The added value of MULTIPLY to the ORCHIDEE global land-surface model

The Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l’Environnement (LSCE) develops the ORCHIDEE global land-surface model. Observations from the MULTIPLY Platform are compared to the ORCHIDEE model and used to help improve climate change predictions.

Nina Raoult, post-doc researcher at LSCE, explains the ORCHIDEE model and the work that needs to be done, in more detail.

The ORCHIDEE land-surface model is developed at LSCE. This computer model simulates different terrestrial processes, such as plant photosynthesis and soil evaporation. The model is made up of different mathematical equations based on our physical understanding. However, since the world is very complex, it is impossible to accurately simulate every process. In addition, processes can occur at different scales, for example, modelling photosynthesis at the leaf-level is different to modelling the photosynthesis of a whole forest. Some processes may be missing from the model, or overly simplified. As such, the mathematical equations of the model may need to be changed, or new ones added. By comparing the model simulations to observations, we try to the change the equations so that the model reproduces what is observed. If the model is able to recreate current observations, it gives the model credibility for future climate simulations.

So, what options do you have to improve the model?

One of the part of the model we can change are the so called parameters. These can take a physical form, for instance the maximum leaf area per m2 called LAImax or temperature threshold for plant senescence, known as Tsense. Others are empirical factors. At LSCE, a data assimilation framework has been developed,  called ORCHIDAS. This takes the list of parameters we want to improve and process information, such as observations, as input. The framework then outputs the best possible values for these parameters such that the model is as close as possible (by a given metric) to the observations.

Could you show an example?

lai_figure

The plot shows the ORCHIDAS framework in action. The leaf area index (LAI) is one of the quantities modelled by ORCHIDEE. Running ORCHIDEE at a site in France (FR-Fon), the blue curve shows the simulated values of LAI. This model run is called the prior. Using the MULTIPLY platform, we are able to retrieve values of LAI. These are shown in black. These values are much lower than the ones currently simulated in the ORCHIDEE. Using ORCHIDAS, we can find a new set of parameters in use in ORCHIDEE which will then simulate the green line instead. This run is called posterior. These simulated values are more like the MULTIPLY values of LAI than the prior run, where the RMSE is used as a metric of similarity. The magnitude of the simulated peaks are reduced but the troughs remain unchanged. This is because FR_Fon is a deciduous forest. In the ORCHIDEE, deciduous forests are modelled to lose all their leaves in winter, hence LAI is going to zero. However, the MULTIPLY retrievals suggest that there are some leaves left in the winter months, most likely due to grasses in under canopy. This suggests that a fraction of grasses needs to be included when running this forest site in ORCHIDEE.

The table shows the parameters used in this experiment. The min and max values refer to the range the parameters were allowed to change in. The prior column contains the initial values and the post column contains the improved values.

Capture

So, given all this, what is the added value of MULTIPLY for your work?

The MULTIPLY framework combines a number of satellite retrievals and is able to provide observations in a more harmonized way. The MULTIPLY Platform also provides uncertainties with the observations. This helps to know if an observation is accurate or not. By working with the MULTIPLY Platform, we can help show how important this product can be in improving models that are used to predict climate change. Since the critical situation concerning climate change, valid models are important. Stakeholders use these models to create reports, for example the IPCC reports, on which policy makers base their decision.

The European Geosciences Union General Assembly 2019 from the MULTIPLY perspective by Gerardo Lopez-Saldana

The EGU General Assembly always is a great opportunity to both show your science and catch up with the latest scientific findings. EGU2019 was no exception. The MULTIPLY team was offered the opportunity to present various developments. I had the chance, on behalf of the Assimila and UCL-Geography teams, to present the use of MODIS and Sentinel-3 OLCI data to better characterise the land surface. What’s the result of combining MODIS and OLCI observations? The MOLCI.

