We use satellite, airborne and in situ data to study the Earth's land and ocean surfaces. The ocean focus is to understand the role of the ocean in the Earth's climate. We are researching new ways to compute surface currents from optical and radar imagery. Our land applications focus on the urban environment using both panchromatic and multi-spectral high-resolution satellite imagery to classify urban environments. We have focused on change detection to be able to map the changes that have taken place over time. A lot of this work is done together with DigitalGlobe of Longmont, CO. Together with Ball Aerospace we have developed a calibrated thermal infrared radiometer that has successfully flown on a medium class unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). We intend to use this instrument for more studies of sea ice changes in the Arctic. We are also working with Ball Aerospace on a differential absorption LIDAR for detecting methane leaks from natural gas pipelines and wellheads.
keywords
Earth satellite data and unmanned aero vehicles (UAVs) for remote sensing of ocean and land surfaces including urban environments, computation of ocean surface currents, vegetation changes and use of very high-resolution satellite images for classification of urban environments and evaluation of paved road surfaces; development of calibrated thermal infrared UAV radiometer for study of the changing Arctic
