Abstract: The student-built Agricultural Camera (AgCam) now onboard the International Space Station observes the Earth surface through two linescan cameras with Charge-Coupled Device (CCD) arrays sensitive to visible and near-infrared wavelengths, respectively. The electro-optical components of the AgCam were characterized using precision calibration equipment; a method for modeling and applying these measurements was derived. Correction coefficients to minimize effects of optical vignetting, CCD non-uniform quantum efficiency, and CCD dark current are separately determined using a least squares fit approach. Application of correction coefficients yields significant variability reduction in flat-field images; comparable results are obtained when applied to ground test images.

Abstract: Global temperature is increasing, and this is affecting the vegetation phenology in many parts of the world. In Fennoscandia, as well as Northern Europe, the advances of phenological events in spring have been recorded in recent decades. In this study, we analyzed the start of the growing season within five different vegetation regions in Fennoscandia using the 30-year Global Inventory Modeling and Mapping Studies (GIMMS) NDVI3g dataset. We applied a previously developed pixel-specific Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) threshold method, adjusted it to the NDVI3g data and analyzed trends within the different regions. Results show a warming trend with an earlier start of the growing season of 11.8 ± 2.0 days (p < 0.01) for the whole area. However, there are large regional differences, and the warming/trend towards an earlier start of the growing season is most significant in the southern regions (19.3 ± 4.7 days, p < 0.01 in the southern oceanic region), while the start was stable or modest earlier (two to four days; not significant) in the northern regions. To look for temporal variations in the trends, we divided the 30-year period into three separate decadal time periods. Results show significantly more change/trend towards an earlier start of the growing season in the first

Abstract: A comparison of topographic correction methods is conducted for Landsat-5 TM, Landsat-7 ETM+, and SPOT-5 imagery from different geographic areas and seasons. Three successful and known methods are compared: the semi-empirical C correction, the Gamma correction depending on the incidence and exitance angles, and a modified Minnaert approach. In the majority of cases the modified Minnaert approach performed best, but no method is superior in all cases.

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www.mdpi.com/journal/remotesensing