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Prior knowledge-based retrieval and

validation of information from
remote-sensing data at various
scales
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International Journal of Remote Sensing

Vol. 33, No. 3, 10 February 2012, 665673

Preface
Prior knowledge-based retrieval and validation of information from
remote-sensing data at various scales

Downloaded by [London Metropolitan University], [Yong Xue] at 04:23 22 November 2011

YONG XUE , XIAOWEN LI, ZENGYUAN LI and CUNXIANG CAO

State Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing Science, Jointly Sponsored by the Institute of
Remote Sensing Applications of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Beijing Normal
University, Beijing, PR China
Faculty of Computing, London Metropolitan University, London N7 8DB, UK
School of Geography, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, PR China
Institute of Forest Resource Information Techniques, Chinese Academy of Forestry,
100091 Beijing, PR China

This is the preface to the special issue on the use of prior knowledge for quantitative
remote sensing and validation of results from quantitative remote sensing at different spatial scales. Quantitative remote sensing is the inverse problem of retrieval of
geophysical and biophysical parameters using remote-sensing data. This is usually
a non-linear ill-posed problem. To overcome the ill-posed problems of retrieval,
prior knowledge is normally used. Validation is a general scientific issue for the
remote-sensing community. Frequent validation of remote-sensing products is necessary to ensure their quality and accuracy. This special issue includes articles on in
situ measurements from a field campaign, the accuracy and precision of calibration,
validation methods, and evaluation of remote-sensing quantitative retrieval information modelling. Because of the insufficient study of the validation of quantitative
remote-sensing products and the lack of validation theories and practical methods, in particular, a scaling theory for heterogeneous land surface variables, further
applications of remote-sensing data and products are limited.

1. Introduction
As the ancient Chinese philosopher Confucius pointed out, our knowledge consists
of two parts what we know, and what we know we do not know. When applied to
the extraction of information from a given source of remotely sensed data, this means
that it is important to know what information can be extracted from the data and with
what accuracy or level of confidence, and it is also important to know what geophysical
quantities or information cannot be extracted from the data. The remote-sensing signal, no matter how fine its spectral, spatial and temporal resolutions can be, has only
a limited information content. Remote-sensing retrieval models require the number
of independent observations to be greater than the number of values of the unknown
parameters. This requirement is hard to satisfy even in the coming earth observation
system (EOS) era. Therefore, the utilization of a priori knowledge is necessary.
From the Oxford dictionary, prior knowledge can be described as a combination of
pre-existing attitudes, experiences and knowledge. Experience and knowledge are of
more interest to the remote-sensing community. In order to make good use of every
*Corresponding author. Email: yxue@irsa.ac.cn
International Journal of Remote Sensing
ISSN 0143-1161 print/ISSN 1366-5901 online 2012 Taylor & Francis
http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01431161.2011.577839

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kind of a priori knowledge for effectively extracting information from remote-sensing

observations, the right questions to ask are as follows. Given an imperfect model
and a certain amount of a priori information on model parameters, in which sense
should one modify the a priori information, given the existence of noise in the actual
observations? When can such a priori knowledge be expressed as joint probability
density?
Calibration and validation activities associated with quantitative remote sensing
are extensive. Calibration is a comparison between measurements by a standard
and a sensor. Calibration is becoming increasingly more challenging as measurement requirements for many of todays remote-sensing applications become more
stringent. The main objective of an effective satellite sensor calibration strategy
should be to satisfy the current and anticipated sensor accuracy and precision
requirements of the user community, while pragmatically taking into account the
constraints imposed by current, established technology, and the risks associated with
experimental technology. The main elements of the calibration strategy for the postlaunch calibration of remote-sensing sensors are (Rao and Chen 1996): on-board
calibration, vicarious calibration (the development of ground-truth measurements
for the on-orbit calibration of satellite sensors), site characterization, inter-sensor
comparison/calibration, involvement of the national/international radiometric standards organizations and involvement of the user community.
On-board radiometric and spectral (if necessary) calibration should be a mandatory
requirement for all future satellite sensors in the concept and design stages. Vicarious
absolute calibration methods rely on an independent estimation of the radiance that
reaches the sensor. Regional vicarious calibration sites should be identified, and fully
instrumented facilities should be set up to measure the spectral reflection properties
of the surface, and radiatively important atmospheric parameters such as columnar
ozone, aerosols, precipitable water and cloud cover, so that calibrations based on
model simulations of the upwelling radiation may be rendered more realistic. To the
extent practicable, available satellite-derived information on these parameters should
be incorporated into the site data. Inter-sensor comparison/calibration is essential
to meet the user requirement for blended or fused records of geophysical parameters derived from different sensors. National/international radiometric and spectral
standards organizations have a vital role to play in the calibration of satellite sensors.
They should be involved in all stages of the concept, design and fabrication of onboard calibration devices, and in the testing of the same in the pre-launch calibration
phase; they should ensure the traceability of sensor calibration to national and international radiometric and spectral standards. There should be continuing interaction
between the sensor and user communities so that product requirements are properly
translated into sensor calibration requirements, subject to the constraints imposed by
technology.
Validation is the process of ascribing uncertainties to the directly observed radiances
and retrieved quantities through comparison with correlative, usually in situ, observations. Frequent validation of remote-sensing products is necessary to ensure their
quality and accuracy. Validation is the process of assessing by independent means the
uncertainties of the data products derived from the system outputs. The uncertainty
estimates can be determined through validation activities. This involves specification
of the transformations required to extract estimates of high-level geophysical and biophysical quantities from calibrated basic instrument measurables, and specification of
the uncertainties in the high-level geophysical and biophysical quantities. Validation

