The development, implementation and monitoring of environmental policies is dependent on the availability of sound information on the state of the environment. Of special interest is the information on forests, due to the important role of the forest sector within many thematic disciplines, such as climate change, bio-energy, biodiversity and land management. Such data are essential inputs for environmental models and scenarios – both forest-related and multi-disciplinary – and are required at a range of spatial scales from local through to national and global levels. Remote sensing and geographic information systems provide the means for the frequent acquisition and processing of detailed spatial forest information at regional through to global scales.

Within the above context, national, regional and global forestry information systems are being developed that integrate and make use of tools such as Earth observation (EO), geographic information systems, spatial data infrastructures and modeling. However, the development of such multi-scale forestry information systems is hampered to some extent by limitations related to data harmonization and comparability, and system interoperability. Lack of guidelines and standards regarding the development of such systems can adversely affect the efficiency, interoperability and interconnectivity between many existing and future information systems.

Initiatives such as the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) contribute to the development of global information systems and the inter-linkage with regional and national systems. At the European level, the INSPIRE initiative, dealing with harmonization and interoperability of spatial data and systems, plays an essential role in promoting the development and implementation of multi-disciplinary and interoperable information systems, and in providing decision-makers with access to up-to-date and reliable forestry information to fully understand environmental processes, interactions and tendencies.

Papers are being solicited in (but not limited to) the following areas:
• Forestry information systems & interoperability and implications for decision makers;
• Remote sensing of forests (forest resources, forest condition, change detection, parameter
estimation);
• Forestry data harmonization and comparability;
• Forest ecosystem services, carbon sequestration and forest dynamics using remote sensing.

Manuscript submission deadline: 30th April 2012
Inquiries concerning the Special Issue should be directed to the Guest Editors. Papers in electronic format can be submitted using the manuscript central web link

More information can be found at this link.

The focus of the proposal is to provide critical information to both encourage and justify consideration of the site by the AdCom Committee. The proposal will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

• Organizing team – capabilities, involvement with the Society, experience with IGARSS and/or other conferences. The leadership of IGARSS is very important and must be comprised of experienced and dedicated volunteers.
• Venue – suitability, cost, and appeal (critical)
• Host city – access, cost, appeal
• Availability of adequate, suitable hotels for participants
• Other relevant factors, as determined by the AdCom

For more information, please consult the call for proposals.

Distinguished Achievement Award: A plaque and a certificate may be presented for the most distinguished contribution to the field of Geoscience and Remote Sensing.
Outstanding Service Award: A certificate may be presented for outstanding service to the Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society. GRSS membership is required.
Education Award (EA): A certificate may be presented for recognized contributions to education in geoscience and/or remote sensing. The awardee(s) must be either mem-ber(s) or affiliates of the GRSS. The award shall be considered annually, but only awarded when an outstanding recipient is identified.
GRSS GOLD Early Career Award: A certificate and honorarium ($1500) may be presented to promote, recognize and support young GOLD scientists and engineers that have demonstrated outstanding ability and promise for significant contributions in the future.

The focus of the proposal is to provide critical information to both encourage and justify consideration of the site by the AdCom Committee. The proposal will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

• Organizing team – capabilities, involvement with the Society, experience with IGARSS and/or other conferences. The leadership of IGARSS is very important and must be comprised of experienced and dedicated volunteers.
• Venue – suitability, cost, and appeal (critical)
• Host city – access, cost, appeal
• Availability of adequate, suitable hotels for participants
• Other relevant factors, as determined by the AdCom

The following information is required for the pre-proposal, which should not exceed 20 pages, min 11 pt font, including appendices. There is no fixed template or format.

1. Proposed Year: 2016

2. Proposed Dates:
IGARSS is typically scheduled in the period from late June to early August due to weather and convenience for northern hemisphere academic participants. This is not a requirement, but inevitable tradeoffs associated with other dates should be considered carefully if alternatives are proposed. National and religious holidays and dates of other IEEE conferences which involve remote sensing or signal processing should be avoided so as to maximize attendance.

3. Name of Proposed City, Country, Venue

4. Proposing Team

Names of Proposing Team Members and their affiliations.

The General Chair(s) must be a member(s) of the IEEE GRSS Society; the Chair has considerable latitude in the organization of the Committee. The General Chair persons, the Technical Program Chair, and the Finance Chair should be identified at the time of submission of the bid. Members of the LOC need not be located in the same city as IGARSS. They may even be from different countries, as the electronic age, coupled with the use of a central conference management company, now makes it possible to plan for conferences in abstentia.

The General Chair should take care in selection of the members of the Local Organizing Committee for the conference. Each volunteer should be aware of any potential conflict of interest in voting or making decisions and notify the General Chair if there is any such potential conflict of interest. Please indicate whether any of the organizing committee members have conference or meeting planning experience, particularly with IEEE conferences. The final LOC will include:

General Chair:
Technical Program Chair:
Finance:
Local Arrangements Chair:
Publicity Chair:
Publication Chair:
Exhibits Chair:
Other Team Members:

5. Justification for the site selection.

a) Statement outlining the advantages of conducting IGARSS in the specific location. Important issues include suitability of space, access by delegates, cost, and appeal to delegates.

b) Description of the proposed hotel or conference center venue. Considerations should include:

• IGARSS attendance is now typically between 1400 and 2000. Proposed venues must be able to handle a minimum of 10 parallel sessions. A suitable range of room sizes should be available for oral sessions (min seating of 100 to max seating of 350).
• An appropriate venue must be proposed for the plenary session, which may be attended by about 1000 delegates).
• Easy access to appropriate space for the poster sessions and the exhibit area is also required.
• Appropriate facilities for tutorials on Sunday prior to the conference.
• Accessible rooms for supporting staff and meetings which may occur during the conference.
• Off-site hotel (if the proposed venue is not a hotel) that is suitable for the AdCom meeting the prior weekend and various committee meetings (possibly lunch or dinner meetings) during the week.
• The venue must be affordable to participants. Current rates must be provided for use of the proposed conference site. Site negotiations will be conducted by the professional staff of the GRSS conference management company after the venue is selected.

c) The site being proposed must be convenient to hotels offering a broad range of rates. Affordable accommodation for students is also highly recommended. Provide current rates of properties around the conference site.

d) Information relative to travel to the venue. Is the proposed site near major airports? Is the airport located within a reasonable distance of the venue? Provide information on the airport relative to the venue and current airfare costs from major cities in Asia, Europe, North America and South America. Also provide information on local transportation.

e) Information on unique aspects of this location for attendees. What are the technical advantages to this location? What are the cultural and leisure activities available?

c) Statement of the professional interest in the local area related to the broad field of geosciences and remote sensing.

d) Preliminary analysis of the amount of corporate/government/organizational support available for this venue, including the potential for sponsorship and grants, as well as assisting with conference activities.

e) Indication of any other technical communities that might attend and enrich the conference with their participation. A joint conference with another society can also be proposed. Information relative to this should be provided in the proposal.

f) Additional descriptive and visual materials which provide additional information on about the venue. We have found that development and shipping of extensive packets of material to be time consuming to prepare, costly to ship, and not to be particularly useful in the preliminary decision. Such material can be incorporated in the presentation of the finalists in July, if the AdCom decides to make the final selection at that time. Inclusion of a URL that provides visual information on the venue may be effective, but is not required.

An award committee of eminent professionals in the field will select the recipient for this award. The nominee must be a United States citizen, national, or permanent resident and not more than 40 years of age on December 31, 2011.

Nominations may be submitted for individuals or groups. If nominating a group, all members of the group should have been actively involved in the design and/or implementation of the application, and each must be a United States citizen, national, or permanent resident. In addition, the leader of the group must be clearly identified and meet the age qualification.

Award Nomination Deadline is December 31, 2011

Click here for additional information

Dr. Michael Hickey  (Atmospheric acoustic-gravity wave modeling, mesosphere and thermosphere)

Dr. John Hughes (upper atmosphere and ionosphere physics, ionospheric heating, optical remote sensing)

Dr. Alan Liu  (Dynamics and composition in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere; LIDAR, radar & passive optical remote sensing,)

Dr. Jonathan Snively (CFD & atmospheric acoustic-gravity waves, mesosphere and thermosphere)

Dr. Matthew Zettergren (magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling at high latitudes, optical and radar remote sensing)

The assistantships cover full tuition and fees plus an annual stipend of at least $20,000 per year. Applicants must have completed an M.S. in physics or engineering related field in order to prepare for this program.  Please submit your application and inquiry to Dr.Michael Hickey at hicke0b5@erau.edu.

Job Description:We seek candidates for a 3-year postdoctoral position in the field of satellite and in situ remote sensing of vegetation canopies. The Institute for Environment and Sustainability – as part of the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre – is developing a new, innovative and traceable methodology to verify the quality of optical remote sensing products over land together with their associated in situ validation protocols. Such a verification framework is needed to provide unbiased and precise information as to whether field measurement practices and satellite retrieval algorithms match the quality criteria laid out by the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS). In particular for some of the land ECVs (essential climate variables) the quality of satellite and in situ estimation algorithms is often difficult to determine by conventional means. This is because of 1) assumptions in the retrieval algorithms, 2) the spatial heterogeneity of plant environments, and/or 3) the temporal variability of the incident illumination field. Currently, only verified 3-D radiative transfer models possess the capability to overcome these hurdles in a traceable and accurate manner. The work of the successful candidate will be to address various research aspects in the context of the development of a model-based quality assurance scheme for land ECVs and their field validation protocols.

The research will be carried out within the ‘Systematic Observation for Land and Ocean’ (SOLO) action of the Global Environment Monitoring unit which belongs to the Institute for Environment and Sustainability located in Ispra, Italy. The SOLO action is actively involved in establishing quality assurance methodologies suitable for the validation of optical remote sensing algorithms and products. Over land, these efforts make use of verified 3-D Monte Carlo ray-tracing models capable of simulating the measurements of both in situ and space borne optical sensors.

The submission deadline is the 9th November 2011 (12h00 CET)

PROJECT REFERENCE NUMBER: IES-2011-301131

PROJECT TITLE is: Verification of Remote Sensing Models, Algorithms and Field Validation Protocols

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Download the call for papers