Research Themes
The terrestrial biosphere is under increasing pressure as a result of climatic changes, human disturbance, and secondary effects of these, including fire and pathogen/insect outbreaks. In many regions, land surface changes may be occurring more rapidly than expected.
The ARTeMiS Lab is dedicated to the characterization of process feedbacks through the 3D environment in both space and time, and from plot- to continent-scale. The fusion of spectral and active remote sensing tools, in situ measurements, and long-term environmental monitoring of ecosystems provides process-based understanding at scales that are relevant for making decisions.
Headwater Hydro-climatology & Monitoring
Objective: Long-term monitoring of water, biomass and energy balance in Southern Alberta headwater basins
Our West Castle watershed and Waterton Parks partnerships build on earlier research in the Bow and Elbow River watersheds, and represent unique opportunities to improve our understanding of watershed dynamics by quantifying long-term climatic influences on water resources and vegetation change. Novel airborne and satellite remote sensing methods are integrated with in situ plots and automated monitoring arrays. We have real-time weather stations at valley floor and mountain ridge sites adjacent to our University field station and Castle Mountain Resort, as well as drone-based image times series to track vegetation growth and mortality. Topics of interest include snow depth modeling (left), seasonal and long term biomass tracking, wildfire impacts on headwater hydro-ecology.
Example articles:
-McCaffrey and Hopkinson. 2020. Repeat Oblique Photography Shows Terrain and Fire-Exposure Controls on Century-Scale Canopy Cover Change in the Alpine Treeline Ecotone. Remote Sensing (12) 10: 1569
-Barnes, Hopkinson, Porter, Xi. 2020. In-Situ LED-Based Observation of Snow Surface and Depth Transects. Sensors (20) 8: 2292
-Hopkinson, Collins, et al. 2012. Spatial snow depth assessment using lidar transect samples and Public GIS data layers in the Elbow Creek Watershed, Alberta. Canadian Water Resources Journal. 37(2):69-87.
Water Level and Wetland Mapping and Monitoring
Objective: Development of RADARSAT and LiDAR methods for mapping water levels and wetland hydroperiod in Alberta
The wetland and water level mapping program, in collaboration with scientists at the Government of Alberta and the Canada Centre for Remote Sensing, fuses province-wide remote sensing and hydrometric data for long-term monitoring of water levels and extents. This project builds on research in the Mackenzie Delta, NWT by previous masters student Neville Crasto. In the image (right), we see water surface and cloud mask extents extracted from RapidEye imagery east of Calgary. Specific projects have centred on Prairie pothole and boreal wetland landscapes across Alberta. Remotely monitoring surface water extent and level, has been of great interest since the Calgary/High River floods in 2013.
Example articles:
- Chasmer, Cobbaert, Mahoney, Millard, Peters, Devito, Brisco, Hopkinson, Merchant, Montgomery, Nelson, Niemann, 2020. Remote Sensing of Boreal Wetlands 1: Data Use for Policy and Management, Remote Sensing, (12) 8: 1320
- Montgomery, J., Brisco. B., Chasmer, L., Devito, K., Cobbeart, D., Hopkinson, C. 2019. SAR and Lidar temporal data fusion approaches to boreal wetland ecosystem monitoring, Remote Sensing (11) 2
- Brisco, B. Shelat, Murnaghan, Montgomery, Fuss, Hopkinson, Deschamps, Poncos, Evaluation of C-Band SAR for Identification of Flooded Vegetation in Emergency Response Products, 2019. Canadian Journal of Remote Sensing, Volume 45, Issue 1, 73-87
- Montgomery, Hopkinson, Brisco, Patterson, Rood.2018. Wetland hydroperiod classification in the western prairies using multitemporal synthetic aperture radar, Hydrological Processes, (32)10,
-Hopkinson, Crasto et al. 2011. Investigating the spatial distribution of water levels in the Mackenzie Delta using airborne lidar. Hydrological Processes. 25(19):2995-3011.
