Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Characterization Of Turbidity In Florida’S Lake Okeechobee And Caloosahatchee And St. Lucie Estuaries Using Modis-Aqua Measurements, Menghua Wang, Carl J. Nim, Seunghyun Son, Wei Shi

United States Department of Commerce: Staff Publications

This paper describes the use of ocean color remote sensing data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) onboard the Aqua satellite to characterize turbidity in Lake Okeechobee and its primary drainage basins, the Caloosahatchee and St. Lucie estuaries from 2002 to 2010. Drainage modification and agricultural development in southern Florida transport sediments and nutrients from watershed agricultural areas to Lake Okeechobee. As a result of development around Lake Okeechobee and the estuaries that are connected to Lake Okeechobee, estuarine conditions have also been adversely impacted, resulting in salinity and nutrient fluctuations. The measurement of water turbidity in lacustrine and …

Holocene House Hunting: An Application Of Satellite Image Analysis Towards Locating Prehistoric Archeological Sites In Alaska's Brooks Range, Joseph Keeney

Undergraduate Honors Theses

In this study, satellite image analysis was applied to archeological sites at Lake Matcharak in the Brooks Range of Alaska. The Goal was to test whether or not satellite remote sensing, which has been successful in locating large-size archeological features, could be applied to small-size prehistoric features found in Arctic Alaska. Using 1-m resolution IKONOS and 30-m resolution ASTER DEM data, vegetation indices (NDVI and tasseled cap) and slope were generated and stacked into one image. Supervised and unsupervised classifications were then applied to the resulting image to look for spectral/slope characteristics that were unique to known site locations at …

Infrasound As Upper Atmospheric Monitor, Jelle Daniel Assink

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Understanding and specification of the higher altitudes of the atmosphere with global coverage over all local times is hampered by the challenges of obtaining direct measurements in the upper atmosphere. Methods to measure the properties of the atmosphere above the stratopause is an active area of scientific research. In this thesis, we revisit the use of infrasound as a passive remote sensing technique for the upper atmosphere. Signals from the Tungurahua volcano in Ecuador are used to investigate the behavior of the upper atmosphere. Depending on the atmospheric conditions, stratospheric, mesospheric and thermospheric arrivals are observed during intervals of explosive …

Spatial And Temporal Variability Of Remotely Sensed Ocean Color Parameters In Coral Reef Regions, Daniel Brooks Otis

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The variability of water-column absorption due to colored dissolved organic matter (CDOM) and phytoplankton in coral reef regions is the focus of this study. Hydrographic and CDOM absorption measurements made on the Bahamas Banks and in Exuma Sound during the spring of 1999 and 2000 showed that values of salinity and CDOM absorption at 440nm were higher on the banks (37.18 psu, 0.06 m^-1), compared to Exuma Sound (37.04 psu, 0.03 m^-1). Spatial patterns of CDOM absorption in Exuma Sound revealed that plumes of CDOM-rich water flow into Exuma Sound from the surrounding banks. To examine absorption variability in reef …

Remote Sensing Of Cloud Properties Using Oxygen A-Band Spectral Measurements, Siwei Li

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Clouds play an important role in the climate system through their radiative effects and their vital link in the hydrological cycle. Detailed knowledge of the three dimensional (3-D) distribution of cloud macrophysical and microphysical properties is crucial to properly characterize radiative forcing by clouds and to quantify the response of the climate. In this study, a multi-layer cloud detection algorithm is developed by utilizing photon path length distributions retrieved from oxygen A-band spectral measurements. Case studies from measurements at the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Southern Great Plains (SGP) site demonstrate that this photon path length method can detect multi-layer clouds …

Iterative Atmospheric Correction Scheme And The Polarization Color Of Alpine Snow, Matteo Ottaviani, Brian Cairns, Rich Ferrare, Raymond Rogers

United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration: Publications

Characterization of the Earth’s surface is crucial to remote sensing, both to map geomorphological features and because subtracting this signal is essential during retrievals of the atmospheric constituents located between the surface and the sensor. Current operational algorithms model the surface total reflectance through a weighted linear combination of a few geometry-dependent kernels, each devised to describe a particular scattering mechanism. The information content of these measurements is overwhelmed by that of instruments with polarization capabilities: proposed models in this case are based on the Fresnel reflectance of an isotropic distribution of facets. Because of its remarkable lack of spectral …

