Foreword to the special issue on hyperspectral remote sensing: Theory, methods, and applications

In 2012, the Workshop on Hyperspectral Image and Signal Processing: Evolution in Remote Sensing (WHISPERS), sponsored by IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society, moved to Shanghai, China. There were 91 oral presentations and 31 posters. Three plenary speakers: Professor Qingxi Tong from Peking University, China, Professor Jean-Pierre Bibring from University of Paris, France, and Professor Susan Ustin from University of California, Davis, USA, introduced their cutting-edge research in this field. Following the success of this fourth WHISPERS edition, it is our great pleasure to introduce this special issue in order to present the most recent developments. A large number of submissions were received, and 29 papers have been accepted after rigorous review. A few of the submissions will be published in the following issues of JSTARS, after the final reviews and revisions are completed. In the remainder of this Foreword, we briefly introduce these 29 accepted papers, which cover several important topics. In particular, 9 of these 29 papers are related to hyperspectral remote sensing applications, which well fit the scope of the IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing (JSTARS).