Research Opportunities in

Terrestrial Ecology
Dar Roberts & David Miller

Outline
Setting the stage
Research ideas and examples
What you will be doing in the field

Sedgwick Ranch, Coal Oil Point

and the Santa Ynez

Climate
and
Orographic
Effects
Orographic
Enhancement

Precipitation (mm)

250
Goleta
San Marcos Pass

200

Santa Ynez Valley

150

Rain Shadow

100
50

Dec

Nov

Oct

Sept

Aug

July

June

May

Apr

Mar

Feb

Jan

Month

Classic Mediterranean climate

Warm wet winters, dry summers
Highly variable

Geographic variability
Strong orographic enhancement
Pronounced Rain Shadow
Very high local variability
4

Source: http://education.usgs.gov/california/resources.html#climate

The Players
Grey Pine

Blue Oak

Native and Introduced

Grasslands
Coastal Sage Scrub

Hard Chaparral
Coastal Plains

Welcome to the CCLI Tower Network

Site: Sedgwick, Airstrip

Invasive Grassland
Slightly different species mix
Interior site

Location
34.69685N, 120.0484 W
770368 Easting, 3843392 Northing
(zone 10)

Elevation: 381 m
Established:

9-7-2007: Solar, wind,

precipitation, leaf wetness, soil
temperature and moisture at three
levels (15, 23, 46 cm)
9-13-2007: Net Radiometer
AIRS: March, 2011: Dar Roberts photographer
9-26-2007: Temperature, RH two
Img_7568
levels (75, 285 cm)
Webcam: 2008 to 2015 (2014 gap)
Communications
Cingular Cellular Modem (to 12, 2012)
Ethernet (NL115), 12-2012 to present

Coal Oil Point Instrumentation

Invasive Grassland
Location

34.41386N, 119.8802 W
235279.1 Easting, 3811808
Northing (zone 11)

Elevation: 6 m

Radiation
Light Sensor
4 Channel Net Radiometer

Precipitation/Fog
Tipping bucket rain gauge, Fog
collector, Leaf wetness sensor

Wind
Anemometer

Temperature/RH
Paired Temp/RH sensors for
Bowen Ratio

COP, January 2011 : Dar Roberts photographer

IMG_7501

Soil Temperature and Moisture

3 soil probes (0, 20, 50 cm)

Phenology
Web Cam (through 2013)

Communications
Cingular Cellular Modem

Welcome to the IDEAS website

Provides Direct Access
to Data
Provides Graphical
Tools for Data
Exploration
Provides background
supporting information
and links
Will be our primary
research and
communication tool
http://www.geog.ucsb.edu/ideas/

Innovative Datasets for Environmental

Analysis by Students (IDEAS),
Web support and design Ted Eckmann, Jenny Douthett,
Doug Carreiro, Jennifer Taylor
9

IDEAS: The WX View: One Month

Any length of time can be displayed (defaults as high as one year)

Time can be scrolled or specific dates selected

10

IDEAS: Soil/Radiometer View

Four-channel radiometer allows for temperature inversion

Tk = [(LWup-LWdn*(1-))/(*)]0.25

11

Research Opportunity: The Drought

The current drought is the

worst in over 120 years
It has extended for five years
(2012-2016)
It has also been anomalously warm

We have data since 2008

VMC three levels, 2010-2011

VMC three levels, 2014-2015

12

Remote Sensing Research Data Sets

AVIRIS-Classic
Aug 6, 2004
Fire Year
2009 (5 dates, March 10->Aug 26)

Post-fire
2010 (2 dates, April 30)
2011 (2 dates, July 19)

HyspIRI Prep

2013 (4-11, 6-1,12-4)

2014 (4-16, 6-4, 8-29)
2015 (4-16, 6-2, 8-24)
2016

AVIRIS-MASTER
July 19, 2011
June XX, 2016

AVIRIS-NG
June 2-3, 2014
Sept 9, 2014

6-6-2013: HyspIRI SB Flight Box

13

Research Ideas (1)

1) Mapping plant species in Sedgwick Ranch in 2011 or
2016 using VSWIR or combined VSWIR and TIR data
2) Evaluating how vegetation has changed between 2011
and 2016 in response to the drought.
3) Evaluating the relationship between plant species, cover
and canopy temperature for a single date, or over multiple
dates in a single year, or between years.
4) Evaluating the relationship between soil moisture and
vegetation indices as they vary seasonally.

14

Mapping Plant Species in Sedgwick Ranch

in 2011 or 2016 using VSWIR or combined
VSWIR & TIR data

15

2011 Product from Roberts et al., 2015

Research Tools
Standard Classifiers in ENVI
Training Polygons

Advanced Classifiers
PLSR with CDA

Viper Tools 2.0

It includes 4 main Functions
Create/Manage Spectral Library
Optimize Spectral Library
Spectral Unmixing
Two endmember models provide
classification

Postprocessing
Shade Normalization
Terrain Correction (difficult to use)
16

(2) Evaluating how vegetation has changed

between 2011 and 2016 in response to the
drought

17

Coates et al., 2015

MESMA with VIPER Tools 2

Model Selection

Can be used for simple and multiple

Em models
Allows multi level fusion

18

(2) Evaluating how vegetation has changed between

Winchester
2011 and 2016
in response to the drought
Canyon
Goleta
Slough

19

(4) Evaluating the relationship between soil

moisture and vegetation indices as they vary
seasonally

20

Liu et al., 2012

Evaluating the relationship between soil

moisture and Vis as they vary seasonally

21

Liu et al., 2012

Evaluating the relationship between soil

moisture and Vis as they vary seasonally

22

Liu et al., 2012

Evaluating the relationship between soil

moisture and Vis as they vary seasonally

23

Liu et al., 2012

Research Ideas (2)

5) Evaluating the relationship between actual and potential
evapotranspiration and remotely sensed measures of
vegetation as it varies seasonally or between years.
6) Scaling between field and AVIRIS/MASTER measures
of fractional cover and temperature using 2016 AVIRISMASTER data.
7) Evaluating drought impacts by plant functional type
(tree, shrub, grass) between 2011 and 2016.

