Observations from Field to Space
Alaska’s Arctic and boreal regions, largely dominated by tundra and boreal forest, are witnessing unprecedented changes in response to climate warming. However, the intensity of feedbacks between the hydrosphere and vegetation change are not yet well quantified in the Arctic regions. This lends considerable uncertainty to predictions of how much, how fast, and where the Arctic and boreal hydrology and ecology will change. Also unknown is how vegetation change will impact water resources and climate dynamics in Arctic and boreal Alaska. With a very sparse network of observations (meteorological, flux towers, etc) in the Alaska Arctic and boreal regions, remote sensing is the only technology capable of providing the necessary quantitative measurement for surface water and vegetation monitoring from local to global scales in a feasible economic way. Over the last decades, the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) has become the research hub for high-latitude research. UAFs newly established Hyperspectral Imaging Laboratory (HyLab) currently provides field observations, acquisition and processing of multiplatform airborne and satellite multispectral and hyperspectral remote sensing as well as ecological modelling to help unravel seasonal and spatio-temporal variability in surface water and energy balances and vegetation biophysical properties from local to global scales Arctic and boreal regions.
Authors: Jordi Cristóbal, Marcel Buchhorn, Anupma Prakash, Patrick Graham
Spectral Evolution is a leading manufacturer of field-portable UV-Vis-NIR remote sensing spectroradiometers and spectrometers for applications including geological remote sensing, ground-truthing, spectral remote sensing, environmental and climate research, crop and soil research, vegetative studies, forestry and canopy studies, radiometric calibration transfer, upwelling and downwelling measurement and more. Our UV-Vis-NIR spectrometers and spectroradiometers provide the best combination of high resolution and high sensitivity resulting in the most precise field portable instruments available on the market.
Spectral Evolution UV-Vis-NIR spectroradiometers provide:
- Fast, full-spectrum UV-Vis-NIR measurements – 350-2500 nm with just one scan
- Superior reliability in the field with 100% diode array optics with no moving parts
- Wireless Bluetooth® Connection
- Lithium-ion rechargeable batteries for field use
- Lightweight and rugged
- Rugged handheld tablet for field use running DARWin™ LT on Windows 10 with digital camera, and GPS
- Field switchable optics for varying target sizes and measurement modes
All Spectral Evolution UV-Vis-NIR spectroradiometers include our exclusive DARWin™ SP Data Acquisition and Analysis software for one-touch, full range spectroscopic analysis of samples. DARWin™ SP automatically saves data as ASCII files for use with 3rd party software without post-processing.