CORE SITE GILCHING (GERMANY) - PI ACTIVITIES IN 2003 AND AIMS FOR 2004 Natascha Oppelt (1) , Wolfram Mauser (1) , Rainer Efinger (2) , Peter Klotz (2) (1) University of Munich, Dept. for Earth and Environmental Sciences, Luisenstr. 37, 80333 Munich (Germany), n.oppelt@lmu.de , w.mauser@iggf.geo.uni-muenchen.de (2) GTCO – Ground Truth Center Oberbayern, Luisenstr. 37, 80333 Munich (Germany), info@gtco.de ABSTRACT The CHRIS core site Gilching is located in the Bavarian Alpine Foothills, 25 km south-west of Munich. The activities in this area are coordinated by the University of Munich – chair for geography and geographical remote sensing together with the gtco (Ground Truth Center Oberbayern). In 2003, four CHRIS images were acquired. Airborne and field based hyperspectral measurements were also conducted during the vegetation period of that year. Also, four airborne data sets were acquired using AVIS- 2 (Airborne Visible / near Infrared imaging Spectrometer) and three sets of GVIS (Ground based Visible and near Infrared imaging Spectrometer) measurements were acquired. Besides the discussion of the acquired data, problems that occurred during the campaign in 2003 will be addressed. For 2004, a more intensive field campaign is planned. The field measurements will be carried out at weekly intervals, AVIS and GVIS measurements are planned as often as possible, depending on the weather conditions. A list of planned activities provides a basis for the discussion and coordination of desired CHRIS acquisition dates in the test site Gilching. 1. INTRODUCTION The core site “Gilching” is located in the Bavarian Alpine foothills, 25km south-west of Munich. This area is a test site for several research projects providing various measurements, both from the ground and remotely sensed. The main research topics in this area are the retrieval of biophysical parameters (biomass, chlorophyll, nitrogen) using optical remote sensing as well as retrieval of soil moisture using radar. These parameters serve as input and validation for hydrological and vegetation modelling approaches. The optical remote sensing activities are conducted at various scales. To achieve this, various optical sensors (field spectrometer (GVIS), airborne (AVIS-2) and satellite based (CHRIS) sensors) are used to investigate scaling issues between different spatial resolutions. 2. TEST SITE Within the test site Gilching (48°6’ N, 11° 17’ S), one field with silage maize (Zea mays L.), one with rape (Brassica napus L.), one with triticale (X Triticosecale Wittmack) and one with winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) were chosen as test fields for 2003. Most of the farmers are under contract to the local office for water management. This enables access to detailed field management data including information about crop rotation, cultivars, dates of sowing and harvest, the application of fertiliser, herbicides and fungicides and the quantity applied. A weather station of the Bavarian network of agro- meteorological stations enables access to local weather monitoring. Station No. 72 (Gut Hüll), located at the north-eastern edge of the test site, provides meteorological data such as precipitation, soil and air temperature, total radiation and air humidity. An eddy covariance flux station and a permanent soil moisture station were installed on the rape field to obtain data at hourly intervals. A biweekly field campaign was conducted, where plant parameters such as wet/dry biomass, height, phenological stage, leaf chlorophyll and nitrogen content were measured. 3. INSTRUMENTATION Figure 1 presents the remotely sensed data that was collected for Gilching in 2003. Figure 1: Available remotely sensed data from 2003 (top = CHRIS; centre = AVIS-2; bottom = GVIS). The number of rays indicates the number of acquired angles) During 2003, four CHRIS data sets were acquired (May 24, July 27, August 2 and September 17); airborne and field-based hyperspectral measurements were also ____________________________________________________ Proc. of the 2nd CHRIS/Proba Workshop, ESA/ESRIN, Frascati, Italy 28-30 April (ESA SP-578, July 2004)