24

Evaluating the relationship between actual and potential

evapotranspiration and remotely sensed measures of
vegetation as it varies seasonally or between years

6
PET
AET

ET (mm)

5
4
3
2
1
0
60

80

100
Julian Day

120

25

Scaling between field and AVIRIS/MASTER

measures of fractional cover and temperature
using 2016 AVIRIS-MASTER data

Visible

LST (K)

TIR

325
320
315
310
305
300
295
290
285
280

y = -29.59x + 310.3
R = 0.51

0.2

0.4
0.6
0.8
GV Fraction (all dates)

26

Subpixel Temperature Modeling

VSWIR Fraction

Pure oak
endmember
(303 K)

Pure road
endmember
(323 K)
Modeled mixed pixel
(309 K)

Residual = LSTmeasured LSTmodeled > 1

*Temperature mixing is actually nonlinear, but effects are small over a
limited temperature range

Measured mixed pixel

(314 K)
Oak suffering heat stress?
Lower albedo road?

27

Model Inputs

NPV, GV, Soil :RGB

Rock, Paved, Roof:RGB

28

Thermal Class

MASTER LST

Subpixel Temperature
Modelling
LSTm =
fgv*LSTgv+
fnpv*LSTnpv+
fsoil*LSTsoil +
frock*LSTrock+
fpaved*LSTpaved+
froof*LSTroof

VSWIR Fractions from AVIRIS

LST from MASTER
Isolated for each thermal class
Limited to 100% cover

LST (thermal class)

29

Class-Temperature Histograms (15 m)

303.86

305.82

306.67

308.3

320.36

314.5

321.81

Commercial Roof: 331.55

323.77

320.14

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Results: Roads and Mustard in Detail

Senesced Mustard is cool (<-6 C)

East-west large roads are cool (<-5 C)
Concrete is cool (< -3 C)
Citrus and Avocado are warm (> 5 C)
North-south large roads are warm (> 2 C)
31

Evaluating drought impacts by plant functional

type (tree, shrub, grass) between 2011 and 2016.

32

Coates et al., 2015

Research Ideas (3)

8) Mapping plant species at 4 m spatial resolution in the
Santa Ynez front range using AVIRIS-Next Generation
data acquired in 2014. AVIRIS-NG has twice as many
wavelengths as AVIRIS Classic and superior signal to
noise.
9) Mapping impervious surface area, soils, nonphotosynthetic vegetation and vegetation cover in urban
areas using either AVIRIS-Classic (2011 and 2016) or
AVIRIS-NG.
10) Evaluating post-fire recovery following the 2007 Zaca
Fire using AVIRIS time series combined with Landsat TM.
11) Mapping riparian vegetation response to drought in
the Santa Clara Water shed using combined AVIRIS33
MASTER data acquired from 2013 to present.

Mapping plant species at 4 m spatial

resolution in the Santa Ynez front range
using AVIRIS-Next Generation data

34

What will you be doing in the field?

Standard ecological measures along
established transects
Species Composition and Diversity Measures
Biophysical Measures: Cover and Height

Digital Photography and Canopy Height

FLIR Thermal Imaging, Surface albedo
Spectral Measurements with an ASD
Establishing reference polygons at Sedgwick
Ranch
35

Transects, Quadrats and Quadrants, in

Action

Quadrat at Coal Oil Point

50 m transect established at Coal Oil Point

36

Vegetation Measures

Species Present
Abundance (# individuals)
Frequency (# of quadrants)
Cover
Braun-Blanquet Cover Scale
Cover Category

% Cover

Category 1

< 1%

Category 2

1%-5%

Category 3

6%-25%

Category 4

26%-50%

Category 5

51%-75%

Category 6

76%-100%

Phenology
% Buds, % Flowers, % Fruit

37

Vegetation
Cover Data
Sheet: Coal Oil
Point

38

Digital Photography and Height

Measures

Height measures of dominant and co-dominant

Left, Top, Right, Bottom, Center
39

Image Products
S:\products\imagery\COPR\2015_04_10

40
S:\products\imagery\COPR\2015_04_10\Crop

Image Products
S:\products\imagery\COPR\2015_04_10\crop\class

41

2015 Image Statistics:

COP 2-20-2015
NPV
Shade

AIRS 4-11-2015

GV
Flower Blue
NPV

Flower Yellow

Shade
GV
Flower Blue

COP 4-10-2015

Flower Yellow
NPV
Shade
GV
Flower Blue

AIRS 5-02-2015

Flower Yellow

NPV
Shade

COP 5-1-2015

GV
Flower Blue

NPV

Flower Yellow

Shade
GV
Flower Blue
Flower Yellow
42

The FLIR (Model T450sca)

Britney Gale with FLIR: Photo 4-2013 by D. Roberts

Coregistered Visible and TIR images

Matlab code for GV/NPV cover
Code for retrieving accurate pixel temperatures given variable emissivities

43