The highlight of the week for me however, was the hands-on MULTIPLY experience session. The main goal of the almost 2 hour session was to demonstrate the MULTIPLY platform and provide some theoretical background about Radiative Transfer (RT) models  such as:

  • the JRC-TIP;
  • the integration of a priori knowledge when retrieving land surface parameters, e.g. Leaf Area Index (LAI); and ultimately,
  • how to combine observations and prior information in a Bayesian scheme.

Great lecture, really well done Joris!.

The hands-on started…… and the challenges started. When you have a reasonably good processing server, performing an atmospheric correction of one Sentinel-2 MSI image using the marvellous Sensor Invariant Atmospheric Correction (SIAC) approach developed by the UCL-Geography group, everything runs smoothly. When you have 10 simultaneous processes, performance starts to slows down. This brings an interesting question, namely: you, as a user of the platform, where do you want to run your processing? Where can you do it? Would you pay for it if needed? In MULTIPLY we will address this in the near future. However this is a common issue nowadays. There are multiple cloud-computing providers with access to Earth Observation data. Perhaps the most used one being the Google Earth Engine (GEE), where you do some actual processing. Nevertheless GEE’s web code editor uses Java Script to do the processing. We don’t want to develop a RT model in Java Script. You can use its Python Application Programme Interface (API) but then the computing power will be yours, not the GEEs. Hence, the GEE is a great tool to perform some tasks but not necessarily to perform atmospheric correction of Sentinel-2 data and retrieve biophysical parameters. At least not yet.

Then, we showed some more Jupyter Notebooks. The hardcore ones we used in the platform. They brought some more interesting questions such as: “can I use my own priors?” and “could it be possible to use a different RTM?”. Basically the answer is, “yes” and “yes”. We are trying to develop the platform being as flexible as possible. In the end, if you are a scientist who knows your area of study, it doesn’t matter if it’s a micro-basin in the middle of the Amazon or a set of agricultural fields in East England. You know the characteristics of the area, you have a broad expectation of what the outputs would be. In MULTIPLY we want to take advantage of this knowledge. Hence, it’d be possible to use your RTM model of preference, create some emulators so it can run super-fast (the scientific world will always be thankful for this Jose!) and use it within the Data Assimilation MULTIPLY inference engine, KaFKA. Obviously, it won’t be that straightforward as it sounds: you might need some help of the MULTIPLY team (in exchange of food or beer) but the point is: it is possible. Right now we have three different RTMs that take different inputs, from broadband albedo to narrow band reflectance and microwave backscatter. Additionally, if you know the inputs of the RTM, you can create your own priors. In the end a prior is only the probability distribution where you can express your belief about a specific quantity before any observations are taken into account.

d21d1a89-697c-468c-9a35-09efba64952eAfter two hours of lecture and Python and plots and logfiles and questions and answers, it was clear that the MULTIPLY project is facing a great challenge and providing some solutions. But we are still short as an Earth Observation scientific community to embrace the use of multi-sensor products, rather than relying on a per-sensor product and to use uncertainties along a whole processing chain, all the way from the sensor observations to biophysical parameters. Therefore our task within MULTIPLY is to widen even more our scope to show, particularly early-career scientists that, this approach can make the most of all available observations and provide an uncertainty, a sense of how good the retrieval is. Once again EGU2019 was great but the best part was the chance to interact with scientists, looking to make a difference using Earth Observation data. And of course, the MULTIPLY Platform will be there to help them.

Behind the Platform

About thirty researchers from nine different institutes are involved in the development of the Earth Observation platform MULTIPLY. Each partner focuses on a different aspect, and combining these into one functioning platform is a challenge according to software engineer Tonio Fincke from Brockmann Consult.

“We have various parts within MULTIPLY like the different pre-processing steps, the inference engine, the prior engine, and the post-processing applications. I focus on putting all these parts together in a common platform where they can work together and are provided with the data that is needed,” Fincke explains. To achieve this, he works closely together with the partners and is available for their questions.

