A workshop will be held bringing together the recent work on this topic. A particular feature of the workshop will be to bring together private software companies and scientific researchers. A video podcast of the day will be produced and distributed.
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Research Interests
My principal research interest is the remote sensing of terrestrial ecosystems and the monitoring of environmental change. I investigate ecosystem processes and, in particular, the response of vegetation to external forces via a remotely-sensed signal. Examples include radiative forcing as a result of climate change which may be measured through phenological metrics and/or GPP monitored from satellite platforms. Initially this focused on the use of radiation acquired at middle infrared wavelengths (i.e., 3.0-5.0μm), a neglected but extremely useful source of information about the Earth’s surface and more recently using the Envisat MERIS (Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer) Terrestrial Chlorophyll Index (MTCI). I am currently a Principal Investigator on the JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) GOSAT (Greenhouse gases Observing SATellite) Programme evaluating drawdown of CO2 through the coupling of MERIS and GOSAT datasets.
Other areas of interest include hazard monitoring, damage mapping and disaster mitigation. There is an additional focus on exploiting cutting-edge technology for ecological and archeological applications, such as full waveform lidar and hyperspectral imaging (co-investigator on EPSRC (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council) /AHRC (Arts and Humanities Research Council) DART (Detection of Archaeological Residues using remote sensing Techniques) Project). Much of my work has also been on developing methods for deriving land cover classifications and species distributions through the use of informatics in assessing changes in ecological systems through space and time. I also have specific interests in tropical ecology, investigating gap size frequencies in the Peruvian rainforests and biodiversity in Borneo.
Recent Esteem Activities
• ForestSAT 2010 scientific committee.
• Steering Committee Member for NERC Airborne Research & Survey Facility (2009-2012)
• Steering Committee Member on NERC funded Innovative Technologies for Terrestrial Earth Observation (2010-2013)
• External Examiner for MSc in Environmental Remote Sensing (Dundee) and PhDs at Kings College, London, University of Lancaster and University of Leicester.
Recent Publications
BOYD, D.S., ALMOND, S., DASH, J. AND CURRAN, P.J., 2012. Phenology of Vegetation in Southern England from Envisat MERIS Terrestrial Chlorophyll Index (MTCI) data. International Journal of Remote Sensing, 35.
BOYD DS AND FOODY GM, 2011. An overview of recent remote sensing and GIS based research in ecological informatics. Ecological Informatics, 6, 25-36.
HILL, R.A., BOYD, D.S. and HOPKINSON, C., 2011. Relationship between canopy height and Landsat ETM+ response in lowland Amazonian Rainforest. Remote Sensing Letters, 2(3), 203 — 212.
BOYD DS, 2009. Remote sensing in physical geography: a twenty-first-century perspective. Progress in Physical Geography, 33(4), 451-456.
Professor of Environmental Remote Sensing, University of Salford
Telephone: +44 (0)161 295 4038
Email
f.m.danson@salford.ac.uk
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Teaching
Programme Leader MSc Applied GIS and Remote Sensing
• Environmental Mapping (L2)
• Introduction to GIS and Remote Sensing (L2)
• Environmental Remote Sensing (L3)
• Remote Sensing and GIS (UniGIS level M)
• 5 modules on MSc Applied GIS and Remote Sensing
Research Interests
Remote sensing of vegetation biophysical properties with an emphasis on forests, rangeland and agricultural crops. Current research being undertaken by Prof. Danson aims to develop new techniques for modelling the reflectance of vegetation canopies and in related work, the spatial modelling of landscape change in relation to disease epidemiology. He is currently involved in funded research programmes working in China, Kazakhstan and in Europe.
Research Institute Membership
Centre for Environmental Systems Research:
Research Institute for the Built and Human Environment (BuHu)
Research Grants
2005-2006: EU Alfa, ICONE network grant with South America (Impact of Climate Of Natural and agricultural Ecosystems) £21,000
2000-2005: National Institutes of Health (USA), Ecology of Infectious Diseases, co-investigator with Prof P.S. Craig, University of Salford Bioscience Research institute, $1,400,333.
2001-2004: European Union, SPREAD Forest Fire Spread and Mitigation, £45,000
2001-2004: European Union, EchinoRisk, European control of Echinococcus multilocularis, £22,000
2001-2004: British Council, Research exchange with Greek National Institute for Agriculture (NAGREF), New methods for remote sensing of crop yield, £6,100
2002-2004: European Union, INTAS Programme, Monitoring and control of Echinococcus in central Asia, £8,000
2004-2007: European Union, INTAS Programme, Spatial modeling of Echinococcus in central Asia, £5,000
Research Student Supervision
Current
V. Bandagula, ORSAS Award, Integrating lidar and hyperspectral optical data for vegetation monitoring. Start date October 2008.
T. Al-Mustafa, Remote sensing fuel moisture content for fire danger estimation. Start date July 2007.
A. Ramirez, Graduate Teaching Assistant, Terrestrial laser scanning vegetation phenology. Start date October 2007.
Y. Ogunbadewa, PhD student funded by Nigerian government, Medium resolution satellite data for monitoring UK vegetation phenology. Start date 1 April 2004.
Past
N.A. Higgins, NERC ATSR-2 Special Topic Studentships Ph.D studentship. A coupled BRDF-scene model for understanding ATSR-2 data. PhD awarded July 1998.
Y.Y. Aldakheel, Ph.D funded by Government of Saudi Arabia. Remote sensing of crop water stress. PhD awarded February 1999.
C.A. Rowland, NERC Earth Observation Science Initiative Ph.D studentship. Estimating forest biophysical properties by reflectance model inversion. PhD awarded December 2001.
P. Bowyer, School of Environment and Life Sciences Demonstrator Ph.D. Studentship. Modelling spatial and temporal change in the spectral properties of semi-arid rangelands. PhD awarded July 2005.
D. Pleydell, TIES Ph.D.Studentship. Remote sensing and spatial modelling for understanding disease transmission in rural China. PhD Awarded July 2005.
C. Marston, Landscape change and disease transmission in central Asia. PhD awarded December 2008.
Professional Activities
• Member of Natural Enviornment Research Council Peer Review College
• Chair of Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Field Spectroscopy Facility Steering Committee (2004-2007)
• Member of Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Dundee Satellite Station SteeringCommittee (1996-01)
• UK representative and Vice Chair of EU Cooperative Action in Science and Technology (COST) 734, Climate Variability Impacts on Agriculture (2006-)
• UK representative for EU Cooperative Action in Science and Technology (COST) 718, Meteorological applications for Agriculture (1998-2004)
• External examiner for BSc/BA Geography, University of Leicester, 2004-2008
• External examiner for PhD: Cambridge (1994), Reading (1996), Swansea (1997), Southampton(1998), King’s College London (2000), Cambridge (2000), Nottingham (1993, 2001, 2004), Edinburgh (2001), Manchester (2006) MRes: Edinburgh (1997) .