-Crasto, N. Hopkinson, C. Marsh, P. Forbes, D. Lesack, L. Spooner, I. 2015. A lidar-based decision tree classification of open-water in an Arctic Delta. 2015. Remote Sensing of Environment. 164: 90-102
ARTeMIS 3D Data Fusion and Sensor development
Objective: ARTeMiS system of above and below-ground 3D sensors
The ARTeMiS system (left) is a multi-instrument 3D mapping system of components purchased through a CFI grant. The system includes removable Optech Inc. (long-, short-range) ILRIS LiDAR systems, thermal cameras, ground penetrating radar (not shown), position orientation system, inertial measurement unit, and survey-grade GPS on a UTV. This coincides with continuing airborne LiDAR/digital air photo/thermal survey operations of the group in collaboration with Optech Inc. and Airborne Imaging, Calgary. ARTeMiS is used to scale 3D characteristics between plot, transect and ecosystems for monitoring and modelling of local environmental processes.
Example articles:
- Barnes, Hopkinson, Porter, Xi, 2020. In-Situ LED-Based Observation of Snow Surface and Depth Transects, Sensors, (20)8, 2292
- Xi, Hopkinson, Rood, Barnes, Xu, Pearce, Jones, 2019. A Lightweight Leddar Optical Fusion Scanning System (FSS) for Canopy Foliage Monitoring, Sensors, (19)18, 3943
-Hopkinson, C., Lovell, J., et al. 2013 Integrating terrestrial and airborne lidar to calibrate a 3D canopy model of effective leaf area index. Remote Sensing of Environment. 136:301-314.
-Hopkinson, Chasmer, Young-Pow, Treitz 2004. Assessing plot-level forest metrics with a ground-based scanning lidar. Canadian Journal of Forest Research. 34:573-583.
Mapping Change in Boreal Ecosystems
Objective: Mapping and monitoring of ecosystem change due to climate change and disturbance.
The Western Boreal forest of Canada has undergone significant warming and drying over the past 30 years (right). This research quantifies the influence of warming and drying trends on wetland succession, upland vegetation decline/biomass and changes to the water balance. We are also interested in the sensitivity of vegetation health to proximal human disturbance. This project is in collaboration with Dr. Rich Petrone (University of Waterloo) and Dr. Kevin Devito (University of Alberta) through the URSA project.
Recent articles:
- Chasmer, L., Devito, K., Hopkinson, C., Petrone, R. 2018. Remote sensing of ecosystem trajectories as a proxy‐indicator for watershed water balance, Ecohydrology, (11) 7, e1987
-Hopkinson, Chasmer, Barr, Kljun, Black, McCaughey. 2016. Monitoring boreal forest biomass and carbon storage change by integrating airborne laser scanning, biometry and eddy covariance data. Remote Sensing of Environment. 181, 82-95.
-Petrone, Chasmer, Hopkinson, et al. 2015. Effects of harvesting and drought on CO2 and H2O fluxes in an aspen-dominated western boreal plain forest: Early chronosequence recovery. Canadian Journal of Forest Research. 45(1):87-100.
-Chasmer, Kljun, Hopkinson, 2011. Characterizing vegetation structural and topographic characteristics sampled by eddy covariance within two mature aspen stands using lidar and a flux footprint model: Scaling to MODIS. Journal of Geophysical Research - Biogeosciences (invited). 116:G02026.
Northern Permafrost Thaw Mapping
Objective: Identify hot-spot areas of permafrost thaw and processes associated with change.
Through our research and collaboration with Dr. Bill Quinton at Wilfrid Laurier University, we have found a 27% decline in discontinuous permafrost area (illustrated by green LiDAR trees, left) since 1947 (left). Wetland development may propagate positive climate feedbacks through greenhouse gas emissions. Current research is focusing on down-wasting determined from multi-temporal airborne LiDAR data, thermal imagery, energy balance and radiative transfer modelling.
