Abstract. The Soil Canopy Observation of Photosynthesis and Energy fluxes (SCOPE) model aims at linking satellite observations in the visible, infrared, and thermal domains with land surface processes in a physically based manner, and quantifying the microclimate in vegetation canopies. It simulates radiative transfer in the soil, leaves, and vegetation canopies, as well as photosynthesis and non-radiative heat dissipation through convection and mechanical turbulence. Since the first publication 12 years ago, SCOPE has been applied in remote sensing studies of solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF), energy balance fluxes, gross primary production (GPP), and directional thermal signals. Here, we present a thoroughly revised version, SCOPE 2.0, which features a number of new elements: (1) it enables the definition of layers consisting of leaves with different properties, thus enabling the simulation of vegetation with an understorey or with a vertical gradient in leaf chlorophyll concentration; (2) it enables the simulation of soil reflectance; (3) it includes the simulation of leaf and canopy reflectance changes induced by the xanthophyll cycle; and (4) the computation speed has been reduced by 90 % compared to earlier versions due to a fundamental optimization of the model. These new features improve the capability of the model to represent complex canopies and to explore the response of remote sensing signals to vegetation physiology. The improvements in computational efficiency make it possible to use SCOPE 2.0 routinely for the simulation of satellite data and land surface fluxes. It also strengthens the operability for the numerical retrieval of land surface products from satellite or airborne data.
Sentinel-3 satellite has provided simultaneous observations in the optical (visible, near infrared (NIR), shortwave infrared (SWIR)) and thermal infrared (TIR) domains since 2016, with a revisit time of 1–2 days. The high temporal resolution and spectral coverage make the data of this mission attractive for vegetation monitoring. This study explores the possibilities of using the Soil Canopy Observation, Photochemistry and Energy fluxes (SCOPE) model together with Sentinel-3 to exploit the two sensors onboard of Sentinel-3 (the ocean and land color instrument (OLCI) and sea and land surface temperature radiometer (SLSTR)) in synergy. Sobol’ variance based global sensitivity analysis (GSA) of top of atmosphere (TOA) radiance produced with a coupled SCOPE-6S model was conducted for optical bands of OLCI and SLSTR, while another GSA of SCOPE was conducted for the land surface temperature (LST) product of SLSTR. The results show that in addition to ESA level-2 Sentinel-3 products, SCOPE is able to retrieve leaf area index (LAI), leaf chlorophyll content (Cab), leaf water content (Cw), leaf senescent material (Cs), leaf inclination distribution (LAD). Leaf dry matter content (Cdm) and soil brightness, despite being important, were not confidently retrieved in some cases. GSA of LST in TIR domain showed that plant biochemical parameters—maximum carboxylation rate (Vcmax) and stomata conductance-photosynthesis slope (Ball-Berry m)—can be constrained if prior information on near-surface weather conditions is available. We conclude that the combination of optical and thermal domains facilitates the constraint of the land surface energy balance using SCOPE.
Abstract. The Soil Canopy Observation of Photosynthesis and Energy fluxes (SCOPE) model aims at linking satellite observations in the visible, infrared and thermal domains with land surface processes in a physically based manner, and quantifying the micro-climate in the canopy. It simulates radiative transfer in the soil, leaves and vegetation canopies, as well as photosynthesis and non-radiative heat dissipation through convection and mechanical turbulence. Since the first publication 11 years ago, SCOPE has been applied in remote sensing studies of solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF), energy balance fluxes, gross primary productivity (GPP) and directional thermal signals. Here we present a thoroughly revised version, SCOPE 2.0, which features a number of new elements: (1) It enables the definition of layers consisting of leaves with different properties, thus enabling the simulation of vegetation with an understory or with a vertical gradient in leaf chlorophyll concentration; (2) It enables the simulation of soil reflectance; (3) It includes the simulation of leaf and canopy reflectance changes induced by the xanthophyll cycle; and (4) The computation speed has been reduced by 90 % compared to earlier versions due to a fundamental optimization of the model. These new features improve the capability of the model to represent complex canopies and to explore the response of remote sensing signals to vegetation physiology. The improvements in the computational efficiency make it possible to use SCOPE 2.0 routinely for the simulation of satellite data and land surface fluxes. It also strengthens the operability for the numerical retrieval of land surface products from satellite or airborne data.
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