An overview of the first International Satellite Land Surface Climatology Project (ISLSCP) Field Experiment (FIFE)

This paper reviews the history and scientific background leading up to FIFE, the experiment design, the scientific teams and equipment involved, and the actual execution of the experiment. The experiment was tasked with exploring techniques for utilizing satellite data to quantify important biophysical states and rates for model input. During the intensive field campaigns the fluxes of moisture, heat, carbon dioxide and radiation were measured with airborne and surface equipment in coordination with measurements of atmospheric and surface parameters and satellite overpasses.