Recent articles:
- Chasmer, L. and Hopkinson, C, 2017. Threshold loss of discontinuous permafrost and landscape evolution, Global Change Biology, (23) 7, 2672-2686
-Chasmer, L., Hopkinson et al. 2014. A decision-tree classification for low-lying complex land cover types within the zone of discontinuous permafrost. Remote Sensing of Environment. 143:73-84.
-Chasmer, L., Kenward et al. 2012. CO2 exchanges within zones of rapid conversion from permafrost plateau to bog/ fen land cover types. Arctic, Antarctic Alpine Research. 44(4):399-411.
-Chasmer, Hopkinson, Quinton, 2011. Quantifying errors in permafrost plateau change from optical data, Northwest Territories, Canada: 1947 to 2008. Canadian Journal of Remote Sensing – CRSS Special Issue. 36(2):S211-S223.
-Chasmer, L., Quinton, et al. 2011. Vegetation canopy and radiation controls on permafrost plateau evolution within the discontinuous permafrost zone, Northwest Territories, Canada. Permafrost and Periglacial Processes. DOI: 10.1002/ppp.724.
Long-term Glacial Retreat
Objective: Long-term glacier retreat, energy balance and remote sensing for water resources assessment.
Warming of the Canada's western Cordilerra has had a significant influence on glacial retreat, affecting downstream flooding, landslides and water resources to cities like Calgary. Peyto Glacier shows downwasting of ~190 m over the past 65 years, determined from aerial photogrammetry (1949-1993) and airborne LiDAR (2000 to 2007, ongoing) (right). Thermal signatures of adjacent ice cored moraines indicate slumping over time, but also relatively large frozen water reserves often not included in hydrological models. This project is in collaboration with Dr. Michael Demuth, Canadian Geological Survey.
Example articles:
-Hopkinson, C., Demuth, M.N., Sitar, M. 2012. Hydrological implications of periglacial expansion in the Peyto Glacier catchment, Canadian Rockies. Remote Sensing and Hydrology 2010 (Proceedings of a symposium held at Jackson Hole, Wyoming, USA, September 2010) (IAHS Red Book 352).
-Hopkinson, C. Chasmer, Munro, Demuth, 2010. The influence of DEM resolution on simulated solar radiation-induced glacier melt. Hydrological Processes. 24:775-788.
-Hopkinson, C., Barlow, et al. 2010. Mapping changing temperature patterns over a glacial moraine using oblique thermal imagery and lidar. Canadian Journal of Remote Sensing. 36(2):257-265.
Biomass and Forest Attribute Modeling
Objective: Biomass research using terrestrial, airborne, and satellite LiDAR systems, eddy covariance and plot measurements
Various projects including:
1. Biomass change comparisons using LiDAR, eddy covariance and allometric plot measurements (Canadian Carbon Program; CSIRO Australia);
2. Multi-spectral airborne LiDAR data/methods development for quantifying species, leaf area index and biomass at Vivian Forest (Optech Inc., UQAM, and University of Edinburgh);
3. Mobile mapping LiDAR data analysis of forest structure and classification methods at Highfields Farm, Ontario (with Optech, Inc.).
The preliminary image (left) is a subset of three-band composite ms-LiDAR data over our long-term monitoring site, the Vivian Forest (Toronto, Ontario). Lighter green are deciduous, darker green conifer (with two of a number of mensuration plots). Mixed species and soil characteristics are noticeable. Thanks to Optech for developing such an awesome new LiDAR system!
Example articles:
- Xi, Hopkinson, Chasmer, Filtering Stems and Branches from Terrestrial Laser Scanning Point Clouds Using Deep 3-D Fully Convolutional Networks, Remote Sensing, (10)8, 1215
- Xi, Z. Hopkinson, C., Chasmer, L. 2016 Automating plot-level stem analysis from TLS, Forests, (7)11, 252
-van Gorsel et al. 2013. Primary and secondary effects of climate variability on net ecosystem carbon exchange in an evergreen Eucalyptus forest. Agric. Forest Meteorology. 182-183:248-256.