The developers of MULTIPLY use various forms of communication to work together on the software. In addition to email, skype and monthly telephone conferences, the software development platform GitHub is used. “On Github, we have issue trackers, project boards and there is a wiki with common rules for the developers. In the past, we also had coding workshops with different developers.”

“The challenge in bringing the different software parts together is that software can be a black box. You must give the software the correct type and form of data to let it function. It was nice that everyone was using the coding language Python, as this made it easier to integrate and construct a common code base. At the same time, it was also challenging, because there can be differences between packages that different people use, which can cause conflicts. So, we had to adapt some of the code to a common base as we wanted to avoid these conflicts,” says Fincke.

Next steps

“MULTIPLY is a very demanding project, it costs time and resources and combines many disciplines. But there is a good atmosphere within the partners which I enjoy, and we are meeting our goals,” Fincke says. He is looking forward to the next steps: “For our company, this is a very crucial phase as the Graphical User Interface is coming up.”

The next few months, Fincke will be working on improving the back-end, the code. “MULTIPLY is now available to test-users and in the background, we are still working on improving the platform, fixing bugs and integrating new features.” Fincke and his colleagues will also develop the front-end, the user interface of the platform. With this, it will be easier to configure and to define for users what they are interested in. “You should be able to use MULTIPLY without a specific background but there should also be the possibility to adjust the platform by submitting your own data, prior information or certain models.”

MULTIPLY Github

MULTIPLY launched!

From the press release as published on the Website of Leiden University.

Leiden University launches Earth Observation platform

A new online platform makes it possible to estimate the state of agricultural crops and nature area’s around the world. This enables scientists and other users to consistently combine observations of different satellites for the first time.

The platform is called MULTIPLY and was launched in November by the Institute for Environmental Sciences (CML) of Leiden University. For 8 years, researchers from CML worked together with European partners to develop the platform.

Information of multiple satellites

The platform is unique because it combines the information of multiple satellites with varying resolutions and information, instead of using only one individual satellite. This enables MULTIPLY to generate breakthrough information on vegetation and soil moisture.

This data is crucial for different applications such as mapping evapotranspiration during droughts, monitoring declining trends of biodiversity, and quantifying ecosystem services.

Oil-palm plantations

Researchers of the CML have used the platform to quantify the impact of oil-palm plantations in Northern Borneo on biodiversity for the first time using earth observation data. The high resolution of the platform data enabled them to distinguish between the different land uses. The study confirmed a significantly lower biodiversity for the Northern Borneo oil palm plantations, indicating higher risks to ecosystem services.

Currently, the MULTIPLY platform has only been made available to scientists for the purpose of testing it on their own research. During this trial-period, these scientists can explore the benefits of the novel approach, but also provide feedback on how well the earth observation information matches ground measurements. Next to these studies, MULTIPLY will further expanded to even more satellites. Afterwards, the platform will be delivered to the European committee which will allow this service to be available to the general public.

Toulouse_France

City of Toulouse in Southern France with surrounding agricultural fields. Captured on 10 July 2017 by Sentinel-2 and processed by ESA.

Plants from Space

Collecting field data to measure plants from space

Climbing towers in Finland, the Netherlands, and recently in Ghana, PhD candidate Amie Corbin is crossing borders to collect essential data on vegetation for the MULTIPLY platform. For her research at the Institute of Environmental Sciences at Leiden University, she studies the ecologically important plant traits that can be measured from space.

In order to model data and create earth observation products with the MULTIPLY platform, prior knowledge on the vegetational variables is needed. Corbin collects this knowledge. “I focus on variables that can be both physically observed from space and are ecologically relevant. These variables can be indicators for vegetation health, like chlorophyll and leaf water content.”

Most measurements of plant traits that are currently available are from the peak moment of its growing season. Corbin tries to fill in the knowledge gaps. “By measuring traits of plants at different moments of the year I try to get a grip on year-round phenology,” Corbin explains. “This gives us a better understanding of whether some characteristics are trade-offs or if they are consistent throughout the year.”

