was held in Florence, Italy, from March 11 to 14, 2008. The conference was jointly organized by of the Institute of Applied. Physics of the National Research ...
IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON GEOSCIENCE AND REMOTE SENSING, VOL. 47, NO. 9, SEPTEMBER 2009
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Guest Editorial Foreword to the Special Issue on the 10th Specialist Meeting on Microwave Radiometry and Remote Sensing of the Environment (MicroRad’08)
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HE 10th Specialist Meeting on Microwave Radiometry and Remote Sensing of the Environment (MicroRad’08) was held in Florence, Italy, from March 11 to 14, 2008. The conference was jointly organized by of the Institute of Applied Physics of the National Research Council (IFAC-CNR) and the Center for Microwave Remote Sensing (CeTeM) of Florence and cochaired by Simonetta Paloscia and Giovanni Macelloni. The objective of MicroRad’08 was to provide an open forum to report and discuss recent advances in the field of microwave radiometry and to gather all parties, including the research, industrial, and academic communities, who are involved in projects and studies in microwave radiometry of land, oceans, and atmosphere. The meeting was highly successful, with 138 participants from 20 countries, more than 200 submitted abstracts, 80 oral presentations distributed over 8 sessions, and as many interactive posters divided in two sessions during four full days of sessions. This meeting was the tenth in a series that began in Rome in 1983 when Prof. Giovanni d’Auria of the University of Rome “La Sapienza,” Rome, Italy, organized and hosted The Specialist Microwave on Radiometry and Remote Sensing Applications. After a time interval of five years, the meeting was revitalized by Paolo Pampaloni of the Istituto di Ricerca sulle Onde Elettromagnetiche, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, who organized the second MicroRad in Florence, Italy, in 1988. Since then, MicroRad meetings have been held approximately every 2 1/2 years, alternating between Italy and the U.S. Previous MicroRad meetings in the U.S. were held in Boulder, CO (1992 and 2001), in Boston, MA (1996), and in San Juan, Puerto Rico (2006). The other MicroRad meetings in Italy were convened in Rome at “Tor Vergata” (1994) and at “La Sapienza” (2004), and, again, in Florence (1999). MicroRad’08 was opened by Paolo Pampaloni with a speech in memory of Prof. d’Auria who had passed away in December 2006. The technical program began with a presentation of the COSMO-SkyMed project of the Italian Space Agency, followed by a session on the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer (AMSR)/AMSR for EOS (AMSR-E), featuring presentations of the current status of the project by representatives of government agencies and research institutions. The afternoon session,
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TGRS.2009.2029492
which concluded the first day, was devoted to microwave radiometry of soil moisture to honor the two pioneers in this topic: Tom Schmugge and Anatolji Shutko. The focus on missions and instruments continued on the second day with sessions devoted to SMOS and new advanced sensors. The third day was entirely dedicated to weather and the atmosphere, starting with a memorial session on Prof. d’Auria, which included five papers by his students and close collaborators and five papers on recent research for the retrieval of atmospheric parameters. Lastly, the fourth day was focused on the Earth’s surfaces with sessions on soil and vegetation, snow cover, and ocean. At the conclusion of each of the oral sessions of MicroRad’08, the cochairs introduced the poster papers on the topic of the session. The long coffee breaks each morning and afternoon provided plenty of time for discussion with poster presenters, according to the traditional distinctive character of MicroRad meetings. The conference proceedings were published on CD-ROM and distributed to the MicroRad’08 participants after the meeting. Additional copies are available from the conference chair on request. The MicroRad’08 Proceedings papers are available online from IEEE Xplore. Moreover, selected conference presentations (if the authors approved) were posted on the meeting web site www.microrad2008.org. In addition to the technical program, a rich social program was organized, starting with the reception on Tuesday (March 11, 2008) at Orsanmichele, one of the most important monuments in Florence, which is a space usually closed to the general public. On Wednesday (March 12, 2008), a casual buffet dinner was enlivened with a piano recital at Teatro del Sale. On Thursday (March 13, 2008), the Award Social Dinner took place at the Grand Hotel. During this event, CeTeM awards were assigned. Three Fiorini d’Oro (Golden Florins) were handed out: one in memory of Prof. d’Auria, and one each to Drs. Schmugge and Shutko. During the banquet, a C1000 prize of Fondazione Ugo Bordoni, in honor of Prof. d’Auria, was assigned to Corinne Straub, of Berne University, and Domenico Cimini, of the University of L’Aquila, as authors of the best papers on atmospheric topics presented at the meeting. Lastly, on Friday (March 14, 2008), in the afternoon, a Wine and Cheese reception closed the meeting with a pleasant farewell. On this occasion, the six best posters were awarded with a bottle of Brunello wine.