-Hopkinson, C., Chasmer, et al. 2013. Moving towards consistent ALS monitoring of forest attributes across Canada; the C-CLEAR approach. Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing. 79(2):159-173.
Propagation of LiDAR System Error
Objective: Quantification of errors in terrain attributes from LiDAR system components.
Long-term studies (from 2005) on the accuracy with which LiDAR estimates true elevation and reflected laser pulses within tree canopies. More recent work by former Ph.D. student, Dr. Tristan Goulden has concentrated on forward propagation of error through LiDAR system components, the effect of deflection of the vertical and datum impacts on glacier change detection and watershed attributes. Tristan is now the Airborne Program Leader with NEON in the US.
Example articles:
- Goulden, Hopkinson, Jamieson, Sterling. 2017. Sensitivity of DEM, slope, aspect and watershed attributes to LiDAR measurement uncertainty, Remote Sensing of the Environment, (179), 23-35
-Goulden, T., Hopkinson, Demuth, 2013. Sensitivity of alpine glacial change detection and mass balance to sampling and data inconsistencies. The Cryosphere Discussions. 7:55-101.
-Goulden and Hopkinson, 2010. The forward propagation of integrated system component errors within airborne lidar data. Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing. 76(5):598-601.
-Goulden and Hopkinson, 2010. The effect of the deflection of the vertical on lidar observations. Canadian Journal of Remote Sensing. 36(2):365-375.
Continental sampling of Canada's forests and wetlands
Objective: Monitoring Canadian ecosystem changes across scales
Whether as a field manager with Optech, during the latter part of his PhD studies, or as a Fellow at Queen's University, or a Research Scientist at the Applied Geomatics Research Group, or as prof at UofL, Chris has been flying lidar research missions across Canada since 2000 (or 1998 if you include the failed lidar snow transect sampling he and Mike Sitar attempted in the early days!). During this time, the airborne lidar technology has evolved from 5kHz single return systems (ALTM 1020) to almost 1MHz multi-spectral full waveform systems today (Titan). The basic attribute doesn't change, however; they all measure 3D structure of terrain and overlying biomass. While the data resolutions and specific data properties and capabilities have varied, it is the similarity of these basic structural elements (such as canopy height) that makes these data invaluable for decadal scale change detection in support of other satellite missions and to support a range of government natural resources and environmental inventory and monitoring objectives, as well as fundamental scientific questions concerning rates of change across a range of ecosystems in Canada. Building on this legacy of research-motivated data collections and partnerships, is a priority of the ARTeMiS laboratory. Image at left is an excerpt from our 2016 MS lidar mission plan. Teledyne Optech are acknowledged for their continuing support of the ARTeMiS (and formerly C-CLEAR) research program objectives.
Example articles:
- Amani, Mahdavi, Afshar, Brisco, Huang, Mirzadeh, White, Banks, Montgomery, Hopkinson. 2019. Canadian wetland inventory using google earth engine: The first map and preliminary results, Remote Sensing, (11)7, 842
- Mahoney, Hall, Hopkinson, Filiatrault, Beaudoin, Chen. 2018. A Forest Attribute Mapping Framework: A Pilot Study in a Northern Boreal Forest, Northwest Territories, Canada. Remote Sensing, (10) 9
- Mahoney, C., Hopkinson, C.,2017. Continental estimates of canopy gap fraction by active remote sensing. Remote Sensing. Canadian Journal of Remote Sensing, (43) 4
Multispectral Lidar Environmental Monitoring & Hazards
Objective: work with partners to develop MS lidar techniques to map, monitor and mitigate environmental degradation
Alberta’s economy is based on its ability to extract & move resources. Recently, Alberta has experienced natural & anthropogenic disasters. Airborne lidar is established for quantifying resource volumes & hazards. Multi-spectral lidar (MSL) is new & has undeveloped potential to map vegetation, complex floodplain bathymetry, wildfire severity, oil spill extent, etc. The Western Economic Diversification Canada (WEDC) MSL facility at the University of Lethbridge aims to develop environmental resource monitoring & hazard mitigation applications in collaboration with industry, academic and govt partners by expansinf the scope and current use of MSL technologies.
