DEPARTMENT OF EARTH SCIENCES

The faculty, staffs and students in the PERSL form an interdisciplinary research team to perform experimental, theoretical and applied remote sensing studies such as mapping planetary surface composition for investigating the origin and geological evolution of a planet, and conducting radiative transfer modeling to derive biochemical and biophysical parameters of vegetation, physical and compositional properties of soil and snow, and water quality parameters for inland waters. The team's research interest also involves the development and improvement of digital image processing algorithms for detection, classification and discrimination of materials as well as applying remote sensing and geospatial techniques for addressing the effects of global climate change. Our mission is to provide leadership in developing remote sensing and geospatial technologies that promote our understanding of the impact of environmental change on land and aquatic ecosystems, to address environmental questions of local, regional and global importance, and to conduct cutting-edge research to address fundamental geological processes that have shaped extraterrestrial planets.