About HISE

The unprecedented advancement of remote sensing imaging and sounding by passive and active measurement technologies during and beyond this decade will provide unprecedented monitoring and understanding of our earth (land and ocean)-atmosphere system (E-AS). The uniqueness of these new observations will challenge scientists and users in all disciplinary areas and require new approaches for managing, processing and utilizing the data, including the integration of observations from different sensor constellations to maximize the information which these new sensors will provide.

Today, a number of advanced hyperspectral imaging and sounding instruments are on NASA and European research instruments, and some of them will evolve in a few years into operational imaging and sounding systems, for example NPOESS, METOP and GOES-R. Passive hyperspectral imaging and sounding data provide a unique and independent scale of information, such as spatial resolution and spectral resolution required to measure and monitor the intricate characteristic of E-AS. Where sounding information is required to study atmosphere evolution, imaging information is necessary to investigate land and coastal-ocean ecosystems. Complementary active sensors, due to their high signal sensitivity, have a key role in E-AS monitoring because they provide additional microphysical insights into the small targets existing within the EAS. They also provide an important source of information for validating other retrievals from passive sensors.

Synergistic uses of imaging and sounding, and passive and active through collocation processing, in theory, will provide complementary information content to enhance knowledge about the state of E-AS.