Example articles:
- Okhrimenko, M. and Hopkinson, C., 2019. A Simplified End-User Approach to Lidar Very Shallow Water Bathymetric Correction, IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters, (17)1, 3-7
-Okhrimenko and Hopkinson, 2019 Investigating the Consistency of Uncalibrated Multispectral Lidar Vegetation Indices at Different Altitudes, Remote Sensing, (11)13, 1531
- Chasmer, L., Hopkinson, C. Petrone, R. Sitar, 2017. Using multi-temporal and multi-spectral airborne lidar to assess depth of peat loss and correspondence with a new active normalized burn ratio for wildfires., Geophysical Research Letters, (44) 23, 11851-11859
-Hopkinson, Chasmer, Gynan, Mahoney, Sitar. 2016. Multi-sensor & multispectral lidar characterization of a forest environment. Can Jnl Rem Sensing. 10.1080/07038992.2016.1196584
Who We Are
Quantifying environmental change at scales relevant for making decisions
Professors, students, post-doctoral fellows and Research Associates within the ARTeMiS team
The ARTeMiS Lab is affiliated with the Department of Geography and Environment at the University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, Alberta Canada
Research and learning is highly multi-disciplinary, using state-of-the-art remote sensing technology and data streams, environmental monitoring equipment, and in situ field data collected across Canada and abroad. Students become actively involved in the technical aspects of terrestrial surveying, imaging, monitoring and data modelling. Research dissemination is strongly encouraged through conferences, workshops and academic articles.
Professor Chris Hopkinson
Lab Director
Research Chair in Ecosystems Remote Sensing
The ARTeMIS Lab was founded in 2013 by Dr. Chris Hopkinson, when he Joined the University of Lethbridge after working as an Environmental Research Scientist with CSIRO in Canberra, Australia. Prior to this, he directed the airborne LiDAR research operations and outreach activities of the Canadian Consortium for LiDAR Environmental Applications Research (C-CLEAR), while employed as a Research Scientist and Lecturer at the Applied Geomatics Research Group in Nova Scotia.
With a background in engineering and geography, Chris' earliest and still active research interests are water, wetland and forest resources and how they change through time. Chris is interested in the integration of in situ, high-resolution remote sensing, spatial and temporal data sources to better understand eco-hydrological dynamics in mountain environments to novel carbon assessment routines in boreal wetland and forest environments.
Email Chris! C.Hopkinson@uleth.ca
Check out Chris's University website or LinkedIn profile.
Recent and Existing Lab Members
Dr. Laura Chasmer
Associate Professor
Laura directs the research activities within the Peatland Remote Sensing Group (which partners with ARTeMiS on some projects). Prior to this, Laura held a prestigious Alberta Innovates Fellowship in the ARTeMiS Lab. Her interests are wildfire impacts on boreal region peatlands as well as greenhouse gas fluxes and landcover change within discontinuous permafrost ecosystems. Laura supports day to day research activities in the ARTeMiS Lab, as well as co-supervising some of the students. She teaches wetlands and resources management courses in the Department of Geography and Environment.
Email Laura! Laura.Chasmer@uleth.ca
Dr. Craig Mahoney
Adjunct Assistant Professor
Craig is a former NSERC Amethyst postdoctoral fellow in the ARTeMiS Lab before taking a Wetland Research Scientist Position with Alberta Environment and Parks. Craig's office is within the University of Lethbridge and he works with Lab members on testing and developing Oil Sands Monitoring procedures and policy.
