Prof. Massimo Menenti is a State Specially Recruited Expert of China, a member of the DBAR Science Committee and has been full professor (chair) of Optical and Laser Remote Sensing at the Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands. M.Menenti is an internationally renowned scientist in the fields of earth observation and global terrestrial water cycle. He held senior research and management positions in The Netherlands, France, USA, China and Italy and has coordinated many large European projects with participants from Europe, Asia, America and Africa. His best known achievements in remote sensing science have been attained in multiple aspects of surface properties retrievals, particularly the land surface energy balance and evapotranspiration, time series analysis of remote sensing observations and application of remote sensing technology in hydrology and climate models. Prof. Menenti initiated the use of RS to assess and monitor crop water requirements and irrigation performance in the late ‘80s confirmed by the numerous publications in the field. He is one of the earliest researchers in using laser radar technology to measure surface aerodynamic roughness. He initiated the use of time series analysis techniques to extract information from satellite data. He presented the surface energy balance index (SEBI) theory for ET estimation, which is the prototype of the following S-SEBI, SEBS and SEBAL models. During his tenure at the State Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing Science he is expanding his research and training several students in the area of cryospheric processes, with a focus on linking glacier mass and energy balance with glacier flow.