Remote Sensing of Land Surface Phenology: Progress, Challenges, Prospects

The process of observing land surface phenology (or LSP) using remote sensing satellites is fundamentally different from ground level observation of phenophase transitions of specific organisms. The scale disparity between the spatial extent of the organisms and the spatial resolution of the sensor leads to an ill-defined mixture of targets and background or signals and noise. While much progress has been made in the monitoring and modeling of land surface phenologies over the past decade, distinct challenges remain: some result from confusion over concepts and terms, others from the fundamental problem of reconciling scales of observation, and still others from a misguided search for simple explanations to complex phenomena. The chapter surveys the LSP literature over the past decade to identify bright spots in the research as well as trying to shine some clarifying light on some LSP problems to identify fruitful ways forward to outstanding challenges in LSP research.