Challenges in the field
Corbin collects measurements from three different types of vegetation: mixed forest in Finland, coniferous forest in the Netherlands and tropical forest in Ghana. “We try to discover how different characteristics from plants are related to each other and how this relationship changes over time, at different latitudes.”Sprectrometer 1

Using a field spectrometer, Corbin measures the reflectance of light. This is similar to how satellites measure reflected radiation from space. But the field measurements result in a higher resolution. “To measure the reflectance, one sensor was placed at the top and one at the bottom. The more plants there are, the less of the light that can be used for photosynthesis will make it to the ground level. Based on this difference we can measure the Leaf Area Index, the amount of leaf area,” Corbin explains.

Tower 1Collecting the measurements and samples was challenging. “The observation tower that we had to climb to take the samples and collect measurements was quite high, around 30 meters. I was a bit scared to climb the tower and enter the platform at the top, which was quite small,” Corbin admits. Fortunately, she was accompanied by a local guide and an expert tree climber who helped her out. “Our hosts in Ghana from the Forestry Research Institute of Ghana were great.”

Tower 2

The fieldwork was done every two weeks at the same location. “Because the sampling is destructive, and two weeks is enough to let the plants live,” Corbin explains. “Also, it is a lot of samples to process each time.”

 

Convenient collaborations
A big challenge Corbin encounters during her research is the clouds. Because clouds influence her imagery. “As a person who does not like the heat I am glad when a cloud shows up but as a scientist I really need them to be gone,” says Corbin. Fortunately for her, there are other researchers in the MULTIPLY team who atmospherically correct the images.

Corbin is enthusiastic about the collaborations within the MULTIPLY project and the platform that is being built. “I like that we collaborate not only with other universities but also with big companies. This is really helpful in creating an easy to use platform for remote sensing imagery.”

Review Meeting at Tartu Observatory

At certain points during a Horizon 2020 Research & Innovation Action, the project consortium meets for a review meeting. Together with the project officer of the European Commission and with an external reviewer they review the progress of the project. For the MULTIPLY project, on the 28th and 29th of Augustus, one of these review meetings took place at the Tartu Observatory in Estonia.

“It was a really nice and constructive meeting where we could present the current state of the project to the reviewers,” says Dr. Lea Hallik, team member of MULTIPLY and researcher at the University of Tartu. “As we are now finalizing the tests of the beta version of the platform, they were happy with our progress.”

Different types of users
“An interesting discussion was about how the platform should be accessible for two types of users. On the one hand, the more technical programmer that wants to create and improve products using satellite data. On the other hand, the earth observations consultants who are less technical and want to access only the end products. This is challenging and something we will have to work on during the next months.”

There was also time for some social activities like a nice tour along the visitor center and the space technology laboratory. “The location was great. It is in a beautiful green setting, 20 kilometers away from the city Tartu and its light pollution.”

MULTIPLY consortium members at the Tartu Observatory

MULTIPLY consortium members at the Tartu Observatory

From local to global
Hallik and her colleagues from Tartu University, study what kind of plant traits can be measured with satellites. Therefore, she collected data in the field on traits of both evergreen and deciduous trees during the past two summers. With this knowledge, she can validate the measurements from satellites. “I like that we, as a small research group, can contribute with local field measurements to such a big project.”

“In Estonia, we have six towers where you can reach the highest leaves of the trees. There we sample and measure leaf traits like reflectance, transmittance, pigment content, dry mass area, and water content. Because natural vegetation is very complex, especially in a forest, with multiple species and different vegetational layers, satellite data can also be challenging,” Hallik explains. “It is important to understand these time series of forest leaves because an important aim of MULTIPLY is to create time series and make seasonal changes visible.”

