Developing optical tools for sensing of plant physiology and ecosystem functioning

IES’s leading researcher Dainis Jakovels is Latvia’s representative of programme COST action "Innovative optical tools for proximal sensing of ecophysiological processes (OPTIMISE)" No. ES1309.

The action aims to promote international researchers collaboration for development of innovative optical tool for proximal sensing of ecosystems. The optical observations provide data at the high spectral, temporal and spatial resolution necessary to more fully comprehend the links between light use, plant physiology and ecosystem functioning and provide key validation datasets for satellite remote sensing, such as the Sentinel missions, and the flux communities.

Currently, Institute for Environmental Solutions (IES) is preparing to implement two projects of European Space Agency’s (ESA) satellites simulation: Sentinel-2 and Sentinel-3. In 2013 IES submitted two project proposals to the ESA’s plan for European Cooperating States’ (PECS) and the projects received the two highest evaluations. The action OPTIMISE datasets could also use to benefit IES’s expertise for Sentinel-2 and Sentinel-3 validation and calibration.

In order to exchange the knowledge and experience with European remote sensing researchers, from March 30 to April 1 IES’s leading researcher Dainis Jakovels is going to participate OPTIMISE workshop and Management Committee meeting in Madrid.

The International science support programme COST is the longest-running European framework supporting trans-national cooperation among researchers, engineers and scholars across Europe. Latvia became a member of the COST programme in 1999, but it has been participating in COST activities since 1997.

More about the programme