Overview
In recent years, 3D radiative transfer modeling has gained increasing attention in areas such as land surface parameter retrieval, physical model development and validation, parameter sensitivity analysis and space mission preparation and Cal/Val activities. It is becoming a major and essential tool in quantitative remote sensing research and applications on vegetation and urban landscapes. DART and LESS are major 3D models in the remote sensing community. Prof. Jean-Philippe Gastellu-Etchegorry (CESBIO, Toulouse III University, France) initiated DART in 1992 and patented it in 2003. He co-leads present development with Assoc. Prof. Yingjie Wang and Dr Nicolas Lauret in a team of 10 scientists at CESBIO, in collaboration with Bonn University (Germany), Sfax Digital Research Center (Tunisia), Hong Kong Polytechnic University (China), and Catalunya Universitat Politècnica (Spain). LESS was established in 2019 by Assoc. Prof. Jianbo Qi from Beijing Normal University and State Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth, and he continues to lead its development. DART and LESS can simulate satellite, airborne, and ground observations (e.g., hyperspectral images and LiDAR signal) of natural and urban areas with topography and atmosphere, from the visible to thermal infrared domain. Each model has specificities. For example, DART is coupled with the MARMIT model (i.e., soil reflectance as a function of water content) and can simulate the 3D radiation budget, uncertainty propagation, polarization, atmospheric adjacency effects, images per type of scene element and light source, etc.
To further promote the development of 3D radiative transfer theory and applications,facilitate the use of 3D radiative transfer models by researchers,and foster inter-disciplinary integration,the State Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth will host the International Summer School on 3D Radiative Transfer modelling,focused on the LESS and DART models,July 22-25,2025. There is no registration fee. Participants are responsible for their transportation,meals,and accommodation expenses. Young researchers and graduate students are welcome to register and participate.
Organizers
State Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth
Faculty of Geographical Science,Beijing Normal University
Advanced Interdisciplinary Institute of Satellite Applications,Beijing Normal University
Young Scientists Committee of CNISDE
Tutorial organizations
Training Content and Format: expert lectures and live use of LESS (in Chinese) and DART (in English) by participants. The specific schedule is as follows:
1 Participants modify exercise WP0A . 2 R=Reflectance,and TB =brightness temperature.
Participants need to come with LESS and DART installed in laptops (at least 16GB memory). LESS download: https://lessrt.org. DART download (code,User Manual,and exercise WP0):apply first for a free DART license at https://dart.omp.eu.
Summer School Lecturers
LESS Model: Assoc. Prof. Qi Jianbo
DART Model: Prof. Jean-Philippe Gastellu-Etchegorry;Assoc. Prof. Wang Yingjie;Assoc. Prof. Cao Biao;
Assoc Prof. Tiangang Yin
Contact: Assoc. Prof. Qi Jianbo jianboqi@bnu.edu.cn
