, including high and low light levels, dense forests, Antarctic glaciers, and arid agricultural areas. EnMAP enables various applications in fields such as agriculture and forestry, soil compositional, raw materials, and methane mapping, as well as water quality assessment, and snow and ice properties. The results show that EnMAP's performance exceeds the mission requirements, and highlights the significant potential for contribution to scientific exploitation in various geo- and biochemical sciences. EnMAP is also expected to serve as a key tool for the development and testing of data processing algorithms for upcoming global operational missions. • EnMAP spaceborne imaging spectroscopy data free and open access since November 2022. • World-wide users interest for various science applications topics. • In-flight calibrated data with high data quality performance analyses confirmed. • Initial EnMAP scientific results in various key environmental fields demonstrated. • EnMAP provides testbed data for upcoming global hyperspectral operational missions.

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Publication Details

Journal
Remote Sensing of Environment
Published
2024-09-23
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2024.114379
Citations
59
Primary Topic
Calibration and Measurement Techniques
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
76.63
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article

The EnMAP spaceborne imaging spectroscopy mission: Initial scientific results two years after launch

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59 citations
Remote Sensing of Environment
Calibration and Measurement Techniques
76.63
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The EnMAP spaceborne imaging spectroscopy mission: Initial scientific results two years after launch

J. Moreno, Birgit Heim, Anke Schickling, Sebastian van der Linden, Alison Beamish, Alexander A. Kokhanovsky, Niklas Bohn, Matthias Johannes Betz, Andreas Janz, Stéphane Guillaso, Mariana Altenburg Soppa, Saeid Asadzadeh, Karl Segl, Uta Heiden, Arlena Brosinsky, Robert Milewski, Martin F. Bachmann, Maximilian Brell, Saskia Foerster, Leonardo M. A. Alvarado, Hannes Feilhauer, Ferran Gascon, Matti Mõttus, Patrick Hostert, Vera Krieger, Benjamin Jakimow, Cindy Ong, Tobias Storch, Nicole Pinnel, Tobias Hank, Katja Berger, Raymond F. Kokaly, Martin C. Schodlok, Daniel Scheffler, Robert O. Green, Akpona Okujeni, Sabine Chabrillat, Kathrin Ward, T. H. Painter, Katrin Koch, Simon Baur, Vittorio Brando, Maria Fabrizia Buongiorno, L. La Porta, Sigrid Roessner, Henning Buddenbaum, Sebastian Fischer, Hermann Kaufmann, Michael Bock, Rupert Feckl, Emiliano Carmona, Luis Guanter, Mathias Wocher, Astrid Bracher
article en
59 citations

Abstract

Imaging spectroscopy has been a recognized and established remote sensing technology since the 1980s, mainly using airborne and field-based platforms to identify and quantify key bio- and geo-chemical surface and atmospheric compounds, based on characteristic spectral reflectance features in the visible-near infrared (VNIR) and short-wave infrared (SWIR). Spaceborne missions, a leap in technology, were sparse, starting with the CHRIS/PROBA and EO1/Hyperion missions in the early 2000s, and providing spectroscopy data with limited spectral coverage and/or low data quality in the SWIR. Since 2019, several countries and agencies have successfully launched a number of spaceborne imaging spectroscopy systems into orbit or deployed them on the International Space Station (ISS) such as DESIS, PRISMA, HISUI, GF-5, EnMAP and EMIT. Among these recent missions, the German Environmental Mapping and Analysis Program (EnMAP) stands for its long-term development, sophisticated design with on-board calibration, high data quality requirements, and extensive accompanying science program. EnMAP was launched in April 2022 and, following a successful commissioning phase, started its operational activities in November 2022. The EnMAP mission encompasses global coverage from 80° N to 80° S through on-demand data acquisitions. Data are free and open access with 30 m spatial resolution, a high spectral resolution with a spectral sampling distance of 6.5 nm and 10 nm in the VNIR and SWIR regions respectively, and a high signal-to-noise ratio. In this paper, we aim to present the mission's current status, coverage, science capabilities and performance two years after launch. We show the potential of EnMAP for space-based imaging spectroscopy to operate in various environments, including high and low light levels, dense forests, Antarctic glaciers, and arid agricultural areas. EnMAP enables various applications in fields such as agriculture and forestry, soil compositional, raw materials, and methane mapping, as well as water quality assessment, and snow and ice properties. The results show that EnMAP's performance exceeds the mission requirements, and highlights the significant potential for contribution to scientific exploitation in various geo- and biochemical sciences. EnMAP is also expected to serve as a key tool for the development and testing of data processing algorithms for upcoming global operational missions. • EnMAP spaceborne imaging spectroscopy data free and open access since November 2022. • World-wide users interest for various science applications topics. • In-flight calibrated data with high data quality performance analyses confirmed. • Initial EnMAP scientific results in various key environmental fields demonstrated. • EnMAP provides testbed data for upcoming global hyperspectral operational missions.

Remote Sensing of EnvironmentVol. 315
Leibniz University Hannover (DE), Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e. V. (DLR) (DE), German Environment Agency (DE), GFZ Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences (DE), Universitat Politècnica de València (ES), Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (DE)
Openalex Percentile: Top 0%
Calibration and Measurement Techniques
76.63
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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