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Many people and institutions contributed to the success of the MicroRad’08 conference. The meeting chairs would like to thank all the people who helped them in making the conference a success, owing to their kind attendance, the presentation of interesting papers and posters, the participation in MicroRad events, and the accomplishment of various tasks (in particular, the whole steering committee, together with the session organizers, the paper reviewers, and the session chairs). They would also like to thank the local organizing committee which consisted of M. Brogioni, C. Cappelletti, C. Calabrese, J. Camilloni, E. Santi, and S. Pettinato, who significantly contributed to the success of the meeting. A final acknowledgment is addressed to the numerous institutions which cosponsored the meeting and allowed the organization of a rich social program: IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society (GRSS), IEEE, IEEE Italy Section, IEEE GRSS—Central Italy Chapter (GRS-S29), Union RadioScientifique Internationale Commission F, Agenzia Spaziale Italiana, European Space Agency, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Associazione Italiana di Telerilevamento, Thales Alenia Space, and Ente Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze. Owing to sponsors’ contributions, limited funds (C5000) intended as travel support for students submitting a paper to the meeting were also available. A review committee considered all the applications on an individual basis and distributed the funds at the meeting ( C500 to ten students). The meeting concluded with the announcement that the next MicroRad Specialist Meeting will be held in Washington, DC, U.S., on March 1–4, 2010, and will be organized by Roger Lang of The George Washington University and David Le Vine of the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Further information on MicroRad’10 is available online at http://www.microrad2010.org.
From the full papers submitted on the topics of MicroRad, 14 papers were accepted for inclusion in this TGRS Special Issue. These papers are organized into topical areas and applications, which are in the general order of the MicroRad technical sessions: Radiometer Techniques (4), Vegetation (2), Ocean (2), Atmosphere and Precipitation (4), and Snow and Sea Ice (2). As is evident from this list and from the table of contents, the published papers, which were rigorously peer-reviewed, span a broad range of microwave radiometry and remote sensing applications and reflect the topics and discussions at the MicroRad’08 meeting. GIOVANNI MACELLONI, Guest Editor Istituto di Fisica Applicata “Nello Carrara” Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Italy SIMONETTA PALOSCIA, Guest Editor Istituto di Fisica Applicata “Nello Carrara” Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Italy PAOLO PAMPALONI, Guest Editor Istituto di Fisica Applicata “Nello Carrara” Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Italy ED R. WESTWATER, Guest Editor Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences and the Center for Environmental Technology, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering University of Colorado Boulder, CO 80309 USA
Giovanni Macelloni (M’07) received the Doctoral degree in electronic engineering from the University of Florence, Florence, Italy, in 1993. From 1994 he collaborated with the Institute of Research of Electromagnetic Waves, National Council of Research, Florence. In 1997, he was hired as a Researcher at IFAC (in the Earth Observation Department). His research interests include passive and active microwave remote sensing as applied to snow, soil, and vegetation using satellite, airborne, and ground-based data. Within the activities of the group, he deals with the development and design of microwaves radiometers, the planning and execution of experimental campaigns, and the interpretation of data. Within this context he has participated, as person in charge of the IFAC instrumentation, in numerous international campaigns. He is also involved in the implementation of electromagnetic models for the characterization of scattering and emission from natural targets (snow, water, ground, agricultural, and forest vegetation). Since 2003, he has been a Principal Investigator of an Antarctic project supported by the European Space Agency (ESA) and the PNRA project, which includes experimental campaigns in Antarctica, for the calibration of microwave satellite radiometers using the Antarctic plateau as an extended target and the interpretation of satellite data for the retrieval of geophysical parameters of ice sheets. Since 2006, he has been a member of the Mission Advisory Group of the ESA’s COREH20 mission. He has published more than 20 peer-reviewed papers in international journals and books and more than 60 in the proceedings of international conferences. Dr. Macelloni has served as a Reviewer for many international journals (IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON GEOSCIENCE AND REMOTE SENSING, the International Journal of Remote Sensing, Remote Sensing of Environment, and Radio Science). He has also served various academic and professional establishments both as an External Referee and/or External Examiner, and he has been a Consultant for companies in Italy. In 2008, he was Co-Chair of the 10th Specialist Meeting on Microwave Radiometry and Remote Sensing of the Environment (MicroRad’08).
