The field of soil spectroscopy involves global research in measuring soil reflectance across the VIS–NIR–SWIR region. Diverse soil spectral libraries (SSLs) have emerged, but challenges arise in merging or comparing SSLs due to variations in measurement conditions. With the rise of hyperspectral technology, the need for consolidated SSLs on a global scale has become crucial. In response, the IEEE-Standards Association Working Group P4005 was formed in 2021, uniting over 50 experts globally. This collaborative effort aims to establish a common protocol for laboratory and field spectral reflectance measurements that will enable users to develop standardized SSL. The focus currently is placed into five subgroups that focus on providing standards and protocols for measuring in VIS-NIR-SWIR, data archiving, cross calibration, and field operations, with in. The ongoing 48-month project aims to provide a protocol and a set of tools and algorithms that will enable the development of inter-compatible SSLs.

The operation of a remote sensing spaceborne mission like EnMAP requires operating a high-precision instrument in Space, the commanding of the instrument according to user-provided parameters, the handling of a large data volume and processing these data on demand according to different processing options. All these aspects pose many challenges from the operational point of view. The EnMAP Ground Segment (GS) provides the infrastructure responsible for the operation of the mission after launch and it acts as the interface between the users and the satellite, overcoming the challenges just mentioned. In this contribution we present the up-to-date status of the EnMAP mission operations when the system has been in operation for two years, the latest updates that have been introduced in the tasking of the instrument and the plans for the future.

The Environmental Mapping and Analysis Program (EnMAP) is a German hyperspectral satellite mission designed to characterise and monitor the Earth’s environment and its changes. The EnMAP satellite was launched on April 1st, 2022 and has been in the operational phase since November of that year. This presentation provides an update on the mission status two years after launch, and on the activities of the science segment, including data quality and mission performance, new developments in open source algorithms and educational tools (EnMAP-Box, HYPERedu), current status of EnMAP's background and foreground missions, as well as selected demonstration examples of geo- and bio-EnMAP products. This reflects the scientific achievements for various cutting-edge and environmental applications that are of benefit to society today.

This study evaluates the potential of EnMAP spaceborne imaging spectroscopy for mapping and monitoring topsoil properties in two diverse Mediterranean agricultural regions. The research employs state of the art linear and nonlinear machine learning techniques, spectral transformations, and pre-processing methods to analyze EnMAP data quality in comparison to in-situ measurements. The findings demonstrate promising accuracy levels in estimating key soil properties, highlighting the potential of EnMAP imagery for global soil property mapping and monitoring applications.

Ice-free areas in Antarctica contain fragile ecosystems and are hotspots of biodiversity due to a concentration of flora and fauna. As these areas are often isolated and with difficult access, using hyperspectral satellite-borne data and remote sensing techniques presents great advantages for characterizing and monitoring their extension and surface cover characteristics. The objective of this work was to map key soil properties related to the Adélie penguin colony and associated flora and fauna of Seabee Hook at Cape Hallett using EnMAP data. Initial mapping results of extractable phosphorous (P), total organic carbon (TOC) and total nitrogen (TN) were obtained, and the distribution could be related to the intense activities of the penguin colony that comes to breed in the study area.

Methane mitigation from anthropogenic sources such as in the production and transport of fossil fuels has been found as one of the most promising strategies to curb global warming in the near future. Satellite-based imaging spectrometers have demonstrated to be well-suited to detect and quantify these emissions at high spatial resolution, which allows the attribution of plumes to sources. The PRISMA satellite mission (ASI, Italy) has been successfully used for this application and the recently-launched EnMAP mission (DLR/GFZ, Germany) presents similar spatial and spectral characteristics (30 m spatial resolution, 30 km swath, about 8 nm spectral sampling at 2300 nm). In this work, we investigate the potential and limitations of EnMAP for methane remote sensing, using PRISMA as a benchmark to deduce its added-value. We analyze the spectral and radiometric performance of EnMAP in the 2300 nm region used for methane retrievals acquired using the matched-filter method. Our results show that in arid areas, EnMAP spectral resolution is about 2.7 nm finer and the signal-to-noise-ratio values are approximately twice as large, which leads to an improvement in retrieval performance. Several EnMAP examples of plumes from different sources around the world with flux rate values ranging from 1 to 20 t/h are illustrated. We show plumes from sectors such as onshore oil and gas and coal mining, but also from more challenging sectors such as landfills and offshore oil and gas. We detect two plumes in a close-to-sunglint configuration dataset with unprecedented flux rates of about 1 t/h, which suggests that the detection limit in offshore areas can be considerably lower under favorable conditions.