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requires detailed knowledge of the relationship between measurables and geophysical

and biophysical quantities of interest, over the full range of possible conditions.
Validation is the responsibility of the algorithm providers (NASA 2011). Validation
activities can be summarized by a framework comprising three major components:
(1) reference measurements needed to validate the product, (2) field sites where these
measurements are being collected and (3) a protocol specifying both the methodology
for reference data collection and the procedures for correlative analysis. An important
step in the validation process is the upscaling from field measurements of geophysical
or biophysical variables to the scale of a high-resolution satellite image.
The articles in this special issue originated from a research project and related
field campaign, Watershed Allied Telemetry Experimental Research (WATER). The
field campaign, WATER, was carried out in the Heihe river basin, a typical inland
river basin in north-west China, with support from the Chinese State Key Basic
Research Project, Active and Passive Remote-Sensing of Land Surface Ecological
and Environmental Parameters under the auspices of the Ministry of Science and
Technology of China (MOST). An intensive observation period of a simultaneous airborne, satellite-borne and ground-based remote-sensing experiment, aiming
to improve the observability, understanding and predictability of hydrological and
related ecological processes at a catchment scale, lasted from 7 March to 12 April, from
15 May to 22 July and from 23 August to 5 September 2008: in total, 120 days. The
project and the field campaign were aimed at (1) solving key scientific problems, which
include crossing and integrating eco-environmental knowledge and theories of remotesensing observation, (2) proving the physical and eco-environmental significance of
the elements characterized by the eco-environmental remote-sensing and (3) revealing
the scale-conversion laws of the relevant parameters estimated by quantitative remotesensing and the dynamical transfer mechanisms in multi-mode integrated quantitative
remote-sensing inversion. They were also aimed at the development of authenticity
testing theory methods of assessing remote-sensing data product quality, and the
comprehensive and quantitative inversion system of the remote-sensing mechanism
model and the eco-environmental processing model to improve the eco-environmental
data products to meet the needs of eco-environmental process monitoring at different
spatial and temporal scales.

2. Prior knowledge-based retrieval in quantitative remote sensing

Previous studies on the use of prior knowledge in remote sensing range from image
classification to geophysical and biophysical parameter retrieval. Geophysical and biophysical data are typically derived from remotely sensed data through the application
of a conventional statistical classification. However, such classification techniques are
not always appropriate, particularly as they may make untenable assumptions about
the data and their output is hard, comprising only the code of the most likely class
of membership (Foody and Arora 1996). While some deviation from the assumptions
may be tolerated and a fuzzy output may be derived, making more information on
class membership properties available, alternative classification procedures are sometimes required. In some image classifications, the importance of classes varies, and it
is desirable to weight allocation to selected classes. Often the desire is to weight allocation in favour of classes that are abundant in the area represented by an image at
the expense of the less abundant classes (Foody 1995a). If there is prior knowledge on