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Simonetta Paloscia (A’05–M’06–SM’06) received the Doctoral degree in agricultural sciences from the University of Florence, Firenze, Italy, in 1979. After graduation, she joined the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR) at the Istituto di Analisi Ambientale e Telerilevamento Applicati all’Agricoltura (IATA), Firenze, where she worked in agrometeorology and remote sensing studies concerning agricultural crops. Since 1987, she has been with CNR–Istituto di Fisica Applicata “Nello Carrara” (IFAC), Firenze, where she continued studying natural surfaces using microwave and infrared remote sensing techniques. Her research currently concerns the study of microwave emission and scattering of soil (both bare and snow covered) and vegetation. She has participated in various microwave remote sensing campaigns (SAR-580, AGRISAR, AGRISCATT’87, AGRISCATT’88, MAC’91, and SIR-C/X-SAR), where she coordinated the activities of ground-truth data collection. She was a Coinvestigator of the SIR-C/X-SAR and ERS-1 projects and the Principal Investigator of the JERS-1 project. She has participated in some European projects where she is a Coinvestigator, including NOPEX-Forest Dynamo, ReSeDA, and ENVISNOW EC Programs, and is the Scientific Responsible for the FLAUBERT and FLOODMAN. Since 1996, she has been a Principal Investigator in a Science Team of NASDA (Japanese Space Agency), within the framework of the project Advanced Earth Observing Satellite, for the use of AQUA/AMSR-E microwave data in algorithms for measuring soil moisture and vegetation biomass from satellites. She has a temporary teaching contract of “Microwave Remote Sensing Applications” for a Professional Master “Geomatics and Natural Resources Evaluation” at the Istituto Agronomico per l’Oltremare, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Firenze. She is the author or a coauthor of more than 50 works published in international journals and books and more than 60 papers published in the proceedings of international meetings. She is a Referee and an Associate Editor for the International Journal of Remote Sensing. Ms. Paloscia is a member of the Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society and the Associazione Italiana di Telerilevamento and a Fellow of the Electromagnetics Academy of Cambridge. She was a member of organizing committees of several international meetings such as the Specialist Meeting on Microwave Radiometry and Remote Sensing Applications, held in Firenze in 1988 and 1999, and the annual IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS). She is a Referee of the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON GEOSCIENCE AND REMOTE SENSING.
Paolo Pampaloni (M’86–SM’95–F’99) received the Doctoral degree in electronic engineering from the University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy, in 1964. He is currently with the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche–Istituto di Fisica Applicata “Nello Carrara” (IFAC), Firenze, Italy, working on active and passive microwave remote sensing of land, particularly, the study of microwave emission and scattering from soil, snow, and vegetation. He is also an Adjunct Professor of the Electromagnetics Academy, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China. He was a Visiting Scientist with the Institute of Radio Engineering, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia, in 1987 and 1989 and with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, in 1999. He has been a Consultant for the European Space Agency (ESA) for microwave radiometry and a member of the ESA Earth Observation Advisory Group (EOAC). He has served as the Principal Investigator and a Coinvestigator of several international projects and experiments in Europe and as a Coordinator of numerous national and international research programs. He is the author of more than 150 papers in international journals and conference proceedings and is the editor of three books. Dr. Pampaloni is a Fellow of the Electromagnetics Academy (U.S.) and the President of the Microwave Remote Sensing Center. He is the National Official Member of URSI Commission F (Wave Propagation and Remote Sensing). He received the IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society Distinguished Achievements Award in 2004. He has served as the General Chairman of the Second and Sixth Specialist Meetings on Microwave Radiometry and Remote Sensing (held in Firenze in 1988 and 1999). He was the General Chairman of the Fifteenth International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS’95) and was a Guest Editor of the Special IGARSS’95 Issue of the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON GEOSCIENCE AND REMOTE SENSING. Since 1994, he has been frequently involved in the Technical Program Committee (TPC) of IGARSS. In addition, he has been the Session Chairman and Organizer, as well as a member of the TPC, for numerous international conferences. He is an Associate Editor for the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON GEOSCIENCE AND REMOTE SENSING. He has been the Chairman of the IEEE Central and South Italy Section and the Founder and the First Chairman of the IEEE Italy Section.
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Ed R. Westwater (SM’91–F’01) received the B.A. degree in physics and mathematics from the Western State College of Colorado, Gunnison, in 1959 and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in physics from the University of Colorado at Boulder (CU), Boulder, in 1962 and 1970, respectively. From 1960 to 1995, he was with the U.S. Department of Commerce. He is currently a Research Professor with the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration–CU Center for Environmental Technology (CET) and the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Science (CIRES) and with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE), CU, where since 1995, he has been with CIRES and, since 2006, with CET/ECE. His research has been concerned with microwave absorption in the atmosphere, remote sensing of the atmosphere and ocean surface, microwave and infrared radiative transfer, ground- and satellite-based remote sensing by passive radiometry, and the application of mathematical inversion techniques to problems in remote sensing. He has authored or coauthored more than 290 publications. Dr. Westwater is a member of the American Meteorological Society, American Geophysical Union, and Mathematical Association of America. He was the Chairman and Organizer of the 1992 International Specialists Meeting on Microwave Radiometry and Remote Sensing Applications (MicroRad’1992) and was a Coorganizer of the MicroRad’2001. He is the past Chairman of the International Union of Radio Science Commission F from 2000 to 2002. He served as Associate Editor of Radio Science from 1999 to 2002. He is currently an Associate Editor of the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON GEOSCIENCE AND R EMOTE S ENSING (TGARS) and served as a Guest Editor of the TGARS Special Issue devoted to MicroRad’2004 and to MicroRad’2006. He presented the American Meteorological Society’s Remote Sensing Lecture in 1997 (elected December 3, 2000). He was the recipient of the 2003 Distinguished Achievement Award from the IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society. He was the recipient of the 15th V. Vaisala Award from the World Meteorological Society in 2001.
