In mid-July, members of the Fire & Ice remote sensing team got the chance to play
host to Dar Roberts, a Professor in the Department of Geography at the University
of California, Santa Barbara. Roberts has been working with hyperspectral remote sensing
since 1984 and is a renowned expert in the field, as well as one of four members of
Fire & Ice’s External Advisory Council.
During his weeklong visit Roberts got to meet with remote sensing researchers and
accompany them on visits to various field sites around Fairbanks. The purpose of the
week’s fieldwork was to use a portable PSR+ spectroradiometer to collect spectral
data on a variety of boreal trees and shrubs, as well as materials like leaf litter,
dry needles, tree bark, and branches. The data will be used to assist in mapping boreal
vegetation from airborne hyperspectral data; in simulating hyperspectral data from
multispectral data; and in creating a spectral library of boreal vegetation.
Field sites that Dar and the researchers visited included the UAF North Campus, Caribou-Poker
Creeks Research Watershed; Bonanza Creek Experimental Forest and Creamer’s Field Migratory
Waterfowl Refuge. They also had the opportunity to inspect the Cessna 185 that researcher
Martin Stuefer flies to collect aerial hyperspectral data.
(l to r) Visiting scholar Dar Roberts, technician Chris Smith and faculty Santosh
Panda work with a PSR+ spectroradiometer at Bonanza Creek Experimental Forest. Photo
by Naomi Hutchquist/Alaska EPSCoR
Members of the Fire & Ice remote sensing team gather data on the boardwalk at Bonanza
Creek Experimental Forest. Left to right are technician Chris Smith, visiting scholar
Dar Roberts, PhD student Anushree Badola and faculty Santosh Panda. Photo by Naomi
Hutchquist/Alaska EPSCoR
PhD student Anushree Badola takes a reading with the PSR+ spectroradiometer at Bonanza
Creek Experimental Forest as (l to r) visiting scholar Dar Roberts, technician Chris
Smith and faculty Santosh Panda look on. Photo by Naomi Hutchquist/Alaska EPSCoR
Visiting scholar Dar Roberts and PhD student Anushree Badola take readings with the
PSR+ spectroradiometer at Bonanza Creek Experimental Forest. Photo by Naomi Hutchquist/Alaska
EPSCoR
Members of the Fire & Ice remote sensing team inspect Martin Stuefer’s Cessna 185,
which is used to gather aerial HySpex data, at a hangar in South Fairbanks. Left to
right are visting scholar Dar Roberts, faculty Santosh Panda, postdoc Chris Waigl,
technician Chris Smith, PhD student Anushree Badola, and Stuefer. Photo by Tom Moran/Alaska
EPSCoR
Members of the Fire & Ice remote sensing team gather data at Bonanza Creek Experimental
Forest. Left to right are postdoc Chris Waigl, technician Chris Smith, faculty Santosh
Panda, PhD student Anushree Badola and visiting scholar Dar Roberts. Photo by Naomi
Hutchquist/Alaska EPSCoR