July10_Jarvselja1medium

Samling at Järvselja forest, Estonia

May14_Jarvselja2medium (1)

Observation tower at Järvselja forest, Estonia

May14_Jarvselja5medium (1)

Fieldwork at Järvselja forest, Estonia

Fieldwork in Ghana

Amie Corbin is a PhD student at img_20180607_094410Leiden University who develops vegetation priors for the platform. From June to Augustus she will be in the Kogyae Strict Nature Reserve in Ghana to collect data. You can follow her adventures through her website.

img_20180626_144106

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Night of Arts & Science

Team members from Leiden University participated in the “Night of Arts & Science”, on the 16th of September in Leiden. Together with other staff members from the CML, Joris Timmermans, Leon Hauser, and Amie Corbin created “Viewing Beyond”. Using remote sensing technology in several interactive exhibits, they opened the visitors their eyes and let them view beyond the capabilities of the human eye.

Team member Esther Philips: ‘Considering that for most people remote sensing is probably quite unknown, we agreed that it would be really interesting to bring this emerging technology to the masses.’

Using cardboard VR glasses, people could experience how animals see the world. With their left eye, they saw as a human and with their right eye as another animal species, like a bee, a shark, or an eagle. The visitors explored a world that is usually hidden from human eyes.21587253_1489282267822441_7866941079516472688_o

With a living experiment, visitors observed how remote sensing technology works. Using spectrometers, the reflected light from different types of plants was measured and broadcasted live on a screen. The visitors learned how different plants and different conditions, like varying moisture content or a nitrogen deficiency, yield different outputs.

To discover the various possibilities of remote sensing research, some examples were shown in a slideshow on a screen. For example, how thermal imagery was used to map hurricane Irma and night observations are used to monitor the world light pollution. This last subject was further explained in the final part of the experience.

To make people aware of light pollution, people could see the light pollution on a special nighttime globe. Also, visitors could ‘join the dark side’ and contribute to citizen science projects on light pollution. One of these was created for the festival. Visitors could download a lux meter app and search for the darkest spot in the botanical gardens. By handing in their data they could win a price.

NKK 4

With Viewing Beyond visitors viewed the world beyond their eyes and shared and discussed their experiences and views on research with scientists. This expanded the knowledge of both the visitors as the participating scientists, hopefully leading to a brighter future with darker nights.

In the news: https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/news/2017/09/traveling-into-space-and-back-again

Fieldcampaigns Land Cover and Soil Types

A comprehensive field campaign is conducted by the Ludwig-Maximilians-UniversitP1000160ät München (LMU) to collect in situ information for the validation of satellite-based retrievals of land surface parameters. These measurements will be used within MULTIPLY to validate the retrieval results of the MULTIPLY platform.
“Our campaign will last for the entire vegetation period in 2017 and collects data from a variety of different land cover types and different soil conditions”, says MULTIPLY team member Prof.dr. Alexander Loew.

P1000148

During the LMU campaign essential characteristics of vegetation and plant conditions are collected, like e.g. information about vegetation biomass and water content as well as the soil moisture content. In addition, ground-based measurements of the surface radiation fluxes and spectral properties of the plants are collected. The LMU team goes into the field on a regular basis during COPERNICUS SENTINEL satellite overpasses.

Messung_2

‘Crop Intelligence System’

ADAS, Assimila and UCL are using the thinking from MULTIPLY to develop the concept of a ‘Crop Intelligence System’ that could provide information to growers on crop growth and performance. The team won an Innovate UK feasibility study under the Satellites for Agri-Food programme. The project started in July 2016 and runs for twelve months. It aims to examine both the technical and commercial feasibility of generating ‘canopy curves’ on a field by field basis for all fields within a region, or country, allowing comparisons of crop performance between fields, farms, years, soils and management practices.

By integrating with soil and weather datasets it should be possible to provide a dashboard for crop growth. Giving information on light and water resources available and captured in each field. This would be an invaluable tool in the Yield Enhancement Network (YEN) which seeks to understand variation in crop yields in the UK and across Europe. The MULTIPLY and Crop Intelligence System projects have been presented to farmers and industry participants at YEN meetings in November 2016 and spring 2017.

ADAS-picture