State Of The Art Satellite And Airborne Marine Oil Spill Remote Sensing: Application To The Bp Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, Ira Leifer, William J. Lehr, Debra Simecek-Beatty, Eliza Bradley, Roger Clark, Philip Dennison, Yongxiang Hu, Scott Matheson, Cathleen E. Jones, Benjamin Holt, Molly Reif, Dar A. Roberts, Jan Svejkovsky, Gregg Swayze, Jennifer Wozencraft

United States Department of Commerce: Staff Publications

The vast and persistent Deepwater Horizon (DWH) spill challenged response capabilities, which required accurate, quantitative oil assessment at synoptic and operational scales. Although experienced observers are a spill response's mainstay, few trained observers and confounding factors including weather, oil emulsification, and scene illumination geometry present challenges. DWH spill and impact monitoring was aided by extensive airborne and spaceborne passive and active remote sensing.

Oil slick thickness and oil-to-water emulsion ratios are key spill response parameters for containment/cleanup and were derived quantitatively for thick (>0.1 mm) slicks from AVIRIS (Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer) data using a spectral library approach based …

Arctic Cloud Macrophysical Characteristics From Cloudsat And Calipso, Yinghui Liu, Jeffrey R. Key, Steven A. Ackerman, Gerald G. Mace, Qiuqing Zhang

United States Department of Commerce: Staff Publications

The lidar and radar profiling capabilities of the CloudSat and Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder (CALIPSO) satellites provide opportunities to improve the characterization of cloud properties. An Arctic cloud climatology based on their observations may be fundamentally different from earlier Arctic cloud climatologies based on passive satellite observations, which have limited contrast between the cloud and underlying surface. Specifically, the Radar–Lidar Geometrical Profile product (RL-GEOPROF) provides cloud vertical profiles from the combination of active lidar and radar. Based on this data product for the period July 2006 to March 2011, this paper presents a new cloud macrophysical property characteristic analysis …

Sparse Coding For Hyperspectral Images Using Random Dictionary And Soft Thresholding, Ender Oguslu, Khan Iftekharuddin, Jiang Li, Mark Allen Neifeld (Ed.), Amit Ashok (Ed.)

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

Many techniques have been recently developed for classification of hyperspectral images (HSI) including support vector machines (SVMs), neural networks and graph-based methods. To achieve good performances for the classification, a good feature representation of the HSI is essential. A great deal of feature extraction algorithms have been developed such as principal component analysis (PCA) and independent component analysis (ICA). Sparse coding has recently shown state-of-the-art performances in many applications including image classification. In this paper, we present a feature extraction method for HSI data motivated by a recently developed sparse coding based image representation technique. Sparse coding consists of a …

Antarctic Surface Melting Dynamics: Enhanced Perspectives From Radar Scatterometer Data, L. D. Trusel, K. E. Frey, S. B. Das

Geography

Antarctic ice sheet surface melting can regionally influence ice shelf stability, mass balance, and glacier dynamics, in addition to modulating near-surface physical and chemical properties over wide areas. Here, we investigate variability in surface melting from 1999 to 2009 using radar backscatter time series from the SeaWinds scatterometer aboard the QuikSCAT satellite. These daily, continent-wide observations are explored in concert with in situ meteorological records to validate a threshold-based melt detection method. Radar backscatter decreases during melting are significantly correlated with in situ positive degree-days as well as meltwater production determined from energy balance modeling at Neumayer Station, East Antarctica. …

Observation Of Sulfate Aerosols And So₂ From The Sarychev Volcanic Eruption Using Data From The Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment (Ace), D. Doeringer, A. Eldering, C. D. Boone, G. González Abad, P. F. Bernath

Chemistry & Biochemistry Faculty Publications

[1] Infrared spectra measured by the Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment Fourier Transform Spectrometer (ACE-FTS) on the SCISAT satellite were used to analyze the Sarychev volcanic aerosol after the eruption in June 2009. Evidence of the Sarychev eruptions was first detected in July 2009 from enhanced SO₂ concentrations and atmospheric extinction. By February 2010, the atmosphere had returned to pre-Sarychev conditions. In July 2009, the volcanic plume was found between 8.5 km and 17.5 km in altitude at mid- and high latitudes (55°N–70°N). The first SO₂ and sulfate aerosol retrievals carried out using the infrared solar occultation spectra recorded with …

Process-Evaluation Of Tropospheric Humidity Simulated By General Circulation Models Using Water Vapor Isotopic Observations: 2. Using Isotopic Diagnostics To Understand The Mid And Upper Tropospheric Moist Bias In The Tropics And Subtropics, Camille Risi, David Noone, John Worden, Christian Frankenberg, Gabriele Stiller, Michael Kiefer, Bernd Funke, Kaley Walker, Peter Bernath, Matthias Schneider, Sandrine Bony, Jeonghoon Lee, Derek Brown, Christophe Sturm

