Inner Mongolia Grassland Ecosystem Research Station (IMGERS)
Xilin River Basin, Inner Mongolia
Team leaders: Prof. Wu Bingfang, Dr. Zhao Dan
Lab for Digital Agriculture, Key Laboratory of Digital Earth Science, Institute of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth (RADI), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS)
Project Overview
Key research and other ground activities already underway at the sites:
- Developing and calibrating grassland Above Ground Biomass (AGB) estimation model. The grassland AGB includes standing AGB and theoretical AGB.
- Developing and calibrating Fractional Vegetation Cover (FVC) and Leaf Area Index (LAI) estimation model.
- Building and validating Net Primary Productivity (NPP) estimation model based on CASA and improved CASA.
- Grazing monitoring based on remote sensing. The grazing monitoring includes grazing intensity and livestock production.
- Hyperspectral remote sensing application in grassland.
In Situ Observations
- 2012: 250 sample plots in IMGERS, with size of 1 m * 1 m. Monthly surveying from June to Sept. Parameters: AGB, FVC, LAI, and Spectrum.
- 2014: 40 sample plots in IMGERS, with size of 10 m * 10 m. Aug. Parameters: AGB, FVC, LAI, Grazing intensity and Spectrum.
EO Data Requirements
- High spatial resolution remote sensing data: SPOT5, QuickBird, ALOS, RapidEye, Worldview2. Mainly acquired in June ~ Sept. from 2005 to 2012.
- Hyperion data.
- TM / HJ.
- Meteorological data from TRIMM