Last update, April 2011

Luis Guanter

MSc Environmental Physics. University of Valencia, June 2004.

BSc Physics (Honors). University of Valencia, July 2002.

Positions held

Feb 2011 - (today): Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Oxford (UK).

Feb 2010 - Feb 2011: Postdoctoral Research and Teaching Assistant, Free University of Berlin (Germany).

Sep 2009 - Feb 2010: Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Valencia (Spain).

Mar 2007 - Sep 2009: Postdoctoral Researcher, GFZ German Research Centre For Geosciences (Germany).

Sep 2002 - Feb 2007: Graduate Student, University of Valencia (Spain).

Visiting Scientist

Research Interests

1. Retrieval of atmospheric and surface parameters from Remote Sensing data:

Estimation of aerosol loading, water vapour column and surface reflectance from multispectral and hyperspectral optical remote sensing data.

Estimation of chlorophyll fluorescence from high spectral resolution space measurements.

2. Image processing in Remote Sensing:

Data pre-processing: quality assessment, atmospheric correction and geometric correction, scene-based spectral and radiometric calibration assessment.

Simulation of optical and infrared remote sensing data.

3. Mission concept definition for future Earth Observation projects:

Definition of radiometric, spectral and spatial specifications.

Definition of scientific specifications and of processing levels and products.

Strong involvement in the definition phases of the EnMAP, FLEX and SEOSAT missions.

PhD Thesis

"New Algorithms for Atmospheric Correction and Retrieval of Biophysical Parameters in Earth Observation. Application to ENVISAT/MERIS data." Cover
Luis Guanter, Universitat de Valencia, 2007.
J. Moreno (advisor).

Abstract: "An algorithm for the derivation of atmospheric and surface biophysical products from the MEdium Resolution Imaging Specrometer Instrument (MERIS) on board ENVIronmental SATellite (ENVISAT/MERIS) Level 1b data over land has been developed. Georectified aerosol optical thickness (AOT), columnar water vapor (CWV), spectral surface reflectance and chlorophyll fluorescence (CF) maps are generated. Emphasis has been put on implementing a robust software able to provide those products on an operational manner, making no use of ancillary parameters apart from those attached to MERIS images. For this reason, it has been named Self-Contained Atmospheric Parameters Estimation from MERIS data (SCAPE-M). The fundamentals of the algorithm and the validation of the derived products are presented in this thesis. Errors of ±0.03, ±4% and ±8% have been estimated for AOT, CWV and surface reflectance retrievals, respectively, by means of a sensitivity analysis. More than 200 MERIS images have been processed in order to assess the method performance under a range of atmospheric and geographical conditions. A good comparison is found between SCAPE-M AOT retrievals and ground-based measurements taken during the SPectra bARrax Campaigns (SPARC) 2003 and 2004, except for a date when an episode of Saharan dust intrusion was detected. Comparison of SCAPE-M retrievals with data from AErosol RObotic NETwork (AERONET) stations showed a square Pearson’s correlation coefficient R2 of about 0.7–0.8. Those values grow up to more than 0.9 in the case of CWV after comparison with the same stations. A good correlation is also found with the ESA Level 2 official CWV product, although slight different performances with varying surface elevation are detected. Retrieved surface reflectance maps have been intercompared with reflectance data derived from MERIS images by the Bremen AErosol Retrieval (BAER) method in the first place. A good correlation in the red and near-infrared bands was found, although a considerably higher proportion of processed pixels was provided by SCAPE-M. The comparison with reflectance maps derived from the Compact High Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (CHRIS) on board the PRoject for On–Board Autonomy (PROBA), in turn validated with ground-based reflectance measurements, was also achieved. The estimation of CF from MERIS data has been presented in the last place. Comparison with other vegetation products and finer spatial resolution Compact Airborne Spectrographic Imager (CASI) -derived CF maps suggest CF to be a promising tool in the monitoring of the vegetation status from space."

Projects & Links

GOSAT: Greenhouse gases Observing SATellite & recently a nice tool to measure fluorescence from space

FLEX: Fluorescence Explorer, selected by ESA for phase A/B1 studies in Nov 2010

EnMAP: German imaging spectroscopy mission, due for launch around 2015

GlobAlbedo: ESA DUE project for th production of broadband albedo from European satellite data

AOPP & EODG: Oxford University's Atmospheric, Oceanic and Planetary Physics sub-department & Earth Observation Data Group

Marie Curie Actions: Good funding opportunities for young researchers