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the distribution of class occurrence, this weighting can be achieved with widely used
statistical classifiers by setting appropriate a priori probabilities of class membership.
An artificial neural network can therefore be used to generate a fuzzy classification output that may be used with other data sets in a geographic information system
(GIS), which may not have been available to the producer of the classification, to
increase the accuracy with which land cover may be classified. Generally, it is always
referred to prior knowledge in neural network theories and applications when the
prior knowledge is addressed. Artificial neural networks are an attractive alternative
to the statistical classifiers, and where one is used to derive a fuzzy classification output from a remotely sensed data set this output may be post-processed with ancillary
data available in a GIS to increase the accuracy with which geophysical and biophysical parameters may be mapped. With an artificial neural network, however, the
incorporation of prior knowledge is more problematic (Foody 1995b).
The ultimate aim of quantitative remote sensing is inversion. But because of the
noise and correlation of observations, and the complexity of the Earths surface system, the information content of data is often less than that required for the inversion
of so many unknowns, and the inversion problems of quantitative remote sensing are
often ill-posed (Yang et al. 2001). Although we may have multi-temporal, multispectral, and now even multi-angular observations, the increasing amount of information
in the data is often accompanied by an increase in the number of unknown parameters. Thus in present remote-sensing practice, we should make the best use of prior
knowledge by developing a suitable inversion strategy. This is the key to resolving this
problem.
A remote-sensing inversion problem is often ill-posed and that can be expected to
lead to significant uncertainties in the estimation of biophysical or geophysical variables (Lauvernet et al. 2008). The improvement of the performance of the inversion
process requires more information to be exploited, including better radiative transfer
models, exploitation of proper prior information on the distribution of canopy and
atmospheric variables, and knowledge of the uncertainties in satellite measurements,
as well as possible spatial and temporal constraints. However, regularization aims at
turning the ill-posed problems into certainty. Many methods have been developed for
regularization. The maximum entropy algorithm has advantages when the variance of
the observations noise is small or the uncertainty of the prior knowledge is not too
large (Zhang et al. 2010). A Bayesian network is a unified knowledge-inferring process that can incorporate information derived from multiple sources, including remote
sensing and information derived from a priori knowledge (Qu et al. 2008).
Prior knowledge can be used for quantitative retrieval of several geophysical and
biophysical parameters. Wang et al. (2012) utilize a novel prior knowledge scheme
in an algorithm that performs cloud screening, and simultaneous aerosol optical
depth (AOD) and surface reflectance retrieval from the Moderate resolution Imaging
Spectroradiometer (MODIS) 500 m level-1b data. This prior knowledge scheme
produced a new ngstrm exponent , utilizing a terra-pass-time and an aquapass-time to better satisfy the invariant assumption. Validation experiments
demonstrated the potential of applying the algorithm to MODIS 500 m AOD retrieval
on land.
In the retrieval of forest canopy attributes using a geometric-optical model, the
spectral scene reflectance of each component should be known as prior knowledge.
Generally, these reflectances were acquired by a previous survey using an analytical
spectral device. Cao et al. (2012) proposed to retrieve forest structure parameters