Dr. Zhouxin Xi
Postdoctoral Fellow
Zhouxin's Ph.D. at the ARTeMiS Lab examined Terrestrial Laser Scanner (TLS) automation of 3D forest plot attributes for inventory, biomass and species extraction using machine and deep learning routines. Recently, he built a protype robotic LED / camera fusion 3D scanner for canopy foliage monitoring. As a postdoc in the Lab he is now workin on integrated vegetation monitoring routines using TLS, Airborne Laser Scanner (ALS) and Structure from Motion (SfM) to accurately and automtically scale vegetation plot attributes to landscape scale.
Joshua Montgomery, M.Sc.
Adjunct Research Associate
Josh completed his MSc thesis at the ARTeMiS Lab in 2017. His thesis topic was: "Temporal data fusion approaches to remote sensing-based wetland classification" and it used lidar, optical and radar data sources to map time series wetland attributes. Josh now works for Alberta Environment and Parks as a Wetland Scientist. Like Craig, he also works along side University of Lethbridge staff and students on Oil Sands Monitoring Research.
Celeste Barnes, M.Sc.
Ph.D. Student
For her Ph.D. Celeste is pioneering new snow monitoring and simulation procedures for use in remote mountain headwaters. She has already developed a new in situ telemetered LED-based snow depth profiling system. Her remaining thesis objectives are to develop an aerial lidar snow depth sampling and imputation framework, then to combine this with in situ LED and weather station data to produce an automated basin-wide snow water equivalent model to assist with Alberta's water resource and flood hazard forecasting.
Farnoosh Aslami
Ph.D. Student
With a background in natural resources engineering and remote sensing, Farnoosh's research interests are wetland resources and their temporal changes using LiDAR, RADAR and multispectral optical data. She is currently working on her Ph.D. thesis titled "The impact of changing hydro-climatic conditions on boreal wetland delta ecotones using time-series remote sensing data fusion". Her study areas are the Peace Athabasca Delta, Alberta and the Mackenzie Delta, NWT.
Linda Flade, M.Sc.
Ph.D Student
Co-supervised with Dr. Laura Chasmer, and with a Masters degree from Germany, Linda is examining biomass changes through time along wetland / forest ecotonal boundaries in the discontinuous permafrost landscapes of the Taiga Plains and Shield in the Canada's NWT. Her field work and lab analysis is stratified in time periods since wildfire disturbance.
See Linda's university profile here.
Camilla Gomes da Silva
Ph.D. Student
Camilla’s research focuses on developing a framework to improve C flux models and forest growth data products across Canada’s northern unmanaged forests, in order to promote policy recommendations that advance Canada's pioneering role in the adoption of Remote Sensing-based C reporting.
See Camilla's university profile here.
Travis Grant, M.Sc.
Ph.D Student
Travis' thesis is exploring post-wildfire snowpack dynamics and vegetation regeneration feedbacks in Waterton Lakes National Park using LiDAR remote sensing. With limited knowledge on hydrological response to wildfire in this area, his research aims to acquire a better understanding of how snowpack depth distribution changes as vegetation recovers post-wildfire and then to simulate these changes with runoff models.
Danika King
Masters Student
Danika is using multispectral LiDAR to map spatial variations of vegetation and biodiversity as well as identifying culturally significant sites within Piikani Nation, combined with establishing place-based biocultural indicators for improved adaptive management. She has investigated the Canadian Guardians program and is exploring ways to integrate remote sensing with field based monitoring and indigenous knowledge. Danika is cosupervised by Dr. Michelle Hogue.
Emily Jones
Masters Student
Co-supervised with Dr. Laura Chasmer, Emily is examining post-wildfire peatland forest and wetland ecotone regeneration properties in the boreal plains ecoregion of Alberta. She is using time series lidar and field data to examine rates of forest ecosystem succession and peatland depth of burn and density properties.