Spaceborne imaging spectroscopy is undergoing a rapid expansion with a new generation of missions in recent years. Following the Hyperion (2000) and HICO (2009) missions, new spaceborne imaging spectroscopy missions have recently started operating: DESIS (2018), PRISMA (2019), HISUI (2019) and more recently EnMAP (2022) and EMIT (2022). These missions face the common challenge of providing accurate spectral and radiometric results over a wide spectral range. This requires accurate instrument calibration and the validation of the results obtained. In this contribution, we provide an overview of the calibration and validation (CalVal) activities in the EnMAP mission, and we present the CalVal results that were obtained as part of the commissioning phase (April - October 2022).

The Environmental Mapping and Analysis Program (EnMAP) is a new spaceborne German hyperspectral satellite mission, whose primary goal is to generate accurate information on the state and evolution of the Earth´s ecosystems. The core themes of EnMAP are monitoring environmental changes, ecosystem responses to human activities, and management of natural resources such as soils and minerals. EnMAP started on 1stApril 2022 and is now in operational phase since over six months, with strong expectations regarding data quality and impact on soil research. In this paper, we aim to demonstrate in a few case studies the observed current capabilities for EnMAP with regard to soil mapping based on different test sites and methodologies. Key soil properties could be derived and spatially mapped in agricultural test sites in semi-arid and temperate zones such as Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) content important for soil health and carbon sequestration, texture (clay content) important for soil fertility, and carbonate content. Additionally, we test different standard and state-of-the art methodologies, including new scenarios for time-series of hyperspectral remote sensing data for improved soil products.

The Copernicus Hyperspectral Imaging Mission for the Environment (CHIME) is a new ESA Earth Observation mission which consists in developing a hyperspectral satellite to support EU policies on the management of natural resources, ultimately helping to address the global issue of food security. One of the mission activities is associated to the development of the CHIME-E2E (End-to-End) Performance Simulator that shall be used to evaluate the sensor design and future processing modules provided by the partners by simulating future CHIME images and thematic products. In the frame of this activity, the CHIME Mission Advisory Group (MAG) has identified a collection of five core high priority products (HPP) that includes the retrieval of canopy nitrogen, leaf nitrogen content, leaf mass/area, soil organic carbon content (SOC) and kaolinite abundance. In this paper, we present the first results of applying the L2B prototype processing to hyperspectral airborne and spatial imagery used to simulate realistic CHIME data, to derive soil and mineral maps. The obtained results demonstrate the potential of the next generation of Copernicus missions with high spectral resolution and wide swath imaging satellite for geoscience research and applications.

Over the past 25 years, research groups worldwide have been actively studying soil reflectance across the visible, near-infrared, shortwave infrared, and thermal regions for chemometric purposes. These groups have generated numerous soil spectral libraries (SSLs) with varying coverage and using different sensors and protocols. However, merging or comparing SSLs is challenging due to factors related to instrumentation and measurement protocols. With the emergence of hyperspectral technology, there is a growing interest in utilizing SSLs for the quantitative assessment of soil properties on a global scale. P4005 "Standards and Protocols for Soil Spectroscopy" is a working group established under the IEEE-Standards Association that aims to harmonize SSLs by developing an agreed protocol. The final protocol release is expected in early 2024, enabling intercompatible, reliable, and reproducible soil spectral measurements and facilitating the development of a global SSL.