Chemistry & Biochemistry Faculty Publications

Evaluating the representation of processes controlling tropical and subtropical tropospheric relative humidity (RH) in atmospheric general circulation models (GCMs) is crucial to assess the credibility of predicted climate changes. GCMs have long exhibited a moist bias in the tropical and subtropical mid and upper troposphere, which could be due to the mis-representation of cloud processes or of the large-scale circulation, or to excessive diffusion during water vapor transport. The goal of this study is to use observations of the water vapor isotopic ratio to understand the cause of this bias. We compare the three-dimensional distribution of the water vapor isotopic …

Polarimetric Retrievals Of Surface And Cirrus Clouds Properties In The Region Affected By The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, Matteo Ottaviani, Brian Cairns, Jacek Chowdhary, Bastiaan Van Diedenhoven, Kirk Knobelspiesse, Chris Hostetler, Rich Ferrare, Sharon Burton, John Hair, Michael D. Obland, Raymond Rogers

United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration: Publications

In 2010, the Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) Research Scanning Polarimeter (RSP) performed several aerial surveys over the region affected by the oil spill caused by the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon offshore platform. The instrument was deployed on the NASA Langley B200 aircraft together with the High Spectral Resolution Lidar (HSRL), which provides information on the distribution of the aerosol layers beneath the aircraft, including an accurate estimate of aerosol optical depth.

This work illustrates the merits of polarization measurements in detecting variations of ocean surface properties linked to the presence of an oil slick. In particular, we …

A Remote Sensing Approach To Characterize The Hydrogeology Of Mountainous Areas: Application To The Quito Aquifer System (Qas), Ecuador, Miriam Rios-Sanchez

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

Climate change, intensive use, and population growth are threatening the availability of water resources. New sources of water, better knowledge of existing ones, and improved water management strategies are of paramount importance. Ground water is often considered as primary water source due to its advantages in terms of quantity, spatial distribution, and natural quality. Remote sensing techniques afford scientists a unique opportunity to characterize landscapes in order to assess groundwater resources, particularly in tectonically influenced areas. Aquifers in volcanic basins are considered the most productive aquifers in Latin America. Although topography is considered the primary driving force for groundwater flows …

Digital Holographic Measurement Of Nanometric Optical Excitation On Soft Matter By Optical Pressure And Photothermal Interactions, David C. Clark

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation we use digital holographic quantitative phase microscopy to observe and measure phase-only structures due to induced photothermal interactions and nanoscopic structures produced by photomechanical interactions. Our use of the angular spectrum method combined with off-axis digital holography allows for the successful hologram acquisition and processing necessary to view these phenomena with nanometric and, in many cases, subnanometric precision. We show through applications that this has significance in metrology of bulk fluid and interfacial properties.

Our accurate quantitative phase mapping of the optically induced thermal lens in media leads to improved measurement of the absorption coefficient over existing …

Landscape Controls On The Timing Of Spring, Autumn, And Growing Season Length In Mid-Atlantic Forests, Andrew J. Elmore, Steven M. Guinn, Burke J. Minsley, Andrew Richardson

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

The timing of spring leaf development, trajectories of summer leaf area, and the timing of autumn senescence have profound impacts to the water, carbon, and energy balance of ecosystems, and are likely influenced by global climate change. Limited field-based and remote-sensing observations have suggested complex spatial patterns related to geographic features that influence climate. However, much of this variability occurs at spatial scales that inhibit a detailed understanding of even the dominant drivers. Recognizing these limitations, we used nonlinear inverse modeling of medium-resolution remote sensing data, organized by day of year, to explore the influence of climate-related landscape factors on …

Landsat Remote Sensing Data As An Alternative Approach For Geological Mapping In Tanzania: A Case Study In The Rungwe Volcanic Province, South-Western Tanzania, E. E. Mshiu

Tanzania Journal of Science

Rungwe Volcanic Province (RVP) is mostly covered by extrusive rocks that overlain the Precambrian basement. The use of Landsat data in this area has revealed the need of effective use of these data in geological mapping programs in Tanzania. Landsat band ratios 5/1, 3/7, 5/7 and 5/4 as well as R: G: B composite images 7:4:1, 7:5:4, 1/3:5/7:3/5 and 4/5:6/7:4/6 played an important role in identifying different rock types in the study area. Ratio images managed clearly to distinguish between mafic and felsic rocks whereby two lithological blocks were identified, Block 1 covers a combination of intrusive and metamorphic rocks …