Jesse Aspinall
Masters Student
Co-supervised with Dr. Laura Chasmer, Jesse is examining post Kenow wildfire rates of standing dead tree biomass loss and new vegetation regrowth, to help with understanding of ecosystem recovery and carbon pools following severe wildfire in the Rocky Mountain headwaters of the Oldman River Basin.
David McCaffrey, M.Sc.
Recent Masters Student (2018)
Dave's these examined elevation-based tree line migration and foresct cover change in mountainous regions of southern and central Alberta using archived Mountain Legacy Project images and airborne LiDAR data. He was able to wuantify rates of increase and decrease in montane region forest cover and develop hypotheses about slope-based energy receipt impact on moistire availability.
Kelsey Cartwright, M.Sc.
Recent Masters Student (2019)
Kelsey developed new methods to map and monitor winter snow depth in the Kelsey used airborne lidar remote sensing datasets to examine the consistency in seasonal snowpack depth drivers across the West Castle watershed. She then demonstrated that given the systematic nature of certain drivers, snow depth for the entire watershed could be spatially imputed using a machine learning framework.
Maxim Ohkrimenko, M.Sc.
LiDAR Lab Manager
Maxim joined the lab in 2016 with a first degree in applied math and physics and after 12 years in the lidar data acquisition industry. He realized that point clouds were fun from a mathematical perspective, so pursued an M.Sc. thesis at the cutting edge of multispectral lidar radiometry and bathymetry research (graduated 2018). When the ARTeMiS Lab acquired its own multi-spectral lidar sensor, Maxim stayed on to Coordinate and Execute our Airborne missions, and continue with innovative multispectral lidar biomass modeling research. Maxim tells everyone that lidar points are his playground!
Thomas Porter
Field Research Associate
Thomas joined the ARTeMiS lab to lead our Remote Piloted Airborne Systems (RPAS) vegetation disturbance monitoring missions over the Castle and Waterton headwaters, as well as to assist with hydro-meteorological installations and maintenance. Thomas' work has supported the thesis aspirations of many other grad students.
Dustin Brooks
Research Associate
Dustin (right) came to the lab as a mature student with a wealth of experience in indigenous community consultation. He assisted Artemis lab members with our interactions with the Dehcho First Nations (Ft Simpson, NWT) and the Piikani First Nations (Brocket, Alberta) communities. The purpose of these interactions was to explore opportunities for integrating remote sensing observations with on-the-land traditional ecological knowledge and possible inclusion with future Guardians programs.
Summer Students (NSERC USRA / Chinook & others)
Undergraduate and graduate students are welcome to assist with and learn from Lab activities. Some past students and projects include:
Brendon Fuoco: Fusing time series hydrometric and remote sensing hydroperiod data to assess climate vulnerability of the Columbia wetlands
Holly Dalton: Fusing airborne and terrestrial laser scanning with RPAS structure from motion data to digitally preserve the 3D cultural heritage along the escarpment of Writing on Stone Provincial Park
Ike Allred: Meteorological instrumentation, programming and tower installation at West Castle, Alberta
Mark Derksen: LiDAR applications for snowpack monitoring in open terrain. Use of LiDAR data at West Castle to better understand changing snow pack distribution trends based on terrain morphology and scaling to the watershed
Pierre Dillon: Developing data fusion methods for classifying wetlands using structures within the environment and high resolution spectral imaging
Ethan Kutanzi: Impact of long-term climatic change on wetland change using hydro-meteorological data and remote sensing
Scott Lamb: Quantifying vegetation species distribution and type using high resolution multi-spectral imagery in the NWT
Alissia Paluck: Integrating airborne thermal infrared with LiDAR data to assess permafrost thaw in the NWT (right: geo-registered image of land surface temperature overlaid onto a LiDAR DEM hillshade model created by Alyssia)
David Tavernini: Exploring snowpack distribution processes in a mountain forest environment using lidar snowpack maps.