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using LiDAR data, and used a linear spectrum decomposition model to determine
the reflectances of the spectral scene components, which were regarded as the prior
knowledge in the retrieval of forest canopy cover and effective plant area index (PAIe)
using a simplified LiStrahler geometric-optical model based on Systme Probatoire
dObservation de la Terre (SPOT-5) high resolution geometric instrument (HRG)
imagery. In the article by He et al. (2012), forest biomass was estimated at plot level,
stand level and with different biomass grades, separately. LiDAR data with about 1 hit
per m2 were first used for forest biomass estimation at plot level, with R2 of 0.77. Then
the LiDAR-derived biomass was used as prior knowledge to investigate the relationship between the Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS) PALSAR (phased array
type L-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR)) data and biomass.
Xiao et al. (2012) developed a variational assimilation procedure for retrieving the
leaf area index (LAI) from the time series of remote-sensing data. The procedure is
based on the formulation of an objective function. A dynamic model is constructed
based on the climatology from multi-year MODIS LAI data to evolve LAI in time, and
a radiative transfer model is coupled with the dynamic model to simulate time series of
surface reflectances. A SCE-UA (Shuffled Complex Evolution method University of
Arizona) optimization algorithm is then used to minimize the objective function and
estimate the dynamic model states and the parameters of the coupled model from the
MODIS reflectance data with a higher quality in a given time window. The ground
LAI data, measured in situ, are used to develop algorithms to estimate LAI from
Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) surface reflectance, and ASTER LAI maps are produced for each ASTER scene using the
algorithms developed. Then the ASTER LAI maps are aggregated to compare with
the new LAI products.
The objectives of Huang et al. (2012b) were to evaluate the accuracy of a curve
fitting model and a new prediction algorithm using both airborne measurements based
on the Wide-angle infrared Dual-mode line/Area Array Scanner (WiDAS) system and
ground measurements. Based on prior knowledge of crop structure parameters (e.g.
LAI, leaf area density (LAD) and leaf dimensions), validation results indicated that
the curve fitting model and the prediction algorithm can accurately retrieve the hot
spot amplitude and half width (R2 > 0.90 and root mean square error (RMSE) <
0.15 K), and predict leaf and soil temperature differences from directional signals
of both airborne and ground data (bias < 1 K). The error of prior knowledge can
significantly affect the prediction accuracy of leaf temperature difference.
Owing to the lack of the accuracy in the navigation system, airborne repeat-pass
SAR interferometry (InSAR) suffers residual motion errors (RMEs). Zhong et al.
(2012) introduce the modified multisquint technique with point targets (MTPT). The
modification is mainly embodied in two aspects: automatic target selection and noise
removal. Because the multisquint technique (MS) is also capable of estimating the
RMEs in a SAR interferogram, and its accuracy has been verified to be very high, here
it is used as a comparison. The experiment shows that MTPT is able to achieve high
accuracy when a large number of point targets are distributed in the observed scene.
3. Validation of information from remote-sensing data at various scales
This special issue is concerned with the validation of products containing information
derived from satellite data and, inevitably, also to a large extent with the calibration
of that remotely-sensed data, that is, cal-val. Various remote-sensing sensors observe

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the Earths surface from coarse spatial resolution to fine spatial resolution. We may
obtain different results from remote-sensing images captured at different resolutions
due to scale effects.
There are two basic stages for validation, namely at pre-launch and at post-launch.
The validation at the pre-launch stage emphasizes algorithm development and the
characterization of uncertainties from parameterizations and algorithmic implementation. Post-launch validation emphasizes algorithm refinement and data product
assessments based on near-direct comparisons with correlative data and selected controlled analyses. It is important that the characterization is as quantitative and as
phenomenologically specific as possible to be truly useful to the science user, that is,
dependence on sampling geometry, target scene, etc. is eliminated as much as possible.
The validation activities can be summarized by a framework comprising three major
components: (1) reference measurements needed to validate the product, (2) field sites
where these measurements are being collected and (3) a protocol specifying both the
methodology for reference data collection and the procedures for correlative analysis (Morisette et al. 2000). The validation is based on the collection of reference data
that can be compared to satellite products. In general reference data will include
field and tower measurements, airborne imagery and fine-resolution (<10 m) and
high-resolution (1030 m) satellite data (Morisette et al. 1998). Validation methods
include field campaigns, scaling up from high-resolution imagery and comparisons
with independent algorithms:

direct comparison with independent correlative measurements

ground-based networks
comprehensive test sites
field campaigns
comparisons with independent satellite retrievals
products from instruments on the same EOS platform
products from instruments on different platforms, EOS and non-EOS.
In the article by Mei et al. (2012), the AOD data sets retrieved from Terra and
Aqua MODIS data (SYNTAM) over land were validated with ground-based measurements from aerosol robotic network (AERONET) data as well as from the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) AOD products, amended with a deep
blue algorithm in Asian and American areas. The spectral and spatial sensitivities of
the AOD correlation have been explicitly addressed at different spatial resolutions.
Different window sizes were tested for SYNTAM to evaluate the effect of window
size on parameter statistics, and it was found that the accuracy of the SYNTAM
method decreased with increasing window size. Comparisons between AOD data sets
derived from the SYNTAM and AOD products from the NASA dark dense vegetation (DDV) and the deep blue algorithms were also conducted using data from the
USA. Huang et al. (2012a) explored and summarized two different methodologies,
concretely including three empirical algorithms and one advanced simplified theoretical algorithm for estimating instantaneous net surface shortwave radiation (NSSR)
from MODIS data. The advanced simplified theoretical algorithm was developed by
combining two simplified radiative transfer models with various MODIS atmosphere
and land products. To comprehensively evaluate these algorithms, ground measurements from seven stations, widely distributed in different climatic regions of China,
were used.

