Titled “inversion theories and methods by initiative and passive remote sensing for the elements of ecological environment” --- a basic research program in the remote sensing sciences was completed in IRSA on November, 2011.

Focusing on "co-inversion" and "process-oriented", this program aims to ascertain the physical meaning and ecological characterization of the elements of ecological environment which can be detected by remote sensing, and to improve the accuracy of the environmental data products to meet monitoring requirements in different spatial and temporal scales.

LI Xiaowen, CAS academician, and his team have spent five years on this program. Their research centers on the inversion theories and methods by initiative and passive remote sensing, forming standard techniques and optimization methods for satellite data products of ecological environment, and achieving quantitative inversion of leaf area index, canopy height, vegetation coverage, biomass, vegetation index, soil moisture, albedo, groundwater, surface fluxes, and etc.

Authenticity testing theories and methods to validate the quality of remote sensing products was also developed in this program, and a  meta-data and data dissemination system of “collaborative experiment for integrated remote sensing of Heihe” was constructed to share the experiment data.