This study introduces the development of Spatially Upscaled Soil Spectral Libraries (SUSSL) approach to assess spectral disturbances caused by variations in surface conditions in remote sensing-based soil property prediction. The SUSSL incorporates realistic cropland reflectance scenarios using spectral modelling and aggregation techniques. By convoluting the spectral database to multispectral and hyperspectral satellite sensors, the sensitivity of spectral indices in retrieving undisturbed surface reflectance is evaluated. Preliminary findings indicate that the spectral disturbance effects significantly impact the accuracy of soil organic carbon (SOC) estimations, resulting in a noticeable loss compared to bare soil spectra. However, strict filtering criteria using spectral indices exhibit promise in enhancing SOC modelling performance, particularly for multispectral sensors. Hyperspectral sensors demonstrate higher baseline accuracies even in disturbed soil cases. This research highlights the importance of accounting for surface condition variations for reliable soil property mapping. Future work involves leveraging machine learning techniques on SUSSL data to improve prediction accuracy and spatial coverage of soil properties using Earth Observation data.

The hyperspectral EnMAP (Environmental Mapping and Analysis Program) satellite was successfully launched in April 2022, passed its commissioning phase, and entered the nominal phase of operational data acquisition in November 2022. Since then, users may submit data acquisition proposals and download the data in three processing levels: Level-1B (radiometrically-corrected and spectrally-characterized top-of-atmosphere (TOA) radiance), Level-1C (geometrically-corrected L1B data), and Level-2A (atmospherically-corrected Level-1C data, i.e., bottom-of-atmosphere (BOA) reflectance). The official product generation is usually done by the ground segment processing chain. Alternatively, the EnMAP processing tool (EnPT) provides a highly customizable free and open-source pre-processing chain enabling additional functionalities and options to fulfill individual user requirements and quality expectations. Here, we provide an overview of the implemented pre-processing chain and its modular design with a specific focus on the additional functionalities of EnPT to obtain highly accurate and customizable hyperspectral EnMAP Level-2A data.

Porphyry copper deposits represent very large differentiated hydrothermal alteration footprints resulting from convective fluid circulation. Hyperspectral imaging spectroscopy can provide a rapid and effective tool for systematic mapping of mineralogical footprints of many mineral systems including the porphyry copper deposits at local to regional scales. To demonstrate the capability of airborne hyperspectral imagery in deposit scale exploration, a portion of the HyMap data collected over a porphyry copper deposit named Shadan in eastern Iran was selected. By using a combination of spectral unmixing techniques and feature extraction methods, a large suite of alteration minerals was detected over this deposit. This includes white mica abundance, composition, and crystallinity, kaolinite abundance and crystallinity, ferric oxide content and composition, together with jarosite, chlorite-epidote, amphiboles, and tourmaline abundances and distribution. The results of this study indicate that airborne hyperspectral imagery and their mineral map products can be used to delineate porphyry copper systems and target the most promising areas for further exploration activities.

The Environmental Mapping and Analysis Program (EnMAP) is a spaceborne German hyperspectral satellite mission that aims at monitoring and characterizing the Earth's environment on a global scale. The mission is now ready to start with the sensor being by end of 2021 in Flight Acceptance Review, ready to be shipped to the launch pad in early 2022. This paper presents first an update of the mission status with recent activities and developments from the space and the ground segment. Then, an update of selected highlights of the science segment activities at launch phase are presented including preparation and if possible early results for the validation of EnMAP products, updates on EnMAP science algorithms (EnMAP-Box) developed at GFZ, online education initiative (HYPERedu), and further mission support activities such as background mission.

The Environmental Mapping and Analysis Program (EnMAP) is a spaceborne German hyperspectral satellite mission that aims at monitoring and characterizing the Earth's environment on a global scale. EnMAP core themes are environmental changes, ecosystem responses to human activities, and management of natural resources. After several years delay, the instrument is finished and in the final stage of environmental characterization and assembly for a launch early 2022. This paper presents an update of the mission status and activities in the frame of the science preparation and mission support project led by the German Research Center for Geosciences (GFZ) Potsdam. Further, this paper presents a specific focus on the planning for the independent EnMAP data product validation.

