Jan van Aardt. PHOTO BY MATT DETURCK
Left to right: Associte professor Jan van Aardt, students Paul Romanczyk and Jiaying "William" Wu, and research staff member Joe McGlinchy with the WASP Lite multispectral camera system. The camera can map a landscape in the visible to near-infrared wavelengths, and can be used for land cover and fire mapping. PHOTO BY MATT DETURCK
By Tim Louis Macaluso on February 23, 2011
An early low-tech method for determining air safety in coal mines was to bring a canary into the mine shaft. If carbon monoxide or methane gas reached perilously high levels or oxygen was dangerously low, the canary would die. That signaled miners to immediately vacate the mine.
The National Ecological Observatory Network could be described as the country's high-technology equivalent to the canary. NEON is a network of scientists throughout the US committed to a massive 30-year study of the possible long-term impacts of environmental changes on people. And the Rochester Institute of Technology is one of the research universities involved in NEON's efforts.
Understanding environmental change is crucial to the sustainable use and management of the planet's natural resources, says Jan van Aardt, an associate professor with RIT's Chester F. Carlson Center for Imaging Science. Scientists want to know, he says, the impact that changes in climate, land use, and invasive species have over time on water, air, and soil quality. And what the response should be.
When fully operational in 2016, NEON will consist of 62 data-gathering stations in 20 climate zones across the continental US, Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico.
The stations will examine the changes occurring in diverse ecosystems including the Great Lakes and the prairies of central US. The stations will use sophisticated hyperspectral camera systems combined with highly sensitive light detection and ranging equipment that can be flown over targeted sites.
These advanced systems allow scientists to create 3D images that are in some ways comparable to CT scans. The images look inside the target and measure minute changes, such as the carbon captured during photosynthesis.
RIT's role, van Aardt says, is unique. The Institute's Digital Imaging and Remote Sensing group is versed in the analysis of the data that gives the images scale, he says, and in creating simulated natural environment modeling.
RIT is helping to develop 3D or structural information that can be used to assess ecosystem conditions. The information, says van Aardt, can be used for research and by policy decision-makers.