Testing The Limits Of Hyperspectral Airborne Remote Sensing By Mapping Eelgrass In Elkhorn Slough, Kelley J. Bostrom

Master's Theses

Seagrass ecosystems are a valuable resource, but vulnerable to changing conditions in the coastal ocean. Quantification of seagrass density and distribution from aerial imagery can be applied as a tool in resource management and ecosystem health and stability monitoring. This study investigates analytical methods for mapping eelgrass beds in an optically complex shallow, turbid estuary. Hyperspectral imagery (HSI) of Elkhorn Slough, CA was collected by the Spectroscopic Aerial Mapper with Onboard Navigation (SAMSON) instrument. In-situ data of water column and benthic optical properties and Hydrolight Radiative Transfer model were used to create a spectral library describing the reflectance of Elkhorn …

Quantifying Burned Area For North American Forests: Implications For Direct Reduction Of Carbon Stocks, Eric S. Kasischke, Tatiana Loboda, Louis Giglio, Nancy H. F. French, E. E. Hoy, Bernardus De Jong, David Riano

Michigan Tech Research Institute Publications

A synthesis was carried out to analyze information available to quantify fire activity and burned area across North America, including a comparison of different data sources and an assessment of how variations in burned area estimate impact carbon emissions from fires. Data sets maintained by fire management agencies provide the longest record of burned area information. Canada and Alaska have the most well developed data sets consisting of the perimeters of large fires (>200 ha) going back to 1959 and 1950, respectively. A similar data set back to 1980 exists for the Conterminous U.S., but contains data only from …

Assessing Flood Inundation Mapping With The Use Of A Dem And Gis Along The Missouri River At Sioux City, Iowa, Kathryn A. Pfaffle

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

There are various methods that are used to predict flood inundation. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers provided inundation maps for the 2011 Missouri River flood event that did not utilized aerial photo imagery. This study assesses the suitability of using a digital elevation model (DEM) in combination with aerial photo imagery within a geographic information system to predict flood inundation mapping along the Missouri River in Sioux City, Iowa. GPS data was collected during the height of this flood event in order to validate the positional accuracy of the DEM. Using the GPS receiver’s accuracy standards to determine the …

Effect Of Coarse Marine Aerosols On Stratocumulus Clouds, Yoav Lehahn, Ilan Koren, Orit Altaratz, Alexander Kostinski

Department of Physics Publications

In contrast to fine anthropogenic aerosols (radii ∼μm), large aerosol particles are thought to enhance cloud droplet growth, promote precipitation formation and reduce cloud albedo. While shown in cloud simulation models, the impact of coarse aerosols on marine stratocumulus clouds lacks observational evidence. Here, by combining data from AMSR‐E and MODIS, both aboard NASA's satellite Aqua, we link the amount of coarse marine aerosols emitted to the atmosphere through wind‐driven processes with the size of cloud droplets, at the world's largest deck of marine stratocumulus clouds over the southeastern Pacific. For constrained meteorological conditions, approximately 1/2 of the change in …

Relationships Between Snow Pack, Soil Moisture, And Forest Greenness: Implications For Smap, Jordan Anderson, Noah Molotch, Bin Guan

STAR Program Research Presentations

Snowpack in the arid/semi-arid western United States is a critical element of the hydrologic cycle as water is stored in the winter and released in the spring and summer. The warmer seasons rely heavily on this water source for various purposes including economic (farming), environmental and recreational demands. Moderate Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensors were used in this project to measure seasonal variability in global vegetation phenology and productivity. MODIS data was used to calculate Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) to estimate net primary production of subalpine forests in the Sierra Nevada mountain range. Preliminary results indicate that variability in forest …

Use Of Remote Sensing To Support Forest And Wetlands Policies In The Usa, Audrey L. Mayer, Ricardo D. Lopez

College of Forest Resources and Environmental Science Publications

The use of remote sensing for environmental policy development is now quite common and well-documented, as images from remote sensing platforms are often used to focus attention on emerging environmental issues and spur debate on potential policy solutions. However, its use in policy implementation and evaluation has not been examined in much detail. Here we examine the use of remote sensing to support the implementation and enforcement of policies regarding the conservation of forests and wetlands in the USA. Specifically, we focus on the “Roadless Rule” and “Travel Management Rules” as enforced by the US Department of Agriculture Forest Service …

