Beyond the Visible – Imaging Spectroscopy for Forest Applications

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Welcome to the Online Course

‘Beyond the Visible – Imaging Spectroscopy for Forest Applications‘.

In this course, you will learn how to use imaging spectroscopy data for forest applications. No matter if you are a student or a professional or whatever continent you are from, this course was designed for you and we hope to provide some helpful background information, process understanding and applications that relate to your area of interest or expertise.

What will you learn?

This course will provide you with the fundamentals of imaging spectroscopy specifically for forest applications and gives you access to free data sources, open-source software and hands-on training exercises.

By the end of this course, you should have learned …

the benefits of imaging spectroscopy for forest applications
the physical and chemical factors controlling leaf and canopy reflectance in a forest context
which biophysical and biochemical variables can be retrieved from spectral information
some insights to campaign- and sampling design for forest applications
how reference data are acquired in a forest context
which laboratory measurements are undertaken for forest applications
where you can get imaging spectroscopy data from and what software you could use
which methods to apply in a forest context
and finally, how to analyze an imaging spectroscopy dataset yourself!

Check the course content here

The rising number of imaging spectrometers deployed on airborne platforms and the launch of space-borne imaging spectroscopy missions such as EnMAP, are accompanied by an increasing need for education and training activities with a focus on hyperspectral imagery – with the data becoming more and more available, you need to know how to best use it and benefit from its great potential. Learn from the experts and adopt the knowledge to your personal research interest(s). This course, which will teach some applications of imaging spectroscopy in a forest context, comprises three thematic lessons framed by a welcome and goodbye lesson. Check out the table of content below. If you prefer, you can use the offline version of the course in PDF format, which you will find under the tab ‘Materials’. To complete the course and get the certificate, however, you still need to answer the quizzes in the online version of the course.

Introduce yourself

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Course specifications

Workload

Choose your own learning pace. Depending on your existing knowledge, the course is designed to take you about 2 hours, respectively 3 to 4 hours if you participate actively in the hands-on training exercises.

Theoretical foundation and practical applications

In ‘Beyond the Visible – Imaging Spectroscopy for Forest Applications’ we’ll provide you with some (theoretical) background of forest reflectance including which properties or variables can be retrieved from hyperspectral imagery, followed by some methodological considerations – despite the theoretical nature, these lessons include plenty of opportunities for activity and interaction. In the final lesson, you will finally get a chance to participate in expert-led hands-on training exercises.

Prerequisite

We do assume that you have a basic understanding of imaging spectroscopy in order to really enjoy this course – to make sure we are on the same page, you will be asked to do a short quiz after the first lesson of the course – if you pass, feel free to continue, if you don’t score the required minimum then we suggest that you take the course “Beyond the visible – Introduction to hyperspectral remote sensing” first before starting this course.

Certification

You will receive a certificate of achievement for completing the course. You can also download a diploma supplement under the tab ‘Materials’, once you have completed the course.

Meet the Team

For this Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) we combined the expertise of various internationally renowned institutes with the support of experts in their respective fields.

This course was created by GFZ Potsdam together with EO College and various partner institutions.

Funded by

The development of the course was funded within the EnMAP science program under the German Space Agency at DLR with resources from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action.

Project partners

Production

Licensing

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0), except where noted otherwise.

Beyond the Visible – Imaging Spectroscopy for Forest Applications, MOOC, HYPERedu, EnMAP education initiative, Nov 2025, GFZ Potsdam / DLR Space Agency.

Once you have completed the course, you will find your course certificate and a diploma supplement here.