10 years of RAMI: Overview, Achievements and Outlook

Abstract

In 1999 the RAdiative transfer Model Intercomparison (RAMI) activity was launched by the European Commission¿s DG Joint Research Centre (http://rami-benchmark.jrc.ec.europa.eu/) in an effort to formalise and extend earlier evaluation attempts of canopy radiative transfer (RT) models. These physically-based modeling tools simulate the transfer of radiation at or near the Earth¿s surface, i.e., in plant canopies and over soil surfaces, and are increasingly used in the quantitative interpretation of remotely sensed data sets. The accuracy and reliability of RT models thus has a direct impact on the quality of the surface products they help retrieving ¿ in this case, for example, LAI, FAPAR, and albedo ¿ and therefore also on the quality of outcomes generated by downstream applications that assimilate or ingest these products.