Previous EORS Lab Research
Water Quality Monitoring and Management in California’s Water Systems
Water quality if a critical component of global freshwater security. However, existing monitoring data are scarce, have poor geographic and temporal coverage, and are often not standardized, which all impede informed water resource planning and management. It is widely recognized that remote sensing may be valuable to improving water management. We are working to advance the capability of California water resource managers to operationally incorporate remote sensing into operational decision making for water quality and water supply.
Satellite remote sensing of water quality for water resource applications is often limited by spatial and spectral resolution. Airborne imaging spectroscopy can play a critical role in informed water resource management by providing water quality estimates that tend to be of higher quality for a larger suite of variables (such as phycocyanins-the diagnostic pigment of harmful cyanobacterial blooms or dissolved organic carbon) than satellite remote sensing. Imaging spectroscopy can also improve uncertainty estimates for satellite-based products, and can be used to reduce confounding factors by mapping submerged and floating vegetation.
Arctic Carbon Balance
High latitude wetlands hold vast amounts of carbon due to their cold and wet soils serving as an important sink in the global carbon cycle by removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. However, there is increasing uncertainty regarding how the carbon balance of Arctic wetlands will change with climate change. This research uses a combination of in situ data from micrometeorological flux towers and satellite remote sensing data from the Landsat series to study the underlying processes driving variations in carbon dioxide fluxes from these ecosystems. Various meteorological and ecological variables are considered in this analysis.
Monitoring Extended Drought
Extended drought can have major impacts on terrestrial vegetation across plant types. Meanwhile, the likelihood of extended drought is increasing in many regions due to climate change. Julia LaFond is attempting to create an index to measure the severity of drought impacts based on multivariate statistical analysis. The project relies on remote sensing products such as land surface temperature and MODIS GPP in addition to data collected on-site, e.g. precipitation.
Algal Response to Hurricanes
Remote sensing of phytoplankton blooms as an effect of hurricane passages exploring activity with a focus in the Gulf of California during the 2015 El Nino. Currently working on research synthesis of previous research points concerning this phenomenon.