Detecting Spatiotemporal Changes Of Corn Developmental Stages In The U.S. Corn Belt Using Modis Wdrvi Data, Toshihiro Sakamoto, Brian D. Wardlow, Anatoly A. Gitelson

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

The dates of crop developmental stages are important variables for many applications including assessment of the impact of abnormal weather on crop yield. Time-series 250-m vegetation-index (VI) data acquired from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) provide valuable information for monitoring the spatiotemporal changes of corn growth across large geographic areas. The goal of this study is to evaluate the performance of a new crop phenology detection method, namely, two-step filtering (TSF), for revealing the spatiotemporal pattern of specific corn developmental stages (early vegetative: V2.5; silking: R1; dent: R5; mature: R6) over an eight-year period (2001–2008) across Iowa, Illinois, and …

Slides: Arctic Ecosystem Services Measurement And Modeling Project, Eric Biltonen

Best Management Practices (BMPs): What? How? And Why? (May 26)

Presenter: Eric Biltonen, PhD, Environment Economist, Houston Advanced Research Center

8 slides

Evidence Of Atmospheric Gravity Waves During The 2008 Eruption Of Okmok Volcano From Seismic And Remote Sensing Observations, S. De Angelis, Stephen R. Mcnutt, P. W. Webley

School of Geosciences Faculty and Staff Publications

Okmok volcano erupted on July 12, 2008, following an 11-year hiatus. Detailed inspection of the syn-eruptive seismograms revealed the presence of an ultra long-period mode at a frequency of 1.7 mHz, which is not a characteristic of the background seismic noise at Okmok. Data collected by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) and National Aeronautical and Space Administration Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensors displayed the propagation of a vigorous ash-and-steam plume up to about 17 km above sea level. We suggest that the observed ultra long-period signals represent the response of the seismometer to …

High Dynamic Range Imaging For The Detection Of Motion., Jeffrey Robert Hay

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

High dynamic range imaging involves imaging at a bit depth higher than the typical 8-12 bits offered by standard video equipment. We propose a method of imaging a scene at high dynamic range, 14+ bits, to detect motion correlated with changes in the measured optical signal. Features within a scene, namely edges, can be tracked through a time sequence and produce a modulation in light levels associated with the edge moving across a region being sampled by the detector. The modulation in the signal is analyzed and a model is proposed that allows for an absolute measurement of the displacement …

Developing A Remote Sensing Algorithm For Deriving Soil Moisture From Spectral Reflectance, Santosh Rijal

Theses and Dissertations

Wet weather cycle since 1993 has brought ground water level closer to the surface of the soil in many areas in the Red River Valley (RRV) of the North basin. Many farmers have to delay spring plantation or autumn harvest due to excessive moisture in', their farmland. In such case, it becomes increasingly important to have timely and accurate information on the soil moisture conditions. Conventional soil moisture measurement techniques are point-based that results in poor spatial representation of soil moisture. Remote sensing techniques offer many potential advantages over traditional means such as repetitive coverage and areal representation. The objective …

Assessing Seasonal Features Of Tropical Forests Using Remote Sensing, Roberto Bonifaz-Alfonzo

Department of Geography: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Tropical forests are key components of the biogeochemical cycles, complex in structure, diversity and dynamics, also, tropical regions have been deforested and modified by human activities particularly for agriculture. Understanding the inter-annual and intra-annual variation dynamics of tropical regions could give valuable information on temporal characteristics of ecosystems behavior which is important for mapping and monitoring. This dissertation assesses seasonal and inter-annual changes in the tropical land cover that may be related to changes in the natural environment and/or human activities. Research was focused on the Mayan forest located in southern Mexico and Northwest Guatemala, one of the northern-most important …

Nir-Red Reflectance-Based Algorithms For Chlorophyll-A Estimation In Mesotrophic Inland And Coastal Waters: Lake Kinneret Case Study, Yosef Z. Yacobi, Wesley Moses, Semion Kaganovsky, Benayahu Sulimani, Bryan Leavitt, Anatoly A. Gitelson

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

A variety of models have been developed for estimating chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) concentration in turbid and productive waters. All are based on optical information in a few spectral bands in the red and near-infra-red regions of the electromagnetic spectrum. The wavelength locations in the models used were meticulously tuned to provide the highest sensitivity to the presence of Chl-a and minimal sensitivity to other constituents in water. But the caveat in these models is the need for recurrent parameterization and calibration due to changes in the biophysical characteristics of water based on the location and/or time of the year. In this …