## 5 Development of the EnMAP Science Plan
Controlled laboratory and field experiments will continue to provide important backup information for algorithmic optimization. * Natural ecosystems and ecosystem transitions: EnMAP specifically creates opportunities for monitoring spatially-heterogeneous landscapes and environmental gradients [61]. Through monitoring and analysis of complex natural ecosystem processes, it is possible to deepen the understanding of anthropogenic impacts and to contribute to global mitigation programs, such as the United Nation's Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) or the Convention on Biological Diversity. By offering global and multitemporal coverage at Landsat- and Sentinel-2-like spatial resolution, EnMAP will provide a powerful spectroscopy tool, which is valuable for detailed ecosystem characterization and answering complex ecological questions, such as monitoring natural vegetation and vegetation dynamics or understanding the spatial patterns of biodiversity and biotic communities [62, 63]. EnMAP has also a great potential for better understanding environmental gradients resulting from anthropogenic disturbances, such as the urban to rural land cover gradient. Research conducted in and around Berlin, Germany, using simulated EnMAP data has further improved the vegetation impervious soil framework in this context [64]. * Geology: The timely availability of raw materials is critical for manufacturing sectors. The demand for fast and spatially-extensive geological exploration is ever growing together with the necessity to monitor residual mining areas. EnMAP enables short-term geological exploration of minerals and metals and long-term mine waste monitoring using the EnGeMAP software [16, 65]. Sharp, distinctive absorptions of rare earth element oxides, such as neodymium oxide, partially modulated by broad iron absorptions, can be explored using high-pass and absorption feature techniques and semi-quantified to map local enrichment and its spatio-temporal distribution for mine waste monitoring. The full wavelength range of EnMAP is required for a spaceborne characterization of hydrothermal alteration zones and gossans using spectroscopic mapping of mineral distribution patterns to indicate copper-, gold-, silver- and iron-enriched ones through distinct absorption features of minerals that are characteristic for these deposit types. * Soil science: EnMAP offers new opportunities for retrieving accurate, up-to-date, quantitative soil information required for mapping the status of the world's soils and for monitoring soil degradation processes, such as erosion, loss of organic matter, contamination, salinization and compaction. Based on previous expertise in soil spectroscopy at the field and airborne scale, soil activities in the EnMAP preparatory program are focusing on: (i) development of algorithms for semi-quantitative soil mapping of key soil parameters (such as organic carbon, soil moisture, clay, carbonate and iron content) and extension of current methods for fully-quantitative soil mapping [17], including the development of the EnMAP Soil Mapper (EnSoMAP) processor; (ii) demonstration of the potential of imaging spectroscopy for fractional ground cover and soil degradation stages mapping at different spatial scales; and (iii) demonstration of the potential of the EnMAP satellite for digital soil mapping [66]. * Coastal and inland waters: Existing sensors and algorithms for water applications are designed mainly for open ocean waters. Coastal and inland waters are characterized by highly-complex constituent composition and need consequential complex optical analysis. Furthermore, the spatial resolution of current multiband sensors is not sufficient for smaller lakes or rivers. EnMAP opens new possibilities, whose potential for water quality assessment are studied in the EnMAP preparatory program.