Foreword to the special issue on hyperspectral image and signal processing

International audienceALMOST A DECADE after the milestone special issue of the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON GEOSCIENCE AND REMOTE SENSING (TGRS) dedicated to the analysis of hyperspectral image data, edited by Prof. Landgrebe, Prof. Serpico, Prof. Crawford, and Prof. Singhroy [1], it is a great pleasure to introduce this new special issue on hyperspectral image and signal processing. In the intervening years, interest in hyperspectral sensing has increased dramatically, as evidenced by advances in sensing technology and planning for future hyperspectral missions, increased availability of hyperspectral data from airborne and space-based platforms, and development of methods for analyzing data and new applications. The proposal for this special issue was also related to the launch of a series of specialized workshops on hyperspectral sensing that had technical sponsorship of the IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society. The firstWorkshop on Hyperspectral Image and Signal Processing--Evolution in Remote Sensing (WHISPERS) was held in Grenoble, France, in 2009, with 200 attendees from 33 countries. The second was hosted in Reykjavik, Iceland, in 2010 and featured a commercial exhibition of sensors and data products, as well as an outstanding technical program. The third WHISPERS workshop is scheduled for June 2011 in Lisbon, Portugal, and will be followed by venues in Asia in 2012 and America in 2013. Following the inaugural 2009 workshop and the open call for papers, an impressive number of submissions (66) were received for this special issue, which contains 24 papers. A few of the submissions will be published in the following regular issues of TGRS, after the final reviews and revisions are completed