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Scaling is one of the important methods that can be used to produce high-resolution
multispectral images (HRMIs) from a synthetic aperture radar image (SARI) and lowresolution multispectral images (LRMIs). Chen et al. (2012) present an alternative
solution of scaling the LRMIs according to one SARI. The proposed method uses the
trous wavelet transform (AWT) to abstract the details from the SARI, and ensemble
empirical mode decomposition to inject the spatial details of the approximation plane
of the SARI into the LRMIs. The intrinsic mode functions (IMFs) of the LRMIs are
updated using the gain that is derived from the background and observation covariances estimated from the IMFs of the LRMIs and the approximation plane of the
SARI. Li et al. (2012) estimated 8-day composite gross primary production (GPP)
using the region production efficiency model (REG-PEM) in the Heihe river basin
from 2006 to 2008. Analysis of uncertainty and sensitivity of the REG-PEM model
was implemented by the Monte Carlo method. Yoshimura and Yamashita (2012)
conducted three-dimensional light environment measurements to understand tropical
rainforest quantitatively and qualitatively, in order to elucidate links between canopy
physiological studies and remote-sensing data and to investigate upscaling of canopy
processes and mechanisms.
Microwave remote sensing is a popular research area. Zhao et al. (2012) present
a study of the interference effect of the microwave emission of soil during freezing
and thawing processes. The microwave brightness temperature was measured at the
C, X, K and Ka bands using a truck-mounted dual-polarized microwave radiometer. Obvious radio brightness oscillation behaviour was shown in the results, which
were compared with both coherent and non-coherent emission models. Jiang et al.
(2012) investigated emission behaviour at frequencies of 18.7, 36.5 and 89 GHz and
an incidence angle of 55 over a snow-covered surface at the local scale observation
site (LSOS) in Fraser, Colorado, USA, using both one-layer and two-layer emission
models. The models employ the matrix doubling approach to implement the radiative
transfer equation based on the dense media theory (DMRT) (Tsang et al. 2001) and
the advanced integral equation model (AIEM) (Chen et al. 2003). The outputs demonstrate the snow impact on soil surface with snow depth and snow fraction variation
through the modelling and in situ data.
4. Conclusion
Both prior knowledge-based retrieval and validation of information from remotesensing data at various scales are general issues in remote sensing. The use of prior
knowledge can increase the accuracy of retrieved geophysical and biophysical parameters. It also makes it possible to retrieve more Earth surface parameters. The prior
knowledge database is one of the most important steps towards prior knowledgebased retrieval. The prior knowledge database could include a climatological database
about the reflectance spectrum features of typical objects and knowledge representation of remote-sensing scientists. It is an intense problem for both remote-sensing
fundamental research and its application to investigate the reflectance spectrum features of typical objects and their variance under different measurement conditions
(Wang et al. 2007). In this context, extracting the temporal and spatial distribution
of the knowledge about spectrum data and their environmental variables from the
accumulated measuring data is an important support for quantitative remote-sensing
modelling and the retrieval of land surface parameters. Prior knowledge generated as
a part of processing procedures is reused recursively or iteratively in the procedures.

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It can be used to select parameters and retrieval algorithms before data processing,
to constrain the computations during the data processing and to remove noise or
abnormal values after data processing.
It is difficult to validate quantitative remote-sensing products over heterogeneous
surfaces. Although the true values of the quantitative remote-sensing products exist
objectively, it is impossible to measure them in reality. For one Earth surface location,
pixels with different scales measured by remote-sensing instruments consist of different Earth surface objectives because there is no ideal homogeneous surface in the real
world. What scale level is representative for the true values of the objectives? Scale
disparity between the point measurement and the pixel-scale retrieval is found in
all aspects of the validation process itself. Researchers have been aware of the importance of validation and paid much attention to it; however, it remains an unsolved
problem.
Acknowledgement
This work was jointly supported by the MOST, China, under grant nos.
2008AA12Z109, 2010CB950802 and 2007CB714407 and by the State Key Laboratory,
under grant no. O8Y01556KZ.
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