Аннотация:The first interaction between the USSR and USA scientists in the field of satellite monitoring and modeling of biological and geophysical processes came in 1987 when the decision was made in the USSR to participate in the International Satellite Land Surface Climatology Project (ISLSCP) studies, and NASA representatives were invited to a special Workshop on this subject. The USSR Center for International Projects (CIP) acting under the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) auspice was the main organizer of that meeting. The Earth Science Joint Working Group (ESJWG) was established in 1988 between NASA and the USSR Academy of Sciences in accordance with the Intergovernmental Agreement on space applications for peaceful purposes. The major part of the activity within the ESJWG was concerned with satellite land surface climatology and dynamics of the biosphere. The result of these first steps of joint activities was an invitation of USA representatives to visit in June 1988 the Kursk Biospheric Station (KBS) of the USSR Academy of Sciences to see the sites near the KBS, where an International Experiment mainly between East European countries was starting in 1988. The next stage of the collaborative work was an invitation from NASA Administration for the USSR representatives to take part in the First ISLSCP Field Experiment (FIFE) workshop (November 1988) and after that in the FIFE-89 field campaign with their own ground and helicopter instruments. The Kursk-91 Experiment (KUREX-91) is considered as a follow-on of the FIFE-89 for the steppe region in Russia. In July 1991 scientists representing NASA and several USA Universities participated with scientists from Russia and other countries in an integrated measurement program.
This Special Issue of Remote Sensing Reviews is devoted to selected research results from the joint studies based on the KUREX-91 measurements. The major results of the studies were discussed by Russian and American scientists at the workshop in Moscow State University on July 27-31, 1992. First interdisciplinary studies were outlined there, too. The studies are under way using the data sets acquired in the KUREX-91 campaign. These data include the relevant acquisitions obtained from satellite, aircraft/helicopter, and ground-based instruments.