1. The fourth phase of the radiative transfer model intercomparison (RAMI) exercise: Actual canopy scenarios and conformity testing
- Author
-
Widlowski, Jean Luc, Mio, Corrado, Disney, Mathias, Adams, Jennifer, Andredakis, Ioannis, Atzberger, Clement, Brennan, James, Busetto, Lorenzo, Chelle, Michaël, Ceccherini, Guido, Colombo, Roberto, Côté, Jean Francois, Eenmäe, Alo, Essery, Richard, Gastellu-Etchegorry, Jean Philippe, Gobron, Nadine, Grau, Eloi, Haverd, Vanessa, Homolová, Lucie, Huang, Huaguo, Hunt, Linda, Kobayashi, Hideki, Koetz, Benjamin, Kuusk, Andres, Kuusk, Joel, Lang, Mait, Lewis, Philip E., Lovell, Jennifer L., Malenovský, Zbyn?k, Meroni, Michele, Morsdorf, Felix, Mõttus, Matti, Ni-Meister, Wenge, Pinty, Bernard, Rautiainen, Miina, Schlerf, Martin, Somers, Ben, Stuckens, Jan, Verstraete, Michel M., Yang, Wenze, Zhao, Feng, Zenone, Terenzio, Institute for the Environment and Sustainability, University College of London [London] (UCL), Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), European Commission's Joint Research Centre, Universität für Bodenkultur Wien [Vienne, Autriche] (BOKU), Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), Ecologie fonctionnelle et écotoxicologie des agroécosystèmes (ECOSYS), Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-AgroParisTech, Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca [Milano] (UNIMIB), Natural Resources Canada (NRCan), Estonian University of Life Sciences (EMU), Tartu Observatory, University of Edinburgh, Centre d'études spatiales de la biosphère (CESBIO), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE)-Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3), Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées (OMP), Météo France-Centre National d'Études Spatiales [Toulouse] (CNES)-Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Météo France-Centre National d'Études Spatiales [Toulouse] (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Oceans and Atmosphere Flagship, Global Change Research Centre (CzechGlobe), Beijing Forestry University, Science Systems and Applications Inc (SSAI), Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), European Space Agency (ESA), Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation [Canberra] (CSIRO), University of Wollongong [Australia], Universität Zürich [Zürich] = University of Zurich (UZH), University of Helsinki, Hunter College [CUNY, New York], City University of New York [New York] (CUNY), Aalto University, Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST), Université Catholique de Louvain = Catholic University of Louvain (UCL), Merkator nv /sa, Partenaires INRAE, South African National Parks, University of the Witwatersrand [Johannesburg] (WITS), University of Maryland [College Park], University of Maryland System, Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (BUAA), University of Antwerp (UA), Widlowski, J, Mio, C, Disney, M, Adams, J, Andredakis, I, Atzberger, C, Brennan, J, Busetto, L, Chelle, M, Ceccherini, G, Colombo, R, Côté, J, Eenmäe, A, Essery, R, Gastellu-Etchegorry, J, Gobron, N, Grau, E, Haverd, V, Homolová, L, Huang, H, Hunt, L, Kobayashi, H, Koetz, B, Kuusk, A, Kuusk, J, Lang, M, Lewis, P, Lovell, J, Malenovský, Z, Meroni, M, Morsdorf, F, Mõttus, M, Ni-Meister, W, Pinty, B, Rautiainen, M, Schlerf, M, Somers, B, Stuckens, J, Verstraete, M, Yang, W, Zhao, F, Zenone, T, University of Zurich, Gobron, Nadine, Department of Geosciences and Geography, Universität für Bodenkultur Wien = University of Natural Resources and Life [Vienne, Autriche] (BOKU), National Research Council of Italy | Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca = University of Milano-Bicocca (UNIMIB), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3), Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées (OMP), Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales [Toulouse] (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Météo-France -Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales [Toulouse] (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Météo-France -Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE), Agence Spatiale Européenne = European Space Agency (ESA), and Helsingin yliopisto = Helsingfors universitet = University of Helsinki
- Subjects
ta520 ,Economics ,Computer science ,[SDV]Life Sciences [q-bio] ,Reference data (financial markets) ,Ensemble averaging ,Model benchmarking ,Optical remote sensing ,3D virtual plant canopy ,Radiative transfer ,910 Geography & travel ,Guarded acceptance ,ta513 ,1111 Soil Science ,ta212 ,4112 Forestry ,ta213 ,Physics ,1903 Computers in Earth Sciences ,optical remote sensing ,Geology ,Variance (accounting) ,Digital hemispherical photography ,shared risk ,Chemistry ,10122 Institute of Geography ,radiative transfer ,[SDE]Environmental Sciences ,conformity testing ,model benchmarking ,digital hemispherical photography ,guarded acceptance ,GCOS ,ISO-13528 ,Tolerance interval ,Engineering sciences. Technology ,1171 Geosciences ,ta222 ,Scale (ratio) ,FIS/06 - FISICA PER IL SISTEMA TERRA E PER IL MEZZO CIRCUMTERRESTRE ,ta1171 ,Soil Science ,Atmospheric radiative transfer codes ,Conformity testing ,Computers in Earth Sciences ,Biology ,1907 Geology ,Remote sensing ,Decision rule ,15. Life on land ,115 Astronomy, Space science ,Shared risk - Abstract
The RAdiative transfer Model Intercomparison (RAMI) activity focuses on the benchmarking of canopy radiative transfer (RT) models. For the current fourth phase of RAMI, six highly realistic virtual plant environments were constructed on the basis of intensive field data collected from (both deciduous and coniferous) forest stands as well as test sites in Europe and South Africa. Twelve RT modelling groups provided simulations of canopy scale (directional and hemispherically integrated) radiative quantities, as well as a series of binary hemispherical photographs acquired from different locations within the virtual canopies. The simulation results showed much greater variance than those recently analysed for the abstract canopy scenarios of RAMI-IV. Canopy complexity is among the most likely drivers behind operator induced errors that gave rise to the discrepancies. Conformity testing was introduced to separate the simulation results into acceptable and non-acceptable contributions. More specifically, a shared risk approach is used to evaluate the compliance of RI model simulations on the basis of reference data generated with the weighted ensemble averaging technique from ISO-13528. However, using concepts from legal metrology, the uncertainty of this reference solution will be shown to prevent a confident assessment of model performance with respect to the selected tolerance intervals. As an alternative, guarded risk decision rules will be presented to account explicitly for the uncertainty associated with the reference and candidate methods. Both guarded acceptance and guarded rejection approaches are used to make confident statements about the acceptance and/or rejection of RT model simulations with respect to the predefined tolerance intervals. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc.
- Published
- 2015