Remote Sensing Best Paper Award for the Year 2015

As a follow-up to the Best Paper Award of 2014, recognizing the most outstanding papers in the area of remote sensing techniques, design and applications published in Remote Sensing, we are pleased to announce the Remote Sensing Best Paper Award for the year 2015. Nominations were selected by the Editor-in-Chief and selected Associate Editors from among all the papers published in the year 2011. Research papers and review papers were evaluated separately. We are pleased to announce that the following five papers have won the Remote Sensing Best Paper Award for the year 2015:

• Article Award:

  • 1^st Prize
    Hartmut Boesch, David Baker, Brian Connor, David Crisp and Charles Miller
    Global Characterization of CO2 Column Retrievals from Shortwave-Infrared Satellite Observations of the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 Mission
    Remote Sens. 2011, 3(2), 270-304; doi:10.3390/rs3020270
    Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/3/2/270
  • 2^nd Prize
    Curtis Edson and Michael G. Wing
    Airborne Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) for Individual Tree Stem Location, Height, and Biomass Measurements
    Remote Sens. 2011, 3(11), 2494-2528; doi:10.3390/rs3112494
    Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/3/11/2494
  • 3^rd Prize
    Andrea S. Laliberte, Mark A. Goforth, Caitriana M. Steele and Albert Rango
    Multispectral Remote Sensing from Unmanned Aircraft: Image Processing Workflows and Applications for Rangeland Environments
    Remote Sens. 2011, 3(11), 2529-2551; doi:10.3390/rs3112529
    Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/3/11/2529
• Review Award:

  • 1^st Prize
    Claudia Kuenzer, Andrea Bluemel, Steffen Gebhardt, Tuan Vo Quoc and Stefan Dech
    Remote Sensing of Mangrove Ecosystems: A Review
    Remote Sens. 2011, 3(5), 878-928; doi:10.3390/rs3050878
    Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/3/5/878
  • 2^nd Prize
    Thomas Blaschke, Geoffrey J. Hay, Qihao Weng and Bernd Resch
    Collective Sensing: Integrating Geospatial Technologies to Understand Urban Systems—An Overview
    Remote Sens. 2011, 3(8), 1743-1776; doi:10.3390/rs3081743
    Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/3/8/1743

This paper written by Boesch, H., et al., [1], was in preparation for NASA’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO) satellites. OCO satellites are used to measure atmospheric carbon. Unfortunately OCO-1 failed during the launch in 2009. But, OCO-2 had a successful launch in 2014 and Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) announced the public release of L-1B data starting December 30, 2014. Consequently, this paper is timely. The paper presented and discussed the atmospheric carbon dioxide measurements from satellites (simulated), their uncertainties, and provided a set of methods and algorithms.

As is well known, LiDAR data is becoming increasingly important for measuring tree height, its characteristics, leading to biomass and carbon assessments. This paper, Edson, C., et al., [2], provided a detailed approach and methods of doing so using airborne LiDAR. Andrea S. Laliberte and her co-authors presented a thorough paper on a multispectral remote sensing study of rangeland characteristics [3].

Review papers ought to be thorough. They should touch upon the state-of-art knowledge and advancements, discuss methods and approaches adopted, and establish knowledge gaps. A good review paper also has a sufficient number of tables and figures on which further discussions can be based. The two review papers, by Kuenzer, C., et al. on mangroves [4] and Blaschke, T., et al. on urban systems [5], are excellent examples of this.

We believe these five exceptional papers represent valuable contributions to Remote Sensing and the scientific literature. On behalf of the Prize Awarding Committee and the Editorial Board of Remote Sensing, we would like to congratulate these five teams for their excellent work. In recognition of their accomplishment, Dr. Hartmut Boesch, Dr. Michael G. Wing and Dr. Andrea S. Laliberte will be awarded prizes of 600 CHF, 400 CHF and 200 CHF, respectively, and the privilege of publishing an additional paper of their choice free of charge in open access format in Remote Sensing, after the usual peer-review procedure. Dr. Claudia Kuenzer and Dr. Thomas Blaschke will also be awarded the same privilege of publishing a research paper free of charge in Remote Sensing.

Prize Awarding Committee

Editor-in-Chief

Prof. Dr. Prasad S. Thenkabail

Research Geographer 15, United States Geological Survey (USGS), 2255, N. Gemini Dr., Flagstaff, AZ 86001, USA

E-Mail: [email protected]

Associate Editor

Dr. Richard Gloaguen

Remote Sensing Group, Helmholtz Institute Freiberg, TU Bergakademie Freiberg, Bernhard von-Cotta Str., 2, D-09599 Freiberg, Germany

E-Mail: [email protected]

Associate Editor

Prof. Dr. Alfredo R. Huete

Plant Functional Biology and Climate Change Cluster, School of Environment, University of Technology Sydney, 15 Broadway Road, Ultimo, NSW 2007, Australia

E-Mail: [email protected]

Associate Editor

Prof. Dr. Randolph H. Wynne

Department of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation, Virginia Tech, Cheatham Hall, RM 319, 310 West Campus Dr, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA

E-Mail: [email protected]