Challenges and opportunities of multimodality and Data Fusion in Remote Sensing

Remote sensing is one of the most common ways to extract relevant information about the Earth through observations. Remote sensing acquisitions can be done by both active (SAR, LiDAR) and passive (optical and thermal range, multispectral and hyperspectral) devices. According to the sensor, diverse information of Earth´s surface can be obtained. These devices provide information about the structure (optical, SAR), elevation (LiDAR) and material content (multiand hyperspectral). Together they can provide information about land use (urban, climatic changes), natural disasters (floods, hurricanes, earthquakes), and potential exploitation (oil fields, minerals). In addition, images taken at different times can provide information about damages from floods, fires, seasonal changes etc. In this paper, we sketch the current opportunities and challenges related to the exploitation of multimodal data for Earth observation. This is done by leveraging the outcomes of the Data Fusion contests (organized by the IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society) which has been fostering the development of research and applications on this topic during the past decade.