Soils are an essential factor contributing to agricultural production of rainfed crops such as barley and triticale cereals. Inadequate land management is endangering soil quality and productivity, and in turn crop quality and productivity are affected. In this paper, hyperspectral VNIR-SWIR airborne data (0.4-2.5 µm) is used to analyze spatial differences in vegetation vitality related to soil degradation status in a Mediterranean agricultural area of central Spain. Specifically, biophysical indices such as the leaf area index (LAI) are spatially derived from the remote sensing data and discussed regarding the land degradation status. The results of this study illustrated the potential of hyperspectral remote sensing in the context of crop and land resource monitoring.

The Environmental Mapping and Analysis Program (EnMAP) is a spaceborne German hyperspectral satellite mission that aims at monitoring and characterizing the Earth's environment on a global scale. After several years delay due to a major design issue to meet the mission requirements, the mission is now back on track and planned for launch in 2021. This paper presents an update of the mission status with recent activities and developments from the space and the ground segment. Furthermore, a draft plan for the independent validation of EnMAP radiance and reflectance products was developed and will be introduced, along with highlights of the science preparatory activities in 2019 including airborne campaigns, algorithm consolidations, and HYPERedu education initiative.

The Environmental Mapping and Analysis Program (En-MAP) is an spaceborne imaging spectroscopy mission under development by a consortium of German Earth Observation research institutions. The core payload of EnMAP consists of a dual-spectrometer instrument measuring in the optical spectral range between 420 and 2450 nm with a spectral sampling distance varying between 5 and 12 nm and a reference signal-to-noise ratio of 400:1 in the visible near-infrared and 180:1 in the shortwave-infrared parts of the spectrum. EnMAP images will cover a 30 km wide area in the across-track direction with a ground sampling distance of 30 m. An across-track tilted observation capability will enable a target revisit time of up to 4 days at Equator and better at high latitudes. EnMAP will contribute to the development and exploitation of spaceborne imaging spectroscopy applications by making high-quality data freely available to scientific users worldwide. In this talk we will provide an overview of the mission status including both technical developments and preparatory activities for the implementation of the EnMAP scientific program.

The German Environmental Mapping and Analysis Program (EnMAP) will provide hyperspectral spaceborne data to the global geoscientific community. Here we present EnGeoMAP the EnMAP Geological Mapper and EnSoMAP the EnMAP Soil Mapper which are two geomapping tool provided in the EnMAP Box. They offer geologists and soil scientists worldwide a unique toolset for the analysis of future EnMAP data. The structure, workflow and results of EnGeoMAP and EnSoMAP are shown and discussed together with a brief overview on further developments. Synergies between EnMAP and other sensors are furthermore demonstrated.

In this paper we evaluate the impact of different soil algorithms and sensor characteristics for the quantitative determination of surface soil properties based on hyperspectral images. Two types of methodologies-physical analyses of spectral features and statistical multivariate procedures-implemented in different algorithms are considered against ground truth measurements. Parameters of interest are soil organic carbon (SOC), clay and iron oxide content. The soil algorithms were tested on hyperspectral imagery for different study sites based on two types of data sets: airborne data (GSD <;5m) and associated EnMAP satellite simulated data (GSD 30m). The study sites represent a wide range of soil types and properties associated with arid/semiarid through temperate environments in resp. southern and northern Europe. The results show that no simple best-practice rule can be observed that relates methodology used, with sensor resolution and key soil parameter of interest. Further studies must demonstrate for each sensor and each soil parameter which soil algorithm delivers the best performance.

This research focuses on a semi-arid, agricultural area in Central Spain near Madrid, in which airborne hyperspectral images have been obtained. Small-scale soil erosion features are exposed at the surface as a consequence of human induced soil erosion derived mainly from tillage practice. Such features are associated with different soil horizons and rock outcrops with contrasted physical and chemical characteristics. Results show that the identification and mapping of different soil surface horizons linked to soil erosion and depositional stages can be achieved over selected test sites based on the spectroscopy data at high spatial resolution. Linked with field validation data and geomorphological analyses, the spatial mapping of the soil erosion and depositional stages is consistent with the soil erosion models implemented for the region. Preliminary multiscale analyses at 3 m, 6 m, and 30 m show the effect of increasing spatial mixing in the field-of-view of the sensor due to the variability at small scale of the different soil horizons representing the surface topsoil.

