Figure 1.Demonstration of (a) feature-level fusion and (b) decision-level fusion.2.2. Definition of Meta-feature and Trans-functionAs mentioned above, Ri can be considered a quantitative estimation of the test pattern’s characters using the i-th sensor. Intuitively, it is believed that different sensors probably give different measurements due to the factors of sensor type, position, sensitivity, etc. But it is worth noting that they are describing the same test pattern after all. So there must be some kind of inherent relationship among them. Here we call R0 Meta-feature (MF) which is defined as the intrinsic and natural expression of the test pattern’s characters, which is probably a priori in most situations.

Suppose there is a functional relationship Ti between R0 and Ri, i.e., Ri=Ti(R0).

Then we define Ti as the Transfunction (TF) from R0 to Ri, ?i [1,M]. Specially, if Ri is the same as R0, then the TF is invariant, i.e., Ri=Ti(R0) = R0.The concepts of MF and TF are the theoretical basis of applying classifier ensemble methods in multi-sensor systems. Unfortunately, in many situations, the concept of MF and TF may be hard to substantialize and understand, so they are of less use for calculation than theoretical deducti
Evapotranspiration (��E, soil evaporation and vegetation transpiration) from the land surface is an important link between the surface energy balance and the hydrologic cycle. Its accurate characterization is therefore very important in the study of the terrestrial ecosystem, climate dynamics and hydrologic cycle.

At present, estimate of regional evapotranspiration has been made possible by using the remote sensing observations in combination with the surface Carfilzomib meteorological data. In the past years, several remote sensing methods were developed to simulate surface-atmosphere interactions and to retrieve the terrestrial evapotranspiration over a wide range of spatial scales [1].By treating the soil-vegetation system as a single uniform leaf, the big-leaf model simplified Dacomitinib the mechanism of the energy exchange between the surface and the atmosphere, and therefore the regional scale evapotranspiration simulation is made.

This category of models is simple and convenient to use, but the limitation is that this big-leaf approximation in the model is not applicable to surfaces with highly spatial heterogeneity due to large differences of surface energy exchange between soil and vegetation, such as in arid or semi-arid areas. Therefore, a two-layer model is proposed and the surface available energy is partitioned between soil and vegetation to overcome the limitation of the big-leaf model.