In a Mediterranean semiarid area in Central Spain, with dominant rainfed agriculture, hyperspectral airborne data, supported by field spectroscopy have been obtained, allowing a spectral identification of bare soil with the corresponding erosion stages. The definition of soil erosion stages is based on a spectral characterization supported by morphological, physical and chemical features of contrasted soil surfaces as a result of soil loss. Different soil erosion stages were defined within two bare-soil sites representing the soil variability of the area, and where such stages are spatially represented. The validation of selected image derived endmebers was a key step to carry out a partial unmixing for determining soil erosion stages. A preliminary spatial distribution of advanced and intermediate erosion stages was obtained for the most representative soil types.

The environmental mapping and analysis program (EnMAP) is a joint response of German Earth observation research institutions, value-adding (VA) resellers and space industry to the increasing demand on accurate, quantitative information about the evolution of terrestrial ecosystems. With its hyperspectral capabilities covering the visible, near- and short-wave infrared wavelengths, EnMAP will provide high quality, standardized, and consistent data on a timely and frequent basis. Its primary focus will be on the considerable improvement of already standardized products and the development of new quantitative and subsequently highly informative data and its derivatives. Only an imaging spectrometer, such as the EnMAP, can resolve and detect biophysical, biochemical, and geochemical variables in distinct detail. This will tremendously increase our understanding of coupled biospheric and geospheric processes and thus, enable the management and ensure the sustainability of our vital resources. After a competitive and successfully accomplished phase A, EnMAP has been approved by the German Aerospace Agency in the beginning of 2006. The instrument performance allows for a detailed monitoring, characterisation and parameter extraction of vegetation targets, rock/soils, and inland and coastal waters on a global scale. By the scientific lead of the GeoForschungsZentrum Potsdam (GFZ) and the industrial prime ship of Kayser-Threde, the ongoing planning aims towards an internationalisation of the mission approach. The EnMAP instrument provides information based on 218 contiguous spectral bands in the wavelength range from 420 nm to 2450 nm. It is characterized by a SNR of > 500:1 in the VNIR and >150:1 in the SWIR range at a ground resolution of 30 m times 30 m. A national and international broad science and application community can draw from an extensive and highly resolved pool of information, supporting the modeling and optimization process on their results. Operation of an airborne system (ARES - a joint venture of DLR and GFZ), starting in 2006, and the evolution of data handling and extraction procedures will further support this process.

SAND proposes a space-borne imaging spectrometer (hyperspectral) mission measuring bio-geochemical/bio-geophysical variables to determine land degradation processes in semi-arid geographical areas. Arid and semi-arid lands cover approximately one third of the continental surface of the Earth. They include the deserts and their semi-arid and sub-humid dry margins, and the subtropical Mediterranean latitudes. The semi-arid ecosystems provide important land resources for adapted agricultural production and grazing systems. The importance of thoroughly monitoring the state of the environment in areas considered at risk, in the context of global climatic change and worldwide desertification dynamics, has long been recognised. These facts have led to the ratification of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) by almost 200 nations worldwide. This agreement emphasises the need to assess land degradation and desertification processes. The status of dryland systems is controlled to a large extent by a fragile equilibrium between soil, vegetation and water resources. Precipitation rates are generally low and rainfall events are known to be irregular and of high intensity. Natural ecosystems and traditional land use practices have largely adapted to these conditions over time, and thus, assure an optimum use of available resources. Dryland degradation may be triggered by (global) climatic change and/or human mismanagement. While the former may result in longer and more frequent drought events, the latter one mainly consists of inappropriate land use practices. Both may induce changes in surface properties, impacting the type and density of the vegetation cover. Many of these changes can be detected remotely by measuring the spectral characteristics of the land surfaces. Accordingly, a high-spectral resolution remote sensing system such as the proposed SAND substantially increases these detection capabilities. This paper presents a sensor concept providing global coverage at a reasonable spatial and very high spectral resolution for a quantitative derivation of land surface variables. This includes vegetation parameters and soil-related information such as foliage chemistry, water content, fractional cover, chemical composition, organic matter content and